History
Whitechapel derived its name from a 13th century stone chapel. It soon developed as a medieval suburb. Outside the City Walls and beyond official controls, it attracted the less fragrant activities of the city, particularly tanneries, breweries, foundries and slaughterhouses.
The establishment of the Royal London Hospital in 1757 initiated the growth of commerce and housing. Modest suburban development sprang up around the hospital. Migration from rural areas of England to London from the 17th century to the mid-19th century resulted in great numbers of more or less destitute people taking up residence. In Victorian times the population was swelled by immigrants from all over, particularly Irish and Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe. The street market developed during this period. By the 1840s Whitechapel had become the classic "Dickensian" London, with problems of poverty and overcrowding. Whitechapel Road itself was not particularly squalid - it was the warrens of small dark streets, branching from it, that contained the greatest suffering, filth and danger.
Whitechapel remained poor through the first half of the 20th century, although somewhat less desperately so. It suffered great damage in the Blitz, although a number of historic buildings survived. By the mid 20th century, the Jewish community was dispersing towards the suburbs, and a new community of immigrant textile workers, predominantly Bangladeshi, was arriving in the area, a movement which gathered momentum in the 1970s.
Walk Details
(A) Whitechapel Underground Station - Opened in 1876 for steam services on the East London Line (ELR) and extended in 1884 for Metropolitan and District line services. The ELR line was closed in 1995 and replaced by a new London Overground service from Highbury to West Croydon in 2010-11. The Station is currently being extended to accommodate the new Cross Rail railway line
(B) Ideas Store (2005) - Cost £12 million. A public library designed by David Adjaye which was one of six finalists for the 2006 Royal Institution of British Architects Sterling Prize.
(B1) Albion Brewery - An imposing building, partly hidden behind gate. This was part of the old brewery, dating from 1808. Note clock and prominent carving of St George and the Dragon.
(C) Blind Beggar Pub (1894) - Built on the site of a 17th century inn. It is named after an Elizabethan ballad relating to Henry de Montford, who was blinded at the battle of Evesham in 1286, and the suitors for his daughter Betsey. Notorious for being the site of a murder by one of the Kray twins in 1966.
(D) The Mile End Waste was once an extensive open space, frequently used for meetings and political debates. William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, preached his first open-air sermon on this spot. There are two statues commemorating him and, also, a bust of King Edward VII, who became king at the age of 60 reigning for just 11 years (1901 – 1911).
(E) Trinity Almshouses (Grade I-listed) were built in 1695 by the Corporation of Trinity House for 28 mariners, or their widows, and modernised after bombing in 1941. (E1) Tower Hamlets Mission works with people suffering from alcohol and/or drug dependency. It was established in 1870 by Frederick Charrington of the brewery family, who as a young man saw the harsh effects of drunkenness and renounced his brewery inheritance.
(F) Sidney Street - Further down this road in Jan 1911, at number 100, a gang of 3 anarchists, wanted for the murder of 3 policemen, were cornered by 200 police. Shooting broke out and the anarchists, with superior weapons, managed to hit the young Home Secretary Winston Churchill – the bullet passing through his top hat. 800 Scots guards were called in and the siege eventually ended in a fire, in which the anarchists died.
(G) Cavell Street - Edith Cavell (1865 –1915) was a former nurse at the Royal London Hospital, executed for assisting some 200 Allied soldiers to escape from German-occupied Belgium during World War 1.
(H) Royal London Hospital – Founded in 1740 and moved here in 1757. It is currently in the later stages of a £1 billion reconstruction. In addition to its international reputation as a hospital. it is also noted for the 'Elephant Man' (H1) and the London Air Ambulance (H2). It also has an attractive museum (V).
(H1) Elephant Man - Joseph Merrick suffered from a medical condition that gave him a skull twice the size of a normal person. He earned a living in Victorian 'freak shows' ,and for a time occupied an empty shop opposite the Royal London Hospital, where Sir Frederick Treves, the distinguished surgeon, first met him. Treves subsequently found Joseph a room in the London Hospital, where Joseph lived in relative privacy until his death in 1890, aged 27.
(H2) London Air Ambulance - An independent charity, based here since 1990. It primarily deals with severe injuries, where the condition can change rapidly and speed is of the essence. It has flown over 20,000 missions since it started.
(I) Fire Marks - The row of old houses in Mount Terrace have fire marks (concrete badges) on the outside at first floor level. Prior to this, municipal fire services and insurance companies often had their own appliances, but would only extinguish fires on properties carrying their insurance mark.
(J) Fieldgate Street Synagogue is one of the last relics of the Jewish East End. Established in 1899 and rebuilt in 1950 following war damage, It attracted over 500 visitors, including school groups, in 2010 at which time services were being held monthly on Shabbat and at major festivals. You can see a video of a service filmed at the synagogue in 2011 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWRP5TmYjkc
(K) East London Mosque (1985) - Surrounding the synagogue on 3 sides it is ne of the largest mosques in U.K. holding up to 4,500 people. It was expanded in 2004 by the addition of the adjacent London Muslim Centre. The centre has two multipurpose halls, a seminar suite, a nursery, classrooms, a fitness centre, a small Islamic library, a radio station, retail units and offices.
