Great Eastern Railway to Chingford. Bethnal Green
Great Eastern Railway from Liverpool Street to Chingford
The Great Eastern Railway turns north from East Junction and Bethnal Green Station
TQ 34773 82649
This posting covers only the north east section of the square
This is the inner city and adjacent to the old East End. There are the remains of much philanthropic housing and social support - some of the university settlements. There are also numerous pubs and remains of pubs. There are several schools. In these back streets there were once many small industrial units - and larger once, silk, lead and pharmaceuticals.
Post to the south Three Colt Lane
Post to the west Bethnal Green
Post to the north Cambridge Heath
Post to the east Bethnal Green
Ainsley Street
Flats. The area was cleared of its 18th housing in 1868-1880 for blocks of Sydney Waterlow's Improved Industrial Dwellings Co. This was his company's first attempt on this scale with five-storey blocks on both sides of the street. They were selectively demolished in 1985.
Bethnal Green Road The road linked the Green with the edge of the City as housing spread from Spitalfields and Shoreditch in the late 17th.
379 The Old George. This is stucco-trimmed and balustraded one of the oldest surviving pubs in Bethnal Green originating probably in 1703. It has modern board fascias: 'TRUMAN FINE ALES ... LONDON BREWERS SINCE 1666', plus eagle illustrations. It was the first pub to be owned by Balls Brothers in the 1860s
423 Bar Valente. This was Bohola House, a pub which with a stone plaque at first floor level with a winged tankard over the date 1767 - an old Charrington's logo. It seems originally to have been called The Albion. Bohola is a town in Ireland.
441 The Sun. This pub dates from before 1870 but closed in 2013. Reopened as a cocktail bar,
449 Quicksilver. Amusement ‘park’. The Yoga place is on the upper floors. It was previously Wolchovers hardware manufacturers who owned the site from the mid 19th
456 Misty Moon. This was the Camden’s Head, when it was a Wetherspoon's pub, and before that the Lord Camden, when it was Charrington’s. It was established in 1766 but rebuilt, probably in 1864 by Edward Brown.
458 Former police station of 1917. The building by John Dixon Butler is an enlarging and re-fronting an earlier station of 1892 by his father, John Butler. It now belongs to the Providence Row Housing Association. This is a is a small, specialist housing association focused on the East End of London Providence Row Housing Association former Police Station. Now with a rather severe domestic iron and two bow windows, stone faced on the ground floor. In the back yard are two-storey married quarters and a section house in yellow brick with three short pointed gables. Now flats
460 The Shakespeare. This pub has a 1890s glazed green faience front on an older pub. It has signage on the gable with lettering on cream tiles 'THE SHAKESPEARE ... TRUMAN HANBURY, BUXTON & COY LTD'. There is 'STOUT MILD ALE PORTER' written on a frieze above the door. It is now a Greene King house.
462-464 La Forchetta in what was Lupin House. This includes a 19th clothing warehouse with an arcaded front and terracotta tiles beneath the top floor windows.
463 City View House. Flats in what was a red brick bakery for Kearley & Tonge converted in the late 1980s. As International Stores, Kearley and Tonge opened their bakery here in 1906.
465 HSBC. This was built as the London City & Midland Bank by T.B. Whinney in 1905. It is on a corner site to be conspicuous
464a English and Son. Funeral directors. The building appears to be a hall, and connected with the Congregational Church behind
473 The Ship. This closed in 2000 and has been used as a shop, but the pub sign remains
488 the corner with Gale's Gardens has a shop front with pilasters. It was built for the Sun Life Insurance Company in 1882 by A. & C. Harston who also carried out slum clearance here for the Bethnal Green House Property Association
Great Eastern Railway bridge. This dates from 1893 and built by the Horseley & Co., Staffordshire.
502 Salmon and Ball.. The pub dates from at least 1733 and two weavers were hung in public outside in 1769 as a result of the Cutters Riot. The current listed building is late 19th.
Street Market. Some stalls remain on the south side of the road
Birkbeck Street
Sunlight Square. Flats on the site of part of the Allen and Hanbury's, later Glaxo, factory.
