Wellclose Square in the Victorian era


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Wellclose Square in the Victorian era

Wellclose Square was part of the ancient parish of Stepney. This was later divided into Whitechapel, Wapping and St George in the East. The boundaries of these parishes met in Wellclose Square.

Daniel Defoe mentions Wellclose Square is his 'A tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain' (1724). He says that there used to be a well in the centre of the square which was also known as Goodman's Field's Well.

Scandinavians were particularly attracted to the area and Danish king Christian V gave funds for the construction of a new Danish Church on the square. The church was completed in 1696. Nos 20 & 21 on the west side later housed the Danish Embassy.

Wellclose Square inspired a Swedish community to take root in nearby Princes Square (later renamed Swedenborg Square).

A number of Wellclose Square's late seventeenth-century houses survived into the 1960s. The centre of the square is now occupied by St Paul's Whitechapel Church of England Primary School.


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