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!Michael StrachanA City and East End Walk

Copyright © heritagewalks.london 2014 75 West Street, Harrow on the Hill, London HA1 3EL info@walkingthepast.co.uk First published in the UK in 2016 Updated and republished in the UK in 2018 Text and images copyright © Michael Strachan Michael Strachan has asserted his rights to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. (The cover illustration shows the site of the Princelet Street Synagogue).

!Michael StrachanA City and East End Walk

INTRODUCTION Explore an area enriched over by French Huguenots, Irish weavers, Russian and Polish Jews and Bangladeshis; from Spitalfields and Petticoat Lane markets to Brick Lane; from narrow lanes where Jack the Ripper stalked his vic-tims to the commercial towers of Canary Wharf. The East End developed from the 17th century villages that clustered around the City walls and along the rivers surrounded by farmland and marshes. Industries related to the construction, repair, and victualling of ships flourished in the area from Tudor times and this attracted large numbers of rural people looking for employment. Successive waves of foreign immigration began with Huguenot refugees creating a new silk-weaving community in Spitalfields in the 17th century. They were followed by Irish weavers, Ashkenazi Jews and, in the 20th century, Bangladeshis. Many of these immigrants worked in the clothing industry. This rich variety of cultures of the mysterious docklands made the East End a vibrant, colourful and sometimes dangerous place to live. Many writers used the East End as the setting for their colourful characters such as the infamous Fagin caricature of Charles Dickens, the evil Fu Manchu of Sax Rohmer and the opium smoking Dorian Gray of Oscar Wilde. All of these were eclipsed by the awful reality of Jack the Ripper, the Houndsditch Murders and the notorious, but 1Bevis Marks SynagoguePetticoat Lane Market c 1930‘Port_of_London’ - Anders_Svarstad,

extremely well-connected Kray twins in the twentieth cen-tury. Jewish life flourished here in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the markets and synagogues and there are still traces of this to be found among the curry houses of Brick Lane and its surroundings including the Bevis Marks and Sandy Row synagogues. Out of the poverty came movements for social reform and the radicalism of the East End contributed to the forma-tion of the Labour Party. The destruction of the Blitz led to massive re-housing and movements out into the suburbs. The Canary Wharf development, improved the area’s in-frastructure, and the construction of the Olympic Park shows that the East End is still undergoing dramatic de-velopment and change. To hear these two pages read back to you click this icon 2If you would like to donate an amount which will help us cover our costs and continue to work on new publications please scan or tap the QR link below:

Planning Your Walk If possible, walk with a friend. Tell someone where you are going. Take care w he n wa lk in g at n ig ht . Wear sensible clothes and footwear. Always take a bottle of water to avoid de-hydration. Don't try to do too much in one visit. Check the opening times of all Museums and Galleries online. Take your camera or camera phone with batteries fully charg ed . Don’t forget to download your free Quiz and Plaque scoresheets by using the URL links on the next page… Start from Aldgate Tube station (Circle & Metropolitan lines). End at Aldgate East Tube station (District & Hammersmith & City lines) Use the Transport for London (TFL) planner to plan your journey 33.0 km 1-2 hrsIf printing out,! do staple these! pages!together! for ease of use.

To make your walk more interesting… …we have created an on-line, interactive map which you can find by clicking the link below, or by scanning the green QR code opposite. This will only work if you are reading this guide on a smart device like an iPad: Plot-a-Route map We have also added some fun challenges - the first is a picture quiz. So you need to look out for interesting ob-jects such as ‘street furniture’, statues and architectural features shown in the I-Spy Challenge scoresheet. Click the link below, or scan the pink QR code opposite, to access a download for this scoresheet. It can then be printed or saved: I-Spy Challenge The second challenge is to ‘bag’ all the plaques along this walk. These are listed on a ‘Pastwalkers’ scoresheet along with their ‘what3words’ loca-tions. (Click the information icon op-posite for more about how ‘What3Words’ works). The plaque scores are based on age and quality rather than the importance of the person or event commemorated. Download by clicking on the link below, or by scanning the blue QR code opposite: Plaque Challenge 4Tick them off when you find them

