Editing Spitalfields (section)

== History ==
===Roman era===
The [[Roman Britain|Roman]]s had a cemetery to the east of the Bishopsgate thoroughfare, which roughly follows the line of [[Ermine Street]]: the main highway to the north from Londinium.<ref name=Roman/> The cemetery was noticed by the [[antiquarian]] [[John Stow]] in 1576 and was the focus of a major archaeological excavation in the 1990s, following the redevelopment of Spitalfields Market.<ref name=Roman>{{cite book|author= Thomas Christopher|title= Life and Death in London's East End: 2000 years at Spitalfields|year= 2004|publisher= [[Museum of London Archaeology Service]]|isbn= 1-901992-49-7|pages= 7–29}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/learning/features_facts/digging/people/s1.html|title=Discovering peopleat Spitalfields market|date=12 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312061700/http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/learning/features_facts/digging/people/s1.html|access-date=23 October 2021|archive-date=12 March 2007}}</ref> 

In 2013, Janet Montgomery of [[Durham University]] undertook [[Isotopes of lead|lead isotope]] analysis of [[tooth enamel]], identifying the first person from [[Ancient Rome|Rome]] known to have been buried in Britain. She was a 25-year-old woman, buried in a lead-lined stone [[sarcophagus]] around the middle of the 4th century A.D., and accompanied by [[grave goods]] of [[Jet (lignite)|jet]] and [[Roman glass|glass]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s74g9 |title=Pagans of Roman Britain |website=Bbc.co.uk |date=7 January 2014 |access-date=7 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/archaeology-london-spitalfields-woman-mola-b1774473.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/archaeology-london-spitalfields-woman-mola-b1774473.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=The story of the silk and gold clad woman buried in London's Spitalfields |website=Independent.co.uk |date=16 December 2020 |access-date=16 December 2020}}</ref>

===St Mary Spital===
[[File:Armoiries de Breidscheid 2.svg|thumb|upright=0.6|[[Coat of arms]] attributed to Walter Brunus (or Brown), the founder of the priory in 1197]] 
In 1197, a [[priory]], ''The New Hospital of St Mary without Bishopsgate'', latterly known as ''St Mary Spital'', was founded by Walter Brunus and his wife Roisia, and built on the site of the cemetery.<ref name="Thomas 1997">Thomas, Sloane and Phillpotts (1997) ''Excavations at the Priory and Hospital of St Mary Spital, London''. Museum of London: London: 19–20</ref> It was one of the biggest hospitals in [[Great Britain in the Middle Ages|medieval England]] and had a large cemetery with a  mortuary chapel and stone [[charnel house]]. The chapel has been uncovered by archaeologists and preserved for public viewing. The priory and hospital were [[Dissolution of the Monasteries|dissolved]] in 1539 under [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]]. At the time of the dissolution, the hospital had beds for 180 sick poor.<ref>The Blackest Streets, [[Sarah Wise]], The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum, Vintage Publishing 2009</ref> 

The inner precinct of priory hospital was adjacent to the area that later became the Hamlet and parish of Spitalfields, in the tiny extra-parochial area called the [[Liberty of Norton Folgate]]. Although the chapel and monastic buildings were mostly demolished in the time of Henry VIII, the Liberty remained an autonomous area outside of any parish. The adjacent outer precincts, to the south, were re-used for artillery practice by the gunners of the [[Tower of London]]. The area, known as the [[Old Artillery Ground]] was placed under the special jurisdiction of the Tower of London as one of its [[Liberties of the Tower of London|Tower Liberties]].<ref>Thomas: pp. 30–75</ref> 

Other parts of the priory area were used for residential purposes by London dwellers seeking a rural retreat and by the mid-17th century further development extended eastward into the erstwhile open farmland of the Spital Field.<ref>Fiona Rule (2008) ''The Worst Street in London'', pp. 18-26, Hersham, Ian Allan.</ref>

===Huguenots===
[[File:Spitalfields Parish map 1885.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A map showing the bounds of the Parish of Spitalfields, {{circa|1885}}]]

Spitalfields consisted mainly of fields and nursery gardens until its development in the late 17th century.<ref name=Survey>{{cite book |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50147 |title=General introduction &#124; Survey of London: volume 27 (pp. 1–13) |author=F. H. W. Sheppard |year=1957 |access-date=25 November 2012}} [https://british-history.ac.uk BHO {{!}} British History Online (british-history.ac.uk)]</ref> The main local industry at that time was weaving, and many of the weavers were [[Huguenot]] refugees from France. Spitalfields' historic association with the [[silk industry]] was established by French Protestant (Huguenot) refugees who settled in the area after the [[Edict of Fontainebleau|Revocation of the Edict of Nantes]] in 1685. By settling outside the bounds of the [[City of London]], they hoped to avoid the restrictive legislation of the [[livery company|City guilds]]. The Huguenots brought with them little, apart from their skills, and an [[Order in Council]] of 16 April 1687 raised £200,000 to relieve their poverty. In December 1687, the first report of the committee set up to administer the funds reported that 13,050 French refugees were settled in London, primarily around Spitalfields, but also in the nearby settlements of [[Bethnal Green]], [[Shoreditch]], [[Whitechapel]] and [[Mile End New Town]].<ref name=Silk>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22161 ''Industries: Silk-weaving''], ''A History of the County of Middlesex'': Volume 2: General; Ashford, East Bedfont with Hatton, Feltham, Hampton with Hampton Wick, Hanworth, Laleham, Littleton (1911), pp. 132–137. Date accessed: 4 March 2009</ref>

