150-548: Whitechapel High Street is a street in the Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London . It is about 0.2 miles (350 m) long, making it "one of the shortest high streets in London". It links Aldgate High Street to the south-west with Whitechapel Road to the north-east, and includes junctions with Commercial Street to the north and Commercial Road to the east. For motorists, it
300-417: A Modernist style influenced or designed by Charles Holden , who was inspired by examples of Modernist architecture in mainland Europe. This influence can be seen in the bold vertical and horizontal forms, which were combined with the use of traditional materials like brick. Holden called them 'brick boxes with concrete lids'. Today, several of these Holden-designed stations are listed buildings , including
450-560: A joint committee composed of members of both Houses of Parliament reviewed the options. Proposals to extend west and then south from Paddington to South Kensington and east from Moorgate to Tower Hill were accepted and received royal assent on 29 July 1864 in the Metropolitan Railway (Notting Hill and Brompton Extension) Act 1864 ( 27 & 28 Vict. c. ccxci) and the Metropolitan Railway (Tower Hill Extension) Act 1864 ( 27 & 28 Vict. c. cccxv) respectively. To complete
600-422: A 3-storey 3-bay shop-house, built c1955 with red brick facing and triplet metal windows with thin concrete frames. The ground floor is an amusement arcade. 88 Whitechapel High Street – a 4-storey 3-bay shop and office, built in 1838, in stuccoed stock brick. The building steps over the entrance to Gunthorpe Street. It has been occupied by the menswear shop Alberts since 1942. The Grade II listed metal relief above
750-517: A 4-storey 2-bay shop-house, built in 1845 in stock brick with stucco window frames, lintels and cornice . It has been an electrical wholesaler since c1975. Former Passmore Edwards Library – a 4-storey public library designed by Potts, Son & Hennings in Jacobethan style in red brick with terracotta dressings. One of the earliest public libraries in London, it was funded by philanthropist John Passmore Edwards and opened in 1892. It became part of
900-420: A 5-storey 3-bay shop and office, built in 1910 in red brick. The stuccoed centre bay includes an oriel window with broken scroll pediment above. The building was occupied by Blooms restaurant from 1952 to 1996, and since by the fast food restaurant Burger King . The upper floor offices were converted to flats in 1998. 91 Whitechapel High Street – a 4-storey single-bay shop built in 1862 in stock brick. It
1050-417: A 5-storey shop and office building, designed by Fitzroy Robinson and Hubert H. Bull, built in 1960. It is built in breezeblock in a concrete frame, faced in brown brick with metal framed windows. The building steps over an entrance to a car park, formerly an inn yard. 95–96 Whitechapel High Street – a 5-storey 3-bay shop and office building. It was built in 1902 as a clothing workshop. After wartime damage it
1200-529: A college c. 1998. A top floor was added c2020. Ends at: White Church Lane Starts at: Osborn Street 74 Whitechapel High Street – a 4-storey corner shop-house, built 1828–29 in brick (now painted white). In 2001 the ground floor was converted to a restaurant and the upper floors to flats. 75 Whitechapel High Street – a 4-storey 3-bay shop-house, possibly built in the early 19th century, in stock brick with red brick lintels . It has been an electrical wholesaler since c2002. 76 Whitechapel High Street –
1350-488: A concentration of poor people and immigrants throughout the area. These problems were exacerbated by the construction of St Katharine Docks (1827) and the central London railway termini (1840–1875) with many displaced people moving into the area following the clearance of former slums and rookeries . Over the course of a century, the East End became synonymous with poverty, overcrowding, disease and criminality. The area
1500-499: A decline in work in the docks, and the closure of many traditional industries. The Abercrombie Plan for London (1944) began an exodus from London towards the new towns . This decline began to reverse with the establishment of the London Docklands Development Corporation bringing new industries and housing to the brownfield sites along the river. Also contributing was new immigration from Asia beginning in
1650-503: A fascist march into the East End was blocked there in the Battle of Cable Street . One of the few remaining signs of the Jewish presence is a Star of David on the former Jewish Daily Post building (No 88). Like much of the East End, Whitechapel High Street was extensively damaged by the blitz during World War II . Some buildings were repaired in their original style; others were rebuilt during
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#17328908263051800-451: A flat rate fare of 2 d , the District and Metropolitan together lost four million passengers between the second half of 1899 and the second half of 1900. The use of steam propulsion led to smoke-filled stations and carriages that were unpopular with passengers and electrification was seen as the way forward. However, electric traction was still in its infancy and agreement would be needed with
1950-481: A flurry of applications to Parliament in 1863 for new railways in London, many competing for similar routes. The House of Lords established a select committee that recommended an "inner circuit of railway that should abut, if not actually join, nearly all of the principal railway termini in the Metropolis". For the 1864 parliamentary session, railway schemes were presented that met the recommendation in varying ways and
2100-600: A junction connected the line to the L&;SWR's Waterloo to Reading Line just north of East Putney station. The District had running rights and extended some Putney services to Wimbledon on 3 June 1889. In 1897 the nominally independent Whitechapel and Bow Railway received permission for a link from the District Railway at Whitechapel to the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR) at an above-ground junction at Bow , to
2250-429: A narrow 4-storey shop-house, designed as a public house by Bird & Walters, built in 1900 in red brick with stone dressings (now painted white). The ground floor is a nail salon. 86 Whitechapel High Street – a 4-storey 2-bay shop-house, probably mid-19th century, but refronted in 1991 in brown bricks with metal windows and a projecting tiled mansard attic . The ground floor is a café. 87 Whitechapel High Street –
2400-539: A proposal to rebuild the station as a District terminus. The District proposed running trains through to Uxbridge, leading to negotiations about the charges for traction current before District services were extended to Uxbridge on 1 March 1910. In 1910 a platform was built at Mill Hill Park for the Hounslow and Uxbridge shuttles and a flying junction built north of the station to separate the Ealing and Hounslow traffic. The station
2550-591: A public corporation that would take control of the UERL, the Metropolitan Railway and all bus and tram operators within an area designated as the London Passenger Transport Area . The Board was a compromise – public ownership but not full nationalisation – and came into existence on 1 July 1933. On this date, ownership of the assets of the District and the other Underground companies transferred to
2700-640: A religion and 6.9% did not state their religious views. The following table shows the religious identity of residents residing in Tower Hamlets according to the 2001, 2011 and the 2021 censuses. There are 21 active churches, affiliated with the Church of England , which include Christ Church of Spitalfields , St Paul's Church of Shadwell and St Dunstan's of Stepney ; and there are also churches of many other Christian denominations. There are more than 40 mosques and Islamic centres in Tower Hamlets. The most famous
2850-577: A service to Windsor . Conflict between the Met and the District and the expense of construction delayed the completion of the inner circle . In 1874, frustrated City financiers formed the Metropolitan Inner Circle Completion Railway Company with the aim of finishing the route. The company was supported by the District railway and obtained parliamentary authority on 7 August 1874, but struggled with funding. The time allowed