When you arrive at the station head for the exit lobby where you’ll see the first plaque - a memorial to passengers on a Circle Line train who died during a bomb attack in 2005. One of the four suicide bombers involved in the 7 July terrorist attacks det-onated a device on a Circle line train approaching Aldgate killing seven passengers. At the main exit from the station turn right and walk along Aldgate… On your immediate right you will see a modern building, Dorsett’s. Turn very briefly around the corner of this building to view the next plaque… Phillis Wheatley was the first African-American au-thor of a published book of poetry. Born in West Africa, she was sold into slavery at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America, where she was bought by the Wheatley family of Boston. After she learned to read and write, they encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent. On a 1773 trip to London with her mas-ter's son, seeking publication of her work, Wheatley met prominent people who became patrons. The publication in London of her book Poems on Vari-ous Subjects, Religious and Moral on September 1,1773, brought her fame in England and the Amer- 5Phillis Wheatley

ican colonies. Figures such as George Washington praised her work and she was emancipated by her masters shortly after the publication of her book. When they died, she married John Peters, a poor grocer. They lost three children who died young and Wheatley herself died in poverty and obscurity aged just 31. Continue along Aldgate to enter St Botolph’s Church and Churchyard… St Botolph’s Church was one of four in medieval London dedicated to Saint Botolph or Botwulf, a 7th-century East Anglian saint, each of which stood by one of the gates to the City. By the end of the 11th century Botolph had be-come the patron saint of boundaries, and also of trade and travel. St Botolph's was rebuilt between 1741 and 1744, to a design by George Dance the Elder. The exterior is brick with projecting quoins, stone windows and a stone cornice. The tower, also of brick, has rusticated quoins, and a distinctive stone spire. Inside there are galleries along three sides. The church is lit by two rows of windows on each side wall, one above and one be-low the gallery. Do have a look inside if you can where you will see the oldest complete organ in England built by Renatus Harris and dating from 1744. 6St Botolph’s Church

The church is sited on an ‘island’ surrounded by roadways and was often referred to as the "Church of Prostitutes”. Women standing nearby on street corners were easy targets for the police, so to es-cape arrest the prostitutes would parade around the island, now occupied by the church and the station! As you walk along the front of the church look out for an old-fashioned police box and a me-morial drinking fountain… This police box is just a small version - the larger ones could hold a prisoner or be used by a policeman to take a break, or even be converted by Time Lords for journeying on fantastic ad-ventures through time and space. The memorial plaque on the fountain is ’In honoured memory of Frederic Dav-id Mocatta In recognition of a bene-volent life and was erected January 16th 1905.’ Cross the road briefly to the corner of Jewry Street… …where at you’ll see a Corporation of London plaque commemorating the site of ‘Aldgate, demol-ished in 1760’. Return to Aldgate Square by crossing the road… 7Frederic David Mocatta

Cross Aldgate Square… To your left is ‘The Aldgate School’ (formerly Sir John Cass's Foundation Primary School) - a Church of Eng-land primary school. It is the only state-funded school in the City of London and was renamed in September 2020 due to concerns over Cass's historic links with the Atlantic slave trade. Turn slight left onto Duke's Place… …and divert briefly down this road… There is a metal Corporation of London plaque tucked away behind a column of this massive black building commemorating ‘The Great Synagogue’ - the earliest Ashkenazi synagogue constructed in London, after the return of Jews to England in the 17th century, built about 1690. It was destroyed on the night of May 10/11, 1941, during one of the last major attacks of the Blitz. Return to the entrance to St James’ Passage and divert briefly down to Mitre Square - ( marked in red on the route map…) There is a plaque here in the pleasant gardens of Mitre Square marking the site of the Holy Trinity priory founded in 1108, but none to mark that this 8Catherine ‘Kate’ Eddowes

place was the site of the fourth Jack the Ripper killing - that of Catherine Eddowes. She now has a plaque in the city where she was born - Wolver-hampton. Mitre Square was then an enclosed area overshad-owed by three imposing warehouse buildings. Three uninhabited houses and a shop backed onto its south west corner, whilst two further houses nestled between the warehouses. (See the YouTube video below…) There is a blue City plaque stating that this area was the ‘Site of the Priory of the Holy Trinity, founded 1108’ This square roughly cover s the area of the cloisters of the priory. Retrace your steps back to Duke’s Place and contin-ue towards Bevis Marks Synagogue … 9

