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REPORT.
Gentlemen,
In accordance with your instructions I beg to lay before
you a History of the Hamlet of Mile End Old Town for the past
26 years, that is, from the date at which the Vestry came into
existence to the present time. At that time I was but 12 years of
age, and my principal recollection of the streets of the Hamlet is,
that they were in a fearfully neglected condition, and that in going
to school in Canal Road, in winter time, it was necessary to keep
very close to the wall as the footpath and road were virtually one,
and that it was no uncommon thing to get one's boots filled when
crossing the road. Bancroft Place was another road, although of
large traffic, where there was practically no division between the
road and footpath, and I well remember seeing written on the wall
or Mr. Ludbrook's house, "Indict the parish for this scandalous
road."
The two main roads were managed by Turnpike Trustees,
who maintained no less than eight tool houses and side bars in
the district, and the expense and annoyance to any equestrian
who only wanted to cross the road for a length exceeding 100 yards
was very great. The Trustees used the side of the road to dry the
slop, upon little dams being formed with some of the dry material,
and the centre filled with slop ; the roads were badly lighted, and
persons frequently slipped or fell into them.
Bow Common was a perfect sea of mud, and an easterly wind
always brought unsavoury odours which were known in my home
as Bow Common smells.
Even the main roads had but little paving on the footpaths,
and the by-streets were fearfully neglected in this respect.
Bow Common, Globe Fields, Ben Jonson Fields, the Clare
Hall Estate, Stepney Green, Canal Road, South Grove Estate,
the whole of the district lying north of the Great Eastern Railway
in the East Ward were not built upon; the courts and alleys all
over the district were unpaved, and undrained, except into cesspools;
long cavalcades of night vans came out of Essex every
night, and the business of a Nightman was considered a lucrative