A Walk through Spitalfields with the Bishopsgate Institute

The changing face of Spitalfields

The Bishopsgate Institute in Spitalfields has recently undergone a major refurbishment and to celebrate the re-launch of their new look building they organised a series of free events and courses last week. These were obviously very popular as the first couple of things I tried to book on to were already full but I did manage to get a place on the 'Explore Spitalfields' walking tour last Friday lunchtime. This was led by an excellent Blue Badge Guide, Rachel Kolsky, who regularly leads walking tours as part of the series of courses offered by the Institute.

 Rachel began by emphasising that it was only possible to give us a taster of what Spitalfields has to offer in the 30 minutes allotted for the tour but it was a fascinating insight into an area which has had many functions and occupants over the centuries. We started in Bishop Square, a place which is now surrounded by shiny modern office blocks and bustling shops and bars but which many years ago used to be a burial ground and the original charnal house in which bones were stored has been preserved for people to view. We moved on to the market which has also seen many changes over the years. I still have fond memories of the way it was in the mid-1990s when I first came to London but after seeing it now, I want to go back to explore it again one week-end.

The next stop was Princelet Street which, with neighbouring Wilkes Street and Fournier Street, contains a small enclave of eighteenth century housing which has survived all the changes and redevelopment that has taken place around them. Rachel gave us a potted history of the inhabitants of these houses, many of whom were associated with the cloth trade and lived and worked in these houses from the French Huguenot weavers who were the first inhabitants to the Jewish immigrants of the early twentieth century. For a time many of the houses became sweatshops rather than residences but now most of them are private homes and one (no.13) is even a holiday home for rent from the Landmark Trust (if you're feeling rich!). You can't tell from the street but apparently the houses have long back gardens and many, like this one, have been beautifully restored:

Elsewhere on Princelet Street at no. 19 is a house that has not yet been restored and that has a particularly fascinating history as it has a synagogue built over it's garden. A campaign has been launched to save this building which is occasionally open to the public.

Another building with an interesting history is the Brick Lane Jamma Masjid. Now a mosque, it was originally built as a chapel by the Huguenots and has also been used by baptists, Methodists and an ultra-orthodox synagogue. The mosque is at one end of Fournier Street and at the other is the impressive Christchurch Spitalfields, which is where our whistestop tour ended: