Sunday, September 05, 2010

A Little Part of Poplar

When you start researching you family tree you begin by collecting just names and dates, but gradually you want to know more about them, such as what they looked like and also where they lived and nothing does this better than a photograph, unfortunately if they lived and loved in London's eastend there is little chance of that.

One of my family lines arrived in Poplar in 1855 to work in the London Docks, as did successive generations. It was the Docks that were to be the target of Hitler's bombers in the next century, apart from destroying the warehouses any street built close to that area was also a target as houses were flattened and people were killed.

When peace came in 1945 Poplar was battered but not out, and to rehouse the families made homeless by the bombing the government embarked on the quick fix of assembling prefabricated houses on the debries where once houses stood.

http://www.britishpathe.com/1record.php?id=12878

The 'prefab' as they were known were only supposed to be used for a few years but some remained until the 1960's/70's and it was during these years that the massive 'slum clearances' began. Whole streets containing families that had lived there for years were wiped away, young married people had no chance of getting on to the housing waiting list had had no option but to buy, and this meant moving out of the borough into Essex where housing was relatively inexpensive at that time.




Some rebuilding was done post war such as the school and flats in the above photo built on one of the many areas destroyed on the first day of the Blitz. The block of flats on the left of the picture was built in 1952 the same year as Sir Edmund Hillary conquered Everest and were named after him.

It was demolished a few years ago and replaced by dozens of small houses. In front of the school was a playground and football pitch which is now a green space and a community hall .

Behind the school there were once rows of small terraced houses. Running down the centre from St Michael's church to East India Dock Road was St Leonards Road with plenty of side streets of housing running off at right angles all these have now vanished and with the houses went most of St Michael's congregation. 

St Leonards Road itself was full of every type of shop and none was duplicated, and of course we there was the obligatory pub on nearly every corner, then it was designated for slum clearance and the shops as well as the surrounding streets, were demolished all shops that is except for one a greengrocers owned by the Jolly family were determined they wouldn't bow down to the council diktat and remain they did.

As the shops fell around him Joe Jolly kept on trading until his shop was the only one standing, after a while the council decided he wasn't going to move so they grassed the area around him and that is how it stayed for some years.

At the far end of Jolly's Green as it became known stood Balfon Tower and Carradale House which mopped up some of the families from the streets that used to stand and there, including my Aunt and Uncles families and my nans which disappeared under Carradale House.

Just a small portion of Jolly's Green can be seen in the foreground.

Both Balfron Tower and Carradale House were the work of architect Erno Goldfinger, and have been designated as 'listed buildings' and part of the surrounding area a 'conservation area'. This doesn't however cover Jolly's Green.

Time it seems takes care of most things and the time came when Jolly's greengrocers became vacant and the only thing left to mark his being there was the name 'Jolly's Green' which the council adopted when building the new housing estate on the open space.

The houses of course have far more comfortable amenities than those they replaced, electricity for a start, nans house only had gas lighting until a couple of years before it was demolished, then there was an indoor bathroom, central heating, double glazing, fitted kitchens and so on.

In the picture at the top of the page it's the church of St Michaels and all Angels that stands out above the ranks of terraced houses where it's congregation once lived out their lives.

Although the church didn't suffer quite the same fate as the streets around it for it still stands but no longer functions as a working 'house of God'.

Like many other churches up and down the country it was sold of for housing some years ago. So now instead of being a living church it's become a curch people live in.

So this part of Poplar like almost every other part of the borough has changed beyond recognition from the place it was pre WW2, and maybe it's just sentimentality but I don't think the changes have been for the better.




As a postscript this is St Leonards Avenue, just one of the streets that ran off of St Leonards Road, as you can see the photo was taken in 1935, but it stayed the same until it too was swept away in the 1970's, it's the street where my G G Grandfather and members of his family lived, and it is the Poplar I like to remember.

 Posted by kitwint at 2:56 AM


7 Comments:

Blogger Rachaelroast said...
Hi there

Ive really enjoyed reading your blog. I'm researching my family tree and my great grandfather lived in Joe Jolly's from 9 years old, he would sleep in the back room and worked for him for many years. As he grew older he drove the horse and cart for the shop. I would love to find a photo of the shop... I've had no luck as of yet!

Many thanks for a very interesting read!!

