Aldgate Pump

Aldgate Pump is a historic water pump, located at the junction where Aldgate meets Fenchurch Street and Leadenhall Street.

The Aldgate Pump (1874)

Aldgate Pump is a historic water pump located at the junction where Aldgate meets Fenchurch Street and Leadenhall Street.

The pump is notable for its long, and sometimes dark history, as well as its cultural significance as a symbolic start point of the East End of London.

The term "East of Aldgate Pump" is used as a synonym for the East End or for East London as a whole.
Credit: Wellcome Images

The pump marks the start of the A11 road towards Norwich and distances to locations in Middlesex, Essex and beyond were measured from here. This contributed to the pump’s status as the symbolic start of the East End of London. The metal wolf head on the pump’s spout is supposed to signify the last wolf shot in the City of London.

Aldgate Pump is a Grade II listed structure. As a well, it was mentioned during the reign of King John. As the City of London developed, it is thought to have been taken down and re-erected at its current location in 1876, as a drinking fountain, as streets were widened.

Served by one of London’s many underground streams, the water was praised for being "bright, sparkling, and cool, and of an agreeable taste". These qualities were later found to be derived from decaying organic matter from adjoining graveyards, and the leaching of calcium from the bones of the dead in many new cemeteries in north London through which the stream ran from Hampstead. Several hundred people died during what became known as the Aldgate Pump Epidemic, and on its relocation in 1876, the New River Company changed the supplies to mains water.

Fenchurch Street railway station was built in 1841 upon the site of Aldgate Pump Court.

Main source:	Wikipedia
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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

The Underground Map

Aldgate

Added: 8 Mar 2021 15:05 GMT

A plague on all your houses
Aldgate station is built directly on top of a vast plague pit, where thousands of bodies are apparently buried. No-one knows quite how many.

Reply

Pearl Foster

Dukes Place, EC3A

Added: 20 Mar 2023 12:22 GMT

Dukes Place, EC3A
Until his death in 1767, Daniel Nunes de Lara worked from his home in Dukes Street as a Pastry Cook. It was not until much later the street was renamed Dukes Place. Daniel and his family attended the nearby Bevis Marks synagogue for Sephardic Jews. The Ashkenazi Great Synagogue was established in Duke Street, which meant Daniel’s business perfectly situated for his occupation as it allowed him to cater for both congregations.

Reply

LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Tony Whipple Frank Whipple Place, E14 Added: 16 Apr 2024 21:35 GMT	Frank Whipple Place, E14 Frank was my great-uncle, I’d often be ’babysat’ by Peggy while Nan and Dad went to the pub. Peggy was a marvel, so full of life. My Dad and Frank didn’t agree on most politics but everyone in the family is proud of him. A genuinely nice, knowledgable bloke. One of a kind. Reply
Theresa Penney Whites Row, E1 Added: 16 Apr 2024 18:08 GMT	1 Whites Row My 2 x great grandparents and his family lived here according to the 1841 census. They were Dutch Ashkenazi Jews born in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 19th century but all their children were born in Spitalfields. Reply
Wendy The Polygon Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT	Polygon Buildings Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings. Reply
Steve Charleville Circus, SE26 Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT	Road construction and houses completed New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only. Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date. Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London Reply
Steve Charleville Circus, SE26 Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT	Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS) One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc. I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever. Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London Reply
Charles Hornsey Rise, N19 Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT	My House I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s. Reply
NH Woodgrange Road, E7 Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT	Telephone House Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000 Reply
Paul Cox Aldine Street, W12 Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT	War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there. Reply