Site of Meeting House on the north corner with Cambridge Heath Road. This was founded in 1662. In 1771 John Kello was pastor and it became known as Kello's Meeting House. Then In 1819 he opened a Congregational chapel on the corner of Birkbeck Street. In then sold to a William Ellis as the Birkbeck school, Which George Lansbury attended. In 1882 it became the church hall for St. Andrews and in 1928 rebuilt as the church of St Francis. The site is now the electricity transformer station.
Transformer Station. This was built by the LEB in the 1950s. In 1997 it was used as a committee room and offices for London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Cambridge Heath Road
The name of Cambridge Heath is first recorded in 1275. This end of the road was known as ‘Dog Row’ and was first built up from about 1700.
255 This was the East End District Office for the London Electricity Board built in 1959 by Watson and Coates. It consisted of showrooms, offices, workshops and canteens. It passed into the ownership of London Borough of Tower Hamlets, post privatisation and now they want to pull it down. In the meantime it is used as offices and for voluntary sector projects.
287 City View Hotel. This was the Green Man Pub which was present by 1750. It was rebuilt in 1885 and closed in 2002.Its green tiled frontage and Truemans signage was removed and covered in cream render. It was a fish and chip shop by 2004 and now a hotel.
289 New Life Bible Church. This began in the home of Pastor Joshua Jama and his wife Toyin in 1989. The church started in Hackney, in 1991 along with a counselling centre for the homeless, unemployed and needy people of that area which was called Sanctuary Church. In 1996, a building was acquired in Bethnal Green and in 1988 the name changed to Good News Assembly and in in 2006, the name was changed to New Life Bible Church.
305 Bethnal Green Mission Church. This is The Annie Macpherson Home of Industry. Annie was a friend of Dr Barnardo. She opened a ‘home of industry’ in 1866 to help people to read and write and to get medical attention. Initially this was work with workers in the match industry and the project also arranged for children to be sent to Canada. They concentrated on medical work from 1925. The present building dates from 1952 as a medical practice under the National Health Service and a church was also established here.
313 Flats in what was a three storey warehouse and office building formerly used by Balls Brothers Wine Merchants and built in brown brick in 1973.
339 Dundee Arms. Pub. A sunken hook on the right hand side of the entrance is for handling barrels in and out of the cellar.
Canrobert Road
40 General Canrobert Pub. This dated from around 1870 and closed after the Second World War. Canrobert was a 19th French military gentleman.
Clarkson Street
Middleton Green. Open space which includes what was Canrobert Street Open Space. There is a ball games area, pathways and play facilities.
Derbyshire Street?
Oxford House Settlement. This was opened by Oxford undergraduates and The building is from 1890-2 by Sir Arthur Blomfield and Refurbished 1999-2002 by All Clear Designs Limited It was commissioned by Rev. Winnington-Ingram, later Bishop of London, as 'a house to hold twenty residents . . . along with a lecture room, classrooms and club premises'. Oxford House began in 1884 set up by staff and students of Keble College and New College as a rival to the Universities Settlement at Toynbee Hall. In 1886 they founded the Federation of Working Men's Clubs and helped various recreational and educational clubs in the East End. It now functions as an arts and community centre.
Ellsworth Street
Flats by Howes & Jackman for the London County Council from 1948-9 and extended 1957-62 around a square.
64 Duke of York. This pub was closed in 2006 and has since been demolished. It had 'WINES ... TRUMANS ALES & STOUT ... SPIRITS' painted out on the ground floor fascia; and a small Truman's lantern.
Hollybush Gardens
Joshua Galvin Academy. Hairdressing training school.
BJ house. Building containing offices and other units including an art gallery
Lead Works. This stood on the east side of the road at the north end. Henry Grace was making white lead here by 1828 and in 1901 Henry traded there as colour manufacturers and makers of white lead. They had closed by 1921.
Iron foundry, this lay behind the houses on the east side in the late 19th
Timber yard. Thos lay on the east side at the south end in the late 19th.
East London Silk Mills. This was owned in 1851 by John Warner. Warner and Sons was founded in 1870 as Warner, Sillet & Ramm by Benjamin Warner although The Warner family had been involved in the silk industry since the 17th, manufacturing traditional patterns. Benjamin Warner was interested in contemporary design and the firm supplied Liberty & Co, Collinson & Lock and Debenham & Freebody. By 1872 by Warner & Ramm employed in- and out-workers who produced furniture silk. In 1893, the Duchess of Teck visited the factory and commissioned them to make the finest white silk for the forthcoming royal wedding. The company moved to Braintree in 1895and specialised in high-quality textiles. The company ceased weaving in Braintree in 1971, but examples of fabrics produced there are held at the Warner Textile Archive.
