CAMBRIDGE HEATH
CAMBRIDGE HEATH was an area of gravel
spanning the Hackney boundary, between
marshland to the east and west which is included
in the district described below. The heath was
waste of Stepney manor and used as common
pasture in 1275 when at least one 'ancient' house
stood there. (fn. 95) John Slater, merchant tailor of
London, was leased a piece of waste 24 rods by
11 rods on the west side of the heath, abutting
Hackney Road to the north, for 99 years in
1587. (fn. 96) No building followed, as it did under
similar leases of land farther south, and the lease
had apparently lapsed by 1652. (fn. 97) There were
no buildings on or near the heath on the
Bethnal Green side of the boundary in 1703 or
1720. (fn. 98)
In 1722 the trustees of Parmiter's charity
purchased 4½ a. of waste on the west side of
Cambridge Road, on either side of Hackney
Road. (fn. 99) One house had been built at each end of
the estate by 1760, (fn. 1) three houses in all by 1775. (fn. 2)
In 1724 waste on the west side adjoining the
sewer was leased for 99 years to Thomas Thorne,
a Bethnal Green carpenter who built a house
there. (fn. 3) Several cottages had been built, probably
by Thomas King, glazier and plumber of Hackney,
on waste 20 p. by 24 p. on 'the sweep following
the road' by 1729. (fn. 4) There was no building on
the adjoining freehold and copyhold estates,
although it was contemplated on Sotheby's
land. (fn. 5)
More sustained activity began in 1786, when
Parmiter's charity leased the whole estate to
Wilmot, who built six houses and sold his term
in 1790 to William Lovell, who built five more.
In 1791 the trustees granted two leases to
Lovell, one with 11 houses and five recently
built by him, the other north of Hackney Road
with 10 houses 'now building'. (fn. 6) By the late
1790s Howard's and Heath places and the Hare
public house fronted Hackney and Cambridge
roads (fn. 7) and by 1800 Cambridge Place formed
the north-western boundary of the estate. (fn. 8)
Between 1788 and 1791 applications were made
to build 18 houses at Cambridge Heath; (fn. 9)
although not in the names of Wilmot or Lovell,
most were probably for building on their land.
Five houses, however, built in 1788 by
Lealand (Leland) were to the north and
were claimed by the parish authorities of both
Bethnal Green and Hackney. (fn. 10) In 1808 the
southern portion of Parmiter's estate was leased
to James Waddilove and William Causdell
(Cansdell), builders of Hackney Road, for 77
years. They had constructed Suffolk Place and
Felix Street by 1812 and Clare Street and
Barossa and Felix places by 1819, when the
estate was rated at more than £1,800 a year. (fn. 11)
Durham Place, fronting Hackney Road on the
Rush Mead, was being built in 1789. (fn. 12) In 1792
roads were planned to the south: Elizabeth,
Lausanne (Claremont), and Durham streets.
Builders who took 99-year leases included James
Nicoll from Marylebone and William Selby
from Hanover Square (Westm.). (fn. 13) Three parcels
were sold and five leases granted between 1793
and 1808. (fn. 14) Bond's Place had been built by 1810,
under an agreement of 1807 with Benjamin
Bond of Hackney. (fn. 15) Temple Street formed the
eastern boundary of Rush Mead by 1821, (fn. 16) with
houses on its west side by 1826. Building extended
south with Catherine and Charles streets (fn. 17) by
1836, when there were 266 houses on the estate. (fn. 18)
Andrew Pritchard, 'tilemaker of Hackney
Road' in 1789, (fn. 19) had interests in the area from
the 1770s (fn. 20) and had bought Bullocks on the
north side of Hackney Road by 1792 when he
contracted with William Olley, a Woolwich
bricklayer, to build houses in Hackney Road
next to a factory. (fn. 21) The houses, called Matthew's
Place, had been built by 1800. (fn. 22) Oxford House
existed by 1808, (fn. 23) Ann's Place (later Pritchard's
Road) forming the western boundary by 1819, (fn. 24)
and the Oval, with 36 cottages and a chapel, on
the eastern boundary by 1836. (fn. 25) Much of the
estate, however, was occupied by a fishpond
until the mid 19th century.
Chambers, the most northerly estate on the
east side of Cambridge Road, was taken for
building from 1802, when William Ditchman of
Hackney Road was leased a strip on the west
fronting Cambridge Road and another on the
east. He built houses fronting the road by 1804, (fn. 26)
Newmarket Terrace in Russia Lane in 1805, (fn. 27)
and houses in new roads at the northern end of
Cambridge Road, Norfolk or Martha and John
(in Hackney) streets, soon afterwards. (fn. 28) John
Scott, an Islington brickmaker, was let the central
portion of the estate in 1808, building Prospect
Place in Russia Lane and houses in a new road
running north from it, called West Street and
later Potter's Row after Thomas Potter, his
sublessee. (fn. 29) Lark Row, at the eastern boundary
of Chambers, had 10 houses by 1812. (fn. 30)
In 1807 the Leeds family agreed with Joseph
Brown of Durham Place to develop the Cambridge
Heath estate between Rush Mead and Parmiter's
estate. In 1808 Brown engaged James Waddilove
and William Causdell to build 30 houses. (fn. 31) They
were employed at the same time on Parmiter's
estate, with which a joint layout was apparently
made. By 1812 Cambridge Circus existed on the
eastern boundary of the Leeds's land (fn. 32) and by
1821 Hope and Minerva streets ran from Hackney
Road to Old Bethnal Green Road, while other
streets (Bellona or Matilda, Centre, and the
extension from Parmiter's of Felix Street) existed in the south-east. Philadelphia and
Minerva places faced Hackney Road and there
was a continuous frontage on Old Bethnal Green
Road, although most of the centre of the estate
was still empty. About a third of the estate was
available for building in 1831. (fn. 33)
On the eastern side of Cambridge Road, the
5-a. field belonging to Bishop's Hall was leased
in 1811 to the London Society for Promoting
Christianity among the Jews, which built the
Episcopal Jews' chapel and associated buildings,
called Palestine Place by 1836. (fn. 34) To the north
and south were portions of Pyotts, that to the
south developed in the 1790s as Patriot Square (fn. 35)
and that to the north granted in 8o-year building
leases between 1819 and 1824 to John Spencer,
William Bradshaw, Samuel Ridge, and Joseph
Whiltenbury. (fn. 36) Prospect Place or Row had
been built fronting Russia Lane and Grosvenor
Terrace fronting Cambridge Road by 1826, (fn. 37)
and Gloucester Street between Cambridge Road
and the north-south section of Russia Lane by
1836. (fn. 38)
There remained Sebright's estate, in the
north-west. Aware of its 'increasing and improving neighbourhood', the trustees in 1813
obtained an Act to grant long building leases. (fn. 39)
In 1821 they leased a large part north of Hackney
Road to Joseph Teale of Shoreditch, (fn. 40) who
was responsible for the building of Sebright
Street by 1822, (fn. 41) Sebright Place, Gloucester
Street and Place and Hill Street by 1826, (fn. 42) and
Wolverley and Teale streets by 1836. By then
there were some 250 houses on Sebrights north
of Hackney Road. (fn. 43)
Cambridge Heath: principal estates
1 Sebright, 2 Bullock, 3 Parmiter, 4 Rush Mead, 5 Cambridge Heath, 6 Chambers, 7 Pyott, 8 Bishop's Hall
By 1836 there were 1,276 houses in the area,
all but 231 on the west side of Cambridge
Road. (fn. 44)