One of the highlights of this walk – the synagogue was built in 1701 but is now surrounded by modern office buildings. It is affiliated to London's historic Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community. It is a Grade I listed building and is the only synagogue in Europe which has held regular services continuously for more than 300 years. The origins of the community date from when the Marranos, came to London from Spain and Portugal, mostly via the growing Sephardi Jewish community in Amsterdam, in the early seventeenth century. These Jews began practising their religion openly once the Jewish resettlement in England had taken place under the rule of Oliver Crom-well. Services began at a synagogue in Creechurch Lane in 1657 and the present structure was completed in September 1701. The layout and interior decor and furnishing reflect the influence of the great Portuguese Synagogue of Amsterdam of 1675. Some also claim that the design was also influenced by Christopher Wren, the archi-tect of the nearby St Paul's Cathedral. There is a war memorial plaque at this site which contains just one woman’s name - Kate Cleopatra Bonny. She was fatally injured by a bomb dropped by a seaplane in the first German daylight raid on Thanet where she was staying with her family in September 1915. Kate was waiting for her parents to 10Bevis Marks interior

arrive home prior to Yom Kippur and was injured by splinters. She died four days later. Also named on this memorial is Frank Alexander De Pass who won a Victoria Cross as an Indian Army Lieutenant. He was the first Jewish soldier to receive this award during the First World War. R e t r a c e y o u r s t e p s ba c k t o Creechurch Lane and turn right into it… Walk on to the corner of Bury Street… There is a plaque here on the corner of a modern building marking the ’Site of First Synagogue after the resettlement, 1657 - 1701.’ The words ‘Spanish & Portuguese Jews' Congregation’ appear around the edge rather than ‘Corporation of London’. Turn up Bury Street past the ‘Gherkin’ build-ing… Completed in December 2003 and opened in April 2004 ‘the Gherkin’ is 180 metres (591! ft) tall and stands on the sites of the former Baltic Exchange and Chamber of Shipping, which were extensively damaged in 1992 in the Baltic Exchange bombing by a device placed by the Provisional IRA. 11Frank Alexander de Pass VC

After plans to build the 92-storey Mil-lennium Tower were dropped, 30 St Mary Axe was designed by Norman Foster and the Arup Group and con-structed by Skanska starting in 2001. One of the city's widely recognised ex-amples of contemporary architecture it won the 2003 Emporis Skyscraper Award. Follow Bury Street as it turns right around this building until you reach a grey stone set in the pavement (see right) … On a low surrounding wall to your left is a curious memorial to an unknown Roman Girl. As the site was cleared after the Baltic Exchange bombing in 1995, an archeologist from the Museum of London made the dis-covery of the remains of young Roman girl, who died aged between 13 and 17 years. She probably died somewhere in the period 350 – 400 AD. The Romans left London in 410 AD so this was towards the end of their occupation. In April 2007 – after the Museum of London were happy with their tests and find-ings – a service was held in St Botolph’s Church, Aldgate followed by 12The ‘Gherkin’Pavement burial marker

a procession to the burial site in Bury Street EC3. Walk back down Bury Street and turn right across the Gherkin plaza to Saint Mary Axe… Turn left down St Mary Axe and look for number 10 just beyond the entrance to Brown’s Build-ings… There is a plaque here marking the site of a church founded around 1170 and dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin and St Ursula and her 11,000 Virgins. St. Mary came to dominant the name, but retained the axe, supposedly used in the massacre of the 11,000 virgins, and the church became known as St. Marie apud Ax. Following the dissolution of the mon-asteries, the parish was merged with neighbouring St Andrew Undershaft, and eventually pulled down around 1560-70 as it had fallen into disrepair. Retrace your steps back up St Mary Axe towards the Gherkin and look across the road for an old, rather small church… The Church of St Helen and its office building con-tain a small courtyard where you will find the next plaque dedicated, unusually perhaps, to a famous scientist Robert Hooke. 13Robert Hooke?

Hooke was an English polymath active as a scientist and architect, who, using a microscope, was the first to visualise and draw a micro-organism (see dia-gram opposite from his book Micro-graphia). To support his scientific en-quires as a young man he performed over half of the architectural surveys after London'great fire of 1666. Hooke was also a member of the Royal Soci-ety and from 1662 was its curator of experiments. He was also Professor of Geometry at Gresham College. Retrace your steps back to Saint Mary Axe and turn left continuing along St Mary Axe until you reach Bevis Marks… Cross Bevis Marks into the con-tinuation of St Mary Axe until you reach Houndsditch… Houndsditch is a street running through parts of the Portsoken and Bishopsgate Without wards of the City of London. The road follows the line of the outside edge of the ditch which once ran outside the London Wall. The road took its name from the section of ditch between Bishopsgate and Aldgate. The name may derive from the widespread dumping of rubbish, or the dumping of dead dogs; or the scavenging of the waste by feral 14Louse diagram, MicrographiaHoundsditch by Gustave More

