East End Photographs and Drawings

[Monty]

Fascinating Yen, Im jealous.

If you find anymore do share.

Ive heard a story of a passage running under Mitre Square from the Kearley & Tonge buildings. Love to get under there.

Are you local to the area and are you doing anything at the end of this month?

Ever heard of the London Job?

Monty

[yen_powell]

Fascinating Yen, Im jealous.

If you find anymore do share.

Ive heard a story of a passage running under Mitre Square from the Kearley & Tonge buildings. Love to get under there.

Are you local to the area and are you doing anything at the end of this month?

Ever heard of the London Job?

Monty

I live 50 miles away from Whitechapel. End of March is usually manic at work as we have to sort out all the accounts for the work I do.

I did a quick search for The London Job and found a photo album type book. There were pictures of the Carpenters Arms in the preview. My mate's parent owned it till a few years ago, he showed me an interesting architectural feature in the kitchen, possibly visible from the bar. There is a boarded chamfer in one corner about a metre by a metre. With all pipework and flues accounted for it seems a bit odd, especially when you consider some of the former owners. The pub was renovated after his parents left and I haven't been in since so not sure if it's still there.

I'll ask my tunnels colleague if he knows anything about Mitre Square, although it is out of our area.

[DrummondStreet]

I did yes and the leaf shaped gates that keep breaking in Wentworth Street, I get about all over the place, always finding stuff under the roads and footpaths, parks etc, old cellars, tramlines, bodies occasionally (like at Royal Mint), my mate once found an elizabethan sewer pipe made from bound together hollowed out tree trunks.

You found bodies?????

[yen_powell]

You found bodies?????

Of course, the whole area is stuffed with them, the old medieval hospital (the spital in Spitalfields), plague pits, forgotten graveyards. The ones found at Royal Mint a few years back numbered about 60 in total. In the 1920s they found a similar amount on the adjacent site, so most likely ours were just a continuation of the same burial area.

A friend of mine was carrying out an inspection on the extension of Morpeth School in the early 90s. They had already cleared the graveyard in Portman Place (off Globe Road). A little further along they had excavated a large cube of earth for a concrete pad foundation. He carried out a soil test by the time honoured method of jumping up and down a bit only to put his foot and ankle through a coffin lid. Turns out the grave yard had originally gone further than the modern boundary.

I found an old plan (old drawings are on linen so survive quite well) showing grave plot numbers there, which I passed onto the borough archivist. To date they are still waiting to find the matching document that gives names to the numbers. The borough archives are at Bancroft Library and well worth a look. It's amazing what documents you are allowed to physically handle, some going back to the 16th century. The old OS maps are available there also if you're looking for older street layouts.

[DVV]

Trinity Church, Newington, where Martha White married H Tabram

http://images.google.fr/imgres?q=newington+trinity+1880&hl=fr&biw=1440&bih=817&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=mbLO_AOJpA3xyM:&imgrefurl=http://www.bonsonhistory.co.uk/html/abraham_b_1818.html&docid=1lbyCBqN_-PAMM&imgurl=http://www.bonsonhistory.co.uk/assets/images/autogen/a_1880_Holy_Trinity_Church_Trinity_Church_Square_Borough_c1880.jpg&w=261&h=411&ei=knVTT7KPL6nO0QXu1NH6Cw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=146&vpy=108&dur=999&hovh=282&hovw=179&tx=134&ty=116&sig=100007063390791466931&page=1&tbnh=144&tbnw=91&start=0&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

[John Bennett]

A friend of mine was carrying out an inspection on the extension of Morpeth School in the early 90s. They had already cleared the graveyard in Portman Place (off Globe Road). A little further along they had excavated a large cube of earth for a concrete pad foundation. He carried out a soil test by the time honoured method of jumping up and down a bit only to put his foot and ankle through a coffin lid. Turns out the grave yard had originally gone further than the modern boundary.

