is a

street market A street market or open-air market, with alternative names such as: market square and sometimes charity market, in cases where the sale is made for charity reasons, is a market that is set up on certain days of the week, generally on the street i ...

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

in London, England. Columbia Road is a road of

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

shops situated off Hackney Road in the

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, borough in London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and ...

. The market is open on Sundays only.

History

Columbia Market was built upon an area known as ''Nova Scotia Gardens''. This had been a brick field, north-east of

St Leonard's, Shoreditch St Leonard's, Shoreditch, is the old parish church of Shoreditch, often known simply as Shoreditch Church. It is located at the intersection of Shoreditch High Street with Hackney Road, within the London Borough of Hackney in East London. The c ...

; the brick clay had been exhausted and the area begun to be filled in with waste (''leystall''). Cottages (probably evolving from sheds, serving the gardens), came to be built here, but were undesirable as they remained below ground level, and so were prone to flooding. ;London Burkers In July 1830, John Bishop and Thomas Williams rented no. 3 Nova Scotia Garden, from a Sarah Trueby. Together with Michael Shields, a Covent Garden porter, and James May, also known as ''Jack Stirabout'' and ''Black Eyed Jack'', they formed a notorious gang of Resurrection men, stealing freshly buried bodies for sale to anatomists. On 7 November 1831 the suspiciously fresh corpse of a 14-year-old boy was delivered, by these men, to the King's College School of Anatomy, in the

Strand Strand or The Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * ...

. Joseph Sadler Thomas, a superintendent of police, searched the cottages at Nova Scotia Gardens, and found items of clothing in a well in one of the gardens, and also in one of the privies, suggesting multiple murders. The ''Resurrection men'' were arrested, and by an extraordinary arrangement, the police opened the premises for viewing, charging 5

shillings The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence ...

. The public carried away the dwelling, piece by piece, as souvenirs. Bishop and Williams were hanged at

Newgate Newgate was one of the historic seven gates of the London Wall around the City of London and one of the six which date back to Roman times. Newgate lay on the west side of the wall and the road issuing from it headed over the River Fleet to Mid ...

on 5 December 1831 for the murder. The police had tentatively identified the body as that of Carlo Ferrari, an Italian boy, from Piedmont, but at their trial Bishop and Williams admitted it to be that of a Lincolnshire cattle drover, on his way to Smithfield. Flowers for sale at the Columbia Road market 1

Flowers for sale at the Columbia Road market 1

By 1840, the area had degenerated into a notorious

slum A slum is a highly populated Urban area, urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are p ...

. It is for this reason that the philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts purchased the land, and established Columbia Market. ;Origins of Columbia Market Angela Burdett-Coutts established Columbia Market in 1869 as a covered food market with 400 stalls. Her secretary and future husband

William Burdett-Coutts William Lehman Ashmead Bartlett Burdett-Coutts (20 January 1851 – 28 July 1921), born William Lehman Ashmead-Bartlett, was an American-born Conservative Party (UK), British Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons of the Unite ...

came to own the market, and built up a considerable fishing fleet in the North Sea.Debrett's Guide to the House of Commons 1886, p. 34
/ref> He was involved in a planned railway line for the delivery of the fish to the market; but competition from

Billingsgate Fish Market Billingsgate Fish Market is the United Kingdom's largest inland fish market. It takes its name from Billingsgate, a ward in the south-east corner of the City of London, where the riverside market was originally established. In its original locati ...

meant that it was never built, and traders preferred selling outdoors. The market closed in 1886, after use as warehouses and small workshops. Prompted by

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

, Angela Burdett-Coutts also built the separate U-shaped Columbia Dwellings, of several storeys, with a three-storey Gothic arch built into the brickwork of the central section. The building was demolished in 1958, although the remains of railings can be seen in front of the Nursery School. Sivill House and the Dorset Estate replaced the Coutts buildings.

Recent history

The Columbia Road flower market began as a Saturday trading market. It was moved to Sunday, by act of Parliament, in order to accommodate the needs of local

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

traders. This also provided the opportunity for

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

and

Spitalfields Spitalfields () is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in East London and situated in the East End of London, East End. Spitalfields is formed around Commercial Street, London, Commercial Stre ...

traders to sell their stock left over from Saturday. The enduring interest and demand for

cut flowers Cut flowers are flowers and flower buds (often with some Plant stem, stem and leaf) that have been cut from the plant bearing it. It is removed from the plant for decorative use. Cut greens are leaves with or without stems added to the cut flow ...

and plants were introduced to the East End by

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

immigrants (driven from France after 1685 by the

revocation of the Edict of Nantes The Edict of Fontainebleau (18 October 1685, published 22 October 1685) was an edict issued by French King Louis XIV and is also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted Huguenots the right to pra ...

), together with a fascination for caged songbirds – the pub at the end of the market is called The Birdcage. The market suffered in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

from rules prioritising

food production The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the World population, world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from sm ...

, and went into a long decline. A large civilian shelter beneath the market suffered a direct hit by a 50 kg bomb on the night of Saturday, 7 September 1940, at the height of

The Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...

. From the 1960s, new rules forced traders to attend regularly, and the market enjoyed a new resurgence with the increasing popularity of gardening programmes. ; Modern market Columbia Road on a weekday morning 1

The market is in operation every Sunday from 8 am to 2 pm. Traders arrive from 4 am to set up their stalls. A wide range of plants, bedding plants, shrubs, bulbs and freshly cut flowers is available at competitive prices. Many of the traders are the second or third generation of their family to sell at the market. The market also has shops selling bread and cheeses, antiques, garden accessories, unusual international edibles, soap, candlesticks and Buddhist artefacts. Much of Columbia Road is part of the Jesus Green Hospital Estate. The market is popular not only with plant and flower buyers but also with photographers and television companies, who frequently film there.

Transport

The nearest stations are

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. It was Historic counties of England, historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. Hoxton lies north-east of the City of London, is considered to be a part of London's East End ...

and

Shoreditch High Street Shoreditch High Street is the old main street of Shoreditch, London. It is part of the A10 road and connects Norton Folgate to the south with Kingsland Road to the north. It constitutes a segment of the Roman Ermine Street, which ran direct ...

(

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, it now serves a large part of Greate ...

(

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

Central line) and

and Cambridge Heath mainline stations are also within walking distance. Bus routes 26, 48 and 55 serve Hackney Road, and 8, 388 and D3 serve Bethnal Green Road.

Notes and references

Bibliography

*''Helen MacDonald - Legal Bodies: Dissecting Murderers at the Royal College of Surgeons, London 1800-1832 - in Traffic: An Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Journal, No.2, 2003 pp.9-32 '' *''Sarah Wise - The Italian Boy: A Tale of Murder and Body Snatching in 1830s London (Metropolitan Books, 2004) ''
Image of the 'Burker' cottages, at City of London library

External links