Devil's Acre
Encyclopedia
The Devil's Acre was a notorious slum
near Westminster Abbey
in Victorian London. The Devil's Acre was located along Old Pye Street, Great St Anne's Lane (now St Ann Street) and Duck Lane (now St Matthew Street) in the parish of Westminster St Margaret and St John
.
In the 19th century it was considered one of the worst areas of London and in 1850 Charles Dickens
called the area The Devil's Acre in Household Words
. In the same year the term slum
was popularised by Cardinal Wiseman when his description of the area was widely quoted in the national press.
has its origins in medieval times. The monks of the Westminster Abbey
would offer safe haven to suspected criminals and debtors, leading to the area next to the western gate of the Abbey being called "the Sanctuary". The Sanctuary acquired a reputation for narrow streets and run-down dwellings, as did other parts of Westminster in the 18th century.
The area around Old Pye Street, Great St Anne's Lane (now St Ann Street) and Duck Lane (now St Matthew Street) was considered the worst. Prior to the 18th century the area was considered a desirable place to live, but in the middle of the 18th century gardens and courtyards were built over and the streets became "notoriously ill-paved and ill-maintained". Dwellings were built with the cheapest material, lacked ventilation, had poor lighting, and no drainage or sanitation facilities.
The area was low lying, close to the river Thames and built along the relict channels of the river Tyburn
. This made the area prone to waterlogging, and dwellings started to subside. By the 19th century the area was considered one of the worst in London and thought of as the centre of poverty, vice and crime. In 1850 Charles Dickens
called the area The Devil's Acre in Household Words
. In the same year Cardinal Wiseman described the area as follows:
This passage, first published by Wiseman in An Appeal to the Reason and Good Feeling of the English People on the Subject of the Catholic Hierarchy, was widely quoted in the national press, which led to the popularisation of the word slum
to describe bad housing.
Old Pye Street was lined with lodging houses and parts of Old Pye Street became known as "Irish rookery". A 1851 census of the common lodging houses on Old Pye Street, which was the centre of the Devil's Acre, describes the occupation of 20 lodgers in one house as: five "beggars", two "beggar bricklayers", one "labourer beggar", one "needlewoman beggar", one "hawker", one "labourer bricklayer" and one "errand boy". Initially the birthplace of 15 of the 20 was noted as unknown and they were later identified as Irish.
described St Anne's Place in the Devil's Acre:
Hollingshead went on to describe Pye Street in the Devil's Acre:
Churchman Frederic William Farrar
also described Pye Street:
The street had been planned as an experiment in sanitary and moral engineering. In deciding the route of the street, the planner James Pennethorne
's objective "has only been to ascertain how best to improve the condition of the inhabitants of Westminster by improving the buildings, the levels, and the sewers, and by opening communications through the most crowded parts." The street was several feet above the low-lying, badly drained marshland between Westminster
and Belgravia
, in medieval times known as Thorney Island. In 1850 considerable parts of Westminster were under the high-water mark of the Thames, and Victoria Street was designed to drain the area and clear the slums. Such developments were termed "town swamps and social bridges" by George Godwin
. Pennethorne designed the street with a slight angle so that it would route through the Devil's Acre. The slum inhabitants were displaced by the Victoria Street developments, as the quantity of low-rent houses in the area declined and they were unable to afford the rents of the newly constructed flats. John Hollingshead
reported at the time that Victoria Street had divided "the diseased heart" in half, pushing inhabitants into the surrounding areas. The Bishop of London
informed the House of Lords
that Victoria Street had displaced 5,000 people, 75 per cent of whom moved into already overcrowded areas south of the Thames, with the remaining people staying in declining low-rent accommodation in Westminster. New blocks of flats were constructed along Victoria Street and, according to Hollingshead, "While the nighmare street of unlet places was waiting for more capital to fill its yawning gulf, and a few more residents to warm its hollow chambers into life, the landlords of the slums were raising their rents: and thieves, prostitutes, labourers, and working women were packing in a smaller compas."
