Comments on: Lost Spitalfields

By: Judith Rodrigues

Judith Rodrigues — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 18:05:29 +0000

Well ! Ive just found my ggrandfather was born at 35 Duke Street , Old Artillary Grounds in 1881 , which I believe was renamed Fort Street? at some time? I guess the house or building is long gone now , as it seems are most of the addresses I am finding my ancestors lived in at this time – its sad that so much has gone – and just the street names with often pretty bland buildings of concrete and glass –

By: Naomi K McEneely

Naomi K McEneely — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 23:30:28 +0000

So funny to me, here in the states, to think of buildings being torn down. I know the Blitz had a great hand in this, there was that.

It is just that in the USA, buildings are constantly being torn down, rebuilt and seemingly torn down again to make way for something even newer.

In my minds eye, I see London as the city that is old and charming, and wonderful. I guess this phenomenon isn’t just in the USA.

By: michael hardie

michael hardie — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 16:33:32 +0000

what i remember about the bonsoir bedding factory in Deal street is that a boy got his head got stuck in the railings and the fire brigade had to free him.

By: Howard

Howard — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 08:28:56 +0000

The opening paragraph is very poignant and reflects my sentiments exactly.

Fantastic photographs, each one a lament.

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Sat, 25 Sep 2021 15:32:24 +0000

Beautiful captured images. A sad loss to those that knew them, and for all those who never knew them.

By: David Lawson

David Lawson — Sat, 25 Sep 2021 14:00:37 +0000

When I asked my father where he was born he always vaguely said “behind Bishopsgate Station”. It was not until long after he died more than 50 years ago I obtained his full birth certificate and discovered he was not joking. His birth was listed as 7 Fort Street, so when I moved to London I went hunting. It proved a puzzle, as this was a small stub off Artillery Lane. I later discovered that even that was a red herring.
He left London in the Thirties and even before that Fort Street, which you see on the map snaking west and south from the end of Spital Square, had been cleared for the “new” market extension. The modern stub is, in fact, the remains of Steward Street. I have managed to harvest a couple old photos tagged as the Ford Street Jewish ghetto market and one showing the junction with old Steward Street. And that’s it. I can see the type of property into which a Jewish immigrant family would have crammed in 1914, the year he was born, but not the actual buildings.
The location was transitory because my grandparents were in Hanbury Street in the 1911 census and had moved to Stepney Green by the Twenties but it gave me a feeling of “belonging” and a passion for discovering everything I could about Spitalfields, endlessly walking the streets and wishing he was still around to point out memorable places.
I’m sure he would have seen a lot he recognized, as these walks took place in the Seventies and Eighties when the area had probably changed little [except for the “new” market extension]. And he would have taken great delight in the outpouring of information from the Gentle Author after I discovered this delightful blog.
One postscript: when the area was again cleared for the monstrous office blocks fronting Bishopsgate and archaeologists discovered Roman remains under what must have been old Fort Street, I wonder whether they dug straight through remnants left by more recent immigrants. Perhaps among the rubble sent to landfill was a cheap toy my father lost one day while out playing with those children shown in your pictures, although they would have been a few years older by then.

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 25 Sep 2021 00:05:35 +0000

Such handsome lanes and byways, all gone. When I was young, the libraries of Bergen County, N.J. were chock-a block with fine old books with fine old representations of fine old architecture. English and American. Lovely books. Photogravures, even. Marvelous old interiors. Wondrous stuff.

Well, imagine, if one can: What remains of the physical fabrics themselves? I regret to tell you all these fine old books are- gone. No longer on the selves.

I can hope only they remain on the shelves of true bibliophiles.

Hugs and kisses to you all.

By: Christy S

Christy S — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 12:15:00 +0000

I wonder if earlier residents and visitors felt the same disorientation as I – or whether they sometimes welcomed a change. ‘Progress’, you know. Leaving a trail of breadcrumbs to follow is more important that people realize.

By: Dudley Diaper

Dudley Diaper — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 12:04:46 +0000

Another wonderful collection of pictures. My mother’s family, Saunders, arrived in Buxton Street from Norfolk in the 1850s.

By: paul loften

paul loften — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 10:38:58 +0000

Just look at these photos! A different world yet a part of us all because they speak of an alternative to square blocks of glass towers and corporate entities . Compare them to some other cities in this world where they have taken the trouble to renovate and restore their history rather than destroy it. The creeping realisation is that a crime is being committed. Who would want to take a trip to see glass towers and concrete blocks? A few minutes on google street view is enough.