Whites Row, E1

Road in/near Spitalfields, existing between 1650 and now.

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Road · * · E1 ·
MAY
31
2017
White’s Row is a narrow thoroughfare running east-west from Commercial Street to Crispin Street.

The roadway and northern side of White’s Row formed part of the Wheler estate. The southern side was in the late seventeenth century owned by Nathaniel and John Tilly and in the eighteenth century by the Shepherd family. It formed the northern boundary of the tenter ground stretching south to Wentworth Street, which remained an open space until the nineteenth century. The southern side was built up by Nathaniel Tilly quickly in the 1650s.

The line of the street appears to be shown, without buildings, on Faithorne and Newcourt’s map which was published in 1658 but probably surveyed in the 1640s. In 1675 it was said that houses had been built on the south side of the street by ’Mr Tilly’ about twenty-five years before.

The street was apparently not designedly laid out nor its northern side, at the southern end of Spital Field, built up until about 1673, when building at this southern end of the field was undertaken by Nicholas and Cooke, the Wheler trustees.

In the summer of 1675 Sir Christopher Wren made a report to the Privy Council on a complaint against Nicholas and Cooke from Nathaniel and John Tilly, the owners of houses on the south side of White’s Row. He reminded the Council that when permission to build had been granted to Nicholas and Cooke in November 1672 for ye Builders better direction there was annexed a design to ye said Grant … whereby a 24 foot Street is directed to be layd out and left open before the houses of Mr. Tilly which formerly fronted ye said fields on the South.

Wren reported that Nicholas and Cooke, instead of making a street open on its northern side and twenty-four feet wide, had begun to build another row of houses fronting ye houses of ye said Mr. Tilly and had obliged the lessees to enclose sixteen feet of the proposed width of the street in front of the new houses and to convert ye same to private yards, leaving open only a passageway ten feet wide in front of Tilly’s houses. They had also failed to provide sewers, as was required in their patent, and had raised the ground in front of Tilly’s houses in such a way as to obstruct their ground floor and make them damp.

The northern side followed suit in the 1670s. By the late 1600s, the street was known as ’New Fashion Street’.

By 1707, the Tilly properties were owned by Nathaniel Shepherd (their names were commemorated in Shepherd Street - now Toynbee Street - and Tilley Street, now demolished) and under Shepherd’s lease, No.5 White’s Row was built in the 1730s (and is still standing). Access to the Tenter Ground Estate was also accessible by a large covered arch known as Shepherd’s Place, constructed in the early 1800s.

By the late 19th century, White’s Row had become considered part of the slums of Spitalfields. It was home to a number of lodging houses, Nos. 8 (Spitalfields Chambers), 26, 35 and 36, although the latter three had been closed by 1854.

Spitalfields Chambers was home to possible Ripper victim Annie Millwood at the time she was attacked on 25 February 1888.

The ’Paul’s Head Tavern’ public house on the northern corner with Crispin Street was where the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee held a meeting on 13 November 1888 in order to consider how they may be able to assist the police following the murder of Mary Jane Kelly.

Apart from No.5, much of White’s Row was redeveloped in the 20th Century. The western end was destroyed by bombs during the Second World War. The most significant change came in 1963 with the demolition of the northern side to make way for a van and lorry park, opened in April 1964. The current White’s Row Multi-storey car park was built c.1971 in its place.


Main source: Survey of London | British History Online
Further citations and sources


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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

Born here
jack stevens   
Added: 26 Sep 2021 13:38 GMT   

Mothers birth place
Number 5 Whites Row which was built in around 1736 and still standing was the premises my now 93 year old mother was born in, her name at birth was Hilda Evelyne Shaw,

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Comment
Christine D Elliott   
Added: 11 Jun 2023 14:50 GMT   

Spitalfields
Charles Blutte came to Spitalfields from Walincourt, Picardie, France for reason of religious persecution. His brother Pierre Phillippe Blutte followed the following year. Between the two brothers they had eventually 20 children, they worked as silk weavers around the Brick Lane area. Member’s of Pierre’s family resided at 40 Thomas Street for over 100 years. Another residence associated with the Blutte family is Vine Court, Lamb Street, Spitalfields, number 16,17 & 18 Vine Court was owned by John Kindon, the father in law of Charles Blutte’s son Jean (John) who married Ann Kindon. This residence appears several times in the census records.

