Ratcliff london england

Nice to see the photos of Ratcliff again, we spent a lot of time as kids roaming about there, and finding places where we could play.

More information on the books can be found on the ELHS web site. Philip Mernick. What is in the Thames in the last photo? Is that a person, sculpture, bird, or just a piece of wood from a dock? More fascinating history of the areas beside the river where many of my family of shipbuilders and mariners lived, I find it all so interesting so thank you again GA. The man got a knighthood for this rusty rubbish.

Those deed papers? But if it hurts so much, maybe do some research to understand the concept, the process of creation and the context. Thanks for a very interesting site. I have a very nice lantern clock made by Thomas Johnson at Ratcliffe Cross, Should it be of interest to any one with a connection to Ratcliffe, please let me know.

Would great to send it back home,. Well for me my story starts in Ratcliffe , my 4th great grandad came into the hamlet from Stourton wilts, he came from a family of Hemp growers rope makers and farmers, Edward Card married Susannah Galliers 22 Jul Stepney St Dunstan and All Saints, England, Edward at this time was a rope maker then a victualler for a while evidence was given on the birth of their children The family grew up and around there, their eldest son Edward became a slop-seller to sailors than a tailor would like to visit the area one day as my webbs were from Wapping too.

I also wish I had known this about 15 years ago when my husband then my boyfriend lived in Limehouse and I used to visit him there and had no idea I was walking the streets of my ancestors! Tom Thank you for your very interesting article. Please could I link your article on my instagram post? A wonderful article thank you.

I greatly enjoyed the article. You say the red gravel cannot now be detected. But if you look at the satellite view on GoogleMaps, you will see that the gravel beach where I think Ratcliffe stairs would have been is indeed red, whereas it is not so on adjacent strands up or down stream.

She was transported to Australia and eventually hooked up with an old Irish Defender and begot the lot from whence I came, so she is my 4xG-Grandmother. Of course, for my reputation, it would be good if it were. Metal detecting in Oxfordshire last year I found one of my favourite artefacts, a trade token. Many shopkeepers used these in the middle of the 17th century as there was a shortage of small change at the time.

The tokens bore the name of the business, and pubs in particular were amongst the main users. The one I found had the inscription Wheatsheaf and Svgarlofe Ratcliff. I recently got round to investigating the token and was very surprised to find that Ratcliff had been the name of a London hamlet, when I had rather lazily assumed it had some connection with the name Radcliffe in Oxford.

Has anyone any information on the pub, now long gone of course. And what a mystery as to how a token from a london pub came to be in the middle of a remote Oxfordshire field, to be found some years later. A nice article, puts colour into the historical background to the area. I have traced family history — paternal side to Ratclife a great great gradfather — surname Holcomb e lived there and the family were sail makers. Here at the "Brown Bear" may now be seen the rooms, once devoted to orgies, filled to their utmost capacity with canaries sending up songs to heaven purer far than those of the long-ago sixties.

Continuing along St. George's Street will be found Jamrach's menagerie, whence filter most of the rarities that find their way to the Zoological Gardens; and the place is no ordinary bird shop, but a museum of information in more ways than one. Here one large room will be found stuffed with bronzes and curios from all parts of the world, which every American visiting London, who fancies he is a critic, does not fail to inspect; for Mr.

Jamrach - like his father - is an authority, and a naturalist in the highest acceptation of the term. Lovers of animals will not regret a pilgrimage to "the Highway," a pilgrimage which, by the aid of the District Railway and broad, electric-lighted streets, is no longer attended with discomfort or danger. Its condition twenty-five years ago? Poor Jack in the hands of the Philistines? A modern Babel? The Thames Tunnel?? The Forty Thieves?? Paddys Goose?

I visit the neighbourhood? An opium den?? Amok Amok? Scene in the street? Its cause? Strange manner of taking an oath? Watney Street? Thames Police Court? An interesting case? A revengeful design frustrated by accident? A curious batch of summonses? Ratcliff Highway improved? Further improvement required. THE condition of Ratcliff Highway some five-and-twenty or thirty years ago was a terrible disgrace to London.

Matters have vastly improved since that time, though even now the thoroughfare is very far indeed from being a model one. Ratcliff Highway, running parallel with the river, extends from Little Tower Hill to Shadwell, and is in close proximity with the London, the Wapping, the Regent?

