[1] Cross Devons Road at the pedestrian lights outside the station and turn left. Just before the black and white roundabout, turn right along the footpath that goes through a tunnel under a building into Knapp Road to the Clara Grant Primary School (previously Devons Road School) on the right.
(A) Clara Grant Primary School is named after Clara Grant (1867 – 1949) who was an education reformer. She became headmistress of Devons Road School in 1900. She provided a hot breakfast for the children in her care, supplied some with clothes and shoes and – most famously – created and distributed Farthing Bundles which provided children with toys to call their own. She received an OBE in 1949 and is buried in Tower Hamlets cemetery.
Cross Spanby Road and continue straight ahead along Cantrell Road to follow a high brick wall on your left.
(B) The site of the Bow Common Gas Works and Holders or gasometers lies behind the wall and the domes of the huge gas holders can still be seen through the gates. These were used to store gas and to ensure gas pipes were operated at a safe pressure. Gas was stored in the gasometers during the day when little gas was being used. At about 5pm there used to be a great demand for gas and the holder would sink down as the gas was used to supply the district.
[2] Go through a vehicular road barrier and under a railway bridge, then turn right through a gate into Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park (www.towerhamletscemetery.org/).
[C] Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, also known as Bow Cemetery, is one of London's "Magnificent Seven" Cemeteries that were created to cater for London’s growing need for more burial sites. (The population was increasing and the small urban churchyards, were so overcrowded and so close to where people lived, worked and worshipped that they were causing disease and ground water contamination). The cemetery opened in 1841 and was divided into a consecrated part for Anglican burials and an unconsecrated part for all other denominations. In 1966 it closed and in 2001 became Tower Hamlets' first Local Nature Reserve. It now comprises 33 acres of mature, broadleaved woodland and meadow. Most old gravestones have been left – some in regimented rows and other in more ramshackle clusters - and portray the Victorian preoccupation with death. You’ll see truncated columns (a life cut short), upturned flaming torches (a life extinguished) and many other symbolic carvings.
Take the path to the left, not directly ahead, and ignore all side paths until, after passing through a wooded area with groups of headstones on either side, you reach an open area where several paths meet. Take the path along the right edge of the clearing and follow this until it ends at a T-junction. Turn left here and almost immediately you will see a Cemetery Park sign identifying the open area on the right as once part of a turning circle
(D) As it is difficult to reverse a horsedrawn carriage, a turning circle had to be provided to turn the horsedrawn hearses.
When your path reaches the main path round the edge of the cemetery, turn left. Ahead on the city skyline is a view of the ‘Gherkin’ through the trees. At a crossroad, marked by another Cemetery Park sign, turn left to walk down to the large Westwood family memorial and then right. At the end of this path turn right to reach the War memorial and walk round it to go down the edge of the park with a fence on your right. This takes you through a wide gate in a crossing fence. On the left are a group of pointed headstones to the Brothers of Sutton’s Hospital.
(E) In 1611 Thomas Sutton, the wealthiest commoner in England, used much of his wealth to endow a charitable foundation - the Brothers of Sutton’s Hospital of Charterhouse to educate boys and care for elderly men, known as 'Brothers' who had fallen on hard times. Burials of the Brothers were carried out here between 1854 and 1929. Each of the pointed headstones bears the 8 names of the Brothers who were buried in each grave.
Exit the fenced in area through a small gate, turn right and follow the path to an open area and out of the park through a kissing gate onto Cantrell Road again. Turn right then go left under the railway along Bow Common Lane.
[3] Cross the road and walk through the small gardens of Akroyd Drive Green Link, parallel to the railway. Pass the allotments, cross the road and turn left down Leopold Street. Go along the path at the end to St Paul’s Way (Wallwood Street is opposite). Turn right to the traffic lights, cross St Paul’s Way and then Burdett Road. Turn left and walk along Burdett Road until it crosses the canal.
[4] On the far side of the canal bridge, take the steps down onto the canal towpath and turn right along the path under the road. Proceed along the towpath passing under the Bow Common Lane bridge.
(F) This is the Limehouse Cut , the oldest canal in London. It was constructed in 1766 to create a short-cut from the Lee Navigation at Bromley-by-Bow to the River Thames at Limehouse Basin, thus avoiding the many curves of the lower reaches of the River Lea at Bow Creek and the need to wait for a good tide to sail round the Isle of Dogs.
[5] Just before the next bridge ascend the steps to reach Violet Road. Across the road is the brick building of Spratt's Patent Limited.
(G) James Spratt from Cincinnati, Ohio became the first to manufacture dog biscuits and other products for canines on a worldwide scale circa 1860. He created the "Patented Meat Fibrine Dog Cakes" which were initially sold to English country gentlemen for their sporting dogs. The first coloured display billboard depicted a Native American buffalo hunt, the alleged meat source of Spratt's "Meat Fibrine” but Spratt was always very secretive about the actual meat source for his product. Spratt's Patent Limited, his former factory, was built in 1899. Today the factory is a well-preserved site housing over 100 live-work units.
Turn left on to Violet Road to cross over the canal. Cross over the road and continue ahead to the roundabout. Turn right along Devons Road to return to the station.