Situated within the ward is one of the oldest and most beautiful synagogues in England. Bevis Marks was built in 1701 by the Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal. The great Cathedral Synagogue of Anglo-Jewry, built by the Ashkenazi community in the 18th century, the Dukes Place Synagogue was also close by. Other famous institutions of Jewish community were also in this ward such as the Jewish Chronicle. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest Jewish weekly English language journal in the world. St. Botolph’s, the 18th century church, has had close links with the Jewish community. The bells were donated in 1961 by the then Lord Mayor, Sir Robert Waley-Cohen. Outside the church is a drinking fountain erected on the church railings to honour the memory of Frederick Mocatta, the 19th century Jewish philanthropist who helped Jews and non-Jews alike. Walk eastwards along Aldgate High Street into the subway and emerge at the Middlesex Street exit. Middlesex Street is better known by its former name Petticoat Lane, the name of the famous market which still exists, but which used to be almost entirely Jewish. As now, it used to sell almost every product imaginable including clothing and food and the traders were known for their colourful banter. Walk up Middlesex Street and turn right into Cobb Street walking towards Bell Lane. At Leyden Street look right and you will see dilapidated public toilets where the Jewish traders used to meet to put the world to rights. The toilets were known as the (2) Parliament of Petticoat Lane. When you get to Bell Lane turn left then go on until you reach Brune Street where you turn right. Walk a few yards until you see an attractive building on your left with a terracotta façade, the former (3) Jewish soup kitchen for the Poor. Designed by the well-known Jewish architect Lewis Solomon in 1902, it was one of the many soup kitchens founded by wealthy West End Jews to alleviate poverty among the poor Jews in the area. It is now an expensive apartment block. Retrace your footsteps to Bell Lane and look up to your right at a rather modern office block (39 Bell Lane), the site of the greatest Jewish educational establishment in the East End. (4) The Jews Free School was founded in the 19th century. At one stage it was regarded as the largest school in the world and its former pupils include Bud Flanagan, the diamond millionaire, Barney Barnato and Joe Loss the great bandleader. It was bombed in the Second World War when it closed and moved to Camden. Walk north up Bell Lane and take the first left into Stewards Lane and continue along Artillery Passage. Turn right up Sandy’s Row and stop outside the synagogue, which is on the right hand side. (5) The Sandy’s Row Synagogue is one of the four synagogues still active in the East End (There used to be 150.) This former Huguenot chapel was converted into a synagogue in 1870 for the Jews of Dutch descent. The Dutch Jews controlled the cigar and diamond cutting industries in London at that time. Walk up Sandy’s Row, cross over to Fort Street, heading north along the paved footpath past Spitalfields Market, with a glass office block on your left. Spitalfields used to employ a large number of Jewish workers. Go up to Folgate Street and turn right and then left into Elder Street. At (6) Number 32 Elder Street you will see a blue plaque to Mark Gertler, arguably the most famous artist to have emerged from the ghetto. If you look at the coal hole cover on the pavement beneath the blue plaque, you will see a representation from his most famous painting “The Merry Go Round”, a powerful indictment of war. He committed suicide in 1939. Retrace your steps to Folgate Street and turn left towards Commercial Street. Turn right onto Commercial Street and then left into Hanbury Street. On your right at (7) Number 12 Hanbury Street is a blue plaque to Bud Flanagan (born Reuben Weintrop), a member of the Crazy Gang, whose most famous song was “Underneath the Arches”. Go along Hanbury Street and then turn right at Wilkes Street and then left into Princelet Street. At (8) Number 6 Princelet Street you will see a coal hole cover with a viola on it, marking the spot of the first purpose-built Yiddish theatre in London – The Hebrew Dramatic Club. It was founded in 1887 by David Smith, a kosher butcher, but in 1888, 17 people died when someone wrongly shouted, “fire” and the audience stampeded for the exit. It closed shortly afterwards. At 19 Princelet Street you will see the former (9) Princelet Street Synagogue, which closed down in the 1970s. The front of the building is a former Huguenot house built in 1722, but at the rear is a synagogue, built in 1862. The building has become world famous as the setting of the book, Rodinsky’s Room, by Rachel Lichtenstein and Iain Sinclair. Go towards Brick Lane and then turn right. As you walk down this busy thoroughfare look to your left at the last Jewish business in Brick Lane, (10) Katz, which used to sell nothing but string. On your right on the corner of Brick Lane and Fournier Street you will see the (11) Brick Lane Mosque. This building is symbolic of the various immigrant groups who have settled in the area. It was built in the 18th century by the Huguenots and occupied for a while by the Methodists. It became a synagogue in the 19th century and closed in the 1950s to become a mosque. Almost over the road in Brick Lane is the site of the former steam baths, the Schewik, that was much used by the Jewish community. The interior is the subject of a famous painting by David Bomberg called the “Mud Bath”. Bomberg was another great painter to have emerged from the ghetto. Go south down Brick Lane and turn right into (12) Fashion Street. Israel Zangwill mentions the street in the opening of the book “Children of the Ghetto”. The famous playwright Arnold Wesker also lived in the street and his semi-autobiographical play “Chicken Soup with Barley” is set there. Walk to end of Fashion Street and notice how a once shabby street is being gentrified. At Commercial Street turn left and walk on a while. Over the road at (13) Number 44-45 Commercial Street is a building, which was the Jewish and East End Model Lodgings, which used to house 30 families. (14) Number 43a Commercial Street is the building, which used to house the Jews Free School’s infant section attended by Arnold Wesker. Go down Commercial Street until you come to (15) Toynbee Hall on your left. This institution was founded in 1883 by local vicar Canon Samuel Barnett and his formidable wife Dame Henrietta Barnett. They encouraged Oxbridge graduates to settle in the area and work with the poor at Toynbee Hall. Toynbee Hall was a great centre for the Jewish population where they obtained legal advice and English lessons. The facility is now available for Bangladeshis living in the area. Go north through the complex and emerge at Wentworth Street where you turn right. Immediately on your left you will see the (16) Rothschild Archway with the words ‘4% Dwellings Company’ written on it. This arch is all that remains of the Rothschild Building built to alleviate the housing shortage among poor Jews. The Rothschild family formed the company and wealthy Jewish investors were guaranteed a 4% return on their money, hence the name. Walk along Wentworth Street and turn right into Gunthorpe Street and along to Whitechapel High Street. As you go under the arch look left above the shop (17) Albert’s and you will see an emblem containing the Star of David. This is the emblem of the now defunct Jewish Daily News. The emblem is by Arthur Szyk in the Arts and Crafts Style. Proceed eastwards along Whitechapel High Street to view the last two buildings on our walk. (18) The Whitechapel Art Gallery and Whitechapel Library. Both were founded at the behest of Canon Barnett and his wife Henrietta Barnett, who felt it was important that Jewish immigrants should also have access to cultural centres. The gallery designed by Charles Harrison Townsend in the Arts and Crafts Style held exhibitions by Jewish artists from the East End such as Bomberg, Gertler and Kramer. The blank space above the entrance was supposed to contain a mural “The Sphere of Message and Art” by the Victorian artist Walter Crane, but the finances were not forthcoming. The library was used by the Jewish community to escape the poverty and overcrowding of their tenements and became known as the “University of the Ghetto”. Among the famous persons who used the library on a regular basis were the poet and artist Isaac Rosenberg (his blue plaque is on the building), the writer Jacob Bronowski and the playwrights Arnold Wesker and Bernard Kops. The building designed by Potts Sons and Hemmings in the Arts and Crafts style, is to close as a library and has been sold to the Art Gallery.