3000-459: A shuttle from South Acton. The UERL's ownership of the highly profitable London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) since 1912 had enabled the UERL group, through the pooling of revenues, to use profits from the bus company to subsidise the less profitable railways. However, competition from numerous small bus companies during the early 1920s eroded the profitability of the LGOC and had a negative impact on
3150-471: A single track line from there to West Brompton on the West London Railway . There were no intermediate stations and this service initially operated as a shuttle. By summer 1869 additional tracks had been laid between South Kensington and Brompton (Gloucester Road) and from Kensington (High Street) to a junction with the line to West Brompton. During the night of 5 July 1870 the District secretly built
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#17328908263053300-502: A terminus at Hammersmith , and was served by through trains to Mansion House. West Brompton was now served by a shuttle to Earl's Court. Earl's Court station burnt down in 1875 and a larger replacement with four tracks and two island platforms opened on 1 February 1878. This was sited to the west of the original station; to the east of the station a flying junction was built to separate traffic to Kensington (High Street) and from Gloucester Road. In December 1876, six trains per hour ran on
3450-485: A terrace of four 4-storey 2-bay shop-houses, built in 1853 in Georgian style in stock brick with Portland stone dressings and a gambrel roof concealed by a parapet . It was refurbished in 2010–12. 69–70 Whitechapel High Street – two 4-storey shop-houses, built in 1908–11, refurbished in 2005–10. City of London College , 71 Whitechapel High Street – a 3-storey warehouse-showroom, built in 1983 in red brick, converted to
3600-499: A top-end estate agency recommends that 'extreme luxury' and ultra-modern residential properties are to be found at Canary Riverside, West India Quay, Pan Peninsula and Neo Bankside. Tower Hamlets is the earliest borough where the first skyscrapers were built and since 2014 it saw the completion of over seventy skyscrapers, more than any other place in the UK The End Child Poverty coalition published that Tower Hamlets has
3750-570: A traffic intersection. Commercial Road was created in 1802–4 to link the docks with the City. The southern section of Commercial Street was created in 1843–5 as part of a slum clearance programme, and to connect Whitechapel High Street with Spitalfields Market. The Whitechapel to Bow tramway opened in 1870. In 1884 the District Railway extended its underground service through Aldgate East to Whitechapel station. As London's population increased during
3900-446: A year later in 1884. Traffic was light and Hounslow Barracks was initially served by a shuttle to Osterley & Spring Grove that connected to an off-peak Hounslow Town to Mill Hill Park train. Hounslow Town station closed in 1886 and Heston Hounslow station (now Hounslow Central ) opened. From 1 March 1883 to 30 September 1885, via a connection to the GWR tracks at Ealing, the District ran
4050-522: Is a fast food restaurant. The building steps over Angel Alley. 84b Whitechapel High Street - a 4-storey commercial and office building (in Angel Alley) built in yellow brick. Originally a tenement building, it hosted a printworks, most notably for Freedom Press , the oldest anarchist publisher in the English language, before being bought by the group in 1968 and renovated. 85 Whitechapel High Street –
4200-567: Is also a major centre of hipster subculture. The earliest reference to the name "Tower Hamlets" was in 1554, when the Council of the Tower of London ordered a muster of "men of the hamlets which owe their service to the tower". This covered a wider area than the present-day borough, and its military relationship with the Tower is thought to have been several centuries earlier than the 1554 record. In 1605,
4350-412: Is just 3.3m wide. The upper floor offices were converted to flats and a fifth floor added in 2018. The ground floor is a café. 92–93 Whitechapel High Street – two 5-storey shop-houses, one single-bay and one 2-bay, built in 1861 in stock brick. The ground floor shops were integrated by 1990. In 2002 the upper floors were integrated as flats, and an extra storey was added. 94 Whitechapel High Street –
4500-990: Is the East London Mosque , one of the first mosques in Britain allowed to broadcast the adhan , and one of the biggest Islamic centres in Europe . The Maryam Centre, a part of the mosque, is the biggest Islamic centre for women in Europe. Opened in 2013, it features a main prayer hall, ameliorated funeral services, education facilities, a fitness centre and support services. The East London Mosque has been visited by several notable people, including Prince Charles , Boris Johnson , many foreign government officials and world-renowned imams and Muslim scholars. Other notable mosques are Brick Lane Mosque , Darul Ummah Masjid, Esha Atul Islam Mosque, Markazi Masjid, Stepney Shahjalal Mosque and Poplar Central Mosque. Other notable religious buildings include
4650-514: Is the White Hart (No 89) from 1721. Carey's map of 1795 introduced the modern name "White Chapel High Street" for the part of the street outside the City of London boundary; Whitechapel Road for the western part beginning at St Mary's Church; and Aldgate High Street for the eastern part between the city boundary and the old Roman wall . By 1810 there were 148 numbered buildings. "Whitechapel High Street
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4800-522: Is the start of the A11 from London to Norwich . For cyclists, it is the start of Cycleway 2 from Aldgate to Stratford . For pedestrians, it is a route from Aldgate tube station to Brick Lane . "Whitechapel High Street provides a transition between the commercial development pressures from the City and the historic east end communities." The street has many narrow plots with 3–5 storey buildings, rebuilt and enlarged at different times in different styles. It
4950-548: The Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway with authority for a tube from South Kensington to Piccadilly Circus . These plans were combined with those of the Great Northern and Strand Railway , a tube railway with permission to build a line from Strand to Wood Green , to create the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR). The section of the District's deep-level tube from South Kensington to Mansion house
5100-501: The Development (Loan Guarantees and Grants) Act 1929 ( 20 & 21 Geo. 5 . c. 7), construction started in 1930. Two additional tracks were built from west of Turnham Green to Northfields on the Hounslow branch. East of Turnham Green a freight loop was built for eastbound coal trains from Richmond to Kensington. Acton Town was rebuilt with five platforms, and a depot was built west of Northfields station. Several stations were rebuilt in
5250-413: The District Railway , was a passenger railway that served London, England, from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an " inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the first part of the line opened using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives . The Metropolitan Railway operated all services until the District Railway introduced its own trains in 1871. The railway
5400-799: The Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue , the Congregation of Jacob Synagogue, the London Buddhist Centre , the Hindu Pragati Sangha Temple, and the Gurdwara Sikh Sangat. The Great Synagogue of London , which was destroyed during the Second World War, is located just outside the borough's boundaries, in the City . The borough hosts the world headquarters of many global financial businesses, employing some of
5550-639: The Kensington and Richmond line . The route headed north from Addison Road on the West London Railway before curving round to serve Hammersmith at a station at Hammersmith (Grove Road) (linked to the Hammersmith & City Railway station by footbridge), Turnham Green , Brentford Road ( Gunnersbury from 1871) and Kew Gardens and Richmond . The line opened on 1 January 1869, the L&SWR running services from Waterloo and Ludgate Hill via Addison Road, and
5700-540: The Lieutenant of the Tower was given the right to muster the militia and the area east of the tower came to be a distinct military unit, officially called Tower Hamlets (or the Tower Division) . The Hamlets of the Tower paid taxes for the militia in 1646. The London Borough of Tower Hamlets forms the core of the East End. The population of the area grew enormously in the 19th century, leading to extreme overcrowding and