dogs. The image above is by Gustave Dore and gives an impression of the poverty of this area in the nine-teenth century. Turn right onto Houndsditch and cross over and turn left into Cutler Street… Cutler Street makes a sharp right turn as it reaches Devonshire Square… Look across the road for the next plaque on a low wall before turning right along the continuation of Cutler Street… The Houndsditch Murders episode began in December 1910 with an attempted jewellery robber by a gang of Latvian immigrants which resulted in the murder of the three City of London policemen 15

mentioned in this plaque, the wound-ing of two others, and the death of George Gardstein, the leader of the Latvian gang. The plan was to burgle a jewellers at 119 Houndsditch by break-ing in from the house behind (rented for the purpose), which fronted onto Cutler Street, opposite this plaque. The episode ended in January 1911 with the ‘Siege of Sydney Street’ in which police and the Army killed members of the Latvian gang. Winston Churchill, then Home Secretary, was controversially present at the siege. Turn left onto Harrow Place… Turn left onto Middlesex Street and look for the next plaque marking the offices of the Jewish Board of Guardians next to the door of the pub ‘The Astronomer’… The Board of Guardians and Trustees for the Relief of the Jewish Poor Registered (known as the Jewish Board of Guardians) provided help for those who had been in the country for over six months. Foun-ded by! Lionel L. Cohen and! Ephraim Alex who was its president until 1869. On its foundation the Board stated that: “the teach-ings of religion, the impulses of humanity and the 16Winston Churchill at the siege of Sydney Street

doctrines of social sciences alike concur in recom-mending and consecrating an enlarged and expans-ive charity, and in distinguishing it from mere alms-giving. Retrace your steps back down Middlesex Street and turn left onto Widegate Street… As you walk down this street, notice its narrowness and look at the brickwork above the restaurant at number 12, originally a Jewish shop - the Nordheim Model Bakery. These glazed ceramic reliefs were installed in 1926 and were made by Poole Pottery. The artist was Philip Lindsey Clark. Having served in the First World War, winning the DSO, he returned to Royal Academy Schools to continue his training, becoming a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy and from 1921 onwards at the Paris Salon. From 1930 his work became more influenced by his growing faith and he eventually became a Carmelite Tertiary. Turn into Sandy’s Row and make a short diversion to see Sandy’s Row synagogue… Sandy’s Row is an historic Grade II lis-ted synagogue and former church built 17Sandy’s Row SynagoguePhilip Lindsey Clark Picture source: spitalfieldslife.com

by refugee French Huguenots in 1766. It was later converted into a Baptist chapel and in 1867 was bought by a Jewish congregation. The building’s renovation was opposed by London's established synagogues, whose offi-cials believed that the new immigrants ought to join one of the established congregations. The poor, immigrant Jews of London's East End, however, felt so strongly about having to sit in the free or cheap seats reserved for the poor in the es-tablished synagogues, so they raised money to purchase and renovate this building at the rate of a penny per family per week. By 1881 Sandys Row was among the largest congregations in the East End, with a membership of over 460 families and adult men. It is now the oldest surviving Ashkenazi synagogue in London. Retrace your steps and turn left onto Artillery Passage and pause… Looking down Artillery Passage from Sandy’s Row, you’ll catch a glimpse of 17th Century London. This conservation area shows the historic street patterns of narrow lanes, passages and courtyards – an un-usual relic of the historic inner city. The area’s architectural style is narrow-fronted Geor-gian two, three and four storey houses each with a 18Sandy’s Row interior

mansard roof and small shops on the ground floor. The houses sit forward, overlooking the streets and lanes to form continuous building lines. The street names themselves recall when Spitalfields was known as ‘The Old Ar-tillery Ground’ – appointed by King Henry VIII as an area for weaponry practice. The later developers chose street names like Gun Street, Artillery Passage and Artillery Lane to reflect the land’s former usage. Walk down Artillery Passage before turning slightly right into Artillery Lane and then left to reach Crispin Street… Turn briefly right and then left into White's Row… At the end of White's Row turn left onto Commercial Street… On your left is the site where Jack the Ripper murdered Mary Kelly… Mary Jane Kelly (c. 1863 – 9 November 1888), also known as Marie Jeanette Kelly, Fair Emma, Ginger, Dark Mary and Black Mary. She is widely believed to have been the final victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who murdered at least five women in the 19Mansard roofNewspaper illustration of Mary Jane Kelly