Hollybush Urban Growers. This is an offshoot of the Rocky Park Community Garden and is managed by tenants of the Hollybush Estate. Tower Hamlets Homes planted an orchard consisting of about 30 young fruit trees, including apple, plum, peach and greengage.
Mansford Street
Chalice Foundation. Garratt Centre. This was a Unitarian church but originally it was Congregational. It was built in 1871 and designed by R. Church in brick. Inside is a tile mosaic which is an example of opus sectile work. It was unveiled in 1903 to commemorate Miss Elizabeth Jaqueline Garrett and is called "Emblemic of Charity". It scene shows two women helping the poor and destitute. It is attributed to Henry Holiday. The chapel began in a group around the London City Missioner James T. Bennett. They leased the Mansford Road site and built the chapel but divisions led to its sale. The chapel was bought by the London District Unitarian Society as a mission in 1889. It was reconstructed as Chalice foundation 1985 and in 1989 became a community centre and with activities for. Church Action with Unemployment and the Rathbone Society. It was converted to the Garrett centre acting for the community
Manse. This is attached to the chapel and now part of the Garrett Centre
Community House. This is part of Lawdale School
Lawrence Primary School. This opened in 1883 as Mansford Street Board School but was renamed Lawrence by 1905. It was designed by E.R. Robson, with a straight, sheer facade with tall windows. After the Second World War it was reorganised for juniors with a nursery class by 1964. In 1975 it was amalgamated with Teesdale Primary to form Lawdale Primary School
Lawdale School. This was formed in 1975 by amalgamating Lawrence and Teesdale Primary Schools in the old Lawrence buildings. There is one new building.
Charles Dickens House.22 storey tower block built in 1969.
Excelsior Swimming Baths and Hall. This was on the corner with Florida Street. It was built in 1889 as the Excelsior Hall & Swimming Baths by A. Wooster Reeves and from 1898 was owned by Oxford House Settlement. It was later converted into a cinema.
Excelsior Kinema. This was the Excelsior Hall & Swimming Baths which in 1921 was converted into the Excelsior Kinema, by Emden & Egan with later work in 1926 by Frank Matcham and Co. The floor of the pool became the stalls, making use of the slope from shallow to deep end, with access by the original stone steps leading to the floor of the pool. The walkway round the pool was an intermediate balcony the old cast iron observation balcony above. The programmes were films plus variety. In 1939 it was remodeled again in Art Deco style by Maple & Co. It screened Bollywood films until its demolition in 1969. There is now housing estate on the site.
Middleton Street
Bethnal Green Nature Reserve. Phytology medicinal field is in the North West corner. St Jude’s was built in 1842 but destroyed in Second World War bombing. The ruins remained untouched becoming wilder and wilder. Eventually local people Helped by the Environment Trust started to clear the land. In the late 1990s Teesdale and Hollybush Tenants and Residents Association took responsibility for the site. Since they changed its name to Bethnal Green Nature Reserve.
Old Bethnal Green Road
The road was once called the Driftway and it has been speculated that it was the Roman Road to the Lea. In 1747 it is shown on the Roque map as Coats's Lane, a track skirting the boundary of Coats' Farm.
Mansford Secondary School. This was opened in 1896 and built by T.J. Bailey as a senior section Mansford Street Board School. In 1906 it was reorganised as a Higher Elementary school and as a Central School in 1911 in an attempt to provide technical training in an industrial district. After the Second World War it became Mansford Secondary Commercial and Technical School until it was amalgamated with Daniel Secondary to form Daneford School in 1959
Daneford Comprehensive School was formed in 1959 by the amalgamation of Daniel and Mansford Secondary schools. The upper school was in the Mansford buildings but the school eventually moved to new buildings
St. Bernard's Roman Catholic Secondary Comprehensive school was formed 1965 by amalgamating three schools. The middle school moved to the former Daneford premises in Mansford Street. In 1991 the school moved elsewhere and the site was used for Oaklands School.
