Location of Cottage Lane?

[GordonH]

When the police went looking for Kelly at Cottage Lane, where exactly was this?

There does not appear to be a street currently called Cottage Lane in London.
There is one in the 1881 census listed as being in Holborn, which is quite some distance from Whitechapel.

If Kelly were the murderer and had operated from Holborn it would change my previous opinion that the killer had to be a local person operating out of Spittalfields or Whitechapel.

Or was there another Cottage Lane?

[Chris Scott]

Cottage Lane was off the City Road, as shown by the clipping below from the Times report on Kelly's trial in 1883.


The opening statement of Mr. Poland and the evidence went to show that the prisoner had been lodging for about 16 months at No 21, Cottage lane, City road. The house was occupied by a Mr. Ryder, his wife, and two daughters, one of whom, the deceased, was married to the prisoner in June last.

This quote about Kelly from

http://www.magickalmind.com/dorian/rippermain.html

may help

He was an "East End boy," living with his wife's family at No. 21 Cottage Lane, a short thoroughfare just off City Road. If you walk along the street at the side of Liverpool Station and head down Bishopsgate, you can be in Ripperland within ten or fifteen minutes. Although the Cottage Lane block was destroyed by bombing in World War II, the Horse and Groom pub still stands. One can stop there for a drink if one wants to walk in the steps of this Jack suspect. The pub is a virtual stone's throw from the site where Cottage Lane stood.

[Chris Scott]

I think the Mr Ryder reported as living at 21 Cottage Lane in 1883 may be a case of a reporter mishearing the name. In the 1881 census the house was occupied by a Mr BRIDER and his family as follows:
Head: C Brider aged 42 born Reigate - Bricklayer
Wife: S Brider aged 40 born Compton
the couple had 5 children ranging in ages from 19 to 9 years old

The correct version of the name is given the Suspects section entry on Kelly:
December 1881 - A few weeks before Christmas he meets Sarah Brider and quickly becomes enamoured of her. Sarah takes him home to meet her family and the pair become an item. Sarah's parents think him a serious and religious young man with good prospects.

[Chris Scott]

Below is the listing for 21 Cottage Lane in 1881
The woman who was to become Sarah Kelly is the third one down, S Brider, aged 19
This came under the civil parish of St Lukes in the borough of Finsbury
There is one minor mystery about the forename of Sarah's father. In 1871 the couple, living in Bethnal Green, are again listed by inital only, C and S, as in 1881. In the 1891 census however, the couple, still living at 21 Cottage Lane, are listed as John and Sarah, both aged 50.
Chris

[Roy Corduroy]

Hi Gordon and Chris,

On one of the other Kelly threads right here, the Old Bailey one, I posted the map closeup of where I think Cottage Lane was. I used the OB transcript, the book Prisoner 1167 and some street directories to make my guess. This is the part of London called Islington. It is at the top of City Road where it turns almost due west. It is a closeup view, so does not show this in relationship to the Horse & Groom and to Spitalfields. It is only a guess on my part. Have a look and see what you think.

Maybe someone with a better map can nail it down.



Roy

[Septic Blue]

... Holborn, which is quite some distance from Whitechapel.

... the part of London called Islington.

Neither St. Andrew Holborn (albeit Holborn Poor Law Union / Registration District), nor St. Mary Islington: But St. Luke !!!


2006 Google Earth Aerial / 1894 OS Overlay


2006 Google Earth Aerial
Red w/ Gold Outline: Cottage Lane, St. Luke


2006 Google Earth Aerial

According to Google Earth; the straight-line distance from the center of Cottage Lane, St. Luke to the corner of Wentworth Street / Osborn Street, St. Mary Whitechapel (murder-site epicenter (C5 + Tabram)): ~1.52 miles.


Colin

[GordonH]

Thanks for that information.

I know exactly where that is. There is a car is an underground car park there and a small restaurant that does breakfasts.
Its also one of the sites of the giant cigarettes in the anti somking ad thats being shown at the moment (right at the end its that square).

I often stay in the travel lodge in city road which is just north of there and walk to my office in Hanbury Street which overlooks one of the murder sites. Its five to ten minutes walk dodging todays traffic. However, I noticed that the bridge over the railway that takes you over Norton Folgate (extension of Bishopsgate) did not exist in 1888 (next to the new office block that has been built over the railway line), the line having cut through the road, so there must have been another way round or maybe just a foot bridge.