Field trip to Spitalfields and Brick Lane – remember to open your eyes!

March 10, 2017

• Advice for Parents
• / Topical

Kings Tutors‘ tutees had a wonderful field trip to Spitalfields and Brick Lane yesterday!

Throughout the trip, we would keep asking ourselves the following questions:

What can we see?
What can we smell?
What do we feel?
What’s the weather like?
Why was this built here?
Why are these buildings, which are so close to each other, so different?
It’s easy to travel around somewhere without really opening your eyes, looking around and questioning. Spitalfields and Brick Lane is such a diverse area of London when it comes to two parallel streets being so very different when it comes to the communities who live there; all due to historical events and the architecture too. We went to the following places:

1. Exchange Square:
We started our trip off in Exchange Square which is located on the original site of Broad Street station and beside and above the railway approaches into Liverpool Street station.
We discussed the modern and pedestrianised development of the square and how lovely it is to have a clean and pretty place for workers to meet on their lunch break in the middle of the grey, busy and overpopulated city . We also discussed the microclimate in the square and how it appears warmer and sunnier than outside the square on the main roads surrounding it. Lastly, we commented on the dramatic juxtaposition of London sky rises with the piazza’s perfect lawn and pieces of art.

2. Spitalfields Market:
As an international city, London is celebrated for its diversity in population. The East End has always been recognised for the wealth of cultures represented. Spitalfields served as a microcosm of this multilingual society, the fusion of east and west. By the middle of the 20th century, the Jewish community had mostly moved on. Since the 1970s, a thriving Bangladeshi community has flourished in the area.
London provides a great opportunity to discover the world around us. Spitalfields market has stall holders selling food from all over the world. We tried food and interviewed the stall holder to develop our world knowledge and learn more about other cultures.

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. Its aim was to supply soup, bread and meat twice a week, during the winter, to poor members of the Jewish community. It was originally set up to help Jews who were arriving in London with no money and no employment. We discussed the long journeys that the Jewish community had endured to get to London.

4. Albert Cottages:
Albert Cottages are a couple of rows of Victorian cottages still standing on the edge of the East End. Surrounded by modern estates, the Victorian cottages are a stark contrast to the rest of the neighbourhood. The cottages share a courtyard which the front doors open out onto and are accessed by a traditional archway leading out onto the street. This was a great opportunity to highlight to the class the difference between the buildings: modern and old. What the features of the buildings are and what the surrounding neighbourhood is like using our senses.

5. Brick Lane
Brick Lane is one of the most popular streets to visit in the West End today. Like much of the East End, this area was a haven for immigrants moving into London to escape persecution abroad or looking for a better life. During the 19th and 20th centuries, it was best known for its Irish and Jewish population. The community living in and around Brick Lane today is predominantly Bangladeshi.
We interviewed the stall & shop owners of Brick Lane, learnt more about their families and background to develop our knowledge about cultures and cuisine. We tried the different foods and listened to the traditional music.

We had a really happy, not to mention very interesting, day wandering around Spitalfields and Brick Lane! Contact us to find out more.