Oaklands School. This opened as secondary school on the site of St. Bernard's School in 1991. It has a central block with a single-storey hall and classroom with wings for workshops. It is linked by a bridge across Bethnal Green Road to an Arts Building which was designed by Edwin Brear Associates in 1994
43 The Flower Pot Pub. This was a Charrington’s house established by 1872 and rebuilt in 1908. The building is now converted for use as offices.
67 The Kings Arms pub was there in 1856 and closed in 2001. It was a Watney’s house and is now flats.
Saint Jude's Church. This was built 1846 by Henry Clutton, It church supported a young men's association, provident society and library and much else. Mission services and open air services were also held. The church was destroyed in Second World War bombing and demolished.
St. Jude's Church of England Secondary school was opened by 1846 as a Sunday school in the old chapel. A day school was built plus a teachers' house east of the church in 1846 with a parliamentary grant and was passed to the National Society in. 1848. After many uncertain years a new bldg. opened in 1895. Under the London Plan of 1947, it was reorganised in a new building on the same site as a voluntary assisted Church of England school. It was amalgamated with the Raine's Foundation in 1977 and used for the lower school.
Raines Foundation School. This is the latest school of that originally founded in 1719 by Henry Raine. It is a Church of England voluntary aided school. Henry Raine lived in Wapping, and created a school where poor children could get an education for free. In 1719 the school was opened but it has moved many tines. In 1977, Raine's merged with St Jude's Secondary School and became a comprehensive school and in 1985, the lower school for years 7 and 8 moved to Old Bethnal Green Road.
118 Dover Castle Pub. This was a Truman’s house pub and was present by 1866. It closed in 2005 and later used as a snooker club. It has since been demolished.
Paradise Row
Part of Cambridge Heath Road. But stands slightly back from the road behind part of the original green.
2-11 terrace built in 1800, although there have been some substantial alterations.
3 Blue plaque to Daniel Mendoza the prize-fighter who lived here. He was Champion of England and defended his title in 1790 in a fight lasting 72 rounds; he founded a Boxing Academy in the City of London and wrote ‘The Art of Boxing’ in 1789.
5 home of Mary James from 1900 that came here to use her fortune to assist the needy. She was the first woman to preside over a Metropolitan Poor Law body and a borough councillor from 1919 to 1922, representing the Progressive Party, and then the Liberals 1928-31
Paradise Gardens. A small strip of land that once formed part of the Bethnal Green common land. This was the west paddock let to a gardener. Paradise Gardens today consists of a strip of grass with plane trees, seats and a curving path running through it and it is enclosed by railings.
Pott Street
Horwood Estate. This was cleared by the London County council in the 1930s and large blocks built, which remain
Pott Street Chapel. The Chapel and schools were built by John Tarring in, 1849, for Calvinistic Independents. The remains consist of a ragstone tower, a school below and meeting room. It was much damaged by Second World War bombing. The Ground floor was adapted for worship in 1985 for Praxis, a United Reformed church; with new flats and offices adjoining.
Bethnal Green Meeting House. United Reform Church
Praxis was founded in 1983, by the Robert Kemble Trust. A legacy of the late Robert Kemble to help pursue social justice rooted in Christianity.
Punderson’s Gardens
Named for Capt. Jonathan Punderson who built this area up in 1783
Sources
Bethnal Green Mission Church. Web site
Brewery History Society. Web site
British History online. Bethnal Green. Web site
Business Cavalcade of London
CAMRA City and East London Beer Guide
Clarke. Glimpses of Ancient Hackney and Stoke Newington
Closed Pubs. Web site
Clunn. The Face of London
Connor. Liverpool Street to Chingford.
East London History Society. Newsletter
GLIAS Newsletter
Grace’s Guide. Web site
Great Eastern Railway Journal
Kimber. William Nicholson
Lawdale School. Web site
London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Web site
London Gardens Online. Web site
London Encyclopaedia
Nairn. Nairn’s London
New Bible Church. Web site
Oaklands School Web site
Pevsner and Cherry. East London
Pevsner and Cherry. London North
Pub History Web site
Raines Foundation School. Web site
Skyscraper News. Web site
TBIAGC A Survey of Industrial Monuments of Greater London
The Green
The Warner Silk Mill in Braintree. Web site
TourEast. Leaflet
The Great Eastern Railway turns north from East Junction and Bethnal Green Station
TQ 34773 82649
This posting covers only the north east section of the square
This is the inner city and adjacent to the old East End. There are the remains of much philanthropic housing and social support - some of the university settlements. There are also numerous pubs and remains of pubs. There are several schools. In these back streets there were once many small industrial units - and larger once, silk, lead and pharmaceuticals.
