Spitalfields Life
@thegentleauthor
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Join me for a ramble through 2000 years of history and culture in Spitalfields at the heart of old London. (Also at https://t.co/CJNROHs61E)
Spitalfields
Joined December 2010
Join me for a ramble across the square mile, from the steps of St Paul’s through the narrow alleys and lanes to London Bridge, in search of the wonders and the wickedness of the City of London.
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It is painful to witness the desecration and decay of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, especially when the London Bell Foundry wants to buy it to start casting bells again and cherish the historic buildings
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We fought since 2017 to SAVE THE BETHNAL GREEN MULBERRY and are overjoyed that the High Court has REFUSED PERMISSION to @towerhamletsnow & @crestnicholson to dig it up. WE THANK ALL who funded our case, the 17,000 who signed our petition, and especially our patron Dame Judi Dench
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Seventeenth century delft tile bought in the Spitalfields Antiques Market for £10 last Thursday
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Hyacinths and Narcissus from Columbia Road Market this morning
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Snowdrops from Columbia Road Market this morning
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Meanwhile down in Deptford, they are planning to swap the distinguished Victorian Church of St Luke's for this.
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Thank you to Andrew Greener for sending this photo of the Windsor Cafe in Bell Lane Spitalfields (c. 1970) that has never been published before.
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This is the oldest statue in London. Carved in the 2nd century, this effigy of Minerva stood within a Roman temple in Southwark. Rediscovered in the 19th century, the head of King Alfred was added of Coade stone in 1826 when it was installed in the garden at Trinity Church Sq.
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A sad sight in Chapel Market: Manze's opened in 1911
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After more than 800 years the final days of SMITHFIELD MARKET are upon us and ORLANDO GILI has made this magnificent series of portraits of the last generation of butchers to work there.
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Delphiniums from Columbia Road Market this morning
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Great news! Further to the Public Inquiry, the planning Inspector has REFUSED permission for conversion of the magnificent CUSTOM HOUSE in the City of London into a boutique hotel. paving the way for it to become a public space in the manner of Somerset House.
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Delighted to announce that @CrestNicholson have been refused permission to appeal the High Court's decision to SAVE THE BETHNAL GREEN MULBERRY and it is now safe for future generations!!!! (See legal detail below)
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The Water Poet in Folgate Street closes thanks to British Land's redevelopment of Norton Folgate for a hideous corporate plaza!
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Paper whites from Columbia Road Market this morning
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Camomile, antirrhinums, delphiniums and spurge from Columbia Road Market this morning.
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Historian Dan Cruikshank in battle to stop 18th century Huguenot house being bulldozed
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Ladies & Gentlemen, please welcome SAVE THE WHITECHAPEL BELL FOUNDRY to twitter! Follow @SavetheWbf
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Just heard that @TowerHamletsNow have given permission for the destruction of part of the Chambers St arches for a hotel extension, ignoring the fact that the best preserved wall of shrapnel damage in the East End is part of the site
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Thankyou to everyone who campaigned for this outcome!.
Newly Listed at Grade II: 3 and 5 Club Row. Weavers’ tenement houses of this type were developed in the 18th Century to serve the Spitalfields' silk industry and these are an extremely rare survival of a house type which was once ubiquitous in the area.
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So @HistoricEngland have refused to list the most visible wall of shrapnel damage from WWII in the East End and now it will be destroyed for a hotel extension. It is in Chamber St near Tower Hill.
Very sad
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This week in Caroline St, Limehouse, a fine 19th c. warehouse is destroyed and all the carbon released, to be replaced by a cheap and nasty, but more profitable building, designed to last 30 years.
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Congratulations to Doreen Fletcher on her brilliant new show of paintings at Townhouse Spialfields.
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Delighted to announce that Stapleton's Horse Depository in Commercial St has been listed by @HistoricEngland
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So Long, Tadmans. The owners have been granted permission for the demolition of this fine Georgian corner building and historic landmark in Jubilee St, Stepney, to replace it with more generic London spreadsheet architecture.
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My parents were given an Albertine rose as a wedding present in 1958 and here it is flowering today in my garden
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Michaelmas daises, astrantias and camomile from Columbia Road Market this morning
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SAVE SPITALFIELDS FROM THE SERIAL KILLER! . Support my crowd-funder to launch a COMMUNITY TOURISM PROJECT as a BETTER ALTERNATIVE to the serial killer tours that monetise misogyny.