The late 17th and 18th centuries saw an estate of well-appointed terraced houses, built to accommodate the master weavers controlling the silk industry, and grand urban mansions built around the newly created Bishops Square which adjoins the short section of the main east–west street known as Spital Square. [[Christ Church, Spitalfields]] on [[Fournier Street]], designed by the architect [[Nicholas Hawksmoor]], was built during the reign of [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]] to demonstrate the power of the established church to the [[English Dissenters|dissenting]] Huguenots, who had built ten chapels in the area.<ref>Fiona Rule (2008) ''The Worst Street in London''. Hersham, Ian Allan: 28</ref> More humble weavers dwellings were congregated in the [[Tenterground]].<ref>Thomas: pp. 76–95</ref> The [[Spitalfields Mathematical Society]] was established in 1717. In 1846, it merged with the Royal Astronomical Society.<ref name=Dreyer1920>{{cite book|last1=Dreyer|first1=Joseph|title=History of the Royal Astronomical Society|date=1920|page=99}}</ref>

Spitalfields Market was established in 1638 when [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] gave a licence for flesh, fowl and roots to be sold in what was then known as Spittle Fields.<ref name="tor">[http://www.visitspitalfields.com/osm.html Old Spitalfields Market] Published 2008. Retrieved 17 June 2009.</ref> The market currently receives around 25,000 visitors every week.<ref name="tor"/>

Huguenots of Spitalfields is a registered charity promoting public understanding of the Huguenot heritage and culture in Spitalfields, the City of London and beyond. They arrange tours, talks, events and schools programmes to raise the Huguenot profile in Spitalfields and to raise funds for a permanent memorial to the Huguenots.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huguenotsofspitalfields.org/|title=Huguenots of Spitalfields heritage tours & events in Spitalfields - Huguenot Public Art Trust|website=Huguenotsofspitalfields.org}}</ref>

{{Main|Old Spitalfields Market}}

From the 1730s Irish weavers came, after a decline in the Irish linen industry, to take up work in the silk trade. The 18th century saw periodic crises in the silk industry, brought on by imports of French silk – in a lull between the wars between the two rivals; and imports of [[Calico (textile)|printed calicos]]. The depression in the trade and the prices paid to weavers led to protests. In 1769, the [[Spitalfield riots]] occurred when attempts were made to disperse protest meetings by weavers during the downturn in the market for silk. The riots ended in an Irish and a Huguenot weaver being hanged in front of the Salmon and Ball public house at [[Bethnal Green]].<ref name=Silk/>

Price controls on amounts master weavers could pay journeymen for each piece were established, removing incentives to pay higher wages during good times. During bad times workers had no work. As the price was per piece, there was no incentive for using machinery, as the master would have to pay for the machine and still pay the same price per piece to journeymen. By 1822 labour rates were so above market labour rates, that much of the employment in silk manufacture had moved away. Remaining manufacture focussed on expensive fashion items, which required proximity to court and had higher margins.<ref>Observations on the ruinous tendency of the Spitalfields Act to the silk manufacture, [https://books.google.com/books?id=1pAuAAAAYAAJ&dq=spitalfields%20act&pg=PP3 books.google.com]</ref>

In 1729, Spitalfields was detached from the parish of [[Stepney#Manor and Ancient Parish|Stepney]], and became an independent parish; by this time parish areas had both civil and ecclesiastical (church) functions. The area's parish church was [[Christ Church, Spitalfields]], with St Stephen Spitalfields added later. The church of St Stephen Spitalfields was built in 1860 by public subscription but was demolished in 1930. The adjacent vicarage is all that remains.