Post to the south Three Colt Lane
Post to the west Bethnal Green
Post to the north Cambridge Heath
Post to the east Bethnal Green
Ainsley Street
Flats. The area was cleared of its 18th housing in 1868-1880 for blocks of Sydney Waterlow's Improved Industrial Dwellings Co. This was his company's first attempt on this scale with five-storey blocks on both sides of the street. They were selectively demolished in 1985.
Bethnal Green Road The road linked the Green with the edge of the City as housing spread from Spitalfields and Shoreditch in the late 17th.
379 The Old George. This is stucco-trimmed and balustraded one of the oldest surviving pubs in Bethnal Green originating probably in 1703. It has modern board fascias: 'TRUMAN FINE ALES ... LONDON BREWERS SINCE 1666', plus eagle illustrations. It was the first pub to be owned by Balls Brothers in the 1860s
423 Bar Valente. This was Bohola House, a pub which with a stone plaque at first floor level with a winged tankard over the date 1767 - an old Charrington's logo. It seems originally to have been called The Albion. Bohola is a town in Ireland.
441 The Sun. This pub dates from before 1870 but closed in 2013. Reopened as a cocktail bar,
449 Quicksilver. Amusement ‘park’. The Yoga place is on the upper floors. It was previously Wolchovers hardware manufacturers who owned the site from the mid 19th
456 Misty Moon. This was the Camden’s Head, when it was a Wetherspoon's pub, and before that the Lord Camden, when it was Charrington’s. It was established in 1766 but rebuilt, probably in 1864 by Edward Brown.
458 Former police station of 1917. The building by John Dixon Butler is an enlarging and re-fronting an earlier station of 1892 by his father, John Butler. It now belongs to the Providence Row Housing Association. This is a is a small, specialist housing association focused on the East End of London Providence Row Housing Association former Police Station. Now with a rather severe domestic iron and two bow windows, stone faced on the ground floor. In the back yard are two-storey married quarters and a section house in yellow brick with three short pointed gables. Now flats
460 The Shakespeare. This pub has a 1890s glazed green faience front on an older pub. It has signage on the gable with lettering on cream tiles 'THE SHAKESPEARE ... TRUMAN HANBURY, BUXTON & COY LTD'. There is 'STOUT MILD ALE PORTER' written on a frieze above the door. It is now a Greene King house.
462-464 La Forchetta in what was Lupin House. This includes a 19th clothing warehouse with an arcaded front and terracotta tiles beneath the top floor windows.
463 City View House. Flats in what was a red brick bakery for Kearley & Tonge converted in the late 1980s. As International Stores, Kearley and Tonge opened their bakery here in 1906.
465 HSBC. This was built as the London City & Midland Bank by T.B. Whinney in 1905. It is on a corner site to be conspicuous
464a English and Son. Funeral directors. The building appears to be a hall, and connected with the Congregational Church behind
473 The Ship. This closed in 2000 and has been used as a shop, but the pub sign remains
488 the corner with Gale's Gardens has a shop front with pilasters. It was built for the Sun Life Insurance Company in 1882 by A. & C. Harston who also carried out slum clearance here for the Bethnal Green House Property Association
Great Eastern Railway bridge. This dates from 1893 and built by the Horseley & Co., Staffordshire.
502 Salmon and Ball.. The pub dates from at least 1733 and two weavers were hung in public outside in 1769 as a result of the Cutters Riot. The current listed building is late 19th.
Street Market. Some stalls remain on the south side of the road
Birkbeck Street
Sunlight Square. Flats on the site of part of the Allen and Hanbury's, later Glaxo, factory.