Whitechapel and Spitalfields districts of London from late August to early November 1888. At the time of her death, she was approximately 25 years old, working as a prostitute and living in relative poverty. Kelly was murdered within the sparsely furnished single room she rented at 13 Miller's Court, afford-ing her murderer an enough time, (about two hours), to eviscerate and mutilate her body. Other victims had been attacked outdoors over a short period - perhaps only several minutes. Spitalfields market is a prominent building on Commercial Street… This building housing Spitalfields Market is a mag-net for shoppers and anyone seeking a huge variety of food and fashion. 20Spitalfields Market

Spitalfields was relatively rural until the Great Fire of London. By 1666, traders had begun to operate beyond the city gates – on the site where today’s market stands. The landmark Truman’s Brewery opened in 1669 and in 1682 King Charles II granted John Balch a Royal Charter giving him the right to hold a market on Thursdays and Saturdays in or near Spital Square. The successful market drew others to settle in the area and, following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, Huguenots fleeing France brought their silk weaving skills to Spitalfields. We’ll see their grand houses later in this walk. The Huguenots were followed by Irish weavers in the mid-1700s following the decline in the Irish linen in-dustry and many of went on to work in the construc-tion of the nearby London docks. As the area grew in popularity, Spitalfields became a par-ish in its own right in 1729 when Nich-olas Hawkesmoor’s Christ Church was consecrated. The Irish were followed by East Eu-ropean Jews escaping the Polish pogroms and harsh conditions in Rus-sia; as well as entrepreneurial Jews from the Netherlands. From the 1880s to 1970s Spitalfields was overwhelmingly Jewish and prob-ably one of the largest Jewish com-munities in Europe with over 40 Synagogues. 21Nicholas Hawkesmoor

Christ Church is on the right… Christ Church Spitalfields is an Anglican church built between 1714 and 1729 to a design by Nicholas Hawksmoor in today's London Bor-ough of Tower Hamlets. It was one of the first (and arguably one of the finest) of the so-called "Commissioners' Churches" built for the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches, which had been established by an Act of Par-liament in 1711. The purpose of the Commission was to acquire sites and build fifty new churches to serve London's new set-tlements. This parish was carved out of the medieval Stepney parish for an area then dom-inated by Huguenots (French Protestants and other 'dissenters' who owed no allegiance to the Church of England or the King) as a show of Anglican au-thority. Some Huguenots used it for baptisms, marriages and burials but not for everyday worship, preferring their own chapels (their chapels were severely plain compared with the ‘bombastic’ English Baroque style of Christ Church) though increasingly they were assimilated into English life and Anglican worship – which was in the eighteenth century relatively plain. 22Christ Church Spitalfields

The Commissioners for the new churches including Christopher Wren, Thomas Archer and John Vanbrugh appointed two surveyors, one of whom was Nicholas Hawksmoor. Only twelve of the planned fifty churches were built, of which six were designed by Hawksmoor. (A new walk is planned for 2023 link-ing the London churches designed by Hawkesmoor). Turn sharp right onto Fournier Street… Turn left onto Wilkes Street… Turn right onto Princelet Street and look for a plaque commemorating Anna Maria Garthwaite at number 2… She was an English textile designer known for creat-ing vivid floral designs for hand-woven silk fabrics in the mid-18th century. Anna Garthwaite was one of the premiere English designers of her day. Many of her original designs in watercolours have survived, and silks based on these designs have been identi-fied in portraiture such as the one shown above of a rich American lady. 23Mrs Charles Willing painted by Robert Feke in 1746 wearing a gown of English silk damask woven to a surviving 1743 design by Anna Maria Garthwaite

Number 6 Princelet Street is where the first pur-pose-built Yiddish theatre in London was opened – The Hebrew Dramatic Club – founded in 1886 by David Smith, a kosher butcher. It closed down tragic-ally in 1887 when 17 people died after someone wrongly shouted, “fire” and the audience stam-peded for the exit. (See the image of the damaged interior below). Next door, at number 8 Princelet Street, the image of a viola is embed-ded in the pavement outside to com-memorate the famous viola player Li-onel Tertis (1876-1975) who had once lived lived in this house. His father, the Revd. Alexander Tertis was the reader and mohel at the synagogue (number 19) across the street. 24Picture source: www.printsplace.co.ukLionel Tertis

