Bow Quarter
Encyclopedia
Gated community
In its modern form, a gated community is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly-controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. Gated communities usually consist of small residential...
in Bow, London
Bow, London
Bow is an area of London, England, United Kingdom in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a built-up, mostly residential district located east of Charing Cross, and is a part of the East End.-Bridges at Bowe:...
. The building was originally the Bryant and May
Bryant and May
For the Bryant and May series of crime mystery books, see the author Christopher Fowler.Bryant and May was a United Kingdom company created in the mid-nineteenth century specifically to make matches. Their original Bryant and May Factory was located in Bow, London...
match factory, and was the site of the Match Girls' strike
London matchgirls strike of 1888
The London match-girls’ strike of 1888 was a strike of the women and teenage girls working at the Bryant and May Factory in Bow, London.-The strike:...
in the 1880s. The factory was redeveloped in the 1980s, in one of east London
East London
East London is a city on the southeast coast of South Africa, situated at 32.97°S and 27.87°E in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality of the Eastern Cape province. The city lies on the Indian Ocean coast, largely between the Buffalo River and the Nahoon River, and is the country's only river...
's first urban renewal
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
projects.
History
From the mid-19th century to more than three-quarters of the way through the 20th century it was the location of the famous Bryant and MayBryant and May
For the Bryant and May series of crime mystery books, see the author Christopher Fowler.Bryant and May was a United Kingdom company created in the mid-nineteenth century specifically to make matches. Their original Bryant and May Factory was located in Bow, London...
match
Match
A match is a tool for starting a fire under controlled conditions. A typical modern match is made of a small wooden stick or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by frictional heat generated by striking the match against a suitable surface...
factory. At one point at the turn of the two centuries it was London's largest factory.
The 3 acre (1.2 hectare) site, acquired by William Bryant and Francis May in 1861, contained a number of factories that had once been used for the manufacture of candle
Candle
A candle is a solid block or cylinder of wax with an embedded wick, which is lit to provide light, and sometimes heat.Today, most candles are made from paraffin. Candles can also be made from beeswax, soy, other plant waxes, and tallow...
s, crinoline
Crinoline
Crinoline was originally a stiff fabric with a weft of horse-hair and a warp of cotton or linen thread. The fabric first appeared around 1830, but by 1850 the word had come to mean a stiffened petticoat or rigid skirt-shaped structure of steel designed to support the skirts of a woman’s dress into...
and rope
Rope
A rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...
but had fallen into disrepair. Assistance in adapting the site for match making was provided by John Edvard Lundström
John Edvard Lundström
Johan Edvard Lundström was a Swedish industrialist and inventor who pioneered the production of safety matches. Johan is spelt John outside Scandinavia.- Biography :...
, the Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
safety match maker.
Bryant and May were influential in fighting against the dreadful disease known as phossy jaw
Phossy jaw
Phossy jaw, formally phosphorus necrosis of the jaw, is an occupational disease of those who work with white phosphorus, also known as yellow phosphorus, without proper safeguards. It was most commonly seen in workers in the match industry in the 19th and early 20th century...
, caused by the white phosphorus
Phosphorus
Phosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. A multivalent nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus as a mineral is almost always present in its maximally oxidized state, as inorganic phosphate rocks...
used in the manufacture of early matches. Some of the first welfare institutions in Britain for industrial workers began on this site, including the provision of a dentist
Dentistry
Dentistry is the branch of medicine that is involved in the study, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial area and the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body. Dentistry is widely considered...
.
The factory saw many famous historical events: the London matchgirls strike of 1888
London matchgirls strike of 1888
The London match-girls’ strike of 1888 was a strike of the women and teenage girls working at the Bryant and May Factory in Bow, London.-The strike:...
started there, culminating in the establishment of the first British trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
for women. A blue plaque
Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
outside the entrance commemorates the role of social pioneer and feminist
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
Annie Besant
Annie Besant
Annie Besant was a prominent British Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self rule.She was married at 19 to Frank Besant but separated from him over religious differences. She then became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society ...
in leading the demands for better pay and conditions. It finally closed in 1979, when 275 people worked there, the work being transferred to Liverpool. At full production, in 1911, the Bow site employed more than 2,000 women and girls.
Present day
The site fell into disrepair until 1988, when developers embarked upon one of east London's first urban renewalUrban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
projects. Today Bow Quarter consists of 733 one- and two-bedroom apartments and penthouses, together with a handful of workers' cottages built around late 19th century. Set in 7 acres (28,328 m²) of landscaped grounds, amenities include a residents' gym, a bar and restaurant and a convenience store.
The majority of the apartments today are housed in former factory and office buildings. Arlington for example was built as offices in 1874; Lexington and Manhattan date from the factory site redevelopment in 1911. The Victorian cottages near the entrance provided accommodation for the company directors whilst Staten was built as extra office accommodation in the late 1950s. The Park buildings (East, Central and West) were added in the mid 1990s.
In 2004 the TV series If... shot scenes in the fictional gated community Regent's Court inside Bow Quarter, some residents were also interviewed by the production team during the making of the programme.
Previous residents have included John Barrowman
John Barrowman
John Scot Barrowman is a Scottish-American singer, actor, dancer, musical theatre performer and media personality. Born in Glasgow yet growing up in Illinois after his family emigrated to the United States when he was eight years old, Barrowman was encouraged to further his love for music and...
and Steve Strange
Steve Strange
Steve Strange , is a Welsh pop singer, best known as the lead singer and frontman of the 1980s pop group Visage...
. Former resident Danny Wallace
Danny Wallace (humourist)
Daniel Frederick Wallace is a British filmmaker, comedian, writer, actor, and presenter of radio and television. His notable works include the books Join Me, Yes Man, and the TV series How to Start Your Own Country.He lives in London, with his wife, an Australian publicist...
declared his flat a micronation
Micronation
Micronations, sometimes also referred to as model countries and new country projects, are entities that claim to be independent nations or states but which are not recognized by world governments or major international organizations...
in the TV series How to Start Your Own Country
How to Start Your Own Country (TV series)
How To Start Your Own Country was a six-part BBC Television documentary comedy series aired between August and September 2005. The show was presented by British writer/comedian Danny Wallace and followed his quest to start his own country in his flat in Bow, London...
.