Petticoat Lane Market

On Sunday, as part of our Photographing East London Markets class we were back out on the streets east of the city of London. Yes, it is a world apart from the leafy Regent’s Park part of town we inhabit. After visiting the Columbia Road Flower Market and another brief return to Brick Lane (in the sunshine this time!) we moved on to our last market. Petticoat Lane Market located on Wentworth and Middlesex Street has been around as an informal market since 1608, and is one of three well known markets east of the City of London (not formally recognized until an Act of Parliament in 1936). A few hundred yards to the north is Old Spitalfields market, and across Commercial Street, to the east, lies Brick Lane Market. A half mile further east is the Columbia Road Flower market.

Huguenots fleeing persecution arrived here in the late 17th century settling mostly in Spitalfields. From the mid-18th century, Petticoat Lane became a centre for manufacturing clothes and The Lane' is renowned for the 'patter' of Cockney rhyming slang and the market traders themselves. The market is open Monday-to-Friday on Wentworth Street alone, but on Sunday extends over many of the surrounding streets, with over 1000 stalls. It closes on Sundays at about 2 pm, and is closed on Saturday.

Petticoat Lane was the least pleasant of the three markets we visited over these past two Sundays. This market really isn’t a tourist attraction. We were warned several times how unsafe the area is! It is not a place I would go back to again. The stall holders really dislike having their picture taken and are quite vocal about it. We met one in the form of a chestnut seller! To be honest I did buy a pashmina but wouldn’t buy any other types of clothing here. Just not me and I was happy to leave.

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The Columbia Road Flower Market

The Columbia Road Flower Market is off the Hackney Road in the Tower Hamlets. This is where Jeff and I spent a lovely autumn day on the second day of our Photographing East London Markets class. The weather was warm and sunny so much better than our rainy excursion to Brick Lane last Sunday! The Columbia Road Flower Market was one of the very first car trips we made when we moved to London ten years ago. It gets overwhelming crowded in the summer and we have stopped going preferring to go to the New Convent Garden Market early on a Saturday morning. We did manage a bagel before class though..
Much of Columbia road is part of the Jesus Green Hospital Estate. The market is open every Sunday from 8 am to 2 pm. A wide range of wonderful plants, bedding plants, shrubs, bulbs and freshly cut flowers are available. The market also has a number of shops selling bread and cheeses, antiques and garden accessories. Jeff and I own not one but two "Columbia Carriers"; an inexpensive plastic/fabric bag with a large flat base for carrying trays of plants.
The original market was established in 1869 as a covered food market, by Angela Burdett-Coutts with 400 stalls; with flats above, in a tall Gothic building. A planned railway line was never built with traders preferring to sell outdoors anyway causing the market to close in 1886; the original building was demolished in 1958.

The market was moved to Sunday, by Act of Parliament, in order to accommodate the needs of local Jewish traders. This also provided the opportunity for Covent Garden and Spitalfields traders to sell their stock left over from Saturday. The enduring love for cut flowers and plants amongst people in the East End was introduced by Huguenot immigrants. The market suffered in World War II, from rules prioritizing food production, and went into a long decline. A large civilian shelter, beneath the market, suffered a direct hit by a 50 kg bomb, on the night of Saturday, 7 September 1940, at the height of The Blitz.

Spoonful o Blues

One of the things I got to do while I was back in the states was to see my cousin Bruce's band play on Long Island. The music was terrific and a good time was had by all!

