Bethnal Green
OS grid reference	TQ345825
London borough	Tower Hamlets
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	E2
Dial code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
UK Parliament	Bethnal Green and Bow
London Assembly	City and East
European Parliament	London
List of places: UK • England • London

Coordinates: 51°31′39″N 0°03′58″W / 51.5275, -0.066 Image File history File links Greater_london_outline_map_bw. ... Image File history File links Red_pog. ... The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using latitude or longitude. ... The districts of England are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. ... The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough to the east of the City of London and north of the River Thames in East London. ... The Ceremonial counties of England are areas of England that are appointed a Lord-Lieutenant, and are defined by the government with reference to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England. ... Greater London is the top-level administrative subdivision covering London, England. ... The region, also known as Government Office Region, is currently the highest tier of local government subnational entity of England in the United Kingdom. ... Greater London is the top-level administrative subdivision covering London, England. ... Constituent countries is a phrase used, often by official institutions, in contexts in which a number of countries make up a larger entity or grouping; thus the OECD has used the phrase in reference to the former Yugoslavia[1], the Soviet Union and European institutions such as the Council of... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto)1 Unified  -  by Athelstan 927 AD  Area  -  Total... This is an alphabetical list of the sovereign states of the world, including both de jure and de facto independent states. ... A post town is a required part of all UK postal addresses. ... The London postal districts are divisions of the London post town in England and are primarily used for the direction of mail. ... UK postal codes are known as postcodes. ... The E (Eastern) postcode area, also known as the London E postcode area[2], is the part of the London postal district covering much of east London, England. ... The UK telephone numbering plan, also known as the National Numbering Plan, is regulated by the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which replaced the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) in 2003. ... 020 is the dial code for Greater London in the United Kingdom. ... The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is the name currently used by the territorial police force which is responsible for Greater London other than the City of London (the responsibility of the City of London Police). ... A Fire Appliance belonging to the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service The fire service in the United Kingdom has undergone dramatic changes since the beginning of the 21st century, a process that has been propelled by a devolution of central government powers, new legislation and a change to operational... The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the statutory fire and rescue service for London, England. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The London Ambulance Service (LAS) is the largest ambulance service in the world that does not directly charge its patients for its services. ... The United Kingdom House of Commons is made up of Members of Parliament (MPs). ... Bethnal Green and Bow is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... Greater London is divided into a number of constituencies for London Assembly elections. ... City and East is a constituency represented in the London Assembly. ... This is a list of Members of the European Parliament for the United Kingdom in the 2004 to 2009 session, ordered by name. ... London is a constituency of the European Parliament. ... List of cities in the United Kingdom List of towns in England Lists of places within counties List of places in Bedfordshire List of places in Berkshire List of places in Buckinghamshire List of places in Cambridgeshire List of places in Cheshire List of places in Cleveland List of places... This is a partial list of places in London, England. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...

Bethnal Green is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. Bethnal Green is located 3.3 miles (5.3 km) north east of Charing Cross. The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough to the east of the City of London and north of the River Thames in East London. ... The East End of London, known locally as the East End, is an area, with no formal authority or boundaries, that spans a number of administative districts of London in England. ... The Victorian Eleanor Cross at Charing Cross The name Charing Cross, now given to a district of central London in the City of Westminster, comes from the original hamlet of Charing, where King Edward I placed a memorial to his wife, Eleanor of Castile. ...

Boundaries

Bethnal Green forms a part of Tower Hamlets, centred around the Central Line tube station at the junction of Bethnal Green Road, Roman Road and Cambridge Heath Road. The district was originally a part of the Parish of Stepney, but formed a separate parish in the 19th century, as the population increased. This parish bordered the London Borough of Hackney in the north and west (at Shoreditch), and Mile End in the east. To the south is Whitechapel. London Transport Portal The Central Line is a line of the London Underground and coloured red on the tube map. ... The London Borough of Hackney is a London Borough in the east end of London and part of inner London. ... Shoreditch Town Hall Shoreditch is a place in the London Borough of Hackney. ... Mile End is an area of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, England. ... Whitechapel is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, United Kingdom. ...

The district is associated with the E2 postal district, but this also covers parts of Shoreditch, Haggerston and Cambridge Heath. The E (Eastern) postcode area, also known as the London E postcode area[2], is the part of the London postal district covering much of east London, England. ... Haggerston is a place in the London Borough of Hackney. ... Cambridge Heath is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in Londons East End and lying just to the north of Bethnal Green. ...

