Thursday, 12 November, 2020
I haven’t been to Old Street or Moorfields since lockdown, and probably for quite a while before that. I’ve had plans to get on a bus and walk around to see what street art has popped up. Somehow, I’d not made it there. This trip wasn’t going to achieve that either. It was dark, cool and windy, and the object of the journey was to keep Krish company on his latest visit to Moorfields Eye Hospital. He’s been a patient since July 2019 when his sight started to be strange after an episode of shingles during June of last year. Let’s skip over that story for now!
His appointment wasn’t going to last long, we thought (it lasted a few hours) and Krish had noticed that a huge Stik mural had been revealed during some construction. I wanted to see that. So the plan was that I’d wander around a bit and meet him after he’d seen the doctor. We took the 55 bus which goes along Mare Street, down Hackney Road, and across Old Street – a twenty minute or so journey.
An Instagram user told me a bit about this wall art —
That this ‘Shoreditch Past Present Future’ mural will be obscured by the Art ‘Otel is beyond irony…..they made a huge deal about how they preserved the Banksy when the old Foundry building was demolished but there were many other significant pieces of art in there that the developers had no interest in…..
It was hidden by a giant advertisement hoarding but occasionally came back on view for a few days/week as the ads changed. The new hotel is circular but there is a second building going up adjacent to the mural – not a high rise but we should all make the most of the current full view of this art.
So I’m glad I went to photograph it. I went there first in case I ran out of time. The light was already fading on a fairly dull day. I considered trying my original plan to go down Rivington Street and perhaps Great Eastern or even to Curtain Road to see some ancestor stuff John had told me about. However, the dark was encroaching and I thought instead I should meander over towards the hospital and see what I could see over there.
I headed down Leonard Street to Tabernacle Street, named for Whitefield’s Tabernacle a former church at the corner. The first church on the site was a wooden building erected by followers of the evangelical preacher George Whitefield in 1741. This was replaced by a brick building in 1753, and rebuilt in stone over a century later in 1868.John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, preached a sermon “On the death of the Rev Mr George Whitefield” here.
A surprise around every corner in London – often several!
I was feeling a bit hungry and, as the sun went down, I was feeling the chill. I walked up City Road towards the hospital – through the large roundabout I’ve always thought was so ugly. On the corner of City Road and Old Street is a massive red stone building that I’ve not usually paid close attention to. Today I would.The building is called Leysian Mission, also known as Imperial Hall. It’s dated 1903 and is Grade II listed. The Mission was started in 1886 by former pupils of the Leys School (intended to be “the Methodist Eton”) in Cambridge who were concerned about the social and housing conditions in the East End of London.It began in nearby Whitecross Street but in 1902 the Mission moved into grand purpose-built premises in Old Street (just round the corner from Wesley’s Chapel). It had vibrant evangelical and social ministries and encouraged Leys’ alumni to give time to programmes that reached out to the poor. It touched the lives of thousands of people. In the early days, there was a Medical Mission, a “poor man’s lawyer”, a relief committee, feeding programmes, meetings for men and women, and a range of services and musical activities.” Today it’s an imposing terracotta building that dominates the area as you leave Old Street tube station. I didn’t take a larger photo of the building because of construction and darkness but you can see just how dominant it is here.
It’s so easy to take these buildings for granted but, once you dig into the history, it’s almost a sinkhole of information so I’ll leave it there. I will say, however, that there is a lot of Methodist history in this area with John Wesley House very close by.
Otherwise, I still feel it’s a very ugly roundabout!
City Road is immortalised in a lot of books and the ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ song. Today I wasn’t going very far. Moorfields Hospital Building and the surrounding streets are fascinating but I am always drawn to the modern M Hotel.
Moorfields Eye Hospital, yes – a hospital dedicated to just eye care – is another massive City Road building. I was wondering about Moorfields and Moorgate (they aren’t far apart) and it seems Moor means a marshy land. The whole area from here down to Moorgate, which was the northerly gate of London, was a giant marshy woodland.
Moorfields Eye Hospital is the oldest and largest centre for ophthalmic treatment, teaching and research in Europe – not the world, it seems – but not sure where that would be. Founded in 1805 it moved here in 1822 and will be moving again near to St Pancras Station when its new buildings are ready.
There’s a lot to see around Old Street. It would take several blogs and photos to cover it all. For now, this is it. There are three more appointments over the next few weeks so, if the weather holds, I can go back while Krish is being seen, I’ll look for a little bit more – and a little bit is probably enough to fill quite a bit of space here.
I have skipped over Halloween because it’s almost a non-event in this neighbourhood. I miss seeing the kids out and the wonderful displays from Canada but we celebrate in our own way. This year, I can end this blog as I started – with something from Stik. It’s my pumpkin, carved in tribute to his new sculpture in Hoxton Square (one idea for visiting during an Old Street trip). A pumpkin I was sad to throw away.