The Markets Of Old London
Clare Market c.1900
I never knew there was a picture of the legendary and long-vanished Clare Market – where Joseph Grimaldi was born – until I came upon this old glass slide among many thousands in the collection of the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society, housed at the Bishopsgate Institute. Scrutinising this picture, the market does not feel remote at all, as if I could take a stroll over there to Holborn in person as easily as I can browse the details of the photograph. Yet the Clare Market slum, as it became known, was swept away in 1905 to create the grand civic gestures of Kingsway and Aldwych.
Searching through this curious collection of glass slides, left-overs from the days of educational magic lantern shows – comprising many multiple shots of famous landmarks and grim old church interiors – I was able to piece together this set of evocative photographs portraying the markets of old London. Of those included here only Smithfield, London’s oldest wholesale market, continues trading from the same building, though Leather Lane, Hoxton Market and East St Market still operate as street markets, but Clare Market, Whitechapel Hay Market and the Caledonian Rd Market have gone forever. Meanwhile, Billingsgate, Covent Garden and Spitalfields Fruit & Vegetable Market have moved to new premises, and Leadenhall’s last butcher – once the stock-in-trade of all the shops in this former cathedral of poultry – closed last year.
Markets fascinate me as theatres of commercial and cultural endeavour in which a myriad strands of human activity meet. If you are seeking life, there is no better place to look than in a market. Wherever I travelled, I always visited the markets, the black-markets of Moscow in 1991, the junk markets of Beijing in 1999, the Chelsea Market in Manhattan, the central market in Havana, the street markets of Rio, the farmers’ markets of Transylvania and the flea market in Tblisi – where, memorably, I bought a sixteenth century silver Dutch sixpence and then absent-mindedly gave it away to a beggar by mistake ten minutes later. I often wonder if he cast the rare coin away in disgust.
Similarly in London, I cannot resist markets as places where society becomes public performance, each one with its own social code, language, and collective personality – depending upon the nature of the merchandise, the location, the time of day and the amount of money changing hands. Living in Spitalfields, the presence of the markets defines the quickening atmosphere through the week, from the Thursday antiques market to the Brick Lane traders, fly-pitchers and flower market in Bethnal Green every Sunday. I am always seduced by the sense of infinite possibility when I enter a market, which makes it a great delight to live surrounded by markets.
These old glass slides, many of a hundred years ago, capture the mass spectacle of purposeful activity that markets offer and the sense of self-respect of those – especially porters – for whom the market was their life, winning status within an elaborate hierarchy that had evolved over centuries. Nowadays, the term “marketplace” is sometimes reduced to mean mere economic transaction, but these photographs reveal that in London it has always meant so much more.
Billingsgate Market, c.1910
Billingsgate Market, c.1910
Whitechapel Hay Market c.1920 (looking towards Aldgate)
Whitechapel Hay Market, c.1920 (looking east towards Whitechapel)
Porters at Smithfield Market, c.1910
Caledonian Rd Market, c.1910
Book sale at Caledonian Rd Market, c.1910
Caledonian Rd Market, c.1910
Caledonian Rd Market, c.1910
Covent Garden Market, c.1920
Covent Garden Market, c.1910
Covent Garden, c.1910
Covent Garden Market, 1925
Covent Garden Market, Floral Hall, c.1910
Leadenhall Market, Christmas 1935
Leadenhall Market, c.1910
East St Market, c.1910
Leather Lane Market, 1936
Hoxton Market, Shoreditch, 1910
Spitalfields Market, c.1930
Images courtesy Bishopsgate Institute
You may like to look at these old photographs of the Spitalfields Market by Mark Jackson & Huw Davies
Night at the Spitalfields Market
Other stories of Old London
I can never resist a Market, and just wish I could step back in time to visit some of those when they were still located on their original sites. And it’s not just the ones in London I love. I went to the Midnight Market in Bangkok while on holiday there some years ago, even if lots of the food was still ‘moving’ ie: bugs and other creepy crawlies; and also love the wonderful covered Arcades, especially those of Norwich in Norfolk, and the Arcades of Leeds in the north of England. The architecture there is stunning. And Borough Market in Southwark SE1 is pretty good too!!! Discovered one in Amsterdam many years ago as well, whose flower market was on par with our very own Columbia Road one.
I want to be in the crush of people at the book sale. I happen to know there are some
scuffed under-foot treasures there. I can imagine bending low, inspecting some of the scattered pages, and seeing (right THERE!) a fantastic old map under the boot heel of the old gent with the walking stick. Sheesh. If he would just shuffle away, I can scoop in and secure my treasure.
(without looking too eager, of course. There is some bargaining to do here.) As a paper fanatic, I don’t want refined archival exemplars housed in wooden drawers — I am happy with grunge. The unmistakable aroma of paper and pulp, next to the open stalls selling hides — this is a market for the dedicated bargain seeker. I am there.
Thank you for this magnificent array of photos. Each one, a story.
I too am fascinated by old markets. But you didn’t mention my old time favorite- Hessel St market (formerly Morgan St) off Commercial Road, where my grandparents and many immigrants shopped in the early 1900’s to the late 1950’s.
Open everyday except Saturdays (the Jewish Sabbath) it was a hive of activity, displaying everything from fresh chickens to children’s shoes. Unfortunately just a memory now, although a few Bengali shops still do trade there.