From the 1850s onwards the area around Westminster, including the Devil's Acre, became the focus of a new movement of social housing, largely funded by George Peabody
and the Peabody Trust
. This movement had a lasting impact on the urban character of Westminster and many of the philanthropically funded social housing estates have survived into the 21st century.
Slum clearance began with the Rochester Buildings, on the corner of Old Pye Street and Perkin's Rent, which were built in 1862 by the merchant William Gibbs
. They are one of the earliest large-scale philanthropic housing developments in London. The Rochester Buildings were sold to the Peabody Trust in 1877 and later become known as Blocks A to D of the Old Perkin's Rents Estate. Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts
funded a experimental social housing estate, among the first of its kind, on the corner of Columbia Road and Old Pye Street (now demolished). In 1869 the Peabody Trust
built one of its first housing estates at Brewer's Green, between Victoria Street and St. James's Park
. What remained of the Devil's Acre on the other side of Victoria Street was cleared and further Peabody estates were built after the Cross Act of 1875.
In 1882, the Peabody Trust built the Abbey Orchard Estate on the corner of Old Pye Street and Abbey Orchard Street. The estate was designed by Henry Darbishire and built on former marshland. The buildings rest on arches, supported by a foundation of piles. Like many of the social housing estates, the Abbey Orchard Estate was built following the square plan concept. Blocks of flats were built around a courtyard, creating a semi-private space within the estate functioning as recreation area. The courtyards were meant to create a community atmosphere and the blocks of flats were designed to allow sunlight into the courtyards. The blocks of flats were built using high-quality brickwork and included architectural features such as lettering, glazing
, fixtures and fittings. The estates built in the area at the time were considered model dwellings and included shared laundry and sanitary facilities, innovative at the time, and fireplaces in some bedrooms. The design was subsequently repeated in numerous other housing estates in London.
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
near Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
in Victorian London. The Devil's Acre was located along Old Pye Street, Great St Anne's Lane (now St Ann Street) and Duck Lane (now St Matthew Street) in the parish of Westminster St Margaret and St John
Westminster St Margaret and St John
Westminster St Margaret and St John were two parishes, which shared a joint vestry, in the City and Liberty of Westminster and the metropolitan area of London, England....
.
In the 19th century it was considered one of the worst areas of London and in 1850 Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
called the area The Devil's Acre in Household Words
Household Words
Household Words was an English weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens in the 1850s which took its name from the line from Shakespeare "Familiar in his mouth as household words" — Henry V.-History:...
. In the same year the term slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
was popularised by Cardinal Wiseman when his description of the area was widely quoted in the national press.
Origins
WestminsterWestminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
has its origins in medieval times. The monks of the Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
would offer safe haven to suspected criminals and debtors, leading to the area next to the western gate of the Abbey being called "the Sanctuary". The Sanctuary acquired a reputation for narrow streets and run-down dwellings, as did other parts of Westminster in the 18th century.
The area around Old Pye Street, Great St Anne's Lane (now St Ann Street) and Duck Lane (now St Matthew Street) was considered the worst. Prior to the 18th century the area was considered a desirable place to live, but in the middle of the 18th century gardens and courtyards were built over and the streets became "notoriously ill-paved and ill-maintained". Dwellings were built with the cheapest material, lacked ventilation, had poor lighting, and no drainage or sanitation facilities.
The area was low lying, close to the river Thames and built along the relict channels of the river Tyburn
Tyburn (stream)
The Tyburn is a stream in London, which runs underground from South Hampstead through St. James's Park to meet the River Thames at Pimlico near Vauxhall Bridge. It is not to be confused with the Tyburn Brook which is a tributary of the River Westbourne....
. This made the area prone to waterlogging, and dwellings started to subside. By the 19th century the area was considered one of the worst in London and thought of as the centre of poverty, vice and crime. In 1850 Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
called the area The Devil's Acre in Household Words
Household Words
Household Words was an English weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens in the 1850s which took its name from the line from Shakespeare "Familiar in his mouth as household words" — Henry V.-History:...