Site of Meeting House on the north corner with Cambridge Heath Road. This was founded in 1662. In 1771 John Kello was pastor and it became known as Kello's Meeting House. Then In 1819 he opened a Congregational chapel on the corner of Birkbeck Street. In then sold to a William Ellis as the Birkbeck school, Which George Lansbury attended. In 1882 it became the church hall for St. Andrews and in 1928 rebuilt as the church of St Francis. The site is now the electricity transformer station.
Transformer Station. This was built by the LEB in the 1950s. In 1997 it was used as a committee room and offices for London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Cambridge Heath Road
The name of Cambridge Heath is first recorded in 1275. This end of the road was known as ‘Dog Row’ and was first built up from about 1700.
255 This was the East End District Office for the London Electricity Board built in 1959 by Watson and Coates. It consisted of showrooms, offices, workshops and canteens. It passed into the ownership of London Borough of Tower Hamlets, post privatisation and now they want to pull it down. In the meantime it is used as offices and for voluntary sector projects.
287 City View Hotel. This was the Green Man Pub which was present by 1750. It was rebuilt in 1885 and closed in 2002.Its green tiled frontage and Truemans signage was removed and covered in cream render. It was a fish and chip shop by 2004 and now a hotel.
289 New Life Bible Church. This began in the home of Pastor Joshua Jama and his wife Toyin in 1989. The church started in Hackney, in 1991 along with a counselling centre for the homeless, unemployed and needy people of that area which was called Sanctuary Church. In 1996, a building was acquired in Bethnal Green and in 1988 the name changed to Good News Assembly and in in 2006, the name was changed to New Life Bible Church.
305 Bethnal Green Mission Church. This is The Annie Macpherson Home of Industry. Annie was a friend of Dr Barnardo. She opened a ‘home of industry’ in 1866 to help people to read and write and to get medical attention. Initially this was work with workers in the match industry and the project also arranged for children to be sent to Canada. They concentrated on medical work from 1925. The present building dates from 1952 as a medical practice under the National Health Service and a church was also established here.
313 Flats in what was a three storey warehouse and office building formerly used by Balls Brothers Wine Merchants and built in brown brick in 1973.
339 Dundee Arms. Pub. A sunken hook on the right hand side of the entrance is for handling barrels in and out of the cellar.
Canrobert Road
40 General Canrobert Pub. This dated from around 1870 and closed after the Second World War. Canrobert was a 19th French military gentleman.
Clarkson Street
Middleton Green. Open space which includes what was Canrobert Street Open Space. There is a ball games area, pathways and play facilities.
Derbyshire Street?
Oxford House Settlement. This was opened by Oxford undergraduates and The building is from 1890-2 by Sir Arthur Blomfield and Refurbished 1999-2002 by All Clear Designs Limited It was commissioned by Rev. Winnington-Ingram, later Bishop of London, as 'a house to hold twenty residents . . . along with a lecture room, classrooms and club premises'. Oxford House began in 1884 set up by staff and students of Keble College and New College as a rival to the Universities Settlement at Toynbee Hall. In 1886 they founded the Federation of Working Men's Clubs and helped various recreational and educational clubs in the East End. It now functions as an arts and community centre.
Ellsworth Street
Flats by Howes & Jackman for the London County Council from 1948-9 and extended 1957-62 around a square.
64 Duke of York. This pub was closed in 2006 and has since been demolished. It had 'WINES ... TRUMANS ALES & STOUT ... SPIRITS' painted out on the ground floor fascia; and a small Truman's lantern.
Hollybush Gardens
Joshua Galvin Academy. Hairdressing training school.
BJ house. Building containing offices and other units including an art gallery
Lead Works. This stood on the east side of the road at the north end. Henry Grace was making white lead here by 1828 and in 1901 Henry traded there as colour manufacturers and makers of white lead. They had closed by 1921.
Iron foundry, this lay behind the houses on the east side in the late 19th
Timber yard. Thos lay on the east side at the south end in the late 19th.
East London Silk Mills. This was owned in 1851 by John Warner. Warner and Sons was founded in 1870 as Warner, Sillet & Ramm by Benjamin Warner although The Warner family had been involved in the silk industry since the 17th, manufacturing traditional patterns. Benjamin Warner was interested in contemporary design and the firm supplied Liberty & Co, Collinson & Lock and Debenham & Freebody. By 1872 by Warner & Ramm employed in- and out-workers who produced furniture silk. In 1893, the Duchess of Teck visited the factory and commissioned them to make the finest white silk for the forthcoming royal wedding. The company moved to Braintree in 1895and specialised in high-quality textiles. The company ceased weaving in Braintree in 1971, but examples of fabrics produced there are held at the Warner Textile Archive.
