Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The main burial ground for Dissenters or Nonconformists (practising Christians who were
not members of the Church of England), Bunhill Fields contains three famous graves in the
central paved area: the simple tombstone of poet and artist William Blake stands next to a
replica of writer Daniel Defoe 's, while opposite lies the recumbent statue of John Bunyan ,
seventeenth-century author of The Pilgrim's Progress .
WHITECHAPEL ART GALLERY
80-82 Whitechapel High St Aldgate East 020 7522 7888, www.whitechapelgallery.org . Tues-Sun
11am-6pm (Thurs until 9pm).Free. MAP
The East End institution that draws in more outsiders than any other is the Whitechapel Art
Gallery, housed in a beautiful crenellated 1899 Arts and Crafts building, embellished with
gilded leaves by sculptor Rachel Whiteread. The gallery puts on some of London's most in-
novative exhibitions of contemporary art The complex also has a pleasant café overlooking
Angel Alley, where there's a stainless steel anarchist portrait gallery courtesy of the Free-
dom Press bookshop.
WHITECHAPEL BELL FOUNDRY
32-34 Whitechapel Rd Aldgate East 020 7247 2599, www.whitechapelbellfoundry.co.uk .Mon-Fri
9am-5pm.free.Guided tours Sat 10am, 1.30pm & 4pm.£10. MAP
Big Ben, the Liberty Bell, the Bow Bells and numerous English church bells (including
those of Westminster Abbey) all hail from this foundry, established in 1570. There's a small
exhibition on site.
BRICK LANE
Aldgate East or Shoreditch High Street Overground. MAP
Brick Lane lies at the heart of London's Bengali community, whose inexpensive curry
houses dominate the southern end of the street. The red-brick chimney half-way up Brick
Lane heralds the Old Truman Brewery , founded in 1666 and the largest in the world at the
end of the nineteenth century. It ceased operations in 1989 and is now at the centre of a
whole series of indoor markets - the Backyard Market and the Sunday Upmarket - all of
which are buzzing on Sundays, with stalls selling clothes, accessories, crafts and food. The
streets north of the brewery and the railway arches are the venue for Brick Lane's Sunday
market (Sun 8am-2pm). There are virtually no stalls in Brick Lane itself. Instead, the mar-
ket extends along Sclater Street and Cheshire Street, with stalls selling everything from
household tat to antique furniture - all going for a song.
CHRIST CHURCH, SPITALFIELDS
Commercial St Liverpool Street 020 7377 2400, www.ccspitalfields.org .Mon-Fri
10am-4pm.Free. MAP
Built between 1714 and 1729 by Nicholas Hawksmoor , Christ Church features a huge
225ft-high broach spire and giant Tuscan portico. Inside, there's a forest of columned bays,
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