After the nondescript B120, the B121 is absolutely rammed with interest. It's medieval in origin and was once the solelink across the fields from Mile End to the docks (by way of the East End's first parish church). Along its oblique path I can promise you a revolting encampment, several sheep, a Crossrail shaft, a famous nursery rhyme, ten almshouses and a children's theatre, which isn't bad for less than a mile. Also it's impossible to drive the full length in a car because this is yet another B road that shouldn't still be a B road, and yet it is, so let's walk it.
The B121 starts on Mile End Road opposite the big Currys. There's been a turn-off here for centuries, originally known as Mile End Green, this being a nicer place to live than on the main drag. Today it's called Stepney Green instead but echoes of an older time abound. The road kicks off with a full-on Georgian terrace - essentially a long brick cuboid with sash windows and arched doorways - faced by half a dozen three-storey villas, one of which has just sold for one point one million. Most striking is the formerbakery with a fadedadvert for DAREN Bread - Best for Health painted across its facade, although the sign can't be original because Hovis would have been the brown loaf of choice when the shop closed in the 1980s.
Just round the bend the road opens out to reveal a row of very old houses beyond a long stripe of grass. This is Stepney Green Gardens, a chain of four longlawns created in 1872 and all that's left of rural Mile End Green. The separate road which runs just behind is narrow, blue-cobbled, well-worn and far more characterful than Stepney deserves to be. The finest house is the Queen Anne beauty at number 37, built in 1694 for a rich merchant who wanted access to the docks without living on top of them. And tucked amid this residential splendour is The Rosalind Green Hall, formerly home to Arbour Youth Amateur Boxing Club but currently boarded up waiting for Barnardo's to turn it into a Live, Learn & Work Centre.
Not everything on Stepney Green is old. Several massive mansion blocks have been added including the decorated redbrick Stepney Green Court (1896) and the open-stairwelled Dunstan Court (1899). More jarring is the low-fi block of postwar flats on the southern side, broken only by The Ship On the Green - one of those architect-led developments which likes to pretend it's still a pub. Essentially if your house number is odd you've done very well and if your house number is even you probably have the council to thank.
A separate grass island offers the unlikely combination of palm trees and a clock tower. The tower dates from 1913, features two stone relief panels depicting Education and Benevolence and commemorates Stepney councillor Stanley Atkinson. It used to be possible to inspect it at close quarters but the council then erected a ring of protective railings - impenetrable unless you're the gardener or have minimal athletic ability. Close by is a red granite water fountain dedicated to temperance campaigner Leonard Montefiore (pillar of the local Jewish community and friend of Oscar Wilde who died at the age of 27).
The large park on the right wasn't there 60 years ago, it was created by clearing several terraced streets. Likewise those streets weren't there 640 years ago when the Essex arm of the Peasants' Revolt turned up and encamped here, shortly before Richard II turned up on horseback to address them. The most recent marauding force is Crossrail who filled one end of the park with a major worksite and have left behind a long sinuous silver ventilation shaft, this being the very spot where the tunnels from Stratford and Canary Wharf merge. Alongside is Stepney City Farm, an agricultural oasis packed with pigs, goats, donkeys, chickens and a cafe. The easiest animals to see from the B121 are the Hebridean sheep, and also the beehives which are stashed inside the demolished entrance to a 200 year-old Baptist College. I could have written a week's posts on everything I've mercilessly abridged in that single paragraph, sorry, such are the narrative riches of this historic B road.
The upcoming mini-roundabout is where the B140 starts so we'll be back here later, but the B121 instead turns right down what's left of Stepney High Street. I've blogged previously about how it's become a runty shadow of its former self so won't repeat myself, apart from reusing a leafy photo because my midwinter attempt was bedevilled by low solar dazzle. Here we see the pride of Stepney, StDunstan'schurch, which incredibly was founded here in AD 952. The current building is fundamentally 15th century but includes a 10th century rood cross, a 13th century chancel and much 20th century stained glass. It also currently has a fully illuminated Christmas tree and a large nativity scene in front of the altar because some vicars don't believe in taking down the decorations before Candlemas.
Belgrave Street cuts diagonally along the edge of St Dunstan's churchyard segregated by a long line of black spiky railings. With its double avenue of plane trees the road looks almost rural, although the open space opposite again used to be terraced streets and the churchyard is rammed with plague victims. What the B121 should now do is continue straight ahead because Belgrave Street is broad and two-way, but instead it follows historical precedent and turns left in front of Mercers Cottages. This is White Horse Road, the original route to Commercial Road and the docks, except a modal filter was added a few years back banning all vehicles so now it's bikes and pedestrians only. The splendid almshouses facing the church are for the exclusive benefit of widows and result from a will made by Lady Jane Mico in 1670. They were rebuilt in the current style in 1856 but retain the original cartouche on one end.
Just around the corner is a small open space where a tarmac path weaves between a few well-worn gravestones. This used to be the burial ground for a group of Puritan non-conformists who went by the name of Stepney Meeting and was last used in 1853. A map on the information board allows you to track down the graves of their two longest-serving pastors, assuming that's of interest and you're not simply here so your dog can relieve itself.
White Horse Street is a mix of highly desirable terraces and utilitarian council flat replacements. Look out for the Tower Project which supports the borough's disabled, the somewhat dilapidated remains of the White Horse pub and a sparkling white building with the letters of its name arrayed across the roof. This is the Half Moon Theatre, a youth-focused venue which runs a successful programme of performances for children, and is still embedded in the community 50 years after its adult heyday. It's the last significant building before the Nisa supermarket on the corner of Commercial Road, which means I've just completed my short walk from the A11 to the A13.
...and the nursery rhyme link was to St Dunstan's which features as the penultimate church in Oranges and Lemons. By a ridiculous coincidence another church from the same rhyme adjoins the B122 so you'll be hearing about that next time. When will that be, say the bells of Stepney?