Rachael
rachael.roast@gmail.com
11:56 AM  
 
Blogger kieran said...
Thank you so much for this blog. I used to live in Hilary House then we moved to Mallory House. I went to Manorfield primary school then I went on to Langdon Park school & I used to be an altar boy in All Saints church!
I was in Popar yesterday and was near Jolly's Green and so today I Googled it and hence I found your blog.
Once again thank you for your iinformation and sharing your memories with us.
1:07 PM  
 
Blogger kieran said...
I also remember the peerage still being near Hay Currie St/ St Leonard's Road.
I also remember the Teviot Festival!
1:11 PM  
 
Blogger kitwin said...
Thank you for your comments. Being interested in Poplar you might like this youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hgihC6k28w
11:54 AM  
 
Blogger katie ord said...
i used to live in hillary house and went to manorfield school.
2:36 AM  
 
Blogger Patricia Jolly said...
I am Pat Jolly. Jolly's Greengrocers at 126 St Leonards Road belonged to my nan and grandad, Liz and Joe they moved there in 1930 having left their other shop and stall in Canning Town In the capable hands of other family members, because they need more room. They had 5 kids Joe Jnr, Bill, Jean, and twins Iris & Johnny, Johnny later had his own shop down Teviot Street and Jean had a cafe opposite my nan's shop. Joe stayed in the shop right to the end, as the blog said, he hated to leave, he would have gone to the end of  his days if  he could. He moved to Plimsoll Street, and he died in 1998. He was a lovely man.
8:49 AM  
 
Blogger kitwin said...
Thank you Patricia for your comments your uncle Joe was a very nice man, nothing was too much trouble for him.
2:23 PM  

19 Comments:

Blogger Fourplustherapy said...

Hi there

Ive really enjoyed reading your blog. I'm researching my family tree and my great grandfather lived in Joe Jolly's from 9 years old, he would sleep in the back room and worked for him for many years. As he grew older he drove the horse and cart for the shop. I would love to find a photo of the shop... I've had no luck as of yet!

Many thanks for a very interesting read!!

Rachael
rachael.roast@gmail.com

11:56 AM  
Blogger kieran said...

Thank you so much for this blog. I used to live in Hilary House then we moved to Mallory House. I went to Manorfield primary school then I went on to Langdon Park school & I used to be an altar boy in All Saints church!
I was in Popar yesterday & was near Jolly's Green & so today I Googled it & hence I found your blog.
Once again thank you for your iinformation & sharing your memories with us.

1:07 PM  
Blogger kieran said...

I also remember the peerage still being near Hay Currie St/ St Leonard's Road.
I also remember the Teviot Festival!

1:11 PM  
Blogger kitwint said...

Thank you for your comments. Being interested in Poplar you might like this youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hgihC6k28w

11:54 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

i used to live in hillary house and went to manorfield school.

2:36 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I am Pat Jolly. Jolly's Greengrocers at 126 St Leonards Road belonged to my nan and grandad, Liz and Joe they moved there in 1930 having left their other shop and stall in Canning Town In the capable hands of other family members, because they need more room. They had 5 kids Joe Jnr, Bill, Jean, and twins Iris & Johnny, Johnny later had his own shop down Teviot Street and Jean had a cafe opposite my nan's shop. Joe stayed in the shop right to the end, as the blog said, he hated to leave, he would have gone to the end of his days if he could. He moved to Plimsoll Street, and he died in 1998. He was a lovely man.

8:49 AM  
Blogger kitwint said...

Thank you Patricia for your comments your uncle Joe was a very nice man, nothing was too much trouble for him.

2:23 PM  
Blogger Ian Bruce said...

My name is Ian Bruce i have stumbled on this blog and it brings it all back .I lived at 6 Teviot street opposite St Micheal's church and was an alter boy and a member of the 3rd Poplar scout troop. Reading about Jolly,s i worked Saturdays for The baker opposite Sammy Rosenbatt all day hard work as i remember for 10 shillings.Hedges the butchers was opposite and i remember the peas pudding and savaloys sold by Reg the butcher.Happy days indeed loads of friends all lost when the slum clearance came to Poplar and ruined it for ever.
Which i suppose only goes to prove its not the buildings that make a community its the people.Everybody knew everyone else. No one had anything much but happiness was in the air.
Ive had to move to a village in Suffolk to find that but i,ll always be a Poplar Boy.

4:16 PM  
Blogger Tim said...

Hello. I was very interested to read this blog post and to see the old photo of St Michael's Church. My grandparent's families lived in the area: the Garards at 2 Teviot Street in the 1940s, and the Chamberlains at 52 Morville Street (a bit further north, near Bow Church) in 1911. My forebears moved away a long time ago but things sometimes unexpectedly come full circle by chance as I now live at the other end of Limehouse Cut, hence why I've begun looking into my family history in the area. I'm sad all the old buildings on both those streets are now gone, but with a bit more research I'm hoping to find out where my grandparents got married and then to see if the church or registry office might (hopefully) still be standing.