. In the same year Cardinal Wiseman described the area as follows:
Close under the Abbey of Westminster there lie concealed labyrinths of lanes and courts, and alleys and slums, nests of ignorance, vice, depravity, and crime, as well as of squalor, wretchedness, and disease; whose atmosphere is typhus, whose ventilation is cholera; in which swarms of huge and almost countless population, nominally at least, Catholic; haunts of filth, which no sewage committee can reach – dark corners, which no lighting board can brighten.
This passage, first published by Wiseman in An Appeal to the Reason and Good Feeling of the English People on the Subject of the Catholic Hierarchy, was widely quoted in the national press, which led to the popularisation of the word slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
to describe bad housing.
Inhabitants
Population density in the Devil's Acre was not measured in terms of persons per acre, but persons per room. The area had a high rate of mortality from diseases such as typhoid and in 1848 Great Peter Street, Perkin's Rent, Duck Lane and Old Pye Street were the most densely populated streets in the district. The streets were mostly made up of old, irregular and run-down houses. Great Peter Street was mainly occupied by tradesmen, small shopkeepers, labourers, mechanics, and those with irregular or uncertain earnings. In Perkin's Rent, Duck Lane and Old Pye Street 10 to 12 people frequently lived in one room and the houses were mostly occupied by what a contemporary described as "mendicants, hawkers, costermongers, lodging house keepers, thieves and abandoned females of irregular and intemperate habits".Old Pye Street was lined with lodging houses and parts of Old Pye Street became known as "Irish rookery". A 1851 census of the common lodging houses on Old Pye Street, which was the centre of the Devil's Acre, describes the occupation of 20 lodgers in one house as: five "beggars", two "beggar bricklayers", one "labourer beggar", one "needlewoman beggar", one "hawker", one "labourer bricklayer" and one "errand boy". Initially the birthplace of 15 of the 20 was noted as unknown and they were later identified as Irish.
Contemporary descriptions
In Ragged London, published in 1861, John HollingsheadJohn Hollingshead
John Hollingshead was an English theatrical impresario, journalist and writer during the latter half of the 19th century. He is best remembered as the first manager of the Gaiety Theatre, London...
described St Anne's Place in the Devil's Acre:
Enter a narrow street called St. Anne's Lane, glance up at a fearful side-court called St. Anne's Place, and wonder whether such filth and squalor can ever be exceeded. I went up the last-mentioned court, which had every feature of a sewer, and found a long puddle of sewage soaking in the hollow centre. The passages of the low black huts on either side were like old sooty chimneys, and the inhabitants were buried out of sight in the gloom.
Hollingshead went on to describe Pye Street in the Devil's Acre:
I crossed over the road, and entered the openly acknowledged high street of thieves and prostitutes. It is called Pye Street, and has no mock modesty about it—no desire to conceal its real character. Threepenny "homes for travellers" abound on both sides-yellow, sickly, unwholesome places, many of them far below the level of the road, and entered by a kind of pit. Many of the houses have no flooring on their passages; and there is nothing for the barefooted children to stand upon but the black, damp, uneven earth. A child, dirty and nearly naked, was hanging out of one of the old-fashioned casement windows; and in the summer time it is no unusual thing to see about fifty coarse women exhibiting themselves in the same manner. The yards at the back of the houses contain little mountains of ashes and vegetable refuse; and a dust contractor's yard, in the centre of the street, seems to have burst its bounds, and to have nearly poured out its oyster-shells, cabbage-stalks, and broken china into the open thoroughfare. Shorthaired young men, with showy handkerchiefs round their neck, and tight corduroy trousers, were standing at most of the doors, looking pretty sharply about them from under the peaks of their caps. A fiddler was playing a dancing tune to a mixed assembly of thieves and prostitutes, and a morning ball was being arranged on both sides of the pavement. Many of the side streets and courts about here are shored up with black beams to keep the houses from falling, which adds to their wretched appearance.
