Chapter Spitalfields

The Old Artillery Ground is an area of land in Spitalfields, London formerly designated one of the Liberties of the Tower of London and Crown Land. Originally the outer precinct of the Priory and Hospital of St Mary Spital, it was converted to an Artillery Ground in 1538, under Henry VIII, for the use of 'The Fraternity or Guild of Artillery of Longbows, Crossbows and Handguns', also known as 'The Fraternity of St George'. This group were later known as the Honourable Artillery Company and used the ground in conjunction with the Gunners of the Tower. In 1658 the Honourable Artillery Company moved to a new Artillery Ground in Bunhill Fields, leaving the Gunners of the Tower in possession of the area until 1682, when it was sold off to speculative builders. These latter developed the area for housing, designating the streets with their present names of Fort Street, Gun Street, Artillery Passage and Artillery Lane which recall its former use. In 1900 it and the neighbouring Liberty of Norton Folgate were merged into the new Metropolitan Borough of Stepney. Since 1965 the area has been administered by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

Sandy's Row Synagogue is a historic Grade II listed synagogue and former Christian church in the East End of London. Built by refugee French Huguenots in 1766, it was later converted into a Baptist chapel and in 1867 was acquired by a Jewish congregation. It is the oldest surviving Ashkenazi synagogue in London.

Raven Row is a free art exhibition centre in Spitalfields. It was constructed from numbers 56 and 58, Artillery Lane. These properties were built about 1690. The area was formerly used for testing artillery and this portion of the lane was known as Raven Row until 1895. No. 56 and 58 had been rebuilt in the 1750s for use by Huguenot silk weavers and traders. The buildings were converted into a gallery in 2009 by 6a architects on behalf of Alex Sainsbury, who established a charity to run it. The inaugural exhibition was of work by New York artist Ray Johnson. Raven Row has held exhibitions by K.P. Brehmer, Iain Baxter, Adam Chodzko, Suzanne Treister, Peter Kennard, Hilary Lloyd, Harun Farocki, Eduardo Paolozzi, Stephen Willats and Yvonne Rainer. Other exhibitions have been curated by Richard Grayson, Lars Bang Larsen and Alice Motard.Raven Row suspended its exhibition programming in 2017, with the intention to resume it in 2020 (subsequently delayed to 2021). In the interim, the Artillery Lane building was used by non-profit groups and organisations including the gallery Piper Keys, Asia-Art-Activism Research Network, London Renters Union, and East London Cable.

The Middlesex Street Estate is a housing estate in the Portsoken ward on the east edge of the City of London. It was connected to other local buildings by an elevated walkway system called the City of London Pedway Scheme. The estate was built between 1965 and 1970 for the Corporation of London and comprises the 23-storey Petticoat Tower and low-rise buildings around Petticoat Square. The materials are concrete, including slotted concrete for balconies, and engineered brick.The estate includes 120 low-rise dwellings and the 80 apartments in the tower block.It was the main filming location for the film iBoy,

Bishops Square is a large commercial property development in the Spitalfields area of London, England. Previously owned by Hammerson, and later jointly by Hammerson and the Oman Investment Fund, it is now owned by JP Morgan. It has been cited as an example of a privately owned public space in London.The headquarters of global law firm, Allen & Overy, are located at One Bishops Square.

The Goulston Street graffito was a sentence written on a wall beside a clue in the 1888 Whitechapel murders investigation. It has been transcribed as variations on the sentence "The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing". The meaning of the graffito, and its possible connection to the crimes attributed to Jack the Ripper, have been debated for over a century.

Spitalfields is a district in the East End of London and within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area is formed around Commercial Street (on the A1202 London Inner Ring Road) and includes the locale around Brick Lane, Christ Church, Toynbee Hall and Commercial Tavern. It has several markets, including Spitalfields Market, the historic Old Spitalfields Market, Brick Lane Market and Petticoat Lane Market. It was part of the ancient parish of Stepney in the county of Middlesex and was split off as a separate parish in 1729. Just outside the City of London, the parish became part of the Metropolitan Board of Works area in 1855 as part of the Whitechapel District. It formed part of the County of London from 1889 and was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney from 1900. It was abolished as a civil parish in 1921.

Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, 3.4 miles (5.5 km) east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed a civil and ecclesiastical parish after splitting from the ancient parish of Stepney in the 14th century. It became part of the County of London in 1889 and Greater London in 1965. Because the area is close to the London Docklands and east of the City of London, it has been a popular place for immigrants and the working class. The area was the centre of the London Jewish community in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Whitechapel/Spitalfields was the location of the infamous 11 Whitechapel murders (1888–91), some of which were attributed to the mysterious serial killer known as Jack the Ripper. In the latter half of the 20th century, Whitechapel became a significant settlement for the British Bangladeshi community and has the Royal London Hospital and East London Mosque.

Dorset Street was a street in Spitalfields, East London, once situated at the heart of the area's rookery. By repute it was "the worst street in London", and it was the scene of the brutal murder of Mary Jane Kelly by Jack the Ripper on 9 November 1888. The murder was committed at Kelly's lodgings which were situated at No. 13, Miller's Court, entered from a passageway between 26 and 27, Dorset Street. The road was renamed Duval Street in 1904, before having its north side demolished in 1920 during the rebuilding of Old Spitalfields Market, and the buildings on the south side replaced by a car park in the 1960s. The site was built over during redevelopment of the Fruit and Wool Exchange in the 2010s.

Spitalfields Market is a traders' market as well as a food and art market located in Spitalfields, Central London. Traders began operating around 1666, after the Great Fire of London, where the market stands today. The Spitalfields regeneration programme that ended in 2005, resulted in two new public spaces – Bishops Square and Crispin Place, which restored several historic streets and resulted in more independent retailers and restaurants. Spitalfields Market is situated in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is surrounded by Lamb Street, Old Spitalfields market, Brushfield Street and Bishops Square.

The Worshipful Company of Coopers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The organisation of coopers existed in 1422; the Company received its first Royal Charter of incorporation in 1501. The cooper trade involved the making of wine, beer, and spirit casks (a barrel is specifically a 36-gallon cask, or 32 in some circumstances); the Livery Company also functions as a charitable foundation, and supports two education establishments: the Coopers' Company and Coborn School of Upminster, Essex, and Strode's College of Egham, Surrey. The former was founded in the Ratcliffe area of London in 1536 and donated to the Company who have been involved with it ever since. Their guild hall was first founded in the Bassishaw City ward in 1522, at The Swan tavern and from 1547 in a purpose-built livery hall. The hall was hired out for feasts by other companies and religious groups, and was used for drawings of government lotteries. This hall was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666 but subsequently rebuilt on the same site. The guild rebuilt again in 1865, selling a part of the site to the City of London Corporation for the expansion of Guildhall. This hall was destroyed by fire on the night of 29 December 1940. The livery then shared quarters with other Companies until purchasing their current headquarters in Devonshire Square, off Bishopsgate.The Coopers' Company ranks 36th in the order of precedence of all the Livery Companies. Its motto is Love as Brethren.

Bishopsgate Library is an independent, charity-funded library located within the Bishopsgate Institute in the City of London.