Seabright Street is a shadow of its former self.
Before the creation of the park of Weavers Fields, a number of Bethnal Green streets existed underneath its green expanse. This was one of them.
Many of the houses which formerly lined the road were old Weavers Houses, notable for their wide upstairs windows which let in more light for the weavers to work.
The road was named for William Seabright, or Sebright, (1541–1620) who owned land in Bethnal Green. He was a former Town Clerk of London.
In his 1620 will, he established the ’Sebright’s Endowed Schools’ charity.
The streets here were originally part of the Willett Estate.
’A History of the County of Middlesex’ states:
“In 1788 much of Willetts (George and Gravel fields) south of Bethnal Green Road was divided into lots, most of which were leased for 99 years to John May Evans, a Surrey builder, and William Timmins, a local brickmaker. They immediately built along the main road, including Shepherd’s Place or Row, and in the streets running south from it, named from the estate’s owners: White, Thomas, and Charles streets. Houses ‘in the background’ were probably in the narrow street parallel with Bethnal Green Road, called White’s or Thomas Passage or Granby’s Row. Abbey Street, at the west end of the development, existed as Benal Abbey Street in 1788. Part of the land was still a brickfield in 1803.”
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