Wow, where does the time go? It seems ages since I wrote anything on here. It is over a week! I had better finish off our visit to London for the sake of completeness.
We took our bag to Kings Cross left luggage and headed off for another walk around an area of the Capital we did not know. This time it was to be Hoxton. It is a very mixed area but seems to have a good bit of history about the place. It was in the Domesday book and then in Tudor times was an area where the rich had their manor houses to escape the bad airs of the City. It featured in the Gunpowder as it was where Lord Monteagle lived. It was he who received an anonymous letter warning him to stay away from the coming Parliament. It may have com e form a family member or even himself as a way of currying favour. He read it out at a meal with noted Catholics that night and then delivered it to Robert Cecil who was the 'security' for the King. The conspirators knew that the plot had been 'blown' so to speak but as the gunpowder hadn't been found they went ahead, with disastrous consequences. Nothing survives of the manor house though.
As it was away from the City and still in the countryside the large houses of the wealthy were being turned over to asylums and almshouses by the end of the 17th century. It is also the site of arguably the first council estate. To the north of Hoxton was the Old Nichol Rookery. This was the worst of slums with nearly 9 people per small house and 1400 small houses in an area of 400 sq. yds. Eventually action was taken and in 1894 they started to clear the area. New flats were built by the London County Council so perhaps being the first to be built. The were built in a radiating pattern from the central Arnold Circus. This was a mound that was made from the rubble of the old buildings. A bandstand was erected on it later and still exists. It was such a major event that when it officially opened in 1900 it was the Prince of Wales who officiated.
We took our bag to Kings Cross left luggage and headed off for another walk around an area of the Capital we did not know. This time it was to be Hoxton. It is a very mixed area but seems to have a good bit of history about the place. It was in the Domesday book and then in Tudor times was an area where the rich had their manor houses to escape the bad airs of the City. It featured in the Gunpowder as it was where Lord Monteagle lived. It was he who received an anonymous letter warning him to stay away from the coming Parliament. It may have com e form a family member or even himself as a way of currying favour. He read it out at a meal with noted Catholics that night and then delivered it to Robert Cecil who was the 'security' for the King. The conspirators knew that the plot had been 'blown' so to speak but as the gunpowder hadn't been found they went ahead, with disastrous consequences. Nothing survives of the manor house though.
As it was away from the City and still in the countryside the large houses of the wealthy were being turned over to asylums and almshouses by the end of the 17th century. It is also the site of arguably the first council estate. To the north of Hoxton was the Old Nichol Rookery. This was the worst of slums with nearly 9 people per small house and 1400 small houses in an area of 400 sq. yds. Eventually action was taken and in 1894 they started to clear the area. New flats were built by the London County Council so perhaps being the first to be built. The were built in a radiating pattern from the central Arnold Circus. This was a mound that was made from the rubble of the old buildings. A bandstand was erected on it later and still exists. It was such a major event that when it officially opened in 1900 it was the Prince of Wales who officiated.
Arnold Circus soon after opening in 1900.
Arnold Cicus as it is today.
There is mixed occupation of the area with original white families, Bangladeshis and new upwardly mobile young professionals. There are plans to rejuvenate the flats but they are being resisted as this may price the locals out of the market.
When we finished our walk we found the Geffrye Museum on Kingsland Road. These were originally alms house built by Sir Robert Geffrye who had been a Master of the Company of Ironmongers and a Lord Mayor of London. He was unmarried and had a fortune. The almshouses were for the poor of the Ironmongers industry. It was built here as it was out in the country. It is now a museum of domestic interiors. This came about as the area was a centre of furniture making. Most of the original houses have been converted to eleven displays of periods from 1600 to the present. They have also returned one of the houses to its original form to show how it was when built. In 1914 the charity sold the Grade 1 listed building and moved to Hampshire. It was felt that as the only green space in the area the lot had to be bought by the council to preserve it. They then formed the museum. It is free to visit and I highly recommend the coffee shop as it is in a lovely space and rounded off a good walk for us.
The open space that saved the almshouses and the future of the Geffrye Museum.
We also discovered that Hoxton was the first theatre and musical centre of London as these evils couldn't be tolerated in the City! I think there are only two of the original theatres now and only one used for entertainment.
We went to Kings Cross and had a few beers at the Parcel Yard pub there. It was very busy but still a nice pub for a station. I did notice that they seemed to have done away with much of the variety of beers now and mainly concentrate of Fullers range. The trip home was speedy and uneventful other than for a party of politics students discussing their theories loudly all o the way home following a visit to the Houses of Commons and Lords. We were flopping into bed by 2330 having walked our feet off.
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