IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Ricardo Street, LONDON, E14 6GD

Seen from the junction with North Street. A combination of enemy action and slum clearance schemes means that most of Poplar has a post-war appearance. In this view there are various housing styles and a few remaining older buildings.

A note on Clara Grant: "Clara Grant was a primary school teacher and settlement worker in London’s East End, who moved from the West Country to Bow at the turn of the last century. She became Head Teacher at the Infant’s School in Devon’s Road in 1900, quickly instituting a number of thoughtful changes that directly improved the lives of the children in her care. She revised class room techniques of structure and punishment, provided a hot breakfast for the children in her care, supplied them with some clothes and shoes and – most famously – created and distributed Farthing Bundles. Intended to provide children with toys to call their own, they were available for a token cost and the proceeds were directed back into the Settlement funds. These packages eventually earned her the affectionate nickname of the Bundle Woman of Bow." - quoted from this http://playtimes.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/clara-grant-and-the-farthing-bundles/.

Built in the 1950s to the designs of architect Adrian Gilbert Scott (1882-1963).

An example of the post-war housing that replaced the bomb-damaged, jerry-built terraced streets which attracted the reputation historically of slums. Arthur Morrison, author of Child of the Jago, was born nearby and wrote about the desperate lives of the East End poor. See http://www.ferdinando.org.uk/achildof.htm Most of the streets around here were called after the surnames and first names of members of the families who originally owned the land: Duff, Grundy, Wade and so on.

On the corner of Duff Street and Grundy Street this late C19 building was once a pub, first named the South African Tavern, then The African Tavern and finally The African Queen. The earlier names reflect the far-flung travels of local sea-farers, the latter was perhaps more of a reference for cinema-goers (Humphrey Bogart, 1951). Sadly, it closed in 2002 and is now residential. I wonder what happened to the sign?

Artisan cottages leading up to the corner of Duff Street and Grundy Street where the old signboard on the wall, facing, is all that remains of the pub called The African Queen which closed in 2002.

An attractive terrace of grade II listed Georgian town houses, a happy survival in an area comprehensively redeveloped since the Second World War. The effect is spoiled somewhat by the mauve wheely bins.

A derelict church surrounded by a cluster of houses in an area of parkland. See Image for more information.

This is the Jeremiah Street entrance of Queen Victoria Seamen's Rest opened in 1902. See http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.141/chapterId/2941/The-welfare-of-seamen.html for contemporary photos. Earlier there was a small mission, run by the Wesletyan Methodist church, consisting of a plainly furnished reading room and rest room with a third room available for daily Bible and Prayer meetings. An elementary nautical school ran three mornings a week and services were held on Monday and Friday evenings. Prior to that on this spot stood a tavern appositely named The Magnet - a considerable attraction, no doubt, to the recently-paid-off sailors who thronged this area. The Methodists had it closed down and took over the site.