Prescot Street is a street in

Aldgate Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. The gate gave its name to ''Aldgate High Street'', the first stretch of the A11 road, that takes that name as it passes through the ancient, extramural Portsoken ...

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 ...

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

. It runs between Goodman's Yard and

Mansell Street Mansell Street is a street in Central London, which is part of the London Inner Ring Road. For most of its length from the north, this street marks the boundary between the City of London and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. However, the sout ...

in the west and

Leman Street Leman Street, once known as Lemon Street, is a street in Tower Hamlets. It was built in the seventeenth century as part of the development of Goodman's Fields. It is named after John Leman who was responsible for this development, which also inc ...

in the east. The area, including Ayliff Street, Leman Street and Mansell Street as well as Prescot Street, was built up in the seventeenth century as part of the development of Goodman's Fields by William Leman. Prescot was the maiden name of Leman's mother Rebecca.St George-in-the-East Church History, Goodman's Fields 2
/ref> In the early 2000s, the street was part of a large archaeological dig which uncovered large quantities of remains from the Roman period. The finds were on the site where the Leonardo Royal Hotel now stands, and formed part of the East London Roman Cemetery. Roman funeral urns were first discovered here in 1678. Of the original 18th Century housing only one has survived, at number 23. The London Infirmary was on the south side of Prescot Street, and the north side of

Chamber Street Chamber Street, once known as Chambers Street,Laxton, Paul & Joseph Wisdom. (1985) ''The A to Z of Regency London''. London: London Topographical Society. p. 33. is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in east London. It runs between Mansell ...

, until it moved to

Whitechapel Road Whitechapel Road is a major arterial road in Whitechapel, Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. It is named after a small chapel of ease dedicated to St Mary and connects Whitechapel High Street to the west with Mile End Road to the east ...

in 1757 and became the London Hospital. The Magdalen House for Reception of Penitent Prostitutes which opened in 1758, took over the building. An old alleyway, Magdalen Passage, survives to commemorate the name, just west of number 16. In the

Regency era The Regency era of British history is commonly understood as the years between and 1837, although the official regency for which it is named only spanned the years 1811 to 1820. King George III first suffered debilitating illness in the lat ...

(by 1800) the street was known as Great Prescott Street and there was an adjoining Little Prescott Street.Laxton, Paul & Joseph Wisdom. (1985) ''The A to Z of Regency London''. London:

London Topographical Society The London Topographical Society was founded as the Topographical Society of London in 1880 to publish "material illustrating the history and topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of ...

. p. 33. The

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

English Martyrs Church, designed by

Edward Welby Pugin Edward Welby Pugin (11 March 1834 – 5 June 1875) was an English architect, the eldest son of architect Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and Louisa Barton. His father was an architect in the Gothic Revival style, and after his early death in 1 ...

and built between 1873 and 1876, is at number 30. At number 15 is a

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 ...

pub, The Princess of Prussia, built around 1880. It is adjoined to another Victorian building, number 16, once the Whitechapel County Court, built in

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Ita ...

in red brick on the site of the old hospital. At number 1 Prescot Street (on the corner of Leman Street) is the

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

listed former

Cooperative Wholesale Society A cooperative wholesale society (CWS) is a form of cooperative federation (that is, a cooperative in which all the members are cooperatives), in this case, the members are usually consumer cooperatives. The theory, practice and history of the ...

building, once known as The Tea House (1930–33). Designed by L G Ekins, the building is "..an unusual example in Britain of the German Expressionist style." During World War II, the area was severely damaged during

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 ...

(a bomb site can still be seen in Magdalen Passage). All of the buildings on the north side are modern. On the south side (at number 21) is the

Royal College of Psychiatrists The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in the United Kingdom, and is responsible for representing psychiatrists, for psychiatric research and for providing public information about mental healt ...

, which moved from its previous location in

Belgrave Square Belgrave Square is a large 19th-century garden square in London. It is the centrepiece of Belgravia, and its architecture resembles the original scheme of property contractor Thomas Cubitt who engaged George Basevi for all of the terraces for ...

to the new building in October 2013.21 Prescot Street: The final countdown to RCPsych's big move
/ref>

References

External links

{{Coord, 51, 30, 41.9, N, 0, 4, 15.57, W, scale:1563_region:GB, display=title Streets in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Whitechapel