View of the River Thames during the 1683-1684 frost fair, London Ludgate the white trousers of a

the white trousers of a fashionably dressed gentleman are blackened by the sweep's soot bag

Drapers' Almshouses

St John's Wood

at Violet Hill

View of the River Thames during the 1683-1684 frost fair, London Ludgate the white trousers of aView of the River Thames during the 1683 1684 frost fair, London, 1716. Eating, drinking and entertainment booths can be seen stretching across the ice. Figures travel by horse drawn coach, skates, boats with wheels and boats transformed into sledges. The item has been divided into 45 playing cards with instructions in the margins. Winters in Britain were often particularly cold in the 17th and 18th centuries, a period known as the 'Little Ice Age'.