Cable Street is a mile-long road in the East End of London, with several historic landmarks nearby, made famous by "the Battle of Cable Street" of 1936.
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Cable Street runs between the edge of The City and Limehouse: parallel to, and south of, the Docklands Light Railway and Commercial Road, and north of The Highway.
The area is close to Wapping and Shadwell Basin (to the south), Tower Hill (to the west), and Whitechapel and Stepney (to the north). Since many Londoners now define their locality by the nearest tube stations, this area is often referred to as Shadwell.
Cable Street is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in postal district E1. It lies within the parliamentary constituencies of Bethnal Green and Bow and Poplar and Canning Town, currently represented by Rushanara Ali and Jim Fitzpatrick, both of the Labour party.
Cable Street started as a straight path along which hemp ropes were twisted into ships cables (i.e. ropes). These supplied the many ships that would anchor in the nearby Pool of London, between London Bridge and Wapping & Rotherhithe. Many other "rope walks" can be seen on later maps, showing how demand for ropes grew as shipping increased.
Until Victorian times, the current Cable Street had different names for each of its sections. From west to east these ran: "Cable Street", "Knock Fergus", "New Road", "Back Lane", "Blue Gate Fields", "Sun Tavern Fields", "Brook Street".
Knock Fergus may be a reference to the large numbers of Irish residents there then, but the name is old -- it is found in the St Dunstan Stepney registers in the early 1600s. Also, in the 19th century, the area at the western end was identified as "near Wellclose Square", as this was a well-known landmark, where nautical items were sold. The whole of the central area of the current street was named after St George in the East church and St George in the East parish.
From Victorian times through to the 1950s, Cable Street had a reputation for cheap lodgings, brothels, drinking inns and opium dens.
The last occasion in England when a stake was hammered through a sinner’s heart at an official burial, took place at the junction of Cable Street and Cannon Street Road. John Williams was found hanged in his cell, after being arrested as a suspect in the Ratcliff Highway murders. Local people went along with the claim that he had committed suicide, from guilt of the crimes. At the time, 1812, suicide was considered to be sinful, and justified him being buried upside down with a stake through his heart. His skull was found when new gas mains were being laid in the 1960s, and was on display for many years in The Crown and Dolphin pub opposite.
In 1936, a violent confrontation between the police and local communities, was later named the Battle of Cable Street. Communist, Anarchist, Labour and Jewish groups joined with locals to resist a planned march through the East End by the British Union of Fascists. A large mural on St George's Town Hall next to Library Place, depicts scenes from the day. A red plaque in Dock Street commemorates the incident.
(west to east)
Motor traffic is restricted to travel one-way along the whole street, though the direction varies. It is mostly west-bound, but it is east-bound east of Brodlove Lane (itself one-way north-bound). It lies outside of the London congestion charge zone.
London Cycle SuperHighway 3 runs the length of cable street in the form of a two-way segregated cycle track, continuing west into Royal Mint Street; its western terminus. This is well used by cyclists, especially those commuting to both the City and Docklands.
Buses 100 and D3 both pass west-bound through the central part of Cable Street:
The district falls within Transport for London's Travelcard Zone 2. The nearest London Underground station is Tower Hill. Opening in 2010, the nearest London Overground stations are Shadwell and Wapping on the East London line.
The nearest Docklands Light Railway stations are Shadwell and Limehouse
National Rail stations: