The first recorded Hall was on Ironmonger Lane close to the current Mercers' Hall. By the early 1400s they were in a building in Cloak Lane. Just before the Great Fire of 1666 the hall was rebuilt. It was totally lost but was quickly rebuilt, opening in 1670. It survived until 1882 when the District Railway Company needed the land and acquired it by compulsory purchase. The Cutlers moved to a newly built Hall on land in Warwick Lane, where a magnificent terracotta frieze by Benjamin Creswick represents cutlers cutlering, i.e. producing and trading in sharp-edged objects such as knives and swords.
The coat of arms of the Cutlers’ Livery Company is the elephant and castle, thought to be related to the use of ivory for cutlery handles. The origin of the castle on the animal's back is probably the Indian howdah, a carriage positioned on the backs of elephants, used by the wealthy for travelling by elephant. There is no known connection between the Cutlers and the Elephant and Castle pub that inspired the name of an area of South London.
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