A former Bishop of London who lived here and caused the house to be named after him was Edmund Bonner. He was a devout Catholic and wielded a great amount of power which he used and abused in his pursuit of Protestants.
The devoutly Catholic Queen Mary I came to the throne in 1553. Mary commissioned Bonner to convert heretical Protestants to Catholicism. If they refused, Bonner would order them to be tortured and burnt at the stake. He was dubbed ‘Bloody Bonner’ and started four years of persecution. Some 300 were burned at the stake, it’s been said that Bonner personally tried and sentenced around 200 of these.
When Protestant, Elizabeth I became queen, Bonner did not fare so well. He was arrested in 1559, and imprisoned until his death ten years later. The enduring hatred towards Bonner meant that he was buried at midnight to avoid a riot.
Bonner’s privileged position led him to occupy Bonner’s Hall (Bishop’s Hall) in Bethnal Green – then a hamlet surrounded by countryside. Bonner Gate, Bonner Street and Bonner Road were named after him and the house.
Bonners Hall passed to John Fuller, a judge died there in 1592. The next occupier Sir Hugh Platt died in 1594. By 1612 the house was split up.
By 1642, the site contained five additional houses. In 1655 the mansion house was taken down and the materials were used to build four new houses. Substantial rebuilding may have taken place after 1671. By 1741 three or four wooden houses had joined the main building on the west. The most easterly, next to the lane, was a pub.
After this, there was little change before the creation of Victoria Park in the 1840s.
