East Smithfield is the name of a road in the
London Borough of Tower HamletsThe London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough to the east of the City of London, England and north of the River Thames in East London, taking in much of the East End. It includes much of the redeveloped Docklands region of London, including West India Docks and Canary Wharf...
in
East London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
. It is part of the A1203 road, and historically referred to the surrounding area as well.
The route of both the
London MarathonThe London Marathon is a popular road marathon that has been held each year in London since 1981, usually in April. The race is currently sponsored by Virgin Money, as the Virgin London Marathon...
and the
London TriathlonThe London Triathlon is the largest Triathlon in the world....
pass along East Smithfield. The
Royal MintThe Royal Mint of the United Kingdom is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but has functioned since 1975 as a Trading Fund, operating in much the same way as a government-owned company...
,
Tower BridgeTower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, England, over the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, which gives it its name...
and the
Tower of LondonHer Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London , is a historic fortress and scheduled monument in central London, England, on the north bank of the River Thames...
are located in the vicinity.
John StowJohn Stow , was an English historian and antiquarian.-Early life:The son of Thomas Stow, a tallow-chandler, he was born about 1525 in London, in the parish of St Michael, Cornhill. His father's whole rent for his house and garden was only 6s. 6d. a year, and Stow in his youth fetched milk every...
recounts the origin of the area from the
Liber Trinitae, where the
SaxonAnglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading Germanic tribes in the south and east of Great Britain from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, to the Norman conquest of 1066...
King Edgar was petitioned by 13 knights to grant them the wasteland to the East of the
cityThe City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
wallLondon Wall was the defensive wall built by the Romans around Londinium, their strategically important port town on the River Thames in England. The name London Wall, as explained below, may also be used to refer to a road related to this wall....
, desiring to form a guild.
East Smithfield is the name of a road in the
London Borough of Tower HamletsThe London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough to the east of the City of London, England and north of the River Thames in East London, taking in much of the East End. It includes much of the redeveloped Docklands region of London, including West India Docks and Canary Wharf...
in
East London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
. It is part of the A1203 road, and historically referred to the surrounding area as well.
The route of both the
London MarathonThe London Marathon is a popular road marathon that has been held each year in London since 1981, usually in April. The race is currently sponsored by Virgin Money, as the Virgin London Marathon...
and the
London TriathlonThe London Triathlon is the largest Triathlon in the world....
pass along East Smithfield. The
Royal MintThe Royal Mint of the United Kingdom is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but has functioned since 1975 as a Trading Fund, operating in much the same way as a government-owned company...
,
Tower BridgeTower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, England, over the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, which gives it its name...
and the
Tower of LondonHer Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London , is a historic fortress and scheduled monument in central London, England, on the north bank of the River Thames...
are located in the vicinity.
History
John StowJohn Stow , was an English historian and antiquarian.-Early life:The son of Thomas Stow, a tallow-chandler, he was born about 1525 in London, in the parish of St Michael, Cornhill. His father's whole rent for his house and garden was only 6s. 6d. a year, and Stow in his youth fetched milk every...
recounts the origin of the area from the
Liber Trinitae, where the
SaxonAnglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading Germanic tribes in the south and east of Great Britain from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, to the Norman conquest of 1066...
King Edgar was petitioned by 13 knights to grant them the wasteland to the East of the
cityThe City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
wallLondon Wall was the defensive wall built by the Romans around Londinium, their strategically important port town on the River Thames in England. The name London Wall, as explained below, may also be used to refer to a road related to this wall....
, desiring to form a guild. The request was said to be granted on condition that each knight should
"accomplish three combats, one above the ground, one below the ground, and the third in the water; after this, at a certain day in East Smithfield, they should run with spears against all comers; all of which was gloriously performed; and the same day the King named it Knighten GuildeThe Knighten Guilde, also known as Portsoken Ward, was an obscure Medieval guild of the City of London, according to A Survey of London by John Stow in origin an order of chivalry founded by Saxon King Edgar for loyal knights...
, and so bounded it from Ealdgate [(AldgateAldgate was the easternmost gateway through London Wall leading from the City of London to Whitechapel and the east end of London. Aldgate gives its name to a ward of the City...
)] to the place where the bars now are toward the east, &c. and again toward the south unto to the river of Thames, and so into the water, and throw his speare; so that all East Smithfield, with the right part of the street that goeth by Dodding Pond into the Thames and also the hospital of St Katherin's, with the mills that were founded in King StephenKings named Stephen include:* Stephen I of Hungary , Saint Stephen of Hungary*King Stephen , by Ludwig van Beethoven*István király , , opera by Ferenc Erkel*István, a király , rock opera...