Churchman Frederic William Farrar
Frederic William Farrar
Frederic William Farrar was a cleric of the Church of England .Farrar was born in Bombay, India and educated at King William's College on the Isle of Man, King's College London and Trinity College, Cambridge. At Cambridge he won the Chancellor's Gold Medal for poetry in 1852...
also described Pye Street:
I think it would have been difficult to have found a spot more full of crime ... The whole street drank hard while such plunder lasted ... an instance of the low life under the shadows of the Abbey. I received a message one day to administer Holy Communion to a dying girl in Pye Street. She was in the last stages of consumption, and her story was to the effect that her husband lived on her wages, which he forced her to obtain by a life of sin ... She summed up her repentance in one sentence: "I have worked very hard, and I am very tired."
Slum clearance
As with a number of streets at the time, the building of Victoria Street was aimed at removing the slums in the area, and particularly the Devil's Acre. The street was formally opened in 1851 and, as with other such projects, it displaced rather than removed the slum. Along Victoria Street a mix of office blocks, shops and upper-class apartment buildings, also known as French Flats, were built.The street had been planned as an experiment in sanitary and moral engineering. In deciding the route of the street, the planner James Pennethorne
James Pennethorne
Sir James Pennethorne was a notable 19th century English architect and planner, particularly associated with buildings and parks in central London.-Life:...
's objective "has only been to ascertain how best to improve the condition of the inhabitants of Westminster by improving the buildings, the levels, and the sewers, and by opening communications through the most crowded parts." The street was several feet above the low-lying, badly drained marshland between Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
and Belgravia
Belgravia
Belgravia is a district of central London in the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Noted for its immensely expensive residential properties, it is one of the wealthiest districts in the world...
, in medieval times known as Thorney Island. In 1850 considerable parts of Westminster were under the high-water mark of the Thames, and Victoria Street was designed to drain the area and clear the slums. Such developments were termed "town swamps and social bridges" by George Godwin
George Godwin
George Godwin FRS was an influential architect, journalist, and editor of The Builder magazine.He was one of nine children of the architect George Godwin senior and trained at his father's architectural practice in Kensington where he set up in business with his brother Henry Godwin .Encouraged...
. Pennethorne designed the street with a slight angle so that it would route through the Devil's Acre. The slum inhabitants were displaced by the Victoria Street developments, as the quantity of low-rent houses in the area declined and they were unable to afford the rents of the newly constructed flats. John Hollingshead
John Hollingshead
John Hollingshead was an English theatrical impresario, journalist and writer during the latter half of the 19th century. He is best remembered as the first manager of the Gaiety Theatre, London...
reported at the time that Victoria Street had divided "the diseased heart" in half, pushing inhabitants into the surrounding areas. The Bishop of London
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
informed the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
that Victoria Street had displaced 5,000 people, 75 per cent of whom moved into already overcrowded areas south of the Thames, with the remaining people staying in declining low-rent accommodation in Westminster. New blocks of flats were constructed along Victoria Street and, according to Hollingshead, "While the nighmare street of unlet places was waiting for more capital to fill its yawning gulf, and a few more residents to warm its hollow chambers into life, the landlords of the slums were raising their rents: and thieves, prostitutes, labourers, and working women were packing in a smaller compas."
From the 1850s onwards the area around Westminster, including the Devil's Acre, became the focus of a new movement of social housing, largely funded by George Peabody
George Peabody
George Peabody was an American-British entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Peabody Trust in Britain and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, and was responsible for many other charitable initiatives.-Biography:...
and the Peabody Trust
Peabody Trust
Peabody Trust , founded in 1862, is one of London's oldest and largest housing associations with over 19,000 properties. It also a charity and urban regeneration agency...
. This movement had a lasting impact on the urban character of Westminster and many of the philanthropically funded social housing estates have survived into the 21st century.
Slum clearance began with the Rochester Buildings, on the corner of Old Pye Street and Perkin's Rent, which were built in 1862 by the merchant William Gibbs
William Gibbs
William Gibbs may refer to:*William Francis Gibbs , naval architect*William C. Gibbs , Governor of Rhode Island from 1821 to 1824*William D...