5850-525: The London County Council . Aerial bombing in World War II devastated much of the East End, with its docks, railways and industry forming a continual target. In the separate boroughs making up today's Tower Hamlets a total of 2,221 civilians were killed and 7,472 were injured, with 46,482 houses destroyed and 47,574 damaged. This led to some dispersal of the population to outlying suburbs. New housing
6000-599: The London Metropolitan University . An extension built in 2020–22 will add a further 6 storeys of office space. Designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris and inspired by Rachel Whiteread's Fourth Plinth , the extension adds an equal volume that mimics the horizontal banding of the original. 65a Whitechapel High Street – a 4-storey commercial building, built c1897 in Victorian style in red brick with Portland stone dressings. 65–68 Whitechapel High Street –
6150-517: The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met ) opened the world's first underground railway. The line was built from Paddington beneath the New Road , connecting the main line railway termini at Paddington , Euston and King's Cross . Then it followed Farringdon Road to a station at Farringdon Street in Smithfield , near the capital's financial heart in the City . The Met's early success prompted
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6300-471: The Midland Railway operated a circular service from St Pancras to Earl's Court via Dudding Hill, Acton and the L&SWR to Hammersmith. In 1879 the District opened a junction west of L&SWR's Turnham Green station for a 3 miles (4.8 km) line to Ealing. With stations at Acton Green (now Chiswick Park ), Mill Hill Park (now Acton Town ), Ealing Common and Ealing Broadway , the Ealing station
6450-693: The Thames Barrier , further east, has reduced that risk. Regent's Canal enters the borough from Hackney to meet the River Thames at Limehouse Basin . A stretch of the Hertford Union Canal leads from the Regent's canal, at a basin in the north of Mile End , to join the River Lea at Old Ford . A further canal, Limehouse Cut , London's oldest, leads from locks at Bromley-by-Bow to Limehouse Basin. Most of
6600-445: The Tower of London . The local authority is Tower Hamlets London Borough Council . In 2017, a joint study by Trust for London and New Policy Institute found Tower Hamlets to be the 2nd most deprived London borough (after Barking and Dagenham ) based on an average calculated across a range of indicators; with high rates of poverty, child poverty , unemployment and pay inequality compared to other London boroughs. However, it has
6750-470: The inner circle between Mansion House and Aldgate. The District operated four trains per hour from Mansion House to Hammersmith. Also leaving every hour from Mansion House were two GWR middle circle services to Aldgate via Addison Road and two L&NWR services to Broad Street via Willesden Junction. Three services an hour travelled between West Brompton and Earl's Court. In 1864 the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) had obtained permission for
6900-402: The inner circle service was eight trains an hour, completing the 13 miles (21 kilometres) circuit in 81–84 minutes, but this proved impossible to maintain and service was reduced to six trains an hour with a 70-minute timing in 1885. Initially guards were permitted no relief breaks during their shift until September 1885 when they were permitted three 20-minute breaks. Several schemes to cross
7050-538: The inner circle service was ten trains per hour in each direction, but this frequency of service caused problems. A reduction to eight would leave the Kensington High Street to Edgware Road section with too few trains. However the Metropolitan had recently rebuilt it with four platforms as part of an abandoned plan for a tube to Kilburn. The District extended its Putney to High Street service to Edgware Road and
7200-425: The medieval period the street was known as Algatestreet. It was a major thoroughfare to and from the City of London. Settlement in the area probably began in the 13th century. The name "Whitechapel" refers to a chapel of ease in the parish of Stepney that was built in the mid-13th century in the area that is now Altab Ali Park on Whitechapel Road . The church was named St Mary Matfelon , but commonly known as
7350-663: The "White Chapel", referring to the colour of its white chalk rubble walls. Early maps such as the Agas map show that by the mid-16th century the street had a continuous frontage of mostly 2-storey timber-framed houses with fields behind. Remains of the Boar's Head Inn, which included the site of the Boar's Head Theatre from 1598 to 1616, were found beneath the Unite Students building (No 141–143). John Stow 's Survey of London in 1603 complained that
7500-463: The 1950s in plain utilitarian style, such as No 83, 87 and 94. Some sites, such as No 97, remained empty for decades. Rising property prices have encouraged repair and rebuilding, and few signs of the blitz remain. One notable absence is St Mary's Church, which was gutted by a fire bomb in 1940 and demolished in 1952. In the 1960s the street became one-way as part of the Aldgate Gyratory, isolating
7650-541: The 1970s. According to the 2001 UK Census the population of the borough is approximately 196,106. According to the ONS estimate, the population is 237,900, as of 2010. Crime in the borough increased by 3.5% from 2009 to 2010, according to figures from the Metropolitan Police , having decreased by 24% between 2003/04 and 2007/08. Tower Hamlets has one of the smallest White British populations of any local authority in
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#17328908263057800-562: The 19th century,and Whitechapel as a whole suffered poverty and overcrowding, the high street remained relatively prosperous. It shows as a narrow strip of "middle class – well-to-do" housing on Booth's poverty map of 1889 . Victorian era philanthropic improvements included the ornate Passmore Edwards Library and the Whitechapel Gallery . Grand Edwardian era buildings remain at Nos 90, 102–5 and 126–7. Many Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe to Whitechapel during 1880–1914 found work in
7950-528: The Aldgate Place development. The site was once Gardiners' department store. Side street: Commercial Road Central House – a 6-storey flatted factory, designed by Lush & Lester, built in 1964–65. It is built in a modernist style with visible reinforced concrete frame and glass bands, and known as the "Aldgate Bauhaus". It was occupied by textile factories and the Cass School of Art and Architecture of
8100-569: The District Railway and his experiences in the United States led him to favour DC with a track level conductor rail similar to that in use on the City & South London Railway and Central London Railway. After arbitration by the Board of Trade , the DC system was adopted. The District had permission for a deep-level tube beneath the sub-surface line between Earl's Court and Mansion House and in 1898 bought
8250-526: The District Railway needed its own locomotives, they ordered twenty four condensing steam locomotives from Beyer Peacock similar to the A Class locomotives the Metropolitan Railway was using on the route. As they were intended for an underground railway, the locomotives did not have cabs, but had a weatherboard with a bent-back top. The back plate of the bunker was raised to provide protection when running bunker first. A total of fifty four locomotives were purchased. They were still in service in 1905 when
8400-481: The District began running its own trains. From this date, the two companies operated a joint inner circle service between Mansion House and Moorgate Street via South Kensington and Edgware Road that ran every ten minutes. This was supplemented by a District service every ten minutes between Mansion House and West Brompton, and Hammersmith & City Railway and Great Western Railway (GWR) suburban services between Edgware Road and Moorgate Street. The permissions for
8550-459: The District lines and the underground lines planned. Work began in 1902 at Lots Road, by Chelsea Creek and in February 1905 Lots Road Power Station began generating electricity at 11 kV 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 Hz, conveyed by high voltage cables to substations that converted this to approximately 550V DC. While the power station was being built, the District electrified the Ealing to Harrow line that
