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"tower hamlets"
…ficance. A Abbey Wood (Greenwich/Bexley) Ace Café (Brent) The Guide Addington (Croydon) Aldborough Hatch (Redbridge) Aldersbrook (Redbridge/Newham) Aldersgate (City of London) Alexandra Palace (Haringey) All Saints (Tower Hamlets) All Saints Church, Margaret Street (Westminster) The Guide Alperton (Brent) Alton Estate (Wandsworth) Angel, Edmonton (Enfield) Angell Town (Lambeth) Archway (Islington) Arnos Grove (Enfield) Arnos Grove station (En…
Surviving annex of Westminster’s medieval palace Jewel Tower, Abingdon Street, Westminster The Jewel Tower, viewed from the east This is not the repository of the Crown Jewels, which are stored in the Jewel House (formerly also known as the Jewel Tower) at the Tower of London. However, Westminster’s Jewel Tower was originally built to accommodate the royal valuables, as a branch of the King’s Privy Wardrobe. On the recommendation of William …
Rolling out the ceremonial barrel Ceremony of the Constable’s Dues, Tower of London Two crew members from the French destroyer Latouche-Tréville carrying the ceremonial barrel In the Middle Ages the officers of the Tower of London extracted all sorts of excise duties, many of which weren’t much more than legalised bribes for supposed protection, and payments in kind, from the captains of vessels sailing up the Thames to the City. As river tr…
Bow Common, Tower Hamlets A historically poor quarter, situated south-east of Mile End The overgrown Tower Hamlets cemetery, which lies to the north of Bow Common Lane This area was industrialised in the mid-19th century as factories moved towards the River Lea from districts such as Whitechapel, and the Great Central Gas Company’s works were built to supply the City of London. In 1883 Andrew Mearns observed that, “Out of 2,290 persons …
Globe Town, Tower Hamlets A collection of council-built properties located near the western end of Roman Road, east of Bethnal Green Globe Town is the best-branded locality in London A track running north from Stepney was called Theven Lane in the Middle Ages, from the Old English plural of ‘thief’. By the early 18th century it had been renamed Globe Lane, and later Globe Road, probably after a local inn. In the 1790s land on the Eastfields…
Pool of London, City/Tower Hamlets/Southwark The part of the Thames between London Bridge and Cuckold’s Point,which is located at the north-eastern tip of the Rotherhithe peninsula A pool (in this context) is a deep and still place in a river. London’s pool is divided into upper and lower parts, which are respectively upstream and downstream of Tower Bridge. Not long ago, the London Development Agency and other bodies attempted to make the…
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets Now the north-eastern part of Wapping, but once a separate Tower hamlet Free Trade Wharf, 340 The Highway, Shadwell Shadwell’s Old English name means ‘shallow well’. Archaeological excavations have revealed evidence of a Roman quarry here, subsequently used as a cemetery, with a mausoleum tower. By the third century the area had been divided into plots, where domestic residences were built. A leather bikini has been …
Island Gardens, Tower Hamlets A DLR station and small riverside park at the tip of the Isle of Dogs After William Cubitt had built up the south-eastern quarter of the Isle of Dogs he leased land from the Admiralty to put a handful of grand villas along the waterfront here. To accompany these he commissioned a plantation, with dozens of varieties of trees and shrubs. The ground was planted but the villa scheme was a failure; only two were bui…
Lansbury, Tower Hamlets A large municipally-built estate in the part of north Poplar once known as Poplar New Town The Lansbury estate’s curious clocktower-cum-watchtower Wartime bombing destroyed or damaged nearly a quarter of the buildings in this area, which was one of the first be redeveloped by the London County Council after hostilities ended. In 1951 the barely finished Lansbury estate became the ‘Live Architecture Exhibition’ of …
Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets/Hackney A 213-acre park with lakes and amenities, situated between South Hackney and Bow’s Old Ford locality The Baroness Burdett Coutts Drinking Fountain, also known as the Victoria(n) Fountain, one of the few surviving ornamental structures in Victoria Park Victoria Park was created to beautify the East End, provide recreational space and improve public health. Two possible sites were considered: at Bow Common…
