Comments on: Lost Spitalfields https://spitalfieldslife.com/2026/07/10/lost-spitalfields-iii/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Fri, 10 Jul 2026 10:36:21 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 By: Ron McCormick https://spitalfieldslife.com/2026/07/10/lost-spitalfields-iii/#comment-2128016 Fri, 10 Jul 2026 10:36:21 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=207569#comment-2128016 A remarkable set of pictures – but some profound doubts about their provenance. The picture of No 5 Whites Row has a merchants sign with the date 1924 clearly painted. Many other pictures suchas those of Spital Square dated in the early 1700s and a lovely picture of Artillery Passage dated 1680s. All long before the invention of photography in the 1850s and its application for this genre is generally not seen before the late 1860s.

While only a few such as those of Norton Folgate, correctly state when they were or might have been photographed ie. “Norton Folgate Court House, Folgate St, photographed in 1909”. I can only presume that the earlier dates refer to the the construction of the building but the description will mislead many.

]]> By: theoldmortuary ponders https://spitalfieldslife.com/2026/07/10/lost-spitalfields-iii/#comment-2127831 Fri, 10 Jul 2026 07:42:00 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=207569#comment-2127831 Thank goodness for photography and personal recollection. I also miss the sounds and the smells of my era.My regular walk was from Barts and Smithfield market towards Spitalfields and The London One of my short cuts took me through a slaughter yard towards the Barbican Estate, still in development. The salty smells of blood and wet concrete coupled with the sounds of hose pipes and wet sweeping by men coming to the end of their working days with the tinny sound of transistor radios playing the ‘Sounds of the 70” filled the first 15 minutes of my afternoon walk.
Irreplaceable and irretrievable.

]]> By: Whitney Richard https://spitalfieldslife.com/2026/07/10/lost-spitalfields-iii/#comment-2127508 Fri, 10 Jul 2026 03:25:10 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=207569#comment-2127508 This really resonated with me. Every city has layers of history, and it’s easy to forget what’s been lost beneath modern development. The images make that sense of change feel incredibly real.
granny 1

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