(L) Whitechapel Bell Foundry - This is Britain’s oldest manufacturing company. Established in 1570 and in present premises since 1738. Cast both Big Ben and the Liberty Bell. There are museum displays, and pre-booked guided tours are available on Saturdays.
(M) German Church - The Catholic German church of St Boniface was originally built here in 1875 to serve German-speaking immigrants. German bombing raids in 1940 almost totally destroyed it. Rebuilt in 1960, it now serves a wider business and tourist community from the City and West End.
(N) Alab Ali Park - it is the site of the old 13th Century white chapel, St. Mary Matfelon, from which the area of Whitechapel gets its name. Originally named St Mary’s Park, it was re-named in 1998 in memory of Altab Ali, a 25-year-old Bangladeshi clothing worker murdered on 4 May 1978 in the adjacent Adler Street, by three teenage boys as he walked home from work. The arch at the entrance, designed by David Peterson, incorporates a complex Bengali-style pattern intending to represent the merging of different cultures in East London, and is built on the remains of the chapel.
(N1) Martyrs Monument (1999) - The Shaheed Minar (left) is a smaller replica of the Martyrs Monument in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and symbolises a mother protecting her children, with the orb of the sun in the background.
(N2) Whitechapel Fountain - Was transferred here in 1879. Note the church railings at back. Drinking fountains providing clean water were an important means of preventing the frequent cholera epidemics that caused many deaths in the 19th century.
(O) Whitechapel Gallery (Grade II listed) - The Whitechapel Art Gallery was founded in 1901 to bring great art to the people of east London, and has an international reputation. Free admission. (11.00 – 1800, Thurs till 2100. Closed Mondays). There is one chargeable exhibition annually but free admission is granted on the 1st Wednesday of month.
Note the blue plaque to Isaac Rosenberg (1890 –1918). His "Poems from the Trenches" are some of the most outstanding written during the First World War. He is also commemorated in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner.
(O1) Radical Murals (c 2005) - The murals on the walls of the Freedom Press Bookshop (anarchist) depict radical writers and artists from all over the world and were funded by the Bethnal Green City Challenge regeneration project.
(O2) 88 Whitechapel Road (Grade II listed) - The sculpture sign over the entrance is by Arthur Szyk (1894-1951), a noted artist of Polish-Jewish origin. It was commissioned by the Jewish Daily Post, which occupied the building from 1926-35. Albert’s Menswear moved here in 1942 and incorporated the sign into the shop front design in the 50’s as a reflection of the building’s continuing Jewish connections.
(O3) Gunthorpe Street Tiles (c 2005) - This was designed by pupils of Canon Barnett School as part of the Bethnal Green City Challenge regeneration project.
(P) Jack the Ripper- In the late 1880s there were many women working in the sex industry on the streets in this area. In the period 1888-91, eleven ‘Whitechapel Murders’ took place. Of these crimes, five are widely attributed to 'Jack the Ripper'. These unsolved attacks caused widespread terror and drew the attention of social reformers to the squalor and vice of the area.
(Q) Toynbee Hall - Founded in 1884, it has always served as a centre for social reform and peace activism. The then radical idea was that graduates would live locally, and undertake social work in deprived areas. Clement Attlee, the Labour Party leader and Prime Minister from 1945, and Lord Beveridge, economist, social reformer and author of the "Beveridge Report" that led to the founding of the 1945 Welfare State programme, stayed here. A number of other like-minded residents were involved in the emerging union and labour movement and campaigns for equality for ethnic minorities and combatting fascism. The Workers Education Association (1903) and the Child Poverty Action Group (1965) were founded here. (The main entrance is in Commercial Road).
(R) Brick Lane Arch (1997) - Designed by Mina Thaker. This is situated at the entrance to ‘Bangla Town’ with its many curry houses. The red and green colours are reminiscent of the national flag of Bangladesh.
(S) Fulbourne Street - An 1829 map shows a small lane off Fulbourne Street called Ducking Pond Row. Ducking Ponds were once used to ‘test’ witches or punish scolding wives. During the early 20th century a building here was the home of the radical left. In May 1907 some 105 Bolsheviks who had been hounded out of Russia met in Fulbourne Street. They included Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin.
(T) Durward Street - The 'Jack the Ripper terror' started on Friday 31st August 1888 when the body of Mary Ann Nicholls, aged 42, was found in Bucks Row (now called Durward Street). Her murder was particularly gruesome, and she was subsequently acknowledged to be the first of the 'Ripper's' victims.
(U) King Edward VII Fountain - Drinking fountain erected by the Jewish community in 1911 to commemorate the life of King Edward VII. Originally cast in bronze, it was stolen so often that it has long been replaced by cheaper materials.
V) Hospital museum Worth a visit .Open Tues – Fri 10.00 – 16.30. Free admission, donations invited. Edith Cavell and Joseph Merrick (the 'Elephant Man') are also featured.