8700-468: The District refused to sell tickets to the station. After opening the District service from New Cross four trains an hour ran alternately to Hammersmith or Putney, but as passenger demand was low after a month this was reduced to two trains an hour to Ealing. Four trains an hour went from Whitechapel, two to Putney, one to Hammersmith and one to Richmond. The middle and outer circle services continued operating from Mansion House at two per hour each. Initially
8850-514: The District shared the tracks with LT&SR steam engines and widening the railway to East Ham was considered essential. Four tracks were laid and two electrified as far as Barking, where the Tilbury and Upminster routes separated. On 1 April 1908 District trains were extended through to Barking and the work was largely finished in July 1908. After 2 May 1909 trains no longer reversed at Hounslow Town after
9000-539: The District tracks. In November 1912 a bill was published that included a plan to extend the Piccadilly tube tracks westwards from Hammersmith to connect to the L&SWR's Richmond branch tracks. The bill passed as the London Electric Railway Act 1913 ( 3 & 4 Geo. 5 . c. xcvii) on 15 August 1913, although the advent of World War I prevented work on the extension. Powers were renewed in 1926 for
9150-783: The District were running electric services on all remaining routes. From December 1905 the L&NWR service was hauled by electric locomotives from Mansion House to Earl's Court, where a L&NWR steam locomotive took over. In 1907 the weekday off-peak service was four trains per hour from East Ham to Ealing Broadway, four per hour from Mansion House to alternately Richmond and Wimbledon and two per hour from Wimbledon to High Street Kensington and Ealing Broadway to Whitechapel. Four trains per hour ran from Putney Bridge to Earl's Court, two continuing to High Street Kensington. From South Harrow there were two trains per hour to Mill Hill Park, and four trains per hour from Hounslow Barracks to Mill Hill Park, two of these continuing to South Acton. Meanwhile,
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#17328908263059300-623: The District's electric locomotives that were no longer needed for the L&NWR's outer circle service, and east of Barking by steam locomotive. From 1912 two specially built sets of saloon coaches with retention toilets were used. In the 1920s the off-peak weekday service was a train every ten minutes from Wimbledon and Ealing and every fifteen minutes from Richmond. Six trains per hour ran from Putney Bridge to High Street Kensington. Trains from Hounslow left every 6–8 minutes, terminating at Acton Town or South Acton. Six trains per hour left Hammersmith for South Harrow, three continuing to Uxbridge. In 1925
9450-466: The East End. This brought the attentions of social reformers during the mid-18th century and led to the formation of unions and workers associations at the end of the century. The radicalism of the East End contributed to the formation of the Labour Party and demands for the enfranchisement of women . Official attempts to address the overcrowded housing began at the beginning of the 20th century under
9600-637: The East London Railway to SER's New Cross station . After an official opening ceremony on 17 September and trial running, a circular service started on Monday 6 October 1884. On the same day the District extended its services to Whitechapel and over the ELR to New Cross, calling at new joint stations at Aldgate East and St Mary's. Joint stations opened on the circle line at Cannon Street , Eastcheap ( Monument from 1 November 1884) and Mark Lane . The Met's Tower of London station closed on 12 October 1884 after
9750-478: The GWR's middle circle having started at Earl's Court from 1900. The District sought to serve Harrow and Uxbridge and in 1892 a route from Ealing to Roxeth (South Harrow) was surveyed and a bill presented in the name of the nominally independent Ealing and South Harrow Railway (E&SHR), becoming law as the Ealing and South Harrow Railway Act 1894 ( 57 & 58 Vict. c. ccxv). Construction started in 1897 and by
9900-475: The L&NWR running services from Broad Street to Richmond from a link at Brentford Road to the North London Line at South Acton. Stations opened on the line at Shaftesbury Road ( Ravenscourt Park from 1888) and Shepherds Bush on 1 May 1874. In 1875 permission was given for a 1 ⁄ 2 -mile (0.80 km) link from the District station at Hammersmith to a junction just east of Ravenscourt Park. As
10050-429: The L&SWR line was on a viaduct and the District line in a cutting, the line rose steeply. On 1 June 1877, the Hammersmith branch was extended to Richmond , initially with a service of one train an hour to Mansion House. The Met and GWR Hammersmith & City line had access by a link just north of their Hammersmith station and diverted a service to Richmond from 1 October 1877. From 1 May 1878 to 30 September 1880,
10200-595: The LPTB. The railway became the District line of London Transport . From 23 October 1933 a Piccadilly line service replaced the Harrow to Uxbridge District shuttle. In 1923 the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) had taken over the L&NWR railway's outer circle service from Earl's Court and by the Second World War this had been cut back to an electrified Earl's Court to Willesden Junction shuttle. Following bombing of
10350-589: The Labour Party. For the 2019 general election , the borough was split into two constituencies : Due to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies , the subsequent general election will see Tower Hamlets elect MPs in three constituencies. These are; The data below were taken between 1971 and 2000 at the weather station in Greenwich , around 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the borough's former town hall, at Mulberry Place : By 1891, Tower Hamlets – roughly
10500-547: The Met's Moorgate Street station to Mansion House via Paddington and Earl's Court. Permission to build a railway 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (2.4 km) long to Hammersmith was granted on 7 July 1873, the independent Hammersmith Extension Railway having been formed to raise the necessary capital. The new line started from a junction on the curve to Addison Road and also allowed easier access to Lillie Bridge Depot . It opened on 9 September 1874 with one intermediate station at North End (Fulham) (renamed West Kensington in 1877) and
10650-603: The Metropolitan Board of Works' area was made the County of London . From 1856 until 1900 the lower tier of local government within the metropolis comprised various parish vestries and district boards . In 1900 the lower tier was reorganised into metropolitan boroughs , including the Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green , the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar and the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney . The modern borough
10800-469: The Metropolitan Railway and its subsidiary the Great Northern & City Railway , and introduced station name boards with a red disc and a blue bar. 'Non-stop' working was introduced on the District in December 1907. Usually just a few stations were missed; trains were marked NON STOP or ALL STATIONS as appropriate and panels beside the doors listed the stations the train would skip. East of Bow Road station
10950-497: The Metropolitan because of the shared ownership of the inner circle . A jointly owned train of six coaches successfully ran an experimental passenger service on the Earl's Court to High Street Kensington section for six months in 1900. Tenders were then requested and in 1901 a Metropolitan and District joint committee recommended the Ganz three-phase AC system with overhead wires. Initially this
11100-487: The Metropolitan provided all inner circle trains at a frequency of eight trains per hour. In 1923 the London, Midland and Scottish Railway had inherited the LT&;SR line to Barking, and in 1929 proposed quadrupling the line to Upminster and electrifying one pair of tracks for use by the District. On 12 September 1932 services started with new stations at Upney and Heathway (now Dagenham Heathway ) with platforms only on
11250-575: The Thames at Putney Bridge to Guildford, Surbiton or Wimbledon had been proposed and received approval from Parliament, although the District had been unable to raise the necessary funding. In 1886 the L&SWR replaced these plans with the Wimbledon and Fulham Railway that started on the west side of Wimbledon and crossing Thames to meet the District's Putney Bridge station. The line had intermediate stations at Wimbledon Park , Southfields and East Putney and