===Victorian era===
[[File:Spitalfields rookery.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Ordnance Survey]] map of Spitalfields [[rookery (slum)|rookery]], 1894]] 
By the [[Victorian era]], the silk industry had entered a long decline and the old merchant dwellings had degenerated into multi-occupied slums. Spitalfields became a by-word for urban deprivation, and, by 1832, concern about a London [[cholera]] epidemic led ''[[The Poor Man's Guardian]]'' (18 February 1832) to write of Spitalfields:
<blockquote>The low houses are all huddled together in close and dark lanes and alleys, presenting at first sight an appearance of non-habitation, so dilapidated are the doors and windows:- in every room of the houses, whole families, parents, children and aged grandfathers swarm together.</blockquote>

In 1860, a treaty with France allowed the import of cheaper French silks. This left the many weavers in Spitalfields, as well as neighbouring Bethnal Green and [[Shoreditch]], unemployed and indigent. New trades such as furniture and boot making came to the area, and the [[Weavers' windows|large windowed]] Huguenot houses were found suitable for tailoring, attracting a new population of Jewish refugees drawn to live and work in the textile industry.<ref name=Silk/><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Slocombe |first=Matthew |date=Summer 2024 |title=Hidden Histories |work=The SPAB Magazine |pages=32–37}}</ref>

[[File:MiddlesexStretcEddowes.Ripper..c.1890.jpg|thumb|right|[[Petticoat Lane Market]], Spitalfields, {{circa|1890}}]]
By the later 19th century, inner Spitalfields became known as the worst criminal [[Rookery (slum)|rookery]] in London and [[common lodging-house]]s in the [[Flower and Dean Street]] area were a focus for the activities of robbers and pimps. In 1881, Flower and Dean Street was described as being "perhaps the foulest and most dangerous street in the metropolis".<ref>{{cite book
|last= White
|first= Jerry
|title= London in the Nineteenth Century: A Human Awful Wonder of God
|date= 4 January 2007
|publisher= [[Jonathan Cape]]
|isbn= 978-0-224-06272-5
|page= 323
}}</ref> Another claimant to the distinction of being the worst street in London was [[Dorset Street (Spitalfields)|Dorset Street]], which was highlighted by the brutal killing and [[mutilation]] of a young woman, [[Mary Jane Kelly]], in her lodgings here by the serial killer, [[Jack the Ripper]] in the autumn of 1888.<ref>''The Worst Street in London'' Fiona Rule (Ian Allan Ltd, 2008) {{ISBN|978-0-7110-3345-0}}</ref> The murder was the climax of a series of murders that became known as [[The Whitechapel Murders (1888-91)|the Whitechapel Murders]].

[[File:Stepney Met. B Ward Map 1916.svg|thumb|The parish of Spitalfields formed two of the wards, in the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney, which was formed in 1900.]]
The renewed focus on the area's poverty helped prompt the decision to demolish some local slums in 1891–94.<ref>White: p. 331</ref> Deprivation continued and was brought to notice by social commentators such as [[Jack London]] in his ''[[The People of the Abyss]]'' (1903). He highlighted 'Itchy Park', next to Christ Church, Spitalfields, as a notorious rendezvous for homeless people.

===Modern Spitalfields===
[[File:cmglee_London_Spitalfields_aerial.jpg|thumb|View of Christ Church and the fruit and wool exchange]]
In the late 20th century the Jewish presence diminished and was replaced by an influx of [[Bengali people|Bangladeshi]] immigrants, who also worked in the local [[textile industry]] and made [[Brick Lane]] the [[curry]] capital of London. By 1981, at least 60% of households were of minority ethnic origin.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=daGK2h9XJgwC&pg=PP29|title = Race and Politics|isbn = 978-1-135-02617-2|last1 = Anwar|first1 = Muhammad|date = 15 April 2013| publisher=Routledge }}</ref>

Another development, from the 1960s onwards, has been a campaign to save the housing stock of old merchant terraces west of Brick Lane from demolition. Many have been conserved by the [[Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust]] which has led to [[gentrification]] and a large increase in property prices.<ref name=taylor>{{cite book
|last= Taylor
|first= Wi
|title= This Bright Field: A Travel Book in One Place
|date= 24 May 2001
|publisher= [[Methuen Publishing]]
|isbn= 978-0-413-74690-0
}}</ref>
In the 21st century, large office blocks were built between Bishopsgate and Spitalfields Market, affecting the character of the area. Conservationists secured the preservation of Old Spitalfields Market and the provision of shopping, leisure amenities and a plaza (urban square) beside the blocks,<ref name=taylor/> but permission was granted to developers, to demolish the Fruit and Wool exchange on the edge of old Spitalfields market, in order to erect office buildings.

Since 1998 the area has formed part of the ''Spitalfields and Banglatown'' electoral ward. The name reflecting the areas strong links with Bangladesh. In September 2015, a demonstration against gentrification in London took the form of a protest at [[Cereal Killer Cafe]], a hipster café on Brick Lane which serves cereal.<ref name=CityLab93015>{{cite news|author1=Feargus O'Sullivan|title=Breakfast of Gentrifiers How a London café that specializes in cereal became the latest flashpoint in the city's ongoing gentrification debate.|url=http://www.citylab.com/work/2015/09/breakfast-of-gentrifiers-cereal-killer-london/408175/|access-date=30 September 2015|work=CityLab|date=30 September 2015|quote=When Londoners talk about regeneration, gentrification and the supposed cascade of bars, beards and real estate bubbles they bring in their wake, they typically talk about the café's home neighborhood of Shoreditch.}}</ref>