Plaque

St Peter's Close

Inscription

St Peter's Close
This block was built in 1976 by the Greater London Council and was named after the nearby St Peter's Church which was built in 1841.
THCH Tower Hamlets Community Housing THCH

Site: St Peter's Close (1 memorial)

E2, St Peter's Close

The church, St Peter's, is out of shot, over to the left.

From Wikipedia's St Peter's Bethnal Green page: "Built as a commissioners' church in 1840-1, its architect was Lewis Vulliamy. The Vicarage is adjacent, as is a church school, now an organ works. All three buildings are Grade II listed. As built, its general configuration was that of a typical late Georgian preaching box – broad nave with galleries, west tower and shallow chancel. It was built of stock brick with knapped flint panels and stucco and terracotta trim. The style is very free neo-Norman. St Peter’s is now one of only five functioning churches to survive from Bishop Blomfield’s original 1840s Bethnal Green churches, and is the only one that remains fully intact. The others were either destroyed in the Blitz or by fire or have now been converted into flats."

We have found 7 plaques in this style on nearby apartment blocks, most built in 1976. Four of the blocks are named after fish: Grayling Square, Lampern Square, Mullet Gardens and Zander Court. The other nearby same-style plaques are at Nelson Gardens and Cobden House.

We were thinking that fish is a strange theme, and was probably not chosen by the residents, when we found a booklet displayed by Walk East, "Terraces, Tenements and Tower Blocks - a self-guided walk around the housing heritage of Bethnal Green". This contains: "To the south {of St Peter's} there's the Avebury East Estate. Old maps reveal there was a fishpond here, which explains why the blocks have fishy names such as elver, grayling and mullet. In the middle, the Zander Court community centre gardens flourish."

We checked John Roque's 1746 map and that shows no ponds where these flats are built, but old maps can vary on features like these.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
St Peter's Close

Subjects commemorated i

Greater London Council

Replaced the LCC. The GLC was abolished, some say, because Mrs Thatcher could...

Read More

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
St Peter's Close

Created by i

Tower Hamlets Community Housing Ltd

THCH is a charitable housing provider managing over 3,000 homes exclusively i...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Hand Cross - Croydon

Hand Cross - Croydon

CR9, Church Street, 120, House of Reeves

The Croydon Guardian tells about this building being home to the 144-year old family furniture business House of Reeves. Both these plaqu...

4 subjects commemorated, 2 creators
Isambard Kingdom Brunel - Thames Tunnel flooding

Isambard Kingdom Brunel - Thames Tunnel flooding

SE18, Rotherhithe Street

We have visited this area many times, but only recently noticed this well-hidden little plaque.

4 subjects commemorated
Charlie Chaplin - Kennington Road

Charlie Chaplin - Kennington Road

SE11, Kennington Road, 287

Charlie Chaplin, 1889 - 1978, lived here. Vauxhall Society

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
First K2 telephone boxes

First K2 telephone boxes

W1, Piccadilly, Royal Academy entrance archway

The two boxes carry identical plaques.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Percy Shelley - SE1 - Southwark

Percy Shelley - SE1 - Southwark

SE1, Nelson Square, 26, Applegarth House

British History Online gives: "Percy Bysshe Shelley {} took lodgings at No. 26 as a tenant of Thomas Lillo on 9th November, 1814. Shelley...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator

Previously viewed

Johan Zoffany

Johan Zoffany

Artist. Born Johannes Josephus Zaufallij in Frankfurt. He came to England in 1760, and by 1764 he had the patronage of King George III and Queen Charlotte,  He was a founding member of the Royal Ac...

Person, Art, Germany

1 memorial