11400-513: The UERL's GNP&BR tube railway was under construction, surfacing west of West Kensington and entering two terminal platforms on the north side of the District's Hammersmith station. A new station, Barons Court , was built with two island platforms, one for each railway. As there was space at Lillie Bridge Depot after the District had moved to Mill Hill Park, the GNP&;BR took over part of the site for its depot. Barons Court opened 9 October 1905 and
11550-472: The United Kingdom. No ethnic group forms a majority of the population; a plurality of residents are white (45%), a little over two thirds of whom are White British. 32% of residents are Bangladeshi , which is the largest ethnic minority group in the borough, with Asians as a whole forming 41% of the population. A smaller proportion are of Black African and Caribbean descent (7%), with Somalis representing
11700-597: The West London Line in 1940 the LMS and the Metropolitan line services to Addison Road were both suspended. After the war, to serve the Kensington exhibition halls a District line shuttle service started from Earl's Court to Addison Road, now renamed Kensington Olympia . The off-peak District Hounslow branch shuttle to South Acton was discontinued on 29 April 1935 and replaced by an Acton Town to South Acton shuttle. This shuttle
11850-624: The Whitechapel Gallery in 2009. Whitechapel Gallery – designed by Charles Harrison Townsend in an Art Nouveau style, built in 1898–99 in buff terracotta. 83 Whitechapel High Street – a 5-storey single-bay commercial building, built in 1957 in red brick. The upper floors were converted to flats in 2007. The ground floor is a café. 84 Whitechapel High Street – a 4-storey single-bay commercial building, built in 1957 in red brick. It retains its original triplet windows within thin concrete frames and thick flat mullions . The ground floor
12000-585: The ancient civil parish of Stepney – was already one of the most populated areas in London. Throughout the nineteenth century, the local population increased by an average of 20% every ten years. The building of the docks intensified land use and caused the last marshy areas in the south of the parish to be drained for housing and industry. In the north of the borough, employment was principally in weaving, small household industries like boot and furniture making and new industrial enterprises like Bryant and May . The availability of cheap labour drew in many employers. To
12150-552: The area from Tudor times . The area attracted large numbers of rural people looking for employment. Successive waves of foreign immigration began with Huguenot refugees creating a new extramural suburb in Spitalfields in the 17th century. They were followed by Irish weavers, Ashkenazi Jews and, in the 20th century, Bangladeshis . Many of these immigrants worked in the clothing industry. The abundance of semi- and unskilled labour led to low wages and poor conditions throughout
12300-461: The borough has one of the lowest proportions of population over the age of 65 or older in England and Wales, at 5.6%. Tower Hamlets is a religious diverse borough with various places of worship . According to the 2021 census, 39.9% of the population was Muslim , 22.3% Christian , 2.0% Hindu , 1.0% Buddhist , 0.4% Jewish , 0.3% Sikh , 0.5% followed some other religion, 26.6% were not affiliated to
12450-564: The borough have high levels of racial segregation . The Times reported in 2006 that 47 per cent of secondary schools were exclusively non-white, and that 33 per cent had a white majority. About 60 per cent of pupils entering primary and secondary school are Bangladeshi. 78% of primary-school pupils speak English as a second language . The council runs several Idea Stores in the borough, which combine traditional library and computer services with other resources, and are designed to attract more diverse members. The flagship Whitechapel store
12600-428: The borough. The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is the local education authority for state schools within the borough. In January 2008, there were 19,890 primary-school pupils and 15,262 secondary-school pupils attending state schools there. Private-school pupils account for 2.4 per cent of schoolchildren in the borough. In 2010, 51.8 per cent of pupils achieved 5 A*–C GCSEs including Mathematics and English –
12750-480: The borough. A part of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is in Tower Hamlets. It was formed in 1965 by merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney , Poplar , and Bethnal Green . 'Tower Hamlets' was originally an alternative name for the historic Tower Division ; the area of south-east Middlesex , focused on (but not limited to) the area of the modern borough, which owed military service to
12900-437: The buildings on the south side as far as Gardiner's department store in the centre of a large roundabout with return flow along Braham Street. Large concrete and glass office buildings occupied this area, creating a "sense of desolation and insecurity for pedestrians". The gyratory system was removed in 2008, and Whitechapel High Street became two-way again. Tall office and apartment buildings were combined with attempts to improve
13050-437: The burden of high construction costs, the District was unable to continue with the original scheme to reach Tower Hill and made a final extension of its line one station further east from Blackfriars to a previously unplanned City terminus at Mansion House . On Saturday 1 July 1871, an opening banquet was attended by prime minister William Gladstone , who was also a shareholder. The following Monday, Mansion House opened and
13200-526: The cabs at the outer end. The locomotives were used to haul L&NWR passenger trains on the electrified section of the Outer Circle route between Earl's Court and Mansion House . After December 1908 these services terminated at Earl's Court. The locomotives were used to haul District trains, one coupled to each end of a rake of four trailer cars. From 1910 the locomotives were used on London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR) trains extended over
13350-515: The canal tow-paths are open to both pedestrians and cyclists. The borough includes open spaces such as Victoria Park , King Edward Memorial Park , Mile End Park , Island Gardens and part of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park . Areas within the borough include: The Canary Wharf complex within Docklands on the Isle of Dogs forms a group of some of the tallest buildings in Europe . One Canada Square
13500-475: The circuit, the committee encouraged the amalgamation of two other schemes proposed to run via different routes between Kensington and the City and a combined proposal under the name Metropolitan District Railway passed into law on the same day in the Metropolitan District Railways Act 1864 ( 27 & 28 Vict. c. cccxxii). Initially, the District and the Met were closely associated and it
13650-407: The clothing industry, and the high street became their shop window. Clothing and footwear accounted for one-third of the 144 businesses listed on the street in 1921. The last remaining ones are at No 65a, 88 and 102–5. The largest was Gardiner's department store (Nos 31–35), which opened in the 1870s and was destroyed by fire in 1972. The traffic intersection became known as Gardiner's Corner. In 1936
13800-621: The disputed Cromwell Curve connecting Brompton (Gloucester Road) and Kensington (High Street). East of Westminster, the next section ran in the newly constructed Victoria Embankment built by the Metropolitan Board of Works along the north bank of the River Thames . The line was opened from Westminster to Blackfriars on 30 May 1870 with stations at Charing Cross (now Embankment ), The Temple (now Temple ) and Blackfriars . The Met initially operated all services, receiving 55 per cent of
13950-462: The door by Arthur Szyk depicts a Star of David supported by two Lions of Judah wielding sabres, and was commissioned by the Jewish Daily Post, which occupied the building in 1934–35. Side street: Gunthorpe Street The White Hart – a 4-storey single-bay public house, founded in 1721, rebuilt in the 1930s, with traces of Corinthian pilasters from the 1830s. 90 Whitechapel High Street –