's daies, and the outward stone wall, and the new ditch of the Tower, are of the saide fee and liberbertie."
The strip of land to the north of Aldgate came to be
PortsokenPortsoken is a historical district in the City of London, located outside the former London Wall, on the eastern part of the City, near Aldgate. It remains one of the twenty-five wards of the City. Aldgate and Tower wards lie to the west, and its eastern boundary is defined by Middlesex Street, in...
, an extra-mural ward of the City of London. The open ground south of Aldgate was known as East Smithfield — derived from
smoothfield. Later,
Edward the ConfessorEdward the confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last English kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066 Edward the confessor ...
confirmed the liberties upon the heirs, and these were again confirmed in the reign of William Rufus. By 1115, during the reign of
Henry IHenry I was the fourth son of William I the Conqueror. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
, the entire
soke, or
libertyA Liberty was a local government unit in England. Originating in the Middle Ages, liberties were areas of widely variable extent which were independent of the usual system of hundreds and boroughs for a number of different reasons, usually to do with peculiarities of tenure...
, was given to the church of Holy Trinity within Aldgate, which had been founded in 1107 by Matilda, Henry's Queen. The prior of the Abbey was then to sit as an
ex officio AldermanAn alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions. Historically the term could also refer to local municipal judges in small legal proceedings...
of London. The gift was not without problems. The
Constable of the TowerThe Constable of the Tower is the most senior appointment at the Tower of London. Today the Constable is a ceremonial role and mainly involves taking part in traditional ceremonies within the Tower as well as being part of the community that lives within the fortress. The office is currently...
, Geoffrey de Mandeville had cultivated a piece of ground in East Smithfield, adjacent to the Tower, as a vineyard. He refused to give it up and defended it with the garrison.
The southern part of East Smithfield was given by
Holy Trinity PrioryThe Holy Trinity Priory was a priory of Austin canons founded around 1108 by Queen Matilda of England, wife of King Henry I near Aldgate in London. The queen received advice and help in the foundation from Anselm of Canterbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was founded with clergy from...
as a site for the
Hospital of St KatharineSt Katharine's by the Tower - full name Royal Hospital and Collegiate Church of St. Katharine by the Tower - was a medieval church and hospital next to the Tower of London...
, founded by
MatildaMatilda I or Maud , was suo jure Countess of Boulogne. She was also wife of King Stephen of England and Queen of England.-History:...
(wife of
Stephen of EnglandStephen often known as Stephen of Blois was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was the last Norman King of England, from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne jure uxoris. His reign was marked by civil war with his rival the Empress Matilda and general chaos, known as The Anarchy...
), in 1148. Further foundations were bestowed by
EleanorEleanor of Provence was Queen Consort of King Henry III of England from 1236 until his death in 1272.- Family :...
(widow of
Henry IIIHenry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for fifty-six years from 1216 to his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
) and
PhilippaPhilippa of Hainault was the Queen consort of Edward III of England.-Life:Philippa was born in Valenciennes and was the daughter of William I, Count of Hainaut and Jeanne of Valois, the granddaughter of Philip III of France.She married Edward at York Minster, on 24 January 1328, eleven months...
(wife of Edward III). The importance of the hospital was such that the whole of East Smithfield came to be deemed within the Precinct of St Katharine. A
PentecostPentecost is one of the prominent feasts in the Christian liturgical year. The feast is also called Whitsun, Whitsunday, Whit Sunday, and Whitsuntide, especially in the United Kingdom. Pentecost is celebrated seven weeks after Easter Sunday, hence its name...
fair was granted in the district in 1229, and by 1236 Jews were settled here for protection by the Tower garrison — until their expulsion in 1290.
Between 1347–1351, the
Black DeathThe Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. It is widely thought to have been an outbreak of bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, but this view has recently been challenged...
struck the City. Two cemeteries were opened in East Smithfield to take the dead from London. During the epidemic, 200 bodies a day were buried, in mass graves, stacked five deep. In 2007, a study led by the University of Albany, NY exhumed and examined 490 skeletons – finding that the disease afflicted disproportionately the already weak and malnourished. In 1442, the neighbourhood "was constituted a Precinct free from jurisdiction civil or ecclesiastical, except that of the Lord Chancellor". With the
Dissolution of the MonasteriesThe Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, denotes the administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, nunneries and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their income, disposed...
by
King Henry VIIIHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
in 1531, the land became the property of the Crown, and many of the religious houses were given to prominent nobles. The hospital of St Katharine was not seized, but re-established as a Protestant house — with houses and a brewery being built within the precints.