4:24 AM  
Blogger Tim said...

Hello again. Since leaving my last message I've been looking at some census records and found my great grandparents (Albert and Eleanor Garard) and my grandmother (Eleanor Violet Garard/Chamberlain) lived at No. 6 Teviot Street (not No. 2), along with Andrew and Lilian Bruce, from around 1950 to around 1954 ... So I'm hoping Ian Bruce might see this comment, as it seems we have a connection there!

5:31 PM  
Blogger Dennis said...

Interesting. I was born in 1951 and lived at 105 St Leonards Rd, corner of Burcham St opposite Rawlinson's, women's clothing/haberdashery & shoe repairs. As I was a child, I can only recall the shops, but not all the names of the traders. I can recall, a baker, ironmonger, tobacconist/sweetshop, flower shop, butchers, greengrocers (Jolly's), unfortunately I don't recall any others business along St Leonards Rd. I was often sent to the sweetshop for cigarettes (20 Weights) & a bolls of Cream Soda for my dad.
My grandfather Frederick William Vyse was a baker the family lived at the shop, 12 Tapley St, he died Sept 1939.

Dennis Freeman

1:27 AM  
Blogger Jackie Littell(Ambler) said...

I lived in Burcham St near Jollys shop, from 1977 when i was 7yrs. Me and my friends used to go on the green and into the shop, Mr Jolly's shop was great, like going back in time, but he always had wot u wanted, aswell as his grabber stick he got stuff off the higher shelves with. Glad the named the green after him.

3:41 PM  
Blogger Jackie Littell(Ambler) said...

I lived in Burcham St near Jollys shop, from 1977 when i was 7yrs. Me and my friends used to go on the green and into the shop, Mr Jolly's shop was great, like going back in time, but he always had wot u wanted, aswell as his grabber stick he got stuff off the higher shelves with. Glad the named the green after him.

3:44 PM  
Blogger 45014501 said...

My father was raised in 23 Eagling Street Bromley on Bow then became a 15 year old apprentice and at the Barking Powerstation in 1937 - Joined the Territorial Army and was at war in 1938 age 16. I was fortunate to be shown the Bow / Learnards area in about 1969 - the old houses where Gandhi visited in Eagling St in 1931 were about to knocked down. Huge wood reinforcing pillars were diagonally holding the fronts of the buildings from falling over. All thats left now is Eagling Close off Bruce Street. Thank you for this post

2:37 AM  
Blogger R JOLLY said...

Richard Jolly , nephew of my dear uncle Joey jolly , nice to 👂 hear all the story's of locals from that time , I went to manorfield school and lived in the greengrocers up the road from my nans and uncle Joey in Teviot St opposite the old people's home and across the road from hillary hse mrs Anderson was the lovely headteacher and Mr Richards was my class teacher . They were great,happy days living above the shop with my two sisters and brother. Uncle Joe did indeed sleep-in the little room at the back of the shop and i remember the grabber he would use to reach up for stuff as well I remember rosemblatts the bakers and hedges the butchers the pub opposite my nan an Joeys and the tailors next door too run by phyleece and Raymond who my parents stayed friends with right up until they're passing as did they with reg the butcher and Harry and his wife Maureen from the pub , one more little footnote from back then was my mother sending me and my sister to Sunday school at St Michael's Church which I hated with a passion,the only way she would get me to go was to give me money to buy a loaf of bread 🍞 in the bakers opposite the church ⛪ I think it was called cowells (didn't he do well)😂 anyway it was always still lovely and hot and I would pick at it all the way home you just couldn't resist it so yeh,great memories of lovely days and times!!

3:27 AM  
Blogger mokumhammer said...

Have many memories visiting my grandmother in Mills Grove E14 (the old mills grove that is!!) in the 1960's.

6:36 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Ww lived at 20 mills grove, a great place to grow up in, can still remember most of the people who lived there, the Robinson's, Cooks, fairburns and Hobbs families to name just a few. We was just round the corner to the Harry tavern pub in Brunswick road. All completely changed now but great memories of how it was

11:52 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

We were the Orwell family

11:53 PM  
Blogger mokumhammer said...

My grandparents lived at 8 Mills grove Edmund/Garner family. 3 daughters.
Also, family in the street Golder family. (my great grand aunts)
We're talking after the war up until demolition of the street in the early 70's

3:31 AM  

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