Bromley-by-Bow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bromley | |
  |
|
| Location | |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference: | TQ375825 |
| Latitude: | 51.52460986872134° |
| Longitude: | -0.01702866797099345° |
| Administration | |
| London borough: | Tower Hamlets |
| County level: | Greater London |
| Region: | London |
| Constituent country: | England |
| Sovereign state: | United Kingdom |
| Other | |
| Ceremonial county: | Greater London |
| Historic county: | Middlesex |
| Services | |
| Police force: | Metropolitan Police |
| Fire brigade: | London Fire Brigade |
| Ambulance service: | London Ambulance |
| Post office and telephone | |
| Post town: | LONDON |
| Postal district: | E3 |
| Dialling code: | 020 |
| Politics | |
| UK Parliament: | |
| London Assembly: | City and East |
| European Parliament: | London |
| London | List of places in London | |
Bromley-by-Bow, historically and officially Bromley, is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is an inner-city district situated 4.8 miles (7.8 km) east north-east of Charing Cross.
The area is bisected north to south by the Blackwall Tunnel Approach Road (A12) and the boundary of the area to the east is the River Lee. Kingsley Hall is in Bromley-by-Bow, near the Bromley by Bow Centre.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] History of name
From 1899 to 1965 the area was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar and located in the east of the borough. The area had been known as Bromley and formed part of the parish of Bromley St Leonard for hundreds of years. Soon after the creation of Greater London the London Underground station at Bromley was renamed to Bromley-by-Bow to distinguish it from the stations at Bromley in the London Borough of Bromley some 8 miles (12.9 km) south of there. Over time the station's name has been applied to the area, so much so that today it is nearly always known as Bromley-by-Bow in full. Bow itself was originally known as Stratforde, becoming Stratford-at-Bow when a medieval bridge was built, in the shape of a bow.
[edit] Religion
Bromley was also known as Bromley-St Leonards, after St Leonard's Priory, a Benedictine nunnery founded in the time of William the conqueror. This priory achieved notoriety in the prologue to the Prioress' tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
- Ther was also a nonne, a prioresse,
- That of hir smylyng was ful symple and coy;
- Hire gretteste ooth was but by seinte loy;
- And she was cleped madame eglentyne.
- Ful weel she soong the service dyvyne,
- Entuned in hir nose ful semely,
- And frenssh she spak ful faire and fetisly,
- After the scole of stratford atte bowe,
- For frenssh of parys was to hire unknowe[1].
This was a barbed reference, as it implied the Prioress had learned French, from the Benedictine nuns, in a distinct Anglo-Norman dialect[2], that by this time had lost prestige, and was being ridiculed as sub-standard French.
The Abbey was destroyed at the time of the Dissolution, but the church retained to be the parish church of St Leonards. This in turn was destroyed by bombing in World War II, and obliterated by the building of the Blackwall Tunnel approach road, dividing the main residential body of the parish from the river front. All that remains of the grounds of the Abbey is a small churchyard.
[edit] Kingsley Hall
Kingsley Hall is famous both for the visits of Mahatma Gandhi to the East End in 1931, and also for the therapeutic clinic run by the alternative psychologist, R. D. Laing from 1965. It remains as an active community centre.
[edit] The Bromley-by-Bow Centre
The Bromley by Bow Centre is a radical approach to integrate health care, with nursery care, training opportunities and a community centre. It has been cited as a model for the future development of community services and healthcare.
