Event Start Date: 28 April 2022
At the end of April 2022, our guide Marilyn Collis led a fascinating stroll around the transformed streets of Spitalfields. She took us back to the earliest use of the fields outside the City of London where the hospital would dispose of the deceased, hence ‘spitalfields.
The old market is now a thriving area of restaurants and bars with craft stalls in the daytime. The delightful architecture of many streets originated from the Hugeunot refugees who came to London as well as other UK cities when their beliefs were outlawed in France. How fortunate then to receive their mastery of silk weaving and their industrious formation of the chapels and houses that remain. Marilyn highlighted various intriguing characters who had lived in the area, from designers and anti-slavery campaigners, to Lonnie Donaghan and Poppy of the famous Fish&Chips shop.
The walk passed by the Truman Brewery, once the largest brewery in the world, and then followed Brick Lane with its delicious aromas of curry houses.
The walk spiralled around the beautiful Hawksmoor church and arrived back at Bishopsgate for drinks at Dirty Dicks. It was an inspiring and uplifting walk that illustrated the rich benefits of diversity, immigration and imaginative restoration.