Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
13
EAST END HIDDEN GEMS
Silent Nights at Dennis Severs' House
See below
19 Princelet Street
See p.196
Visiting an East End almshouse at the
Geffrye Museum
See p.197
Experiencing a Victorian classroom
at the Ragged School Museum
See p.201
Little Shop of Horrors
See p.433
playing peekaboo on the top of the chancel beam and, opposite, London's largest
Georgian organ. The church's restoration has saved it from falling down; sadly, it's also
removed all the atmosphere the old decaying interior once had.
South of Spitalfields Market
South of Spitalfields Market are several reminders of the old Jewish community: the
Soup Kitchen for the Jewish Poor
, on Brune Street, which opened in 1902 and closed
in 1992 (the undulating stone lettering with the Christian and Jewish dates of its
foundation are still clearly visible), a mural opposite, and the
Sandys Row synagogue
,
an old Huguenot chapel converted in 1870 for Dutch Jews and one of the few
working synagogues left in the East End. The surrounding network of narrow streets
is fascinating to walk around - unique survivors that give a strong impression of the
old East End. From the bakery at 12 Widegate St, with its high-relief ceramic friezes,
cross Sandys Row and walk down Artillery Passage into
Artillery Lane
, which boasts a
superb Huguenot shop front at no. 56. Incidentally, the ballistic connection dates
from the reign of Henry VIII, when the Royal Artillery used to hold gunnery
practice here.
Petticoat Lane (Middlesex St)
Clothes market Sun 9am-2pm
Further south from Spitalfields Market lies
Petticoat Lane
,
heavily bombed in the Blitz
and
not one of London's prettiest streets, but one with a rich history. The street
originally lay outside the City walls, and was known as Hogs Lane; later, the area
became known for its secondhand goods market, selling among other things the
petticoats that gave the market and street its new name; the authorities then renamed it
Middlesex Street in 1830 to avoid the mention of ladies' underwear (though the
original name has stuck) and tried to prevent Sunday trading here (it was finally
sanctioned by law in 1936). In the Victorian era the market grew into one of London's
largest, and by the end of the century it was known as the Jews' Market, and stood at
the heart of the Jewish East End, a “stronghold of hard-sell Judaism…into which no
missionary dared to set foot”, according to novelist Israel Zangwill. It remains the city's
number-one cheap new clothes market, with a smaller lunchtime version in the week
(Mon-Fri) on neighbouring Wentworth Street.
Dennis Severs' House
18 Folgate St • Mon noon-2pm £7, Mon “Silent Night” 6-9pm £14, Sun noon-4pm £10; Oct-May also Wed 6-9pm £14; occasional Thurs
“Exclusive Silent Night” £45 •
T
020 7247 4013,
W
dennissevershouse.co.uk •
!
Liverpool Street
You can visit one of Spitalfields' characteristic eighteenth-century terraced houses at
18 Folgate St, where the American artist
Dennis Severs
lived until 1999. Eschewing
all modern conveniences, Severs lived under candlelight, decorating his house as it
would have been two hundred years ago. The public were invited to share in the
experience which he described as like “passing through a frame into a painting”.
Today, visitors are free to explore the candle-lit rooms and are left with the distinct
impression that the resident Huguenot family has literally just popped out: there's
the smell of food, lots of clutter and the sound of horses' hooves on the cobbled
street outside.