In those days the Highway was the scene of riots, debaucheries, robberies, and all conceivable deeds of darkness. Such, indeed, was the character of the place that it would have been madness for any respectable woman, or, for the matter of that, for any well-dressed man, to proceed thither alone.

The police themselves seldom ventured there save in twos and threes, and brutal assaults upon them were of frequent occurrence. The inhabitants of Ratcliff Highway lived upon the sailors. There were a great many lodging-houses there; still more clothiers and outfitters; and any number of public-houses and beershops, nearly every one of which had a dancing saloon at [] the back of the bar. Jack came ashore with his pockets full of money, but they quickly emptied.

He was ready enough to spend his pay, but there were other persons still more ready to despoil him of it. In those days there were no Government officials to board the vessels and arrange for the safe despatch of Jack? No sooner did a vessel reach her moorings than she was swarming with boarding-house touts, crimps, outfitters, runners, and other rapacious beasts of prey. Poor Jack was soon in the hands of the Philistines.

From the public-houses in Ratcliff Highway there constantly issued the sound of loud laughter, mingled with shouting and fearful imprecations. Far into the night the women and the drunken sailors danced and sang to the accompaniment of screeching fiddles. For the most part the women wore white dresses and white shoes. If the sailors were not entirely fleeced inside the saloons, the process was completed by bullies and fighting men when they staggered out into the street.

The poor fellows were frequently drugged, and sometimes half murdered. Sailors of every nationality were to be met in this thoroughfare, including a great many Portuguese, Spaniards, Italians, Greeks, Norwegians, and Scandinavians. The Highway was indeed a veritable modern Babel. Among the disreputable characters to be met there were men dressed as sailors who sold parrots and parrakeets, many of which could blaspheme almost as naturally as their owners.

The Thames Tunnel was open in its original form at the time of which I am writing. As my readers are aware, it is now used by a railway. Previously, besides a roadway, there was on one side a pavement set apart for the use of pedestrians.

The charge for admission was a penny for each person. One of the features of the place was a bazaar, where a variety of goods were exposed for sale. Several times during the year a regular fair was held in the tunnel, among its attractions being swings and donkey-riding. Those fairs certainly ranked among the curious sights of old London. The immediate neighbourhood of Ratcliff Highway was as bad as the thoroughfare itself.

These places were frequented by a band of robbers who openly called themselves? The Forty Thieves,? Sometimes these ruffians went the length of attacking and robbing pedestrians in Devonshire Street and Commercial Road.

One of the vilest houses in the Highway was the? This excellent institution has done much to purify the neighbourhood. My last visit to Ratcliff Highway, which was paid early in the seventies, very nearly resulted in serious consequences to myself. The adventure is worth describing, as it throws some light on the horrors of the district.

If any one in those days desired to visit Ratcliff Highway and its environments, it was usual, and indeed necessary, to get permission from the authorities at Scotland Yard for either a lodging-house inspector or a police officer to act as an escort. One day I and some friends, after dining at the? Ship and Turtle,? Going the round of the drinking and dancing houses, we witnessed some curious sights. The women, thieves, and other bad characters appeared to be on the best of terms with our companions, who were repeatedly offered drink, and once or twice invited to join in a dance.

Of my friends and myself no notice whatever was taken. During the evening we went to the Chinese quarter, where are to be found the opium dens, into one of which we penetrated. Ascending a ladder, we entered a loft where about a dozen men were sitting or reclining on wooden benches, smoking opium.

Our guides shook hands with the man who? His language, of course, none of us understood. Motioning us to seat ourselves in this most rudely constructed and uncomfortable of divans, he proceeded to offer each of us the calumet of peace.

The officers had told us what to do. We were to accept the pipes, take one or two whiffs, and then put them down again. That, we were assured, would suffice to satisfy the laws of hospitality.

Being extremely intelligent, he understood my meaning in a moment, and at once folded a little opium in paper and handed it to me. I proceeded very gingerly to smoke it, not without grave misgivings; but, I am happy to add, no unpleasant consequences resulted. The cigarette had a very soothing effect, but it neither drugged me nor made me ill. After tipping the courteous Chinaman we took our leave, and wended our way back to the Highway, where we proposed to wait a short time preparatory to visiting the?

Bridge of Sighs,? It must have been very nearly one in the morning. Now it was that the serious occurrence to which I have alluded took place. We had just emerged from a narrow passage, and had proceeded a few yards down the main thoroughfare, when out attention was suddenly arrested by the shrieking and shouting of a number of persons evidently running helter-skelter in our direction.