The next plaque can be seen at number 17 which commemorates Miriam Moses, a Labour politician, who helped to found the Brady Girls’ club. This or-ganisation gave food, clothing, recreation and edu-cation to Jewish children in need, fun-ded by wealthy ‘West End’ Jews who had made good.! Miriam Moses was also involved with the Jewish section of the Children’s Country Holiday Fund – a charity providing holidays to chil-dren who would otherwise never have seen the English countryside. The photo opposite shows Miriam with some of her guests on the TV show ‘This is your life’. Number 19 Princelet Street was the former Princelet Street Synagogue, which closed down in the 1970s. The front of the building is a former Huguenot house built in 1722, but at the rear is a synagogue, built in 1862. The building has become famous as the setting for the mystery of the re-clusive Jewish autodidact David Rod-insky, who disappeared in the late 1960s and whose room above this synagogue was discovered undis-turbed 20 years later - an event de-scribed in the book Rodinsky’s Room, by Rachel Lichtenstein and Iain Sin-clair. 25

Turn left onto Brick Lane past Dray Walk to reach the Truman Brewery where you will find the next plaque… This English Heritage blue plaque commemorates Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton a prominent nineteenth-century Anti-Slavery Campaigner. The Brewery site is now a centre for ‘revolutionary arts and media quarter, is home to a hive of creative businesses as well as exclusively independent shops, galleries, markets, bars and restaurants’. Retrace you steps until, on your left, you see Hanbury Street … This street was the site of another Ripper murder - Annie Chapman. Although not the first murder, it was the one that generated a wave of panic and mount-ing pressure on the police and authorities to appre-hend the culprit. Follow Brick Lane and its famous market all the way down until it becomes Osbourne Street… Look out for an arched window of a shop … 26

It used to sell just string and wrapping – but still made a living until. It closed in 1988! It’s mentioned in ‘Rodinski’s Room’. On your right on the corner of Brick Lane and Fournier Street you will see the Brick Lane Mosque. This building is now used by the latest of the immigrant groups who settled here. It was built in the 18th century by the Huguenots and then became the Machzike Hadath, the Spitalfields Great Synagogue. Almost over the road in Brick Lane is the site of the former steam baths, the Schewik, that was much used by the Jewish community. The interior is the subject of a famous painting by David Bomberg called The Mud Bath shown below. 27David Bomberg

Continue south down Brick Lane where you pass the next plaque to Haroon Shamsher – an influ-ential Indian musician. A little further on and you come to Christ Church C of E Primary School building… It was constructed over an existing graveyard by set-ting it up on arches to avoid disturbing the graves in 1873 and was completed in 1874 by local builder Christopher Forrest. Fashion Street is just on your right… Israel Zangwill mentions this street in the opening of the book Children of the Ghetto – the first Anglo-Jewish bestseller. This work established Zang-will as ‘the literary voice of Anglo-Jewry and he featured on the cover of Time Magazine. Set in late nineteenth-century London, it gave an inside look into an immigrant community that was almost as mysteri-ous to the more established middle-class Jews of Britain as to the non-Jew-ish population’. The famous playwright Arnold Wesker also lived in the street and his semi-autobiographical play ‘Chick-en Soup with Barley’ is set there. 28Sep. 17, 1923

Carry on down Brick Lane and turn right into Whitechapel High Street looking for the White-chapel Art Gallery on your right… The Whitechapel Art Gallery and Whitechapel Library were both founded by Canon Barnett and his wife Henrietta, who felt it was important that Jewish im-migrants should have access to cultural centres. The gallery, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, held exhibitions by Jewish artists from the East End such as Bomberg and Mark Gertler. The blank space above the entrance was designed to contain a mural “The Sphere of Message and Art” by the Victorian artist Walter Crane, but there was no finance. The library was used by the Jewish community to escape the poverty and overcrowding of their tenements and became known as the ‘University of the Ghetto’. Among those who used the library on a regular basis were the poet and artist Isaac Rosen-berg (his blue plaque is on the building), the writer Jacob Bronowski and the playwrights Arnold Wesker and Bernard Kops. The building, designed in the Arts and Crafts style, closed as a library and has been sold to the Whitechapel Gallery next door. 29Isaac Rosenberg

Turn into Aldgate Station where this walk ends. However, there is one last plaque to be bagged here in the station foyer. It was unveiled by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II when she visited Aldgate Under-ground station on 24th Feb 2010. 30

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