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Alan Russell

@soxgnasher

3 Jun

In June 1897 the borough of Shoreditch opened a groundbreaking facility for burning waste to generate electricity. Before this development, the Regents Canal, opened in 1820, brought coal into the borough and coal gas was manufactured along its banks. The canal also carried away

industrial and household refuse which was taken by barge and dumped at sea.
The first practical electric light had been made in Paris in 1876. By 1878 the Wells and Company Ironworks at 125-130 Shoreditch High Street were already generating their own electricity to light their

new gothic frontage and impress their customers. There was a demand for electric lighting from other large shops and businesses.
By the 1890s Shoreditch was disposing of 20,000 tons of waste a year. Burning the waste to generate electricity was a bold but attractive idea. It was

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Alan Russell

@soxgnasher

27 May

Cholera in Silk Mill Row, Hackney
Information taken from Cholera and public health in 19th century Hackney, Dick Hunter, Hackney History 13, pp 24-33
During the first half of the C19 it became clear that the health of Londoners was under serious threat. While it was not yet

understood that cholera was spread by dirty water, there was increasing alarm at the four cholera epidemics that took so many lives. The Thames received most of the capital’s sewage and also provided much of its water supply. The stink of the river alone was sufficient to provoke

concern. The Metropolitan Board of Works was founded in 1855 to improve London’s sewerage, drainage, paving, cleaning and lighting.
London districts had to appoint Medical Officers of Health and the seven wards of Hackney and the five wards of Stoke Newington worked together

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Alan Russell

@soxgnasher

24 May

Match girls come out very strong on a Saturday night, when any number of them may be found at the Paragon Music Hall, in the Mile End Road; the Foresters’ Music Hall, in Cambridge Road; and the Sebright, at Hackney; The Eagle, in the City Road, used to be a favourite resort of

these girls, and in bygone summers dancing on the crystal platform was their nightly amusement. They continue to be very fond of dancing, but they are even more attached to singing. They seem to know by heart the words of all the popular music hall songs of the day, and their

homeward journey on Bank holidays from Hampstead Heath and Chingford, though musical, is decidedly noisy. The police are as a rule extremely good to the match girls, and a constable will rarely interfere with them unless positively compelled to do so. It must be admitted,

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Alan Russell

@soxgnasher

21 May

River Lea history - In the Roman era, Old Ford, as the name suggests, was the ancient, most downstream, crossing point of the River Lea. This was part of a pre-Roman route that followed the modern Oxford Street, Old Street, through Bethnal Green to Old Ford and thence across a

causeway through the marshes, known as Wanstead Slip (now in Leyton). The route then continued through Essex to Colchester. At this time, the Lea was a wide, fast flowing river, and the tidal estuary stretched as far as Hackney Wick. Evidence of a late Roman settlement at

Old Ford, dating from the 4th and 5th centuries, has been found. In 894, a force of Danes sailed up the river to Hertford, and in about 895 they built a fortified camp, in the higher reaches of the Lea, about 20 miles north of London. King Alfred the Great saw an opportunity to

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Alan Russell

@soxgnasher

29 Apr

BUCCLEUCH TERRACE. .Upper Clapton. c1900 Georgian terrace demolished 1950s

Buccleuch Terrace Gardens

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Alan Russell

@soxgnasher

29 Apr

1880 Mare Street, looking north from near Hackney Tower; showing Manor Rooms. Mare Street was a distinct settlement in 1593. By that date it may have included the Flying Horse Inn, said to have been a staging post, the Nag's Head and the Horse and Groom, since all three were

timber-built. In 1695 Mare Street had 23 residents. By 1720, Mare Street was the most populous district of the parish, with 111 ratepayers, and contained 6 of the 36 select vestrymen in 1729. Tramways were built in 1873. After the First World War the area became more industrial.

During the Second World War, Mare Street suffered bomb damage, including Georgian Houses at the Triangle. By 1993 Mare Street had become a nondescript mixture of low-rise factories, shops and institutional buildings, the tallest being Pitcairn House Looking north from No 381,

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