14100-495: The east. The River Lea also forms the boundary between the historic counties of Middlesex and Essex . The borough's Thames frontage extends from the Tower Dock inlet, immediately west of the Tower of London , through several miles of former docklands, including the Isle of Dogs peninsula, to the confluence of the Thames and Lea at Blackwall . Areas along the Thames and Lea flood plains were historically frequently flooded, but
14250-457: The end of 1899 it was largely complete, but with low traffic prospects remained unopened. To reach Uxbridge a line from South Harrow via Ruislip was authorised in 1897. The District had problems raising the finance and the Metropolitan offered a rescue package whereby they would build a branch from Harrow to Rayners Lane and take over the line to Uxbridge, with the District retaining running rights for up to three trains an hour. The Metropolitan built
14400-545: The former Royal Mint building in East Smithfield . The local authority is Tower Hamlets Council, based at Tower Hamlets Town Hall on Whitechapel Road . Since 2010 the council has been led by the directly elected Mayor of Tower Hamlets . Since 2000, the borough lies within the City and East constituency, one of fourteen constituencies which make up the London Assembly , and is represented by Unmesh Desai of
14550-419: The gross receipts for a fixed level of service. The District were also charged for any extra trains and the District's share of the income dropped to about 40 per cent. The District's level of debt meant that merger was no longer attractive to the Met and its directors resigned from the District's board. To improve its finances, the District gave the Met notice to terminate the operating agreement. Struggling under
14700-509: The highest paid workers in London, but also has high rates of long-term illness and premature death and the 2nd highest unemployment rate in London. Canary Wharf is home to the many of the world and European headquarters of numerous major banks and professional services firms including Barclays , Citigroup , Clifford Chance , Credit Suisse , Infosys , Fitch Ratings , HSBC , J.P. Morgan , KPMG , MetLife , Morgan Stanley , RBC , Skadden , State Street and Thomson Reuters . Savills ,
14850-452: The highest proportion of Muslims of any English local authority and was the only location where Muslims outnumbered Christians . The borough has more than 40 mosques, Islamic centres and madrasahs , including the East London Mosque , Britain's largest. Whitechapel and Brick Lane 's restaurants, neighbouring street market and shops provide the largest range of Bangladeshi cuisine , woodwork, carpets and clothes in Europe. The Lane
15000-851: The highest proportion of children in poverty of any local authority in the UK at 49% (and as high as 54.5% in the Bethnal Green South ward). Surveys and interviews conducted by the Child Poverty Action group for the council found that the Universal Credit system was deeply unpopular with low-income families in the borough and that most claimants who have used the system found it difficult to understand and experienced frequent payment errors. The East London Advertiser and Social Streets provide local news in print and online. There are also several Bengali print and online newspapers published in
15150-486: The highest results in the borough's history – compared to the national average of 53.4 per cent. Seventy-four per cent achieved 5 A*–C GCSEs for all subjects (the same as the English average); the figure in 1997 was 26 per cent. The percentage of pupils on free school meals in the borough is the highest in England and Wales . In 2007, the council rejected proposals to build a Goldman Sachs -sponsored academy . Schools in
15300-531: The land behind the street was entirely built up. In contrast to the buildings, the street itself was wide. Maitland's Survey of London of 1756 describes it as "a spacious Street for Entrance into the City Eastward … accommodated with good Inns for the Reception of Travellers, Horses, Coaches, Waggons, &c [and] a great many Butchers, who carry on a great Trade, both Wholesale and Retail". The oldest remaining inn
15450-543: The level of regulation and public control under which transport services should be brought. Ashfield aimed for regulation that would give the UERL group protection from competition and allow it to take control of the LCC's tram system; Morrison preferred full public ownership. After seven years of false starts, a bill was announced at the end of 1930 for the formation of the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB),
15600-407: The line to South Harrow opened the following week on 28 June, with stations at North Ealing , Park Royal & Twyford Abbey, Perivale-Alperton (now Alperton ), Sudbury Town , Sudbury Hill and South Harrow . Electric services began on 13 June 1905 between Hounslow and South Acton, using the line from Mill Hill Park to South Acton for a passenger service for the first time. Hounslow Town station
15750-485: The line was electrified, and all but six were sold the following year. In 1905 the District bought ten bogie box cab locomotives that looked similar to their multiple units but were only 25 feet (7.6 m) long. They were manufactured by the Metropolitan Amalgamated Carriage and Wagon Company and most had a single cab at one end. Consequently, they were operated in pairs, coupled back to back with
15900-444: The lowest gap for educational outcomes at secondary level. Tower Hamlets is the first London borough in which the earliest skyscrapers were built, and since 2014 it saw the completion of 71 skyscrapers, more than any other place in the country. Demographically, Tower Hamlets has a large population of British Bangladeshis , forming the largest single ethnic group in the borough at 32%. The 2011 census showed Tower Hamlets to have
16050-410: The north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London , the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and includes much of the regenerated London Docklands area. The 2019 mid-year population for the borough is estimated at 324,745. Some of the tallest buildings in London occupy Canary Wharf , one of the country's largest financial districts, in the south of
16200-556: The population growth. This migration peaked at the end of that century and population growth entered a long decline through to the 1960s, as people moved away eastwards to newer suburbs of London and Essex . The area's population had neared 600,000 around the end of the nineteenth century, but fell to a low of less than 140,000 by the early 1980s. The metropolitan boroughs suffered very badly during World War II , during which considerable numbers of houses were destroyed or damaged beyond use due to heavy aerial bombing . This coincided with
16350-405: The profitability of the group. To protect the UERL group's income, its chairman Lord Ashfield lobbied the government for regulation of transport services in the London area. Starting in 1923, a series of legislative initiatives were made in this direction, with Ashfield and Labour London County Councillor (later MP and Minister of Transport) Herbert Morrison , at the forefront of debates as to
16500-532: The prototype Sudbury Town listed as Grade II*. On 4 July 1932 the District service from Acton Town to South Harrow was withdrawn and one in three Piccadilly trains extended from Hammersmith to South Harrow, the District continuing to run a shuttle from South Harrow to Uxbridge. On 18 December 1932 all four tracks to Northfields opened and from 9 January 1933 Piccadilly trains started to run to Northfields, continuing to Hounslow West from 13 March 1933. District trains continued to run through to Hounslow off-peak, with
16650-449: The quadruple track from Hammersmith to be extended to west of Acton Town, with the concept of the Piccadilly running non-stop on the inner pair. The proposed service split, with the Piccadilly running through to Harrow and Hounslow, was clarified by 1929. District services would run mainly through to Wimbledon, Richmond, Hounslow and Ealing, with shuttles from South Harrow to Uxbridge and Acton Town to South Acton. With finance guaranteed by
16800-424: The railway company. To ensure ventilation, the line west of Gloucester Road was carried in open cuttings, the rest mainly in a cut and cover tunnel 25 feet (7.6 m) wide and 15 feet 9 inches (4.80 m) deep; at the stations the platform ends were left open. Construction costs and compensation payments were so high that the cost of the first section of the District from South Kensington to Westminster
