Rook Street - at first called Mary Street - ran between Poplar High Street and East India Road.
Rook Street ran where the Will Crooks Estate stands today.
Before the building of the East India Dock Road in 1806 the only roads running north from the High Street were North Street (leading to Bow Common) and Bow Lane/Robin Hood Lane, which merged to form a single road leading to Bromley.
The Wade estate lay to the north of Poplar High Street and had been in the hands of the Wade family since the early 1700s. A century later was held by a widow - Mary Wade.
The area between the new East India Dock Road and Poplar High Street was first developed in the early nineteenth century. Building lots along them were sold around 1810. By 1815 the area contained ’a great number of very small and dilapidated Tenements’. The leases expired in 1818 and more systematic development followed the division of the land among Mary Wade’s daughters in 1823. A modified street layout was created and building took place during the remainder of the 1820s and in the 1830s.
The vicinity of Sophia Street and Rook Street was described pejoratively as ’a regular Irish den … all the vices of the Irish rampant, murder, rows, riot etc… . and fat brawny brawling women shouting at one another’.
Rook Street was closed in 1935-9 as part of the Sophia Street Clearance Scheme by the LCC involving the demolition of nearly 200 dwellings.
| CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY |
 
colin Passfield Added: 1 Jan 2021 15:28 GMT |
Dora Street, E14
My grandmother was born in 1904 at 34 Dora Street
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Added: 16 Feb 2021 13:41 GMT |
Giraud Street
I lived in Giraud St in 1938/1939. I lived with my Mother May Lillian Allen & my brother James Allen (Known as Lenny) My name is Tom Allen and was evacuated to Surrey from Giraud St. I am now 90 years of age.
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Added: 14 Jul 2023 11:54 GMT |
Dora Street, E14
My grandmother and Grandfather moved into St Leonards Avenue in 1904 and and lived there until her death in 1966. I lived there for the first 7 years of my life, and I was born in Bromley by Bow hospital
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| LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT |
Sue Added: 24 Sep 2023 19:09 GMT |
Meyrick Rd
My family - Roe - lived in poverty at 158 Meyrick Rd in the 1920s, moving to 18 Lavender Terrace in 1935. They also lived in York Rd at one point. Alf, Nell (Ellen), plus children John, Ellen (Did), Gladys, Joyce & various lodgers. Alf worked for the railway (LMS).
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Michael Added: 20 Sep 2023 21:10 GMT |
Momentous Birth!
I was born in the upstairs front room of 28 Tyrrell Avenue in August 1938. I was a breach birth and quite heavy ( poor Mum!). My parents moved to that end of terrace house from another rental in St Mary Cray where my three year older brother had been born in 1935. The estate was quite new in 1938 and all the properties were rented. My Father was a Postman. I grew up at no 28 all through WWII and later went to Little Dansington School
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Mike Levy Added: 19 Sep 2023 18:10 GMT |
Bombing of Arbour Square in the Blitz
On the night of September 7, 1940. Hyman Lubosky (age 35), his wife Fay (or Fanny)(age 32) and their son Martin (age 17 months) died at 11 Arbour Square. They are buried together in Rainham Jewish Cemetery. Their grave stones read: "Killed by enemy action"
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Lady Townshend Added: 8 Sep 2023 16:02 GMT |
Tenant at Westbourne (1807 - 1811)
I think that the 3rd Marquess Townshend - at that time Lord Chartley - was a tenant living either at Westbourne Manor or at Bridge House. He undertook considerable building work there as well as creating gardens. I am trying to trace which house it was. Any ideas gratefully received
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Alex Britton Added: 30 Aug 2023 10:43 GMT |
Late opening
The tracks through Roding Valley were opened on 1 May 1903 by the Great Eastern Railway (GER) on its Woodford to Ilford line (the Fairlop Loop).
But the station was not opened until 3 February 1936 by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER, successor to the GER).
Source: Roding Valley tube station - Wikipedia
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Kevin Pont Added: 30 Aug 2023 09:52 GMT |
Shhh....
Roding Valley is the quietest tube station, each year transporting the same number of passengers as Waterloo does in one day.
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Kevin Pont Added: 30 Aug 2023 09:47 GMT |
The connection with Bletchley Park
The code-breaking computer used at Bletchley Park was built in Dollis Hill.
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Kevin Pont Added: 29 Aug 2023 15:25 GMT |
The deepest station
At 58m below ground, Hampstead is as deep as Nelson’s Column is tall.
