Test your knowledge of the Spitalfields area by taking part in this short quiz.
Spitalfields takes its name from a hospital and priory known as St. Mary’s Spital founded in 1197. Most of the area was built after the Great Fire of London and Spitalfield’s market was first established in the 1680s. Most of the beautiful houses in and around Fournier, Princelet and Wilkes Street date from around 1685 when the Huguenots fled France, bringing their silk weaving skills.
Many of Spitalfields’ buildings have had a variety of uses. The building on Brick Lane now used as a Mosque was originally built as a Huguenot chapel and later used as a Methodist chapel and Synagogue. In 1976 it took on its present life as a Mosque. The old Truman Black Eagle Brewery has since been converted into offices, bars shops and artists’ studios. 19 Princelet Street was originally built as a home by Samuel Worrall, a prominent builder and was later adapted and extended as a synagogue. Now work is underway to save the building and eventually to open it to the public as a museum.
Industry and “dirty trades” developed in Spitalfields and the area beyond Aldgate outside the City boundaries – these included the leather industry and brewing. You can still buy great value leather goods in the local markets and the chimney of the Old Truman Brewery is a local landmark, although it now houses bars, shops and artists’ studios.
You can see some of the many finds from the excavation at Spitalfields Market in the nearby Museum of London.
The prudish Victorians renamed Petticoat Lane Middlesex Street in the 1830s to avoid referring to underwear, but the name has stuck and still refers to the market which now spreads into Wentworth Street and the neighbouring area.
The expression “Hand me downs” also came from this area. In Petticoat Lane, second-hand clothes were hung up on hooks above the market stalls and had to be “handed down” to be sold.
The United States’ Liberty Bell was originally cast in the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in Whitechapel Road. The pavement here is extra wide – this was the main way via Aldgate for cattle and sheep to be driven into London, together with carts laden with hops for brewing and hay for cattle.
Aldgate is now a major intersection for both drivers and pedestrians. Known as Ealdgate in Saxon times (meaning “old gate” as it referred to a Roman gate dating back to 200 AD!), the gate was demolished and rebuilt several times, and has long been a major entry point for travellers into and out of the City of London.
“Tenter Ground” off White’s Row was so-called because this was the place in the 17th century where the woven cloth was washed and then stretched on frames called tenters to dry. This is also the origin of the expression, “to be on tenterhooks”.
Houndsitch takes its name from the large ditch running just outside the Roman wall marking the City boundary into which rubbish was thrown, including dead dogs.
Artillery Passage – used to be the area used for archery and shooting practice by Henry VIII’s Honourary Artillery Company.
Gun Street takes its name from the Gunmakers’ Company Proof House on nearby Commercial Road – it moved out to the east when the risk of accidental explosion was considered too high for a heavily populated area.
Brick Lane was the route along which carts carried bricks from the brick kilns in Spitalfields to Whitechapel and beyond.
Liverpool St. Station was originally a Roman burial ground, and later a hospital “treating” the insane. When people describe the busy station as “Bedlam” without perhaps realising it, they are using the popular name used in the 16th century as a corruption of Bethlehem/Bethlam which was the name of this hospital!
Changing Places
No. 1 Gun Street used to house 180 women and 20 men “of good character” – now it’s been turned into modern apartments.
The old Jewish Soup Kitchen on Brune Street has also been converted into luxury apartments.
The former wash-houses and laundry in Old Castle Street are now the setting for The Women’s Library.
Spitalfields was known for its music halls, which grew out of music rooms at the back of pubs. Charlie Chaplin made his first stage appearance in the now-demolished Royal Cambridge Music Hall in Commercial Street. The latest trend is for galleries to spring up in cafes and bars.
The house at 19 Princelet Street combines a Huguenot silk weaver’s home of 1719 with a hidden synagogue added in 1869.
Spot the Blue Plaques & Roundels
12 Hanbury Street – the birthplace of Bud Flanagan, a famous 1930s Music Hall artist who performed classics such as ‘Underneath the Arches’ and ‘Run, Rabbit, Run!’.
22 Hanbury Street – Annie Besant spoke here during the match girls’ strike which led to the establishment of trade unions.
No.3 Princelet Street (roundel of a violin in the pavement) – first-ever purpose-built Yiddish theatre, where Jacob Adler performed.
32 Elder Street – Jewish artist Mark Gertler, member of the Bloomsbury Group and painter of the famous Modernist work, The Merry-Go-Round (1916), lived here.
Toynbee Hall – Dr Jimmy Mallon, champion of social reform, lived here.
77 Whitechapel High Street – Isaac Rosenberg, poet and painter lived and studied here.
top
Whilst every care has been taken in the compilation of this site, and the statements contained herein are believed to be correct at the time of its uploading, neither the London Borough of Tower Hamlets nor its staff or contractors can be held responsible for any omissions or incorrect information.
Due to the changing nature of the area, you are strongly advised to check details of events, attractions etc before making a long journey to see them.