Documenting the history of the Waterlow Estate in Bethnal Green, East London. Comprising Wilmot, Corfield, Ainsley and Finnis Street the Waterlow Estate was built by the Improved Industrial Dwellings Company starting in 1869.

Category: pubs

The lost streets of Weavers Fields, Part two – Demolition (1938 -1968)

There are three parts to this post, the first deals with the history of the area up until 1938, the second the clearing, demolition and eventual development of the park and the third and final part details each street in turn.

Demolition and renewal 1930-1960s

“This was taken from my grandparents window in Wilmot street, this overlooks Weavers field, looking towards Bethnal Green road, unsure of the year, but I would imagine pre war.” – Photograph kindly supplied by John McCarthy

“The whole of western Bethnal Green was scheduled for redevelopment under a 5-year plan for 1962-7, the southern part for industry, relieved by an open space called Weavers’ Fields around Mapes Street”

(from British History Online)

The Tower Hamlets archive holds a number of files filled with correspondence and drawings detailing the clearing and development of Weavers Fields. Much the information here is drawn from those files.

These are fascinating documents, filled with personal notes, annotations and asides. To recapture this era of local authority bureaucracy and drawing offices I’ve reproduced some of the actual documents. You can almost smell the tobacco filled council offices.

Continue reading

Waterlow Estate shops

I’ve always been fascinated by the old corner shop on Wilmot and Ainsley Street, especially as there did seem to be a business in there but they never seemed to be open. I had managed to find the planning application to switch the premises from use as a shop to an office back in 1998, but other than that the current occupier was a mystery. It was a great coincidence that I took a taxi a few months ago and got talking to the driver, it turned out that his brother was the current tenant running a sports shoe business.

1a Ainsley Street today. Photograph from John Mossell

Continue reading