16950-521: The railway east of Mansion House were allowed to lapse. At the other end of the line, the District part of South Kensington station opened on 10 July 1871 and Earl's Court station opened on the West Brompton extension on 30 October 1871. The District Railway's main expansion was to the west. A small station at Earl's Court , between Gloucester Road and West Brompton, opened on 31 October 1871 with three platforms. Lillie Bridge depot, opened in 1872,
17100-475: The railway to Uxbridge and began running services on 4 July 1904. At the start of the 20th century the District and Metropolitan railways faced increased competition in central London from new, electric, deep-level tube lines. The City and South London Railway had been a great success when it opened in 1890. After the opening of the Central London Railway in 1900 from Shepherd's Bush to the City with
17250-401: The second-largest minority ethnic group. Those of mixed ethnic backgrounds form 4%, while other ethnic groups form 2%. The White British proportion was recorded as 31.2% in the 2011 UK Census, a decrease from 42.9% in 2001. In 2018, Tower Hamlets had the lowest life expectancy and the highest rate of heart disease of all London boroughs, along with Newham . The 2021 census found that
17400-427: The south, employment was in the docks and related industries – such as chandlery and rope making. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the district now recognised as Tower Hamlets was characterised by overcrowding and poverty. The construction of the railways caused many more displaced people to settle in the area, and a massive influx of Eastern European Jews at the latter part of the nineteenth century added to
17550-451: The station was closed and a new Hounslow Town station opened on the direct route. Since 1904, after the District had notified the Met that it would not use its running rights on the Uxbridge line with steam trains, it had not run services, although it paid the £2,000 a year that was due under the enabling act. When the District suggested running as far as Rayners Lane , the Met responded with
17700-400: The street level environment. Starts at: Mansell Street The White Chapel Building , 10 Whitechapel High Street – an 8-storey office building, designed by Fitzroy Robinson & Partners , built in 1982–1984. It has a prominent grid of chamfered mullions and floorbands, with polished granite cladding. The tall storey heights allowed raised flooring to conceal computer wiring. The building
17850-584: The street was "pestered" with cottages and alleys, concluding that the "unsavoury" passage to Aldgate was "no small blemish to so famous a city". Morgan's map of 1682 shows "White Chapel Street" extending from Aldgate to St Mary's Church, with numerous narrow alleys leading to courtyards or fields behind the street. Some still remain, such as Angel Alley (No 84) and Gunthorpe Street (No 88). While no buildings survive from this period, later buildings such as No 85 and Nos 91–93 reused their extremely narrow plots, preserving their cramped character. By 1746, Roque's map shows
18000-576: The tube railway opened as the Piccadilly line on 15 December 1906. In 1908 the UERL and the other underground railway companies in London came to a joint marketing arrangement that included maps, joint publicity and combined ticketing. U NDERGROUN D signs were used outside stations in Central London. The UERL eventually controlled all underground railways in London except the Waterloo & City Railway ,
18150-423: The way the shoe-gear was mounted on the Met trains and the District Railway track, and the Met trains were withdrawn from the District lines. After modification the Met returned and electric trains took over on 24 September, reducing the travel time around the circle from seventy to fifty minutes. By September, after withdrawing services over the unelectrified East London Line and the LT&SR east of East Ham,
18300-566: The west of Bromley station . The LT&SR and District jointly took over the company the following year and the line opened on 2 June 1902 with new stations at Stepney Green , Mile End and Bow Road . Some District services were extended from Whitechapel to East Ham and one train each morning and evening ran through to Upminster . In July 1902 four trains an hour ran from Bow Road (2 to 3 from East Ham) to Ealing or Wimbledon and two trains an hour from New Cross served Hammersmith or Richmond. The outer circle continued to run from Mansion House,
18450-529: The worst poverty in Britain. The area of the modern borough had historically been part of the hundred of Ossulstone in county of Middlesex . Ossulstone was subsequently divided into four divisions, one of which was the Tower Division , also known as the Tower Hamlets, which covered a larger area than the modern borough, also including parts of Hackney . From at least the 17th century the Tower Division
18600-461: Was a liberty with judicial and administrative independence from the rest of the county. The liberty appears to have arisen from much older obligations on inhabitants of the area to provide military service to the Constable of the Tower of London . From 1856 the area was governed by the Metropolitan Board of Works , which was established to provide services across the metropolis of London. In 1889
18750-511: Was accepted by both parties. The District found an investor to finance the upgrade in 1901, American Charles Yerkes . On 15 July 1901, Yerkes established the Metropolitan District Electric Traction Company with himself as managing director and raised £1 million to carry out the electrification, including construction of the generating station and supplying the new rolling stock. Yerkes soon had control of
18900-506: Was built in the 1950s for those that remained. The closure of the last of the East End docks in the Port of London in 1980 created further challenges and led to attempts at regeneration and the formation of the London Docklands Development Corporation . The Canary Wharf development, improved infrastructure, and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park mean that the East End is undergoing further change, but some of its districts continue to see some of
19050-468: Was built just north of the GWR station. On 4 July 1878, permission was granted to extend the West Brompton branch as far as the Thames. Stations opened at Walham Green (now Fulham Broadway ), Parsons Green. The line terminated at Putney Bridge & Fulham (now Putney Bridge ). The line opened on 1 March 1880, in time for the University Boat Race held that year on 22 March. Initially the service
19200-498: Was built parallel to the West London Joint Railway and initially accessed by a curve onto the West London Line. This curve allowed, from 1 February 1872, the London & North Western Railway (L&NWR) to run a half-hourly outer circle service from Broad Street to Mansion House via Willesden Junction , Addison Road and Earls Court. From 1 October 1872, the GWR also ran a half-hourly middle circle service from
19350-643: Was created in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963 . It was a merger of the old boroughs of Bethnal Green, Poplar and Stepney, and was named Tower Hamlets after the historic liberty. Tower Hamlets is in East London, north of the River Thames . The City of London lies to the west, the London Borough of Hackney to the north, while the River Lea forms the boundary with the London Borough of Newham to
19500-465: Was designated a conservation area in 2007. In 2015 it was named by the Royal Society for Public Health as London's most unhealthy high street, having the highest concentration of fast-food outlets, payday lenders, bookmakers and tanning salons. Whitechapel High Street follows part of a Roman road , presumed to have continued to Colchester . A major Roman cemetery was located along the street. In
19650-563: Was designed by David Adjaye , and cost £16 million to build. Mile End Stadium within Mile End Park hosts an athletics stadium and facilities for football and basketball . Two football clubs, Tower Hamlets F.C. (formerly Bethnal Green United) and Sporting Bengal United F.C. , are based there, playing in the Essex Senior Football League . District Railway The Metropolitan District Railway , also known as
