Comments on: A Pilgrimage Along The Black Path https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/04/01/a-pilgrimage-along-the-black-path/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Thu, 06 Apr 2023 15:44:13 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Marcia Howard https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/04/01/a-pilgrimage-along-the-black-path/#comment-1506144 Thu, 06 Apr 2023 15:44:13 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195264#comment-1506144 Looks to have been a lovely walk, but apart from one stray piece, all the roads and paths were clean looking and rubbish free. What joy!

]]> By: Joanna Sewell https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/04/01/a-pilgrimage-along-the-black-path/#comment-1505731 Sat, 01 Apr 2023 20:16:13 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195264#comment-1505731 Thankyou so much for historically illuminating this area I knew and loved as a child.

]]> By: John Finn https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/04/01/a-pilgrimage-along-the-black-path/#comment-1505711 Sat, 01 Apr 2023 14:00:43 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195264#comment-1505711 Hello GA, always enjoy the daily postings. The first thing I read from my email (most of the rest gets deleted!).

One comment: the Priory of St John at Clerkenwell was the HQ of the Knights Hospitallers, not the Templars whose HQ was the Temple in the City by the Thames. When the Templars were suppressed their Hackney property was handed over the Hospitallers.

]]> By: Duncan McAra https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/04/01/a-pilgrimage-along-the-black-path/#comment-1505678 Sat, 01 Apr 2023 10:51:26 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195264#comment-1505678 re paragraph 2, the Priory of St John in Clerkenwell belonged to the Knights Hospitaller.

]]> By: Bernie https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/04/01/a-pilgrimage-along-the-black-path/#comment-1505671 Sat, 01 Apr 2023 09:07:47 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195264#comment-1505671 How I would like to emulate you, GA! But the days when that was possible are long gone. Sadly, I was a schoolboy who might have done so because every Wednesday we had to follow a similar path from Cambridge Heath, where Parmiter’s School was situated to Highams Park where our sports field was placed. Torture for unsporting me! And no hint about the existence of an ancient way provided by the history master or any other teacher, alas!

]]> By: Greg T https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/04/01/a-pilgrimage-along-the-black-path/#comment-1505667 Sat, 01 Apr 2023 08:23:27 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195264#comment-1505667 Until about a year ago, “the Bell” was a decent pub, with decent beer, but unreasonable levels of “muzak” …
It’s now been internally converted into a “sports bar” (SHUDDER) with multiple screens, showing many muscle-bound morns & even higher noise levels.
As you may gather, I’m not going in there, again!
The clock tower … { Argent, in a pale Sable, a Pike’s head, erased, Or } – & the plaque commemorating the V-1 that came down there in 1944 ….
A trundle down High St – with far fewer fruit-&-veg stalls than used to be there, sellling by volume, not weight, too.
Manz’s has not only changed hands, but I didn’t realise it had re-opened … good.
The mural at the top of Copper Mill Lane …
Argall …
Over the railway, but NOT with a bicycle, or only a very lightweight one …
NO – that is not a “tributary of the Lea, it’s the Flood Overflow Channel { Not that it stops Little Egrets fishing in it in summer }
And, the Lea, proper, close to “Colditz” ( P.o.W. ) – now the Princess of Wales, of course
To Hackney – & – Lunnon-Fields & the Broadway
VERY GOOD

]]> By: Kate Amis https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/04/01/a-pilgrimage-along-the-black-path/#comment-1505665 Sat, 01 Apr 2023 08:08:01 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195264#comment-1505665 Reading this has lowered my blood pressure ! Such a soothing read..this walk is on my to do list now .Thanks GA for this lovely account of your walk .

]]> By: Christine Swan https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/04/01/a-pilgrimage-along-the-black-path/#comment-1505664 Sat, 01 Apr 2023 07:42:04 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195264#comment-1505664 Good to see that the weather was kind. My Mum was born in Leyton but then the family moved to Chingford. My Dad’s family moved from Bethnal Green to Walthamstow. My Mum described long country walks with her beloved Airedale terrier, Jack and my Dad learned to swim in the River Lea. I struggle increasingly with both of these visions whenever I visit but nearly one hundred years have passed since they had been little children. It is good to see that some patches of the natural landscape remain so that spring can make its presence felt to cheer everyone after a dismal winter.

]]>