LOCAL PHOTOS

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Bank station Credit: IG/steven.maddison TUM image id: 1653840363 Licence: CC BY 2.0	The Great Synagogue of London (1810) The Great Synagogue of London was, for centuries, the centre of Ashkenazi synagogue and Jewish life in London. It was destroyed during the Blitz. Credit: Thomas Rowlandson TUM image id: 1518368926 Licence:	The Boar’s Head was located on the north side of Whitechapel High Street. The Boar’s Head was originally an inn, which was built in the 1530s; it underwent two renovations for use as a playhouse: first, in 1598, when a simple stage was erected, and a second, more elaborate renovation in 1599. Credit: Unknown TUM image id: 1518792376 Licence:	Bevis Marks Synagogue Credit: John Salmon TUM image id: 1519475277 Licence: CC BY 2.0	St Katherine Cree, City of London St Katharine Cree is a Church of England church on the north side of Leadenhall Street near Leadenhall Market. The present church was built in 1628–30, retaining the Tudor tower of its predecessor. The church escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666 and suffered only minor damage in the London Blitz. Credit: Prioryman TUM image id: 1519729630 Licence:
St James Duke’s Place The church survived the Great Fire of London, but fell into disrepair and was rebuilt in 1727, retaining much of the original woodwork. The poverty of the Aldgate area made it increasingly difficult to raise funds to maintain the church; Godwin described it as being "in a very dirty and dilapidated state". In 1874, under the 1860 Union of Benefices Act, it was demolished and the parish joined to that of St Katherine Cree. The site of the church is now occupied by the Sir John Cass School. Credit: Robert William Billings and John Le Keux TUM image id: 1520552156 Licence:	The Third Goodmans Fields Theatre, Great Alie Street (1801) Credit: W. W. Hutchings TUM image id: 1520855916 Licence:	Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin) addressing a "smoking debate" at Toynbee Hall (1902) TUM image id: 1660651336 Licence:	A drawing published in 1907 of the west front of the Church of Holy Trinity, Minories Credit: Uncredited TUM image id: 1523993568 Licence:	Petticoat Lane in the 1920s Credit: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress) TUM image id: 1523993996 Licence:
The Whitechapel Gallery was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend and opened in 1901. It was one of the first publicly funded galleries in London. The gallery exhibited Pablo Picasso’s Guernica in 1938 as part of a touring exhibition organised by Roland Penrose to protest against the Spanish Civil War. Initiated by members of the Independent Group, the gallery brought Pop Art to the attention of the general public as well as introducing some of the artists, concepts, designers and photographers that would define the Swinging Sixties. Credit: LeHaye/Wiki Commons TUM image id: 1556738899 Licence:	Etching of All Hallows Staining tower, drawn in 1922 Credit: Public domain TUM image id: 1585749143 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Mark Lane station Credit: London Transport TUM image id: 1585759751 Licence:	Byward Tower, 1893 TUM image id: 1556882285 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Battle of Cable Street mural The Battle of Cable Street took place on the corner of Cable Street and Dock Street, and other places Credit: Wiki CommonsAlan Denney TUM image id: 1642775177 Licence:

In the neighbourhood...

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The Great Synagogue of London (1810) The Great Synagogue of London was, for centuries, the centre of Ashkenazi synagogue and Jewish life in London. It was destroyed during the Blitz.
Credit: Thomas Rowlandson
Licence:

The Boar’s Head was located on the north side of Whitechapel High Street. The Boar’s Head was originally an inn, which was built in the 1530s; it underwent two renovations for use as a playhouse: first, in 1598, when a simple stage was erected, and a second, more elaborate renovation in 1599.
Credit: Unknown
Licence:

Bevis Marks Synagogue
Credit: John Salmon
Licence: CC BY 2.0

St Katherine Cree, City of London St Katharine Cree is a Church of England church on the north side of Leadenhall Street near Leadenhall Market. The present church was built in 1628–30, retaining the Tudor tower of its predecessor. The church escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666 and suffered only minor damage in the London Blitz.
Credit: Prioryman
Licence:

St James Duke’s Place The church survived the Great Fire of London, but fell into disrepair and was rebuilt in 1727, retaining much of the original woodwork. The poverty of the Aldgate area made it increasingly difficult to raise funds to maintain the church; Godwin described it as being "in a very dirty and dilapidated state". In 1874, under the 1860 Union of Benefices Act, it was demolished and the parish joined to that of St Katherine Cree. The site of the church is now occupied by the Sir John Cass School.
Credit: Robert William Billings and John Le Keux
Licence:

The Third Goodmans Fields Theatre, Great Alie Street (1801)
Credit: W. W. Hutchings
Licence:

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin) addressing a "smoking debate" at Toynbee Hall (1902)
Licence:

A drawing published in 1907 of the west front of the Church of Holy Trinity, Minories
Credit: Uncredited
Licence:

Petticoat Lane in the 1920s
Credit: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)
Licence:

Etching of All Hallows Staining tower, drawn in 1922
Credit: Public domain
Licence: CC BY 2.0

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