The cultural trail
As part of our drive to improve peoples’ knowledge of the
history of the Brick Lane area and nearby Spitalfields, the
inclusion of 8 new information boards will guide both residents and
visitor to explore and gain a broad insight into the area’s rich
heritage and culture.
There are 20 sites of particular interested
indicated on the boards. These are as follows:
- Boundary Estate
- Redchurch Street
- Brick Lane Sunday Market
- Sclater Street
- St Matthew’s Church
- Bishopsgate Goods Yard
- Old Truman Brewery
- Commercial Street
- Princelet Street
- Brick Lane Jamme Masjid
- Puma Court
- Christ Church Spitalfields
- Old Spitalfields Market
- Fournier Street
- Christ Church School
- Fashion Street
- Whitechapel Art Gallery
- Altab Ali Park
- Whitechapel Bell Foundry
- Toynbee Hall
View a map of the
20 places of interest and sites of the 6 information boards located
on Brick Lane (pdf)
Each information board contains the following
information, which is common to all boards and explains the general
history of the area.
Brick Lane history
Brick Lane has long been a place of
immigration both from within the British Isles and across the
world, with a mixing of many communities and voices.
Brick Lane was in existence by the 1500s as a
field path in open countryside outside the City of London, east of
the boundary of the medieval Augustinian Priory of St Mary Spital,
which gave Spitalfields its name. Originally the street took its
name from the brick kilns first brought here by early Flemish
settlers. Other activities, such as farming and archery practice
also took place then.
Large scale urban development did not begin
until the second half of the 17th Century, when many of
the streets connecting Brick Lane to the City of London were laid
out and the area began to take on its current appearance.
From the 1680s onwards a large community of
Protestant Huguenot refugees escaping religious persecution arrived
from France. They brought silk-weaving skills from Nantes, Lyons
and other French cities, making Spitalfields a centre of London
silk weaving and later, garment making. Although the community has
now gone, their influence exists to this day as their fine houses
can still be seen in nearby streets.
As the area developed so did the buildings,
with the magnificent Christ Church Spitalfields on Commercial
Street, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, completed in 1729. The
other significant religious building, the Huguenot church on Brick
Lane, now an important mosque, was completed in 1744.
Brick Lane was widened and improved after 1778
and began to take on its present appearance. Brick Lane Market
developed during the 18th century for farmers selling livestock and
produce outside the City boundary and continues to this day on
Sundays selling general goods.
The brewing industry was active in the area
from around 1666, and a brewery was purchased by Joseph Truman in
1679. This was extended in the 1700s when the Directors House on
Brick Lane was built, and the site continued in use right up to the
1980s when the brewery closed. The site is now a thriving arts and
business centre.
From the 17th century the area was
settled by the Jewish community. Thousands of Yiddish speaking
Russian Jews arrived from the 1880s. By this time the infamous
crowded nature of the east end was fully developed, so well
documented in Victorian literature. However by the 1930s, with
increased prosperity, the Jewish community began to move to other
parts of London, the wartime bombing of the Blitz hastening their
departure.
The coming of the Second World War also gave
the area new impetus and settlers of Bengalis from the Sylhet
district of what is now Bangladesh came to London, some after
serving in the merchant navy during the war. They established
themselves in the Brick Lane area, where they found jobs in Jewish
tailoring works which in time they took over, or started new
businesses of their own including the famous curry restaurants for
which the area is now well known.
Flemish, French, Russian, Bengali, Protestant,
Jew and Muslim - Brick Lane has welcomed all these people over
time. Now it is also home to a diverse mix of fashion, art,
entertainment, retail and start-up businesses. The richness and
complexity of the area’s character is due to many influences, but
not least the overlapping cultural legacy of the successive groups
of immigrants, each of which have made a unique contribution to the
area.
The quality of the townscape today is also due
to a committed local community which has acted to protect and
restore historic buildings at risk and cherish the area.
The Cultural Trail is funded by planning
contributions from the Bishop’s Square development
To view the individual text on each of the 6
information boards located on Brick Lane, please see the links
below:
Read a full
translation of the text into Bengali (pdf)
Read a full
translation of the text into Ivrit (pdf)