The
hamlet of Bethnal Green, adjoining Spitalfields and Shoreditch,
once belonged to Stepney parish until it was made a distinct
parish in its own right in the thirteenth year of the
reign of George II (1750). Bethnal Green lies on the ancient
Roman way from London. In the eighteenth century Bethnal
Green was considered a 'very pleasant spot'.
According
to a letter written by Mr Gretton in 1806, the proprietor
of Aldgate House (shown above), Aldgate House was a noble
mansion built in the year 1643. "It came into the
possession of Mr Mussell, with some fields adjacent thereto,
by purchase, under a decree in chancery, about the year
1760. The citizens of London having ordered the city gates
to be pulled down, this gentleman purchased the antique
and most valuable part of Aldgate, consisting of Roman,
Runic, Saxon, Danish, Norman and English bricks, stones,
bas relievo's, and sculptures, which he re-edified as
an adjacent to Aldgate House ..."
Gretton
went on to write a little about the village of Bethnal
Green itself: "A little beyond Aldgate House the
cruel Bishop Bonner is said to have had his country residence,
rendered infamous by the tortures in it upon the victims
who were so unhappy as to be the objects of his persecuting
power. A part of this building still remains on the north
side of the field called Bonner's Field ...
"In
a six-acre field, facing the great west wall of Aldgate
House gardens, but on the other side the high road to
Bow, is a fine spring of excellent water, dedicated so
early as about 1160 to St Winifred; till of late years
it was enclosed in a Gothic building, and from it were
placed pipes of copper, to convey the water underground
to the villages, monasteries, and other religious foundations
in its vicinity; but the Bow water being laid into Bethnal
Green, the spring was closed, the building pulled down,
and the land made good for pasturage over it."