Interesting stuff, Yen. Many members of my family (grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, great aunts, second cousins and my mother) lived in Portman Place. They all moved out in 1966 when it was purchased for demolition.

JB

[DrummondStreet]

Wonderful finds,Yen, and thank you for sharing.

After writing my post, I looked up the Royal Mint and learned of the Black Death burials in the area. I still have much to learn about the history of London. I lived in London for about 8 months and tried to absorb as much of the history and culture as I could, but still feel I wasted so many opportunities for discovery while I was there. So much time lost while I ate, slept, worked or decided to 'just stay in' because it was raining at the moment. London has soooo much to offer but the rainy season really does get in the way. And yes, I did buy a bumbershoot --on my very first day in fact.

Did you ever learn the age of the coffin (or the identity of its owner) that your friend jumped in? On a more ghoulish note... did you get to view any of its contents?

[yen_powell]

Did you ever learn the age of the coffin (or the identity of its owner) that your friend jumped in? On a more ghoulish note... did you get to view any of its contents?

As far as I know the coffin's resident was never identified. The rest of the official graveyard was exhumed behind screens, I wasn't allowed in, they were very strict about it. I believe the bones recovered were re-interred at another site.

English Heritage are supposed to take some of my department for a viewing of the excavated 1300s charnel house in Spitalfields. Still waiting for that, seems they have forgotten us. If it goes ahead I will post pictures here. Link below.

http://www.spitalfields.co.uk/about_archeology.php#.T1TczYcaOSo

[Ade]

I revamped Wheler/Braithwaite Street when we got it back after the new Shoreditch station was built as well.

I live in Quaker Street just round the corner and have to say then when it was first done it looked really nice. Sadly a utility company recently dug a trench through the setts in the road, put half of the setts back in a really shoddy way and dumped the rest, filling in the remaining part of the trench with rough looking tarmac. I've complained to Tower Hamlets Council.

[yen_powell]

I live in Quaker Street just round the corner and have to say then when it was first done it looked really nice. Sadly a utility company recently dug a trench through the setts in the road, put half of the setts back in a really shoddy way and dumped the rest, filling in the remaining part of the trench with rough looking tarmac. I've complained to Tower Hamlets Council.

That complaint will filter it's way to me eventually, by-passing the correct people on it's way.

I peeled off the old asphalt to show off the setts and brought secondhand ones in to repair the concrete trench that ran through them. The old hydraulic lifts that took wagons up to the old goods yard from ground level are still in place under the arches.

The name got changed from Wheler Street to Braithwaite Street in honour of the engineer who designed and built the viaduct. Wheler was the family name of the original owners of large tracts of land around the Brick Lane area. I think from memory they may have sold some land to the original Breweries in Brick Lane in the 1600s.

[AdamWalsh]

Sorry for lack of updates - still dont have regular access to a PC/photoshop to sort images here (since moving last year) but am a regular in the area, The White Hart is becoming my second home!!!

Visited Mary Kellys grave in Leyton. Wandered around Ratcliffe Highway and found the site of the old mortuary behind Whitechapel High St.

[AdamWalsh]

Here is a video I shot at Marys grave - the song playing is of course the song she was heard singing her final night - I played it on my phone whilst the camera recorded the scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrUzgpRB4ZI

[miss marple]

The song is very atmospheric one can imagine Mary singing it. Who did the recording?

Miss Marple

[Bridewell]

Thanks

Here is a video I shot at Marys grave - the song playing is of course the song she was heard singing her final night - I played it on my phone whilst the camera recorded the scene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrUzgpRB4ZI

Adam,

Thanks so much for that. I confess it's the first time I've actually heard the song. It's a poignant gesture on your part, to compile that. Good effort.

Best Regards, Bridewell

[Robert]

Adam, has some of the black lettering come out? Such a thing happened on a grave in my family - you can see the incision where the lettering was placed, but the black infill has come away. When I enquired about having new lettering put in, I was told that they now do the letters using a laser or some such, so it's a job I'll have to have done at some point, using the modern technique.