Hollybush Urban Growers. This is an offshoot of the Rocky Park Community Garden and is managed by tenants of the Hollybush Estate. Tower Hamlets Homes planted an orchard consisting of about 30 young fruit trees, including apple, plum, peach and greengage.
Mansford Street
Chalice Foundation. Garratt Centre. This was a Unitarian church but originally it was Congregational. It was built in 1871 and designed by R. Church in brick. Inside is a tile mosaic which is an example of opus sectile work. It was unveiled in 1903 to commemorate Miss Elizabeth Jaqueline Garrett and is called "Emblemic of Charity". It scene shows two women helping the poor and destitute. It is attributed to Henry Holiday. The chapel began in a group around the London City Missioner James T. Bennett. They leased the Mansford Road site and built the chapel but divisions led to its sale. The chapel was bought by the London District Unitarian Society as a mission in 1889. It was reconstructed as Chalice foundation 1985 and in 1989 became a community centre and with activities for. Church Action with Unemployment and the Rathbone Society. It was converted to the Garrett centre acting for the community
Manse. This is attached to the chapel and now part of the Garrett Centre
Community House. This is part of Lawdale School
Lawrence Primary School. This opened in 1883 as Mansford Street Board School but was renamed Lawrence by 1905. It was designed by E.R. Robson, with a straight, sheer facade with tall windows. After the Second World War it was reorganised for juniors with a nursery class by 1964. In 1975 it was amalgamated with Teesdale Primary to form Lawdale Primary School
Lawdale School. This was formed in 1975 by amalgamating Lawrence and Teesdale Primary Schools in the old Lawrence buildings. There is one new building.
Charles Dickens House.22 storey tower block built in 1969.
Excelsior Swimming Baths and Hall. This was on the corner with Florida Street. It was built in 1889 as the Excelsior Hall & Swimming Baths by A. Wooster Reeves and from 1898 was owned by Oxford House Settlement. It was later converted into a cinema.
Excelsior Kinema. This was the Excelsior Hall & Swimming Baths which in 1921 was converted into the Excelsior Kinema, by Emden & Egan with later work in 1926 by Frank Matcham and Co. The floor of the pool became the stalls, making use of the slope from shallow to deep end, with access by the original stone steps leading to the floor of the pool. The walkway round the pool was an intermediate balcony the old cast iron observation balcony above. The programmes were films plus variety. In 1939 it was remodeled again in Art Deco style by Maple & Co. It screened Bollywood films until its demolition in 1969. There is now housing estate on the site.
Middleton Street
Bethnal Green Nature Reserve. Phytology medicinal field is in the North West corner. St Jude’s was built in 1842 but destroyed in Second World War bombing. The ruins remained untouched becoming wilder and wilder. Eventually local people Helped by the Environment Trust started to clear the land. In the late 1990s Teesdale and Hollybush Tenants and Residents Association took responsibility for the site. Since they changed its name to Bethnal Green Nature Reserve.
Old Bethnal Green Road
The road was once called the Driftway and it has been speculated that it was the Roman Road to the Lea. In 1747 it is shown on the Roque map as Coats's Lane, a track skirting the boundary of Coats' Farm.
Mansford Secondary School. This was opened in 1896 and built by T.J. Bailey as a senior section Mansford Street Board School. In 1906 it was reorganised as a Higher Elementary school and as a Central School in 1911 in an attempt to provide technical training in an industrial district. After the Second World War it became Mansford Secondary Commercial and Technical School until it was amalgamated with Daniel Secondary to form Daneford School in 1959
Daneford Comprehensive School was formed in 1959 by the amalgamation of Daniel and Mansford Secondary schools. The upper school was in the Mansford buildings but the school eventually moved to new buildings
St. Bernard's Roman Catholic Secondary Comprehensive school was formed 1965 by amalgamating three schools. The middle school moved to the former Daneford premises in Mansford Street. In 1991 the school moved elsewhere and the site was used for Oaklands School.
