Tower Hamlets
Taking in Spitalfields, Bow and, to the south, the Isle of Dogs, Tower Hamlets’ story dates back to Roman times.
The imprint of the many migrant communities who’ve made the area their home is everywhere – perhaps most notably in Brick Lane Jamme Masjid. Now a mosque, it was built in 1743 as a French Protestant church, before becoming a synagogue in 1898.
Tower Hamlets’ diverse influences are part of the draw for numerous creative people. Artists Gilbert & George and Tracey Emin are among those to have lived in the borough.
Tourists flock to bustling markets on Columbia Road and Petticoat Lane – and to explore the streets once roamed by Jack the Ripper.
But it’s also where bankers go to work among the sleek glass towers of Canary Wharf. And where Victoria Park opened in 1845 for the benefit of the East End working class – one of the first public parks in London.
The Roman Road market in 1968
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London’s whaling trade: Blubber & baleen
Whether sporting a corset or reading by lamplight, Londoners once relied on the products of whaling
Anna Maria Garthwaite: Spitalfields silk designer
Her naturalistic floral designs were the height of silk fashion in the mid-1700s
British-Bangladeshis & the East End rag trade: A personal story
How Asma Begum’s parents travelled from Bangladesh in the 1960s to build a life in London’s East End
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Where the fare includes fried noodle, sharks' fins, sea slugs, savouries of bamboo shoots; a typical eating house in the Chinese quarter of the East End. (cutting)
Illustrated London News
1920-11-10