Source: Quarto_52_Vol_LII_La_Providence

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Lived here
margaret clark   
Added: 15 Oct 2021 22:23 GMT   

Margaret’s address when she married in 1938
^, Josepine House, Stepney is the address of my mother on her marriage certificate 1938. Her name was Margaret Irene Clark. Her father Basil Clark was a warehouse grocer.

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Comment
   
Added: 21 Apr 2021 16:21 GMT   

Liverpool Street
the Bishopsgate station has existed since 1840 as a passenger station, but does not appear in the site’s cartography. Evidently, the 1860 map is in fact much earlier than that date.

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Pearl Foster   
Added: 20 Mar 2023 12:22 GMT   

Dukes Place, EC3A
Until his death in 1767, Daniel Nunes de Lara worked from his home in Dukes Street as a Pastry Cook. It was not until much later the street was renamed Dukes Place. Daniel and his family attended the nearby Bevis Marks synagogue for Sephardic Jews. The Ashkenazi Great Synagogue was established in Duke Street, which meant Daniel’s business perfectly situated for his occupation as it allowed him to cater for both congregations.

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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Comment
Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT   

Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS)
One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc.

I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Comment
Charles   
Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT   

My House
I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s.

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NH   
Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT   

Telephone House
Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000

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Comment
Paul Cox   
Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT   

War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street
Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there.

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Comment
Diana   
Added: 28 Feb 2024 13:52 GMT   

New Inn Yard, E1
My great grandparents x 6 lived in New Inn Yard. On this date, their son was baptised in nearby St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch

Source: BDM London, Cripplegate and Shoreditch registers written by church clerk.

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Comment
Vic Stanley   
Added: 24 Feb 2024 17:38 GMT   

Postcose
The postcode is SE15, NOT SE1

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Comment
Gillian   
Added: 17 Feb 2024 00:08 GMT   

No 36 Upper East Smithfield
My great great grandfather was born at No 36 Upper East Smithfield and spent his early years staring out at a "dead wall" of St Katharine’s Docks. His father was an outfitter and sold clothing for sailors. He describes the place as being backed by tenements in terrible condition and most of the people living there were Irish.

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Kevin Pont   
Added: 16 Feb 2024 20:32 GMT   

Name origin
Interestingly South Lambeth derives its name from the same source as Lambeth itself - a landing place for lambs.

But South Lambeth has no landing place - it is not on the River Thames

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LOCAL PHOTOS
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Byward Tower, 1893
TUM image id: 1556882285
Licence: CC BY 2.0

In the neighbourhood...

Click an image below for a better view...
The Great Synagogue of London (1810) The Great Synagogue of London was, for centuries, the centre of Ashkenazi synagogue and Jewish life in London. It was destroyed during the Blitz.
Credit: Thomas Rowlandson
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The Boar’s Head was located on the north side of Whitechapel High Street. The Boar’s Head was originally an inn, which was built in the 1530s; it underwent two renovations for use as a playhouse: first, in 1598, when a simple stage was erected, and a second, more elaborate renovation in 1599.
Credit: Unknown
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The Aldgate Pump (1874) Aldgate Pump is a historic water pump located at the junction where Aldgate meets Fenchurch Street and Leadenhall Street. The pump is notable for its long, and sometimes dark history, as well as its cultural significance as a symbolic start point of the East End of London. The term "East of Aldgate Pump" is used as a synonym for the East End or for East London as a whole.
Credit: Wellcome Images
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Bevis Marks Synagogue
Credit: John Salmon
Licence: CC BY 2.0


St Katherine Cree, City of London St Katharine Cree is a Church of England church on the north side of Leadenhall Street near Leadenhall Market. The present church was built in 1628–30, retaining the Tudor tower of its predecessor. The church escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666 and suffered only minor damage in the London Blitz.
Credit: Prioryman
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St James Duke’s Place The church survived the Great Fire of London, but fell into disrepair and was rebuilt in 1727, retaining much of the original woodwork. The poverty of the Aldgate area made it increasingly difficult to raise funds to maintain the church; Godwin described it as being "in a very dirty and dilapidated state". In 1874, under the 1860 Union of Benefices Act, it was demolished and the parish joined to that of St Katherine Cree. The site of the church is now occupied by the Sir John Cass School.
Credit: Robert William Billings and John Le Keux
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The Third Goodmans Fields Theatre, Great Alie Street (1801)
Credit: W. W. Hutchings
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Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin) addressing a "smoking debate" at Toynbee Hall (1902)
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A drawing published in 1907 of the west front of the Church of Holy Trinity, Minories
Credit: Uncredited
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Petticoat Lane in the 1920s
Credit: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)
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