The areas name is believed to have come from an earlier Bethan Hall Green which because of local pronounciation as Beth'n 'all Green and the resulting confusion was changed to "Bethnal Green" by the 19th Century. Between 1986 and 1992, the name Bethnal Green was applied to one of seven neighbourhoods, to whom power was devolved from the council. This resulted in replacement of much of the street signage in the area, that remains in place^[1]. This included parts of both Cambridge Heath and Whitechapel - north of the Whitechapel Road - being more associated with the post code and administrative simplicity, than the historic districts.

History

Early history

A Tudor ballad about the 'Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green' tells the story of an ostensibly poor man who gave a surprisingly generous dowry for his daughter's wedding. The tale furnishes the parish of Bethnal Green's coat of arms. According to one version of the legend,found in Percy's Reliques of ancient English poetry, the beggar was the son of Simon de Montfort, but Percy himself declared that this version was not genuine.. Two notable men bore the name of Simon de Montfort or Simon de Montford in the middle ages: Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester (1160 - 1218), a French nobleman, achieved prominence in the Fourth Crusade and in the Albigensian Crusade. ...

Boxing has a long association with Bethnal Green. Daniel Mendoza, who was champion of England from 1792 to 1795, though born in Aldgate, lived in Paradise Row on the West side of Bethnal Green for 30 years. Since then numerous boxers have been associated with the area, the local leisure centre, York Hall, remains notable for presentation of boxing bouts. Daniel Mendoza (5 July 1764 – 3 September 1836) was an English-Jewish prizefighter, who was heavy-weight boxing champion of England 1792-1795 and is considered the father of scientific boxing. Was well known for transforming the stereotypical image of a Jew at the time from a weak, indefensible person... 1792 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Aldgate was a gateway through London Wall to the City of London, located by the East End. ...

In 1841, the Anglo-Catholic Nathaniel Woodard - who was to become a highly influential educationalist in the later part of the 19th century - became the Curate of the newly created St. Bartholomew's in Bethnal Green. He was a capable pastoral visitor and established a parochial school. In 1843, he got into trouble for preaching a sermon in St. Bartholomew's in which he argued that The Book of Common Prayer should have additional material to provide for confession and absolution and in which he criticised the 'inefficient and Godless clergy' of the Church of England. After examining the text of the sermon, the Bishop of London condemned it as containing 'erroneous and dangerous notions'. As a result, the Bishop sent Woodard to be a curate in Clapton. 1841 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... ... Reverend Nathaniel Woodard (21 March 1811 - 25 April 1891) founded 11 schools for the middle classes in England whose aim was to provide education based on sound principle and sound knowledge, firmly grounded in the Christian faith. ... From the Latin curatus (compare Curator), a curate is a person who is invested with the care, or cure (cura), of souls of a parish. ... Michelangelos The Last Judgement shows Saint Bartholomew holding the knife of his martyrdom and his flayed skin. ... Year 1843 (MDCCCXLIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... A sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. ... The Book of Common Prayer is the prayer book of the Church of England and also the name for similar books used in other churches in the Anglican Communion. ... Modern confessional in the Church of the Holy Name, Dunedin, New Zealand. ... Absolution in a liturgical church refers to the pronouncement of Gods forgiveness of sins. ... The Church of England is the officially established Christian church[1] in England, and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... Arms of the Bishop of London The Bishop of London is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. ... Lower Claptons unusual Round Chapel. ...

Modern history

Old Bethnal Green Town Hall. Besides being the headquarters of the pre-1965 metropolitan borough, this was also, for a time, Tower Hamlets town hall, until the borough decentralised itself in the 1980s.

V&A Museum of Childhood

In the nineteenth century, Bethnal Green was characterised by its market gardens and by the silk-weaving trade. Having been an area of large houses and gardens as late as the eighteenth century, by about 1860 Bethnal Green was mainly full of tumbledown old buildings, with many families living in each house. By the end of the nineteenth century, Bethnal Green was one of the poorest slums in London. Jack the Ripper operated at the western end of Bethnal Green and in neighbouring Whitechapel. Image File history File links Bethnal_green_town_hall_1. ... Image File history File links Bethnal_green_town_hall_1. ... Old Bethnal Green Town Hall. ... The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough to the east of the City of London and north of the River Thames in East London. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 3092 KB) Description: Bethnal Green museum of childhood, front. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 3092 KB) Description: Bethnal Green museum of childhood, front. ... Jack the Ripper is the pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area of London, England in the second half of 1888. ... Whitechapel is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, United Kingdom. ...