19800-546: Was dropped from plans. In April 1902, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) was established, with Yerkes as chairman, to control these companies and manage the planned works. On 8 June 1902, the UERL took over the Traction Company and paid off the company's shareholders with cash and UERL shares. The UERL built a large power station that would be capable of providing power for
19950-538: Was extended in 1876. A meeting between the District and Metropolitan was held in 1877, the Met now wishing to access the South Eastern Railway (SER) via the East London Railway (ELR). Both companies promoted and obtained an act of Parliament in 1879 for the extension and a link to the ELR. The act also ensured future co-operation by allowing both companies access to the whole circle. A large contribution
20100-526: Was first used on 3 December 1911 and Stamford Brook opened on 1 February 1912. However, the GWR had already withdrawn their service and L&SWR was to withdraw in 1916. A flying junction separating the Richmond and Hammersmith routes west of Earl's Court opened in January 1914. From 1910 to 1939 the LT&SR ran through trains between Ealing Broadway and Southend or Shoeburyness , hauled west of Barking by
20250-542: Was granted in 1880 for a nearly 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 -mile-long (8.9 km) railway from Mill Hill Park station to Hounslow Barracks, with stations at South Ealing, Boston Road and Spring Grove, and agreement reached for the District to work the line. On 1 May 1883 the District started a service to Hounslow Town , calling at South Ealing , Boston Road (now Boston Manor ) and Osterley & Spring Grove (replaced by Osterley ). A single-track line from junction near Hounslow Town to Hounslow Barracks (now Hounslow West ) opened
20400-609: Was intended that they would soon merge. The Met's chairman and three other directors were on the board of the District, John Fowler was the engineer of both companies and the construction works for all of the extensions were let as a single contract. The District was established as a separate company to enable funds to be raised independently of the Met. Unlike the Metropolitan, the route did not follow an easy alignment under existing roads and land values were higher, so compensation payments for property were much higher. Major landowners, including Lord Kensington , sold parcels of land to
20550-513: Was introduced in 1905, and by the end of the year electric multiple units operated all of the services. On 1 July 1933, the District Railway and the other UERL railways were merged with the Metropolitan Railway and the capital's tramway and bus operators to form the London Passenger Transport Board . Today, former District Railway tracks and stations are used by the London Underground 's District , Piccadilly and Circle lines. In 1863,
20700-535: Was lined with coaching inns; the road was full of traffic, carts with garden produce, market women with baskets of fruit, flocks of sheet, herds of cattle, brewers' drays and hay wains for the hay market." From at least 1665 until 1928, in the Whitechapel hay market, farmers sold animal fodder from large carts in the street. In the late 18th and early 19th century the street was lined with 4-storey brick shop-houses, still visible at Nos 65–68, 74–76 and 128–129. It became
20850-447: Was made by authorities for road and sewer improvements. In 1882 the Met extended its line from Aldgate to a temporary station at Tower of London . Two contracts to build joint lines were placed, one from Mansion House to the Tower in 1882 and a second from the circle north of Aldgate to Whitechapel with a curve onto the ELR in 1883. From 1 October 1884 the District and Metropolitan began local services from St Mary's via this curve onto
21000-544: Was not yet open. It was equipped with automatic signalling using track circuits and pneumatic semaphore signals , and trials were run with two seven car trains. In August 1903, an order was placed for 420 cars and a new maintenance depot was built west of Mill Hill Park (now Acton Town). After the trials, the line to South Harrow opened in June 1903, from 23 June with a shuttle to Park Royal & Twyford Abbey (now Park Royal ) for that year's Royal Agricultural Show . The rest of
21150-554: Was once characterised by rural settlements clustered around the City walls or along the main roads, surrounded by farmland, with marshes and small communities by the River, serving the needs of shipping and the Royal Navy . Until the arrival of formal docks, shipping was required to land goods in the Pool of London , but industries related to construction, repair, and victualling of ships flourished in
21300-408: Was originally known as Sedgewick Centre, and was occupied by Royal Bank of Scotland during 2005–15. Aldgate Tower , 2 Leman Street – an 18-storey office building, designed by WilkinsonEyre , built in 2013–14. It has a curved glass façade over a steel frame and grey columns at ground level. Side street: Leman Street Construction site – planned 6-storey and 25-storey office buildings, part of
21450-485: Was rebuilt in a utilitarian style in 1954 with grey brick facing and metal framed windows in concrete surrounds, retaining the Edwardian canted oriel windows on the upper floors. In 2013 the top floors were converted into flats and the lower floors were occupied by the restaurant Big Moe's Diner. London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a borough in London , England. Situated on
21600-407: Was renamed Acton Town on 1 March 1910. Between Turnham Green and Ravenscourt Park the District shared tracks with L&SWR steam trains to Richmond, a GWR steam service from Richmond to Ladbroke Grove and Midland coal trains. The District and L&SWR agreed to quadruple the tracks to allow a pair for the District's sole use and build a station on the District tracks at Stamford Brook . The line
21750-455: Was reopened, trains reversing at the station before continuing to Hounslow Barracks using a new single track curve. On 1 July 1905 electric trains began running from Ealing to Whitechapel, and on the same day the Metropolitan and District railways both introduced electric units on the inner circle. However, a Metropolitan multiple unit overturned the positive current rail on the District Railway, and investigation showed an incompatibility between
21900-491: Was soon extended westwards through Earl's Court to Fulham , Richmond , Ealing and Hounslow . After completing the inner circle and reaching Whitechapel in 1884, it was extended to Upminster in Essex in 1902. To finance electrification at the beginning of the 20th century, American financier Charles Yerkes took it over and made it part of his Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) group. Electric propulsion
22050-516: Was the first to be constructed and is the third tallest in London. Nearby are the HSBC Tower , Citigroup Centres and One Churchill Place , headquarters of Barclays Bank . Within the same complex are the Heron Quays offices. Part of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park , developed for the London 2012 Olympics , lies within the borders of Tower Hamlets. The Embassy of China in London will move into
22200-449: Was two trains an hour to Mansion House, supplemented from 1 April by two trains an hour to High Street Kensington. In 1866, permission had been granted to landowners in the Hounslow area for a Hounslow and Metropolitan Railway to connect to a proposed Acton & Brentford Railway. However, this had never been built, but with the District now at Acton there was an alternative. Permission
22350-486: Was withdrawn on 28 February 1959, and the peak hour District line through service to Hounslow was withdrawn on 9 October 1964. In the 1970s the Hounslow branch became the Heathrow branch when it was extended to serve Heathrow Airport , first on 19 July 1975 to serve Hatton Cross and then on 16 December 1977 when Heathrow Central opened. Later on 27 March 2008, the branch was extended to Heathrow Terminal 5 . When in 1871
22500-538: Was £3 million, almost three times the cost of the Met's original, longer line. On 24 December 1868, the District opened its line from South Kensington to Westminster, with stations at South Kensington , Sloane Square , Victoria , St James's Park and Westminster Bridge (now Westminster ), the Met extending eastwards from Brompton to a shared station at South Kensington on the same day. The District also had parliamentary permission to extend westward from Brompton (Gloucester Road) station and, on 12 April 1869, it opened
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