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Sweetpeas from Columbia Road Market this morning
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"There is no better use for an old bell foundry than to be a bell foundry. There is a demand and there is a viable continuation of industrial use. It’s that or another boutique hotel, and the poor East End has lost so much of its authenticity and employment" - DAN CRUICKSHANK
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Anemones, freesias and verbena from Columbia Road Market this morning
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HOORAY! Marks & Spencer refused permission to demolish and rebuild Oxford Street store
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So this is why they only showed the lower part of the model at the public consultation for the redevelopment of Liverpool St Station.
Why did they only show the lower half of the model at the public consultation for the redevelopment of Liverpool St Station by @networkrail, Sellar & MTR?
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BIG THANKS to everyone who wrote to the SECRETARY OF STATE @robertjenrick about WHITECHAPEL BELL FOUNDRY! Today a Holding Direction was issued to @TowerHamletsNow preventing them proceeding with approving the planning application for change of use to boutique hotel.
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Quince blossom from Columbia Rd Market this morning
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Nasty outbreak of facadism in Caroline St off Commercial Rd
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Dahlias, crocosmia and camomile from Columbia Road Market this morning
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Astrantia, antirrhinums and peonies from Columbia Road Market this morning
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We applaud the @cityoflondon Planning Committee for unanimously rejecting the application to covert the Custom House into a hotel - when it should be returned to public use in the manner of Somerset House. Next step Planning Inquiry in the New Year.
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Chrysanthemums from Columbia Rd Market this morning
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BIG CONGRATULATIONS are due to Doreen Fletcher on having a painting hung at this year's Royal Academy Summer Show after 40 years of rejection! @DFletcherArtist @royalacademy
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Is this London's most miserable playground? (In Aldgate)
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A temporary Building Preservation Notice has been issued today by @TowerHamletsNow for six months for 3 Club Row while @HistoricEngland make their decision on listing the buildings.
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Very sad to report the recent passing of LENNY of the PRIDE OF SPITALFIELDS
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Tulips and anemones from Columbia Road Market this morning
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Boy brings home a Christmas tree at Spitalfields Market in 1946 by Monte Fresco, East End Photographer (1936-2013)
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Artichokes and chrysanthemums from Columbia Road Market this morning
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Please help me to publish THE CREEPING PLAGUE OF GHASTLY FACADISM; a gallery of the most notorious examples with a humorous analysis of why it is happening and what it means.
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After 100 years on the corner of Shoreditch High St, Syd's Coffee Stall ascended towards immortality as it was removed to the @MuseumofLondon (Photos by Adam Dant)
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Something I never expected to see! Brick Lane 24 Hour Beigel Bakery shut at night.
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HOW TO DEMOLISH A LISTED BUILDING.The appalling fate of a 1735 weavers house in Redchurch St.
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Developers' statement about the 1764-66 weavers' house they want to demolish: "3 Club Row has little architectural merit and partly due to the emergence of ever larger buildings surrounding it, doesn't contribute to the appearance of the area"
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If we can get 2000 Tower Hamlets residents to sign this petition, it triggers a debate on 18th Sept to make it council policy to SAVE THE WHITECHAPEL BELL FOUNDRY as a working foundry. Please share this with all your friends & family in the borough.
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Remember Tadmans in Jubilee St, Whitechapel? (It was over 200 years old but @HistoricEngland would not list it) This is what happened.
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Beautiful old sign abandoned on Leyden St, Petticoat Lane. Who can rescue it?
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A sad spot in Shoreditch where Syd's Coffee Stall stood for a century.
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If you want to save the Whitechapel Bell Foundry as a working foundry rather than as a boutique hotel, please go to the developer's public consultation this Friday (4-8) & Saturday (10-2) at the foundry and record your comment in writing!
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Crockery seller in Petticoat Lane and his disinterested assistant (c.1970), as photographed by Andrew Greener and published here for the first time.
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My favourite curry house in the East End is also the oldest. Once the Asian Seamen's Mission, they opened the doors in 1939 and haven't looked back. Everything is freshly cooked and the freshly baked naan bread is like no other!. HALAL RESTAURANT, 2 St Mark St, Aldgate E1 8DJ
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Impending disaster at 3 Club Row. This 1760s weavers house is threatened with demolition :
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Artichokes and chrysanthemums from two weeks ago, supplemented by clematis and astrantias from Columbia Road Market this morning
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The sad, shameful demise of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry
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Nigel Taylor who worked at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry for 40 years reveals the truth about the closure of the foundry:
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Blue plaque to honour 1888 strike by 1,400 East End matchgirls
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