By 1900, the Old Nichol Street Rookery was demolished, and the Boundary Estate opened on the site, near the boundary with Shoreditch. This was the world's first council housing, and brothers Lew Grade and Bernard Delfont were brought up here^[2]. A rookery (also sometimes described as a stew) was the colloquial name historically given to a city slum or ghetto frequented by poor people, criminals and prostitutes. ... The Boundary Estate is a housing development, formerly opened in 1900, in the East End of London, England. ... Shoreditch Town Hall Shoreditch is a place in the London Borough of Hackney. ... Cheap, safe, housing owned by the British Government. ... Lew Grade, Baron Grade (birth name Louis Winogradsky) (December 25, 1906 - December 13, 1998) was an influential showbusiness impresario and television company executive in the United Kingdom. ... Bernard Delfont, Baron Delfont of Stepney Kt (5 September 1909-28 July 1994) was a leading Ukrainian-born theatrical impresario. ...

On March 3, 1943 at 8:27PM the unopened Bethnal Green tube station was the site of a wartime disaster. Families had crowded into the underground station due to an air raid siren at 8:17, one of 10 that day. There was a panic at 8:27 coinciding with the sound of an anti-aircraft battery (possibly the recently installed Z battery) being fired at nearby Victoria Park. In the wet, dark conditions, a woman slipped on the entrance stairs and 173 people died in the resulting crush. Although a report was filed by Eric Linden with the Daily Mail, who witnessed it, it never ran. The story which was reported instead was that there had been a direct hit by a German bomb. The results of the official investigation were not released until 1946.^[3] There is now a plaque at the entrance to the tube station, which commemorates it as the worst civilian disaster of World War II. Bethnal Green tube station is a station on the Central Line of the London Underground in Bethnal Green, east London. ... The Unrotated Projectile, or UP, was a short range rocket firing anti-aircraft weapon developed by the Royal Navy to supplement the 2 pounder Pom-Pom (gun) due to a critical lack of close-range anti-aircraft weapons. ... The Bathing Pond in Victoria Park. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

During the 1960s, infamous gangsters, the Kray twins, lived in Bethnal Green, but by the beginning of the twenty-first century, Bethnal Green, in common with much of the old East End, began to undergo a process of gentrification. Ronald Kray (1933 - 1995) and Reginald Kray (1933 - 2000) were twin brothers, and the foremost organised crime leaders in London in the 1960s. ... The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ...

The former Bethnal Green Infirmary, later the London County Council Bethnal Green Hospital, stood opposite Cambridge Heath railway station. The hospital closed as a public hospital in the 1960s and was a geriatric hospital under the NHS until the 1980s. Much of the site was developed for housing in the 1990s but the hospital entrance and administration block remains as a listed building. Marcus Garvey was at one time buried here, before his body was returned to Jamaica. Cambridge Heath railway station is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in east London. ... Marcus Garvey in 1924 Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. ...

Places of interest

• Museum of Childhood, part of the Victoria and Albert Museum
• Centre for Recent Drawing
• London Buddhist Centre

Exterior of the museum The official opening of the Bethnal Green Museum by the Prince of Wales in 1872. ... The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) is on the corner of Cromwell Gardens and Exhibition Road in South Kensington, west London. ... Founded by Andrew Hewish in 2004, the Centre for Recent Drawing (C4RD) provides a non-commercial curatorial space in London, UK, for the exhibition of recent drawing, providing access and discussion for current drawing practice and to foster the audience for drawing within the general public. ... The London Buddhist Centre (LBC) in Bethnal Green, London is part of a local network of Buddhist businesses and organisations within the Bethnal Green area. ...

Trivia

• Most of the sketches of Andy & Lou in Little Britain are filmed in Bethnal Green.^{[citation needed]} The shop where they buy the snake is actually Magri's pets, a shop at 205 Roman Road owned by former boxing champion and East End boy Charlie Magri.^{[citation needed]}
• Bethnal Green is notable for the staple cheap London meal, pie and mash with jellied eels^[4]. Kelly's is one such place, with two outlets in Bethnal Green.
• A notable and popular local market is the Columbia Road Flower Market^[4].
• The seventh model for Lara Croft - Karima Adebibe comes from and lives in Bethnal Green with her family^[5].
• In the fictitious videogame The Getaway, Bethnal Green is presented as the hub of cockney gangster activity.^{[citation needed]}
• The 1947 Ealing Studios film It Always Rains on Sunday was set in Bethnal Green, with extensive filming in the local area. It provides an excellent insight on post war East London, showing bomb sites and slums before most were swept away during the redevelopment in the 1960s and later^[6].
• Bethnal Green is the location of the BBC house for the contestants in the programmes Any Dream Will Do (TV series) and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?

