Map For The East Of Central London

This is part of the map for the east of Central London, showing a wide variety of social standings as outlined by Booth

1 Jewish Cemetery

The Brady Street cemetery opened in 1761 as the burial ground for the New Synagogue, but was closed in 1858 when it had run out of space and a new site had to be found. Photographs of the cemetery’s headstones can be seen at cemetery scribes.com.

2 Deprived Area

Described in one of the notebooks with the eastern edge “crushed in by the railway arches and the whole darkened by them”. As well as describing the sights, the notebook author suggests, “It is likely the poor from the Shadwell clearances have moved this way.”

3 Catholic Church

The church of St Mary and St Michael was built in 1856 to support the spiritual needs of the large Irish Catholic population that had settled in the Docklands. Chapels and churches of many denominations can be found in the area.

4 Swedish Church

The notebook for this area says that the Swedish population that built this church in 1727 had moved away by this time and the area was predominantly Jewish, although Swedes from all over London come here to worship on Sundays.

5 Recreation Ground

The notebooks record that this part of the city was improved by the demolition of a “rookery” and the construction of a large playground and garden by London City Council, equipped with swings and see-saws plus a “giant stride”.

6 Workhouse

Although Wapping Workhouse, part of Stepney Union, is marked here, it had closed in 1863. The Stepney Union casebooks in the digitised Booth records relate to St Leonard’s Street in Bromley. Visit Peter Higginbotham’s excellent website workhouses.org for more information.