Photographing East London - Brick Lane

Brick Lane (Bangla: ব্রিক লেন) (as you can see in the picture) is a long street in the Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. The street runs from Bethnal Green in the north, and passes through Spitalfields (where we began our photography class). The Brick Lane Market, developed in the 17th century for fruit and vegetables, sold outside the city. The Sunday market, like the ones on Petticoat Lane and nearby Columbia Road, dates from a dispensation given to the Jewish community. Brick Lane is now it the heart of the city's Sylheti Bangladeshi community, and is sometimes known as Banglatown.
The street was formerly called Whitechapel Lane. Emma Elizabeth Smith was viciously assaulted in Osborn Street, the part of Brick Lane that meets Whitechapel High Street, on 3 April 1888. It was one of the first of the eleven Whitechapel Murders, some of which were attributed to the serial killer, Jack the Ripper. Brick Lane derives its current name from former brick and tile manufacture, using the local brick earth deposits, that began in the 15th century.
Immigration began with Huguenot refugees spreading from Spitalfields, where the master weavers were based, in the 17th century. They were followed by Irish weavers, Ashkenazi Jews and, in the last century, Bangladeshis. The area became a centre for weaving, tailoring and the clothing industry, due to the abundance of semi- and unskilled immigrant labour.
The changing face of Brick Lane can be told by a Huguenot chapel which was built on the corner of Brick Lane and Fournier Street in 1742. By 1809, it had become The Jews’ Chapel, for promoting Christianity to the expanding Jewish population. In 1898, the building was consecrated as the Machzikei HaDath, or Spitalfields Great Synagogue. It became the London Jamme Masjid mosque in 1976.


Brewing came to Brick Lane before 1680, with water drawn from deep wells. One brewer was Joseph Truman, who is first recorded in 1683, but his family, particularly Benjamin Truman, went on to establish the Black Eagle Brewery.
Brick Lane to me is the London home of bagels. As every one knows you can’t get good bagels outside NYC but 10 years ago when we first moved here, this was the only place you could get a rough approximation. . I had a bagel on Sunday in one of the remaining shops and it was extremely disappointing. Bagels are widely available now everywhere. The bagels sold at my local Sainsbury are better.
You should have seen the queue though!

Photographing East London - Spitalfield Market

Jeff and I have gone back to school! Well, not really. We are taking a two day photography class at City Lit called Photographing East London. Jeff is an excellent photographer so he has come along as a refresher course with me. Last year, we bought a really nice Nikon digital camera to take on our trip to Tanzania and I never use it because it baffles me with all these menus and dials!

This class is on two consecutive Sundays. Yesterday was day one. I have to tell you, it was one of the worst days in London to be outside doing photography. It was a dark and rainy day. As they say here, it was tipping it down…………….. another words- pouring!

After a short classroom lecture, the whole class (about 8 of us!) headed to the Old Spitalfields Market, a covered market in East London (as you would suspect from the name of the course!). The existing buildings were built in 1887 on the site of a public market founded in 1682 by Charles II . The former wholesale fruit and veg market moved way in the early 1990’s. Spitalfields now sells clothes, stuff and a bit of everything really. There are many restaurants as well as fresh food market stalls.

The market was very crowded and it was hard to photograph. Later when Jeff and I were discussing the class we talked about the difficulties of taking good pictures of people. I learned a lot about film speed, shutter speed and apertures in getting to grips with this camera. One of the lessons I learned yesterday is that I should have gotten closer to the subjects. I felt very shy and intrusive about it. I relied more on a longer lens and photo- editing to get the pictures I wanted. Class mates had quite a few run-ins with security while taking photographs yesterday. I will never make it the paparazzi business! Next week, we are going to the uncovered Columbia Road Flower Market. Hopefully the weather will be better.

Moran's Oyster Cottage

It is amazing how much advice you get when you travel to Ireland. There were no end of friends and acquaintances recommending hotels, restaurants and pubs. Now, Jeff and I are not so foolish that we ignored the recommendations we got.

Apparently, County Galway is the place for oysters (yeah, you would think being on the Atlantic coast?) and about 10 miles south of Galway City is Moran’s Oyster Cottage a 200-year-old thatched cottage set on the Kilcolgan River. Moran’s holds an annual oyster festival and has a reputation as the place to go for the best oysters in Ireland. The place is stuffed with celebrity photos (Pierce Brosnan included!) Oysters reign supreme here!