The Green and Poor's Land

The Green and Poor's Land is the area of open land now occupied by Bethnal Green Library, The Museum and St. John's Church. In Stow's survey of London (1598) the hamlet was called "Blethenal Green, now called Bednal Green". It was one of the hamlets included in the Manor of Stepney and Hackney. Hackney later became separated.

In 1678 the owners of houses surrounding the Green purchased the land to save it from being built on and in 1690 the land was conveyed to a trust under which the land was to be kept open and rent from it used for the benefit of poor people living in the vicinity. From that date until now the trust has administered the land and its minute books are kept in the Greater London Record Office.

Bethnal House or Kirby's Castle was the principal house on the Green. One of its owners was Sir Hugh Platt (1552-1608), author of books on gardening and practical science. Under its next owner it was visited by Samuel Pepys. It became associated with the ballad of the Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green (see Thoms Percy).

In 1727 it was leased to Matthew Wright and for almost two centuries it was a mad house. Its two most distinguished inmates were Alexander Crudens, compiler of the Concordance to the Bible, and the poet Christopher Smart. Crudens recorded his experience in The London Citizen Grievously Injured(1739) and Smart's stay there is recorded by his daughter. Records of the asylum are kept in the annual reports of the Commissioner in Lunacy.

The original mansion, the White House, was supplemented by other buildings. In 1891 the Trust lost the use of Poor's Land to the London County Council. The asylum reorganised its buildings, demolishing the historic White House and erecting a new block in 1896. This building became the present Bethnal Green Library. A history of Poor's Land and Bethnal House is included in The Green (A.J. Robinson and D.H.B. Chesshyre).

Other Houses on the Green

The north end of the Green is associated with the Natt family. During the 18th century they owned many of its houses. Netteswell House is the residence of the curator of the Bethnal Green Museum. It is almost certainly named after the village of Netteswell, near Harwell, whose rector was the Rev. Anthony Natt. A few of its houses have become University Settlements. In Victoria Park Square, on the east side of the Green, No.18 has a Tudor well in its cellar. (Source, The Green, Land assessments records, Gascoyne's survey of 1703.)

On Monday 14th May 2007, builders digging on a housing plot discovered a World War Two bomb, which was at first thought to be a boiler in Palmers Road, Bethnal Green. The 1m long, 500lb device is now being dismantled by bomb disposal experts. 50 local people have been evacuated and Roman Road is closed to all traffic, causing problems with the shops, council offices and health services. ^[7] (Redirected from 14th May) May 14 is the 134th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (135th in leap years). ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... This article is becoming very long. ... The Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb produced in the United States. ...

Education

For details of education in Bethnal Green see the Tower Hamlets article

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough to the east of the City of London and north of the River Thames in East London. ...

Transport

Nearest places

• Liverpool Street
• Bow
• Haggerston
• Stepney
• Whitechapel
• Shoreditch
• Hoxton
• Spitalfields

Liverpool Street station, also called London Liverpool Street, is a mainline railway station and connected London Underground station in the north eastern corner of the City of London, the main financial district, with entrances on Bishopsgate and Liverpool Street itself. ... Bow is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. ... Haggerston is a place in the London Borough of Hackney. ... Stepney is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. ... Whitechapel is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, United Kingdom. ... Shoreditch Town Hall Shoreditch is a place in the London Borough of Hackney. ... Hoxton Square. ... Christ Church, Spitalfields Spitalfields, an area in Tower Hamlets, east London near to Liverpool Street station and Brick Lane which gets its name from a contraction of hospital fields, as there used to be a major hospital in the area. ...

Nearest tube stations

• Bethnal Green tube station
• Whitechapel tube station
• Stepney Green tube station

Bethnal Green tube station is a station on the Central Line of the London Underground in Bethnal Green, east London. ... Whitechapel is a London Underground station in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. ... Stepney Green Station is a London Underground station on the District and Hammersmith and City lines, located on the junction of Globe Road and Mile End Road in Stepney. ...

Nearest railway stations

• Bethnal Green railway station
• Cambridge Heath railway station

Bethnal Green railway station is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in east London. ... Cambridge Heath railway station is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in east London. ...

References

BBC News is the department within the BBC responsible for the corporations news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... May 16 is the 136th day of the year (137th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... May 16 is the 136th day of the year (137th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• Bethnal Green and Bow (UK Parliament constituency)
• Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green

Bethnal Green and Bow is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... Old Bethnal Green Town Hall. ...

External links

• Tower Hamlets London Borough Council information about Bethnal Green