Arnold Circus, E2

Road in/near Shoreditch, existing between the 1890s and now.

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(51.52605 -0.07493, 51.526 -0.074) 
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Road · * · E2 ·
November
1
2020
Arnold Circus lies to the north of Shoreditch.

The Boundary Estate was laid out with a central raised garden with a bandstand called Arnold Circus, after the chairman of the LCC’s Main Drainage committee Arthur Arnold, which was designed to break the monotony’ of the East End’s drab terraced housing.

The Boundary Estate was the result of a major slum clearance of the 1890s. This area, called Friars Mount, was part of an area parcelled out in building leases in the early 19th and may have been named after a farmer called Fryer. It had become an area of speculative building and absentee landlords. Housing, originally cottages for weavers, had been crammed and infilled with badly built and ruinous dwellings with little drainage or water supply and grossly overcrowded inhabited by those barely able to make a living. One in every four children born here died in childhood. Its poverty and desperation drew philanthropists from the late 18th and reformers attempted to improve health and housing. The London County Council was instrumental in bringing about a change more than any other. The Boundary Estate is a milestone. The 1890 Housing of the Working Classes Act enabled the London County Council to develop a comprehensive plan of clearance and redevelopment for rehousing of 5,300 people. The plan was developed from 1893 under a Housing of the Working Classes Branch of the LCC’s Architect’s Department had been set up under Owen Fleming. They planned the estate around a central circus with radiating tree-lined avenues. Two blocks were designed by Rowland Plumbe and the remaining nineteen buildings were undertaken by the council under their architect, W.E.Riley. Each block designed by a different architect while maintaining a unity through the use of common brick, and decoration. There were also 18 shops, a surgery, workshops, costermonger’s sheds, and a central laundry with bathrooms, two clubrooms, and two school sites. It was opened by the Prince of Wales in 1900.

Circular Garden. Streets radiate out from the central garden on the mound which is the focus of the estate. In the middle is a high terraced garden with a timber bandstand. The Site of the Mount has been said to be an ancient mound and ley line from St Martin in the Field. There is however no sign of a mound on older maps and the mound in fact consists of building rubble and domestic waste. The buildings around the circus set the tone and the building style for the estate. These gardens were built as the first where a social space, for public arts and cultural events was seen as a fundamental part of, and central to the design of a social housing. In the early 21st a Friends Group has overseen restoration and enhancement work. Iron Railings and overthrows with decorative panels.
Bandstand, this Forms a focal point visible from each of the radiating streets of the estate. It is Octagonal in Japanese style in wood with a tiled roof and a clapboard balustrade. It was erected in 1912.

Chertsey House. One of the five blocks around the circus. It was designed by R. Minton Taylor built 1895-6. It is in red brick with pink banding to brickwork on the 2nd and 3rd floors. On the Ground floor is a central round arched door.

Hurley House. Red brick glazed ground floor with stuccoed string course above
Sandford House. Smaller, charming, with three-bay fronts, wider bands of pink and orange brick and windows framed by projecting vertical strips. Designed by R Minton Taylor and completed in 1895-6.

Iffley House. Classically detailed and designed, 1896-8 by A.M. Phillips. The entrance is at the rear, leaving the facade free for a pair of broad windows to the ground floor in glazed brown brick.

Shiplake House. This flanks the opening to Arnold Circus. It was built in 1899 in red brick. The ground floor has contemporary shop fronts.




Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence


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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

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.

Reply
Comment
   
Added: 6 Nov 2021 15:03 GMT   

Old Nichol Street, E2
Information about my grandfather’s tobacconist shop

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Comment
Martin Eaton    
Added: 14 Oct 2021 03:56 GMT   

Boundary Estate
Sunbury, Taplow House.

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Reply
Diana   
Added: 28 Feb 2024 14:08 GMT   

New Inn Yard, E1
The date of the above baptism was 10th August 1718.

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

Reply
Reply
Diana   
Added: 28 Feb 2024 14:16 GMT   

New Inn Yard, E1
Date of above baptism 10th August 2728

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

Reply

LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Comment
Wendy    
Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT   

Polygon Buildings
Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings.

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Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT   

Road construction and houses completed
New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only.

Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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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.

Reply
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.

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

Postcose
The postcode is SE15, NOT SE1

Reply



LOCAL PHOTOS
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In the neighbourhood...

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Geffrye Museum, London (2012)
Credit: Chang Yisheng
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Mass grave for plague victims, Holywell Mount (1665) Holywell Mount is the source of the River Walbrook. Today it lies underneath Luke Street in Shoreditch but, then in open land, was used as a plague pit in 1665.
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The Gibraltar Tavern in Gibraltar Walk, Bethnal Green. This pub was present before 1750. The post-war Avebury Estate was extended in 1963. The pub disappeared under the site for the block called Cadogan House.
Credit: (Sourced by) Charlie Goodwin
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The Primrose pub on the corner of Norton Folgate/Bishopsgate and Primrose Street (1912) The Primrose, which had existed since at least since 1839, was demolished in 1987
Credit: CA Mathew/Bishopsgate Institute
Licence: CC BY 2.0


The Ten Bells pub, Spitalfields (2012) The Jamie Oliver series Jamie’s Great Britain featured his great-great-grandfather was a landlord of the pub during the 1880s. Oliver was shown visiting the Ten Bells to discuss his East London roots, and to see how Londoners lived, drank and ate at the end of the 19th century.
Credit: Wiki Commons/Wordspotandsmith
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Old Spitalfields Market (2017) This is a covered market which has been on the site for over 350 years. In 2005, a regeneration programme resulted in the new public spaces: Bishops Square and Crispin Place, which are now part of the modern Spitalfields Market. A range of public markets runs daily, with independent local stores and restaurants - as well as new office developments.
Credit: Pete Gloria
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One of the bedrooms of Dennis Severs’ House in Folgate Street, Spitalfields. Each room of Dennis Severs’ House is a preserve ’experience’ of 18th-century Huguenot life.
Credit: Wiki Commons
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Bloom Court, Blossom Street (1956)
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Brick Lane streetsign.
Credit: James Cridland
Licence: CC BY 2.0


The site of Gun Yard (1912) Gun Yard disappeared at the time of the First World War. This north-facing view of Norton Folgate shows the widening at this point which demolished Gun Yard which would have been on the left here.
Credit: CA Mathew/Bishopsgate Institute
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