Comments on: Down A Well In Spitalfields https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/02/26/down-a-well-in-spitalfields/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Tue, 27 Feb 2018 10:17:19 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Phil Maxwell https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/02/26/down-a-well-in-spitalfields/#comment-1197327 Tue, 27 Feb 2018 10:17:19 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=164301#comment-1197327 Those fabulous thirteenth century boots remind me of my 1960s ‘winklepickers’. I wonder about the music they danced too.

]]> By: Donna Werner https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/02/26/down-a-well-in-spitalfields/#comment-1197313 Tue, 27 Feb 2018 04:04:35 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=164301#comment-1197313 What an interesting article and photographs! I love reading about history like this! Thank you!

]]> By: pauline taylor https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/02/26/down-a-well-in-spitalfields/#comment-1197302 Mon, 26 Feb 2018 22:56:01 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=164301#comment-1197302 Gilda.
The verse ends:
What a naughty boy was that
To try to drown poor pussy cat
Who never did him any harm
But killed the mice in his father’s barn.

]]> By: Gillian Tindall https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/02/26/down-a-well-in-spitalfields/#comment-1197292 Mon, 26 Feb 2018 20:41:49 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=164301#comment-1197292 The answer to Gilda Harber was that Pussy was pulled out of the well by Little Tommy Stout. And everybody said of Tommy Thin that what a naughty boy was he to treat poor Pussy so. Quite right.

]]> By: Gilda Haber, PhD https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/02/26/down-a-well-in-spitalfields/#comment-1197281 Mon, 26 Feb 2018 18:35:39 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=164301#comment-1197281 Ding dong bell
Pussy’s in the well
Who put him in
Little Tommy Tin?
Who pulled him out?
Little Tommy ?

Forget other words. Can help?
Old Girl from Spitalfields High School and evacuated wartime to Ely.
Can I send you my book Cockney Girl signed, published in UK and US? If so, would you put it on this page? Can google it on Amazon.com. Great reviews. Includes some reference to Spitalfield. Thanks, Gilda Moss Haber, PhD hathaber@gildahaber.com

]]> By: Sharon https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/02/26/down-a-well-in-spitalfields/#comment-1197279 Mon, 26 Feb 2018 18:25:37 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=164301#comment-1197279 What a wonderful find – I long to run my fingers across those plates and to place them in the impressions at the base of the jug as the potter did..

Some years ago, I was lucky enough to be invited to a Time Team Live excavation at Canterbury with Sandi Toksvig. She read some words by D H Lawrence (which I don’t think were broadcast) Today’s post reminded me of them:
“Things men have made with wakened hands and put soft life into
are awake through years with transferred touch and go on glowing for long years.
And for this reason some old things are lovely, warm still with the life of forgotten men who made them.”

]]> By: Liz Campbell https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/02/26/down-a-well-in-spitalfields/#comment-1197275 Mon, 26 Feb 2018 17:13:59 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=164301#comment-1197275 Facinating,makes me want to pump out the well in my garden.
Did Barn the Spoon sell his 1000 spoons and buy the land for his woodland?

]]> By: Susan https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/02/26/down-a-well-in-spitalfields/#comment-1197271 Mon, 26 Feb 2018 16:17:45 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=164301#comment-1197271 Very interesting Gentle Author. When I was at Central Foundation school in Spital Square there was a blue plaque on the side of our school in Steward Street. You can see it in photographs on the Collage London photo archives site if you search for Central Foundation School. The inscription read ‘Opposite this spot stood the Spital Pulpit Cross’. The school was demolished in the late 70s and I wondered what had become of the plaque. In 2014 I found it on the City of London website as ‘pending erection’, at the given address (Spital Square). Reading your article I was reminded of the plaque. I searched again today and can’t seem to find any further information about it so I assume it hasn’t been put back in Spital Square. Such a shame that such an interesting part of our history seems to be unimportant. I wonder if it will ever be put back in its rightful place? I do hope so.

]]> By: Jean Skinner https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/02/26/down-a-well-in-spitalfields/#comment-1197268 Mon, 26 Feb 2018 13:58:01 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=164301#comment-1197268 Having been to school in Spital Square, 1956 – 62, I find anything about this area incredibly fascinating.

]]> By: Adele https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/02/26/down-a-well-in-spitalfields/#comment-1197264 Mon, 26 Feb 2018 13:17:40 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=164301#comment-1197264 Amazing to think at least part of this lay beneath my school, Central Foundation Girls, in Spital Square. How my history teacher, Ms. Holt, would have revelled in this bit of local history and would have probably had us digging up the playground! When I go back to visit I will look at it through new eyes. Thanks again GA.

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