The next minute above the din we heard the cry? This way, gentlemen, and be quick, for God? When I looked around me I found we were in one of those East End shows which I have described in a former paper.

Having fastened the door, the two officers consulted together in an undertone. We heard the sound of fleeing footsteps outside, mingled with human screams, groans, and oaths. My friends and I stood stock still and listened.

The sounds gradually passed away in the distance. In a little while one of the officers opened the door and slipped out. The other remained behind, and in answer to our enquiries said he was afraid it was an ugly business, and that his comrade had gone out to see how the land lay, and to render any assistance in his power.

Pending the other? In a little while the other officer came back and said it would now be safe for us to quit the premises. On our emerging into the Street an extraordinary sight met our eyes. There were pools and trails of blood on the pavement and in the roadway; here and there was the prostrate form of a [] human being surrounded by men and women half distraught with grief and fear; a couple of four-wheeled cabs had just arrived crowded with policemen, and, in the distance, men carrying stretchers were to be seen rapidly approaching.

We soon learnt what had occurred. A number of China-men had been drinking with some women in a public-house, and just as the premises were about to close, a dispute had taken place. The foreigners alleged that they had been robbed; this was indignantly denied by the women; some Englishmen came forward and had their say in the matter, and, in the end, a serious disturbance took place.

Finding that the affair was becoming one of blows as well as words, the Chinamen ranged themselves in a body, drew their knives from their pockets, and, shouting? The knives of these people are peculiarly adapted for ripping flesh, and thus the wounds inflicted were for the most part of a very serious nature. A body of police arrived upon the scene, and the murderous ruffians were all arrested and removed to Leman Street.

It only remained to convey the wounded to the London Hospital, and this was done with commendable despatch. Subsequently I had the satisfaction of seeing the culprits tried and convicted. For the defence there were several Chinese witnesses, each of whom, on being sworn, went through the extraordinary process of taking up a plate and breaking it? As I have said, Ratcliff Highway has greatly improved in recent years.

The same cannot, however, be said of its immediate neighbourhood. Certain streets in Shadwell could never have been in a worse condition than they are at present. While acting as one of the magistrates of the Worship Street district it was a part of my duty to sit on certain days at the Thames Police Court. I found that the most convenient way to reach it from the West End was to go by the underground railway from Baker Street to Shadwell and proceed thence on foot.

The distance from the railway station to the Court is an inconsiderable one but the best route is through Watney Street, which is the most disgraceful thoroughfare I was ever doomed to traverse. Ordnance Survey map of Middlesex provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time showing the parishes remaining in Middlesex after the reorganization of when much of the former area of Middlesex had been transferred into London. Ordnance Survey map of Surrey provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time showing Surrey parishes chiefly Southwark just after the reorganization of when the most urban parts of Surrey were transferred into London.

Ordnance Survey map of Kent provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time showing Kent parishes just after the reorganization of when the western part of Kent had been transferred into London. There are linked supporting lists of the parishes which made up each registration district, the dates of formation and abolition of the districts, the General Register Office numbers, and the local archive-holding place.

If the only information about an individual has been obtained from UKBMD, the name of the registration district is considered a "placename" within WeRelate and can be used to provide a broad estimate of the location. Transcripts for Abney Park are free with registration online at www. That leaves West Norwood without comprehensive online access to burial records. Deceased Online and Ancestry may have increased their provision since this was written in The City of London Cemetery , at Manor Park, near Wanstead in the London Borough of Redbridge also contains remains transferred from former parishes in the City of London whose graveyards have been replaced by streets and commercial buildings.

Brookwood Cemetery , beyond the Greater London borders in Surrey, was opened in for burials for Londoners. See the Wikpedia article. However, it is often worth googling the title given on the page just in case the contributor has reorganized their website and GENUKI has not picked it up.

An e-book available online through Google, originally published by Pan Macmillan. There is a search box in the left-hand pane. London Lives. A very useful free website for anyone researching their London ancestors between the years This is a fully searchable edition of , manuscripts from eight archives and fifteen datasets, giving access to 3.

The proceedings of the Old Bailey , London's central criminal court, A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing , criminal trials held at London's central criminal court. This website is free to use. This page uses content from the English Wikipedia.