Foreign ships were not permitted to use the wharfs within the City, and St Katharine's Quay came to be used extensively for unloading these, particularly Dutch ships. Many French settled here, after the loss of
CalaisCalais is a town in northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
. A large number were from the districts of Hammes and Guisnes, leading to a part of the Precinct becoming known as Hangman's Gains. With trade in the City regulated by the City, St Katharine became an area for foreign settlement. At the end of the 19th century, the quay was the terminus for passenger boats arriving from northern Europe, and became the arrival point for
Ashkenazi JewsAshkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities of the Rhineland valley and northern France...
fleeing persecution in eastern Europe. Many settled around
WhitechapelWhitechapel is a built-up inner city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England. It is located east of Charing Cross and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and Commercial Road on the south...
and
SpitalfieldsSpitalfields is an area in the borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London, near to Liverpool Street station and Brick Lane. The area straddles Commercial Street and is home to many markets, including the historic Old Spitalfields Market, founded in the 17th century, Sunday UpMarket, and...
, only a half–mile to the north.
The
Royal MintThe Royal Mint of the United Kingdom is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but has functioned since 1975 as a Trading Fund, operating in much the same way as a government-owned company...
moved from the
Tower of LondonHer Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London , is a historic fortress and scheduled monument in central London, England, on the north bank of the River Thames...
, to a site at the end of East Smithfield in 1809. Today, this building, by
Robert Smirke* Robert Smirke , 18th/19th century English painter* Robert Smirke , son of the painter, 19th century English architect...
and its gatehouse are all that remain; the rest being swept away by continual expansion, until in November 1975, the London Mint was closed and production transferred to
WalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
. The site is now occupied by
Barclays Global InvestorsBarclays Global Investors, often referred to as "BGI", is a wholly owned subsidiary of Barclays Bank plc. Barclays formally accepted an offer from American investment management firm BlackRock to acquire BGI. The acceptance requires to be approved by Barclays’ shareholders at a special meeting in...
.
Over time, the area had become divided and further sub-divided. In 1294, the liberty of the
MinoriesThe Minories The Minories The Minories ' onMouseout='HidePop("17478")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Tower_Gateway_DLR_station">Tower Gateway DLR station
Tower Gateway is a Docklands Light Railway station near the Tower of London. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. It adjoins the tracks to Fenchurch Street station and is on the site of the closed Minories railway station....
. Similarly, to the east, was the liberty of
Well CloseWellclose Square lies in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, between Cable Street to the north and The Highway to the south.The western edge, now called Ensign Street, was previously called Well Street. The southern edge was called Neptune street. On the north side is Graces Alley, home to...
, around the Abbey of St Mary Graces. By the 17th century, the rights, peculiarities and administration of these tiny areas was becoming increasing anachronistic, and in 1686, they were subsumed into the
Liberties of the Tower of LondonThe Liberties of the Tower, or the Tower Liberty was an area adjoining the Tower of London, which was outside the jurisdiction of either the City of London or the County of Middlesex....
. In 1828,
St Katharine DocksSt Katharine Docks, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, were one of the commercial docks serving London, on the north side of the river Thames just east of the Tower of London and Tower Bridge...
were constructed on the site of the hospital, and some 11,000 persons were evicted from the slum to find their own replacement lodgings. From 1855, the whole area of the former East Smithfield was reunited under the administration of the
WhitechapelWhitechapel is a built-up inner city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England. It is located east of Charing Cross and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and Commercial Road on the south...
Board of Works.
In 1844, "An Association for promoting Cleanliness among the Poor" was established, and they built a bath-house and laundry in Glasshouse Yard. This cost a single
pennyA penny , also known as a cent or minor, is a coin or a unit of currency used in several English-speaking countries.Pennies appear to have been in use since the first use of minted coinage.-Etymology:...
for bathing or washing, and by June 1847 was receiving 4,284 people a year. This led to an
Act of ParliamentAn act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament....
to encourage other municipalities to build their own, and the model spread quickly throughout the East End. Timbs noted that "... so strong was the love of cleanliness thus encouraged that women often toiled to wash their own and their children's clothing, who had been compelled to
sell their hair to purchase food to satisfy the cravings of hunger".
Transport
The nearest
Docklands Light Railway station is
Tower GatewayTower Gateway is a Docklands Light Railway station near the Tower of London. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. It adjoins the tracks to Fenchurch Street station and is on the site of the closed Minories railway station....
.
The nearest
London Underground station is
Tower HillTower Hill is a London Underground station at Tower Hill in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.The station is in Travelcard Zone 1 and near the Tower of London...
on the
DistrictThe District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines and the third busiest overall on the Underground network. Out of the 60...
and
Circle LineThe Circle line, coloured yellow on the tube map, is the eighth busiest line on the London Underground. It forms a loop line around the centre of London on the north side of the River Thames...
s.