Oaklands School. This opened as secondary school on the site of St. Bernard's School in 1991. It has a central block with a single-storey hall and classroom with wings for workshops. It is linked by a bridge across Bethnal Green Road to an Arts Building which was designed by Edwin Brear Associates in 1994
43 The Flower Pot Pub. This was a Charrington’s house established by 1872 and rebuilt in 1908. The building is now converted for use as offices.
67 The Kings Arms pub was there in 1856 and closed in 2001. It was a Watney’s house and is now flats.
Saint Jude's Church. This was built 1846 by Henry Clutton, It church supported a young men's association, provident society and library and much else. Mission services and open air services were also held. The church was destroyed in Second World War bombing and demolished.
St. Jude's Church of England Secondary school was opened by 1846 as a Sunday school in the old chapel. A day school was built plus a teachers' house east of the church in 1846 with a parliamentary grant and was passed to the National Society in. 1848. After many uncertain years a new bldg. opened in 1895. Under the London Plan of 1947, it was reorganised in a new building on the same site as a voluntary assisted Church of England school. It was amalgamated with the Raine's Foundation in 1977 and used for the lower school.
Raines Foundation School. This is the latest school of that originally founded in 1719 by Henry Raine. It is a Church of England voluntary aided school. Henry Raine lived in Wapping, and created a school where poor children could get an education for free. In 1719 the school was opened but it has moved many tines. In 1977, Raine's merged with St Jude's Secondary School and became a comprehensive school and in 1985, the lower school for years 7 and 8 moved to Old Bethnal Green Road.
118 Dover Castle Pub. This was a Truman’s house pub and was present by 1866. It closed in 2005 and later used as a snooker club. It has since been demolished.
Paradise Row
Part of Cambridge Heath Road. But stands slightly back from the road behind part of the original green.
2-11 terrace built in 1800, although there have been some substantial alterations.
3 Blue plaque to Daniel Mendoza the prize-fighter who lived here. He was Champion of England and defended his title in 1790 in a fight lasting 72 rounds; he founded a Boxing Academy in the City of London and wrote ‘The Art of Boxing’ in 1789.
5 home of Mary James from 1900 that came here to use her fortune to assist the needy. She was the first woman to preside over a Metropolitan Poor Law body and a borough councillor from 1919 to 1922, representing the Progressive Party, and then the Liberals 1928-31
Paradise Gardens. A small strip of land that once formed part of the Bethnal Green common land. This was the west paddock let to a gardener. Paradise Gardens today consists of a strip of grass with plane trees, seats and a curving path running through it and it is enclosed by railings.
Pott Street
Horwood Estate. This was cleared by the London County council in the 1930s and large blocks built, which remain
Pott Street Chapel. The Chapel and schools were built by John Tarring in, 1849, for Calvinistic Independents. The remains consist of a ragstone tower, a school below and meeting room. It was much damaged by Second World War bombing. The Ground floor was adapted for worship in 1985 for Praxis, a United Reformed church; with new flats and offices adjoining.
Bethnal Green Meeting House. United Reform Church
Praxis was founded in 1983, by the Robert Kemble Trust. A legacy of the late Robert Kemble to help pursue social justice rooted in Christianity.
Punderson’s Gardens
Named for Capt. Jonathan Punderson who built this area up in 1783
Sources
Bethnal Green Mission Church. Web site
Brewery History Society. Web site
British History online. Bethnal Green. Web site
Business Cavalcade of London
CAMRA City and East London Beer Guide
Clarke. Glimpses of Ancient Hackney and Stoke Newington
Closed Pubs. Web site
Clunn. The Face of London
Connor. Liverpool Street to Chingford.
East London History Society. Newsletter
GLIAS Newsletter
Grace’s Guide. Web site
Great Eastern Railway Journal
Kimber. William Nicholson
Lawdale School. Web site
London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Web site
London Gardens Online. Web site
London Encyclopaedia
Nairn. Nairn’s London
New Bible Church. Web site
Oaklands School Web site
Pevsner and Cherry. East London
Pevsner and Cherry. London North
Pub History Web site
Raines Foundation School. Web site
Skyscraper News. Web site
TBIAGC A Survey of Industrial Monuments of Greater London
The Green
The Warner Silk Mill in Braintree. Web site
TourEast. Leaflet
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