Source: Hampstead tube station - Wikipedia
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La Trompette Poplar Baths is a former public bath house dating from 1933. Museum of London Docklands The Museum of London Docklands, based in an 1802 warehouse, tells the history of London’s River Thames and the growth of the Docklands. Railway Tavern The Railway Tavern was generally known as Charlie Brown’s. St Matthias Old Church St Matthias Old Church is the modern name given to the Poplar Chapel built by the East India Company in 1654. Tower Hamlets College Tower Hamlets College is a large further education and a constituent college of New City College. , E14 Holmsdale House is a block on Poplar High Street. 1 Cabot Square, E14 1 Cabot Square (also known as the Credit Suisse building) is a 21 floor office building occupied by Credit Suisse in the Canary Wharf development. 1 West India Quay, E14 1 West India Quay is a skyscraper designed by HOK in the Docklands area which was completed in 2004. Berber Place, E14 Berber Place is one of the streets of London in the E14 postal area. Boardwalk, E14 Sophia Street was built in 1823 and demolished in 1939. Castor Lane, E14 Castor Lane is one of the streets of London in the E14 postal area. East India Dock Road, E14 East India Dock Road is an important artery connecting the City of London to Essex, and partly serves as the high street of Poplar Gough Walk, E14 Gough Walk is one of the streets of London in the E14 postal area. Hertsmere Road, E14 Hertsmere Road - a 1980s-era road - curves around the back of the Museum of London Docklands. Mackrow Walk, E14 Mackrow Walk is one of the streets of London in the E14 postal area. Ming Street, E14 Ming Street - the former King Street - was renamed in recognition of the then local Chinese community Newby Place, E14 Newby Place is one of the streets of London in the E14 postal area. North Quay, E14 The North Quay development - approximately 3.28 hectares - was previously used as a construction laydown area for the Canary Wharf Elizabeth line station. Pekin Street, E14 Pekin Street is one of the streets of London in the E14 postal area. Pigott Street, E14 When the Lansbury Estate was built, Pigott Street was the final part of the plan, hosting a block of flats from 1982. Wades Place, E14 Wades Place is one of the streets of London in the E14 postal area. Wren Landing, E14 Wren Landing is an open area between Cabot Square and the footbridge over to the Museum of London Docklands. Railway Tavern The Railway Tavern was generally known as Charlie Brown’s.
Poplar - site of the first air raids.Poplar is a historic, mainly residential area of East London. The district became the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar in 1900 - abolished in 1965 and absorbed into Tower Hamlets. The district centre is Chrisp Street Market. Poplar contains notable examples of public housing including the Lansbury Estate and Balfron Tower.
Although many people associate wartime bombing with The Blitz during World War II, the first airborne terror campaign in Britain took place during the First World War.
Air raids in World War One caused significant damage and took many lives. WWI German raids on Britain caused 1413 deaths and 3409 injuries. Air raids provided an unprecedented means of striking at resources vital to an enemy’s war effort. Many of the novel features of the war in the air between 1914 and 1918—the lighting restrictions and blackouts, the air raid warnings and the improvised shelters—became central aspects of the Second World War less than 30 years later.
The East End of London was one of the most heavily targeted places. Poplar, in particular, was struck badly by some of the air raids during the First World War. Initially these were at night by Zeppelins which bombed the area indiscriminately, leading to the death of innocent civilians.
The first daylight bombing attack on London by a fixed-wing aircraft took place on 13 June 1917. Fourteen German Gotha G bombers led by Squadron Commander Hauptmann Ernst Brandenberg flew over Essex and began dropping their bombs. It was a hot day and the sky was hazy; nevertheless, onlookers in London’s East End were able to see ’a dozen or so big aeroplanes scintillating like so many huge silver dragonflies’. These three-seater bombers were carrying shrapnel bombs which were dropped just before noon. Numerous bombs fell in rapid succession in various districts. In the East End alone 104 people were killed, 154 seriously injured and 269 slightly injured.
The gravest incident that day was a direct hit on a primary school in Poplar. In the Upper North Street School at the time were a girls’ class on the top floor, a boys’ class on the middle floor and an infant class of about 50 students on the ground floor. The bomb fell through the roof into the girls’ class; it then proceeded to fall through the boys’ classroom before finally exploding in the infant class. Eighteen students were killed, of whom sixteen were aged from 4 to 6 years old. The tragedy shocked the British public at the time.
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Poplar DLR station was opened on 21 August 1987, originally with just two platforms, being served only by the Stratford-Island Gardens branch of the DLR. As the DLR was expanded eastwards, the station was extensively remodelled, given two extra platforms and expanded.