Not caring for oysters myself, I really didn’t care but Jeff did! So off to The Weir in Kilcolgan did we go! Moran’s lived up to its reputation and I haven’t seen Jeff looking so self-satisfied since the last time he was at Sharky’s eating grouper! I had the soup and a nice crab sandwich! Yes, if you go to County Galway, take my advice and find Moran’s!

The Merry Wives of Windsor

I had a rare treat on Wednesday. Polli, Loretta, Anna and I attended a production of the Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre on the banks of the Thames Theatre.

We had great seats thanks to Polli in this open air theatre and the rain held off for a few hours.



Christopher Benjamin played an excellent and witty Falstaff and was backed up by a wonderful cast including Serena Evans and Sarah Woodward as the merry wives!

National S'more Day

Today is National S'Mores Day in the USA. If you ever went camping as child or especially if you were a Girl Scout (as I was!) you are very familiar with S’mores! A s'more is a traditional campfire treat consisting of a roasted marshmallow and a slab of chocolate sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker. They were first mentioned in the Girl Scout Handbook in 1927, which stated they were inspired by Loretta Scott Crew's campfire treats. S'more appears to be a contraction of the phrase, "some more". Some people believe that the name originated from people who were so busy eating that they did not have time to speak in complete sentences, or that their mouths were very full.
How do to make one? A marshmallow is skewered on the end of a long stick and held just above the campfire until its outer surface starts to brown, char, or even catch fire (depending on how you like it!). Once hot, the inside of the marshmallow becomes soft. The marshmallow is quickly pinched off its stick with the waiting graham crackers, one of which has a piece of chocolate on it (usually a Hersey chocolate bar). Ideally, the heat from the roasted marshmallow partially melts the chocolate into a gooey mess. Making s'mores is so popular that supermarkets often carry graham crackers, marshmallows, and huge chocolate bars in the same shelf section during the summer months. Now get out there and celebrate!

SEE HOW BEAUTIFUL I AM: the return of Jacqueline Susann.

I was thinking about my very talented friend the wordsmith Paul Minx yesterday. His play is moving to NYC and I wish him well and hope his play is picked up for a very long run somewhere! Jeff and I had gone to see an excellent production of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion at the Old Vic and I also received an email from another friend Denise Higgins – Regan who is directing a play in NYC this summer (700 WIVES - THE MUSICAL). I have some very talented friends! Paul’s Play SEE HOW BEAUTIFUL I AM: the return of Jacqueline Susann will be opening at the Fringe NYC Festival on August 8th.

On July 14th, at the Bar Kick in Shoreditch Jeff and I attended the London one night only performance of SEE HOW BEAUTIFUL I AM: the return of Jacqueline Susann. The play made for a great evening out on a dreary Monday night! In this one-person comedy, Debora Weston portrayed the story of Jacqueline Susann, author of the VALLEY OF THE DOLLS in a hilarious, sad, and very engaging manner. I absolutely loved her! I had no idea that Jackie had a thing for Ethel Merman! Debora was fabulous darling! Afterwards, Jeff surprised me by saying he also read the Valley of the Dolls under the blankets with a flashlight back in the 60’s!

If you are in NYC try not to miss this one! To quote the author “For Jackie the sexual liberation was merely just another cocktail party!”

Pygmalion

Today, Jeff and I are off to see a production of Pygmalion at the Old Vic. Written by George Bernard Shaw written in 1913,the play is based on the Greek myth of Pygmalion. Many people know it better as the story of My Fair Lady. The play tells the story of Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics (based on phonetician Henry Sweet), who makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he can successfully pass off a Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, as a refined society lady by teaching her how to speak with an upper class accent and training her in etiquette.

