Stepping o - Walk East

1 2622 28 MARCH 2010 THE COMMUNIT Y NEWSPAPER FOR TOWER HAMLETS PRODUCED BY YOUR COUNCILON this springtime stroll you ll en-counter a giant egg, a huge spider sweb, sea-faring galleons and exot-ic palm trees. And there s a chancetoo to meet a farm full of friendly animals. As you emerge from Whitechapel Tube sta-tion, you re immediately immersed in a bus-tle of fruit and vegetables, saucepans andsaris. Facing you is the Royal London Hos-pital (1), built in the 1750s to treat thesick merchant seamen and manufac-turing classes and now expanding intothe blue glass towers behind the orig-inal site. Edith Cavell, pioneer nurse andWorld War I heroine, worked here.

2 Head left through the market and yousoon pass under the dazzlingblue and green glassc a n o p y o fWhitechapel IdeaStore (2). Next doorthe gold letter-ing of Mann,Enjoy the colourful crocuses and buddingdaffodils as Graham Barkerdiscoversthe historic streets, architecture andgreen spaces of Stepney on this month swalk. Photos by Mike oCrossman & Paulin arches over the formerAlbion Yard brewery gate. And then comesthe Blind Beggar pub (3), best known for Ron-nie Kray s 1966 shooting of rival gangsterGeorge to the White Hart on the facing cor-ner and continue along the wide pavement,beside a parade of London plane trees. Be-low the trees are two memorials first a bustand later a preaching figure of WilliamBooth (4)who commenced the work of theSalvation Army on Mile End Waste, July 1865.

3 The Army still provides shelter to the home-less at nearby Booth a peek through the railings of Trin-ity Green Almshouses(5)on your leftwhere tiny cottages with scrolledporches and dentilled eaves face eachother across a green. They were builtin 1695 for 28 decay d Masters and Co-manders of Ships or ye Widows ofsuch , which explains the modelgalleons above. Continue on, across Cleveland Wayto the former Wickham s de-partment store (6) the Selfridgesof the East End opened in its clas-sicalcolumns and soaring tower it makes aspectacular sight, especially when floodlitat night. The fa ade is broken by a white buildingsquatting midway the Speigelhalter broth-ers refused to sell up their jewellery shop here,so the store was built around them.

4 The siteis being renovated as The Water Lily retail,office and banqueting complex, with aglass atrium replacing the white shop. TheGenesis Cinema comes next, one of London sfew remaining independent the traffic lights, cross Mile End Roadand then cross again to the far pavementof Stepney Green. Follow it right, and as it narrows you willreach the green itself. Take the path as it wan-ders between the trees. On your right is red-bricked Dunstan House (7), once home toanarchist Rudolph Rocker. To the left, pauseby No 37 Stepney Green (8), an imposingQueen Anne house built in 1692 with a finescallop shell over the front you leave the third green section, justafter the former Stepney Jewish School,there s Stepney Green Court (9), built by theIndustrial Dwellings Company and em-bellished with decorative stone , with care, to the art nouveau clocktower(10)commemorating local councillorand guardian of the poor, Stanley Atkinson,and surrounded by palms and pansies.

5 Follow the main road with football pitch-es on your right. Just before the street cor-ner, enter Stepney Green Park and walk alongthe path with cityscape views to your right. Leave the park via the side gate onto blue-cobbled Garden Street, facing SteppingStones Farm (11). Skirt right around the greenfarm railings until you reach the maingate, passing Sir John Cass Foundation andRed Coat Secondary School along the farm opens at weekends and midweektoo in the summer so pop in to say helloto the pigs, goats and donkeys that live cross carefully to the ancient St Dun-stan and All Saints Church (12). With sucha seafaring congregation it became knownas the Church of the High Seas, and it stillflies a red ensign flag.

6 Its ten bells ring outWalk of the Month:WWickham sdepartment store in its day, theSelfridges of theEast End Model galleons above Trinity Green AlmshousesA bronze bust of King Edward VII on Mile End RoadThe scallop shell over the door of 37 Stepney Green When will that be? Say the Bells of Step-ney in the Oranges and Lemons right, along the tree-lined avenue,between verges peppered with colourful cro-cuses. Mercer s Cottages (13)soon comeinto view, the gift of Lady Jane Mico, a mer-cer s widow in 1691 and rebuilt as we seethem today in the churchyard gates, turn left and walkthrough Whitehorse Open Space, towardsa giant silver egg composed of leaf and birdcut-outs.

7 At the egg, veer right to a pillar-box22 28 MARCH 2010 27 THE COMMUNIT Y NEWSPAPER FOR TOWER HAMLETS PRODUCED BY YOUR COUNCILout in StepneyTo find out more aboutjoining Healthy Walks in Tower Hamlets, contact Rachel Maile on7364 6940 or email rachel. to Mile EndThe Royal London Hospital with its towering additionsThe mural on the wall of Cayley Primary SchoolThe art nouveau clock commemoratingguardian of the poor Stanley AtkinsonThe path from St Dunstan s, know asthe Church of the High SeasChildren play near the giant leaf andbird egg in Whitehorse Open Spaceand then on past Cayley Primary School withits vibrant tile and mirror mosaic by the fargate.

8 Look out for some footprints too as youfollow Aston Street to Salmon Lane. Go left under the railway bridge andtake the third turning left into Carr the silver footbridge to cross the canal,turn left behind the lock keeper s house, andslope down onto the towpath. Opened in 1820, the Regent s Canal con-nects Limehouse Basin with the GrandUnion Canal near Paddington. Your walk to-day follows just a short section, under therailway bridge and past the tall, solitary chimney. Shortly before the road bridge, veer off be-tween the daffodils towards the trafficlights, cross Rhodeswell Road and enter MileEnd Park by the stone King George Vgateposts.

9 To your left the Ragged School Mu-seum (14)re-creates the Victorian schoolroomfirst set up by Dr Barnardo. Keep on the brown path as it runs betweenthe sports pitches and racetracks. You slopeupwards past a giant spider s web don tworry, you won t see a huge spider thoughcucumber spiders, Brimstone butterfliesand stag beetles do inhabit the park. By thegreen signpost, head right and join the mainpath running parallel to Burdett Road. It s cur-rently aglow with a fabulous wave of yel-low, white and purple crocuses. Head straighton at the bollards, along a woodchip a row of turbine-topped lights follow thepath right and leave the park beside the greenbridge.

10 Mile End station is a short distanceahead, across Burdett Road. With thanks to Carlo Tono for trialling thiswalk.