As a side note, at the beginning of the movie, Professor Higgins when he first meets her in Convent Garden tells Eliza that she is from Lisson Grove. I always enjoy telling people that I live in the same neighborhood! I am always puzzled by the fact that Eliza is referred to as a cockney when Lisson Grove is no where near Bow Bells!
Cockney often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End and the language they speak. According to traditional definition, a "true" Cockney is someone born within earshot of the Bow Bells, i.e. the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow church in Cheapside in the City of London (which is not itself in the East End). Formerly it included Clerkenwell, Finsbury, Shoreditch, Hoxton, Stepney, Bethnal Green, Limehouse, Mile End, Wapping, Whitechapel, Shadwell, Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Surrey Quays and The Borough.

The first English production in opened at His Majesty's Theatre, London on April 11, 1914 and starred Mrs. Patrick Campbell as Eliza and Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Henry Higgins; it was directed by Shaw himself. I am looking forward to this production as today is the birthday of both Shaw and Kevin Spacey (the artistic director of the Old Vic).

GB Shaw was interesting man. A prolific writer, founding member of the Fabian society and London School of Economics he abhorred formal education and held an animosity toward schools and teachers, saying, "Schools and schoolmasters, as we have them today, are not popular as places of education and teachers, but rather prisons and turnkeys in which children are kept to prevent them disturbing and chaperoning their parents.”. I wonder what my kids would make of that quote?

Ebernoe Horn Fair

Quoted from Wikipedia: "Ebernoe Horn Fair is held in the small Sussex village of Ebernoe, the location of which is about five miles north of Petworth. The fair is held annually on Saint James's Day, 25th July. The tradition is centuries old though it appears to have been revived in 1864 after a long lapse. The celebration is held on the village common and the main attraction is a cricket match between Ebernoe and a nearby village. Towards the end of the day the highest scoring batsman is presented with a set of horns. These are taken from a sheep which has been roasted during the day. It is thought the presentation of horns is associated with the custom of dressing up with horns as a symbol of cuckoldry (a cuckold is an old English term for a man whose wife has had an adulterous affair. It relates to the cuckoo, a bird which lays its eggs in another bird's nest). Centuries ago horn fairs were boisterous events where cuckoldry and seduction would not be unknown. The old saying All's fair at Horn Fair probably originates from such events. In days gone by it seems that Ebernoe Fair was often beset by thunderstorms. However, the storms were taken as a good luck sign and farmers would look forward to a good harvest. The absence of a storm would suggest the crops would fail. Ebernoe Horn Fair was also the day on which gardeners were reminded to sow their spring cabbages. Martin West won the horns in the year 2007 with 78 runs."

Stourhead Pictures

Saturday, on our way to Bournemouth, Jeff and I visited the gardens at Stourhead. The place is a spectular National Trust property near Mere, Wiltshire.

We took a miss on the Palladian mansion and just did the grounds. The Stourton family had lived in the Stourhead estate for 700 years when they sold it to Henry Hoare I, son of wealthy banker Sir Richard Hoare in 1717. Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, gave the Stourhead house and gardens to the National Trust in 1946. His sole heir and son, Captain "Harry" Henry Colt Arthur Hoare, had died of wounds received in World War I

The gardens are home to a large collection of trees and shrubs from around the world. The gardens were designed by Henry Hoare II and laid out between 1741 and 1780 in a classical 18th-century design set around a large lake achieved by damming a small stream. (The place gets it name from the River Stour!) The inspiration behind their creation were the painters Claude Lorrain, Poussin and, in particular, Gaspar Dughet, who painted Utopian-type views of Italian landscapes. In the garden are a number of temples. On one hill overlooking the gardens there stands an obelisk and King Alfred's Tower (a 50-metre-tall, brick folly designed by Henry Flitcroft in 1772);


On another hill the temple of Apollo provides a vantage point to survey the lake and temples.

The Pantheon , the largest of the temples would be a great place to have a picnic. The Grotto was entertaining and was very popular in Italian Renaissance gardens and a cool place to escape the heat.

I loved the Palladian Bridge and the Bristol High Cross.