. They are one of the earliest large-scale philanthropic housing developments in London. The Rochester Buildings were sold to the Peabody Trust in 1877 and later become known as Blocks A to D of the Old Perkin's Rents Estate. Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts
Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts
Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts , born Angela Georgina Burdett, was a nineteenth-century philanthropist, the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet and the former Sophia Coutts, daughter of banker Thomas Coutts...
funded a experimental social housing estate, among the first of its kind, on the corner of Columbia Road and Old Pye Street (now demolished). In 1869 the Peabody Trust
Peabody Trust
Peabody Trust , founded in 1862, is one of London's oldest and largest housing associations with over 19,000 properties. It also a charity and urban regeneration agency...
built one of its first housing estates at Brewer's Green, between Victoria Street and St. James's Park
St. James's Park
St. James's Park is a 23 hectare park in the City of Westminster, central London - the oldest of the Royal Parks of London. The park lies at the southernmost tip of the St. James's area, which was named after a leper hospital dedicated to St. James the Less.- Geographical location :St. James's...
. What remained of the Devil's Acre on the other side of Victoria Street was cleared and further Peabody estates were built after the Cross Act of 1875.
In 1882, the Peabody Trust built the Abbey Orchard Estate on the corner of Old Pye Street and Abbey Orchard Street. The estate was designed by Henry Darbishire and built on former marshland. The buildings rest on arches, supported by a foundation of piles. Like many of the social housing estates, the Abbey Orchard Estate was built following the square plan concept. Blocks of flats were built around a courtyard, creating a semi-private space within the estate functioning as recreation area. The courtyards were meant to create a community atmosphere and the blocks of flats were designed to allow sunlight into the courtyards. The blocks of flats were built using high-quality brickwork and included architectural features such as lettering, glazing
Glazing
Glazing, which derives from the Middle English for 'glass', is a part of a wall or window, made of glass. Glazing also describes the work done by a professional "glazier"...
, fixtures and fittings. The estates built in the area at the time were considered model dwellings and included shared laundry and sanitary facilities, innovative at the time, and fireplaces in some bedrooms. The design was subsequently repeated in numerous other housing estates in London.
See also
- Beer Street and Gin LaneBeer Street and Gin LaneBeer Street and Gin Lane are two prints issued in 1751 by English artist William Hogarth in support of what would become the Gin Act. Designed to be viewed alongside each other, they depict the evils of the consumption of gin as a contrast to the merits of drinking beer...
- Boundary EstateBoundary EstateThe Boundary Estate is a housing development, formally opened in 1900, in the East End of London, England. It is situated in the north western corner of Bethnal Green in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and on the boundary with Shoreditch, in the London Borough of Hackney.The estate, constructed...
- Denmark StreetDenmark StreetDenmark Street is a short narrow road in central London, notable for its connections with British popular music, and is known as the British Tin Pan Alley. The road connects Charing Cross Road at its western end with St Giles High Street at its eastern end. Denmark Street is in the London Borough...
- Flower and Dean StreetFlower and Dean StreetFlower and Dean Street was a road situated at the heart of the Spitalfields rookery in the East End of London. It was one of the most notorious slum areas of the Victorian era and was closely associated with the victims of Jack the Ripper...
- Lisson GroveLisson GroveLisson Grove is a district and also a street of the City of Westminster, London, England located just to the north of the city ring road. There are many landmarks surrounding the area. To the north is Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood. To the west are Paddington and Watling Street...
- Matthew HayMatthew HayMatthew Hay was a Scottish doctor and champion of Public Health. He was appointed Medical Officer of Health for the City of Aberdeen in 1888, a post he held until 1923. He was also Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Aberdeen....
- Old NicholOld NicholThe Old Nichol, also known as the Nichol or the Old Nichol Street Rookery, was an area of housing in the East End of London, between High Street, Shoreditch, and Hackney Road in the north, and Spitalfields in the south. The main streets within the Old Nichol were Boundary Street, Old Nichol Street,...
- Rookery (slum)Rookery (slum)A rookery was the colloquial British English term given in the 18th and 19th centuries to a city slum occupied by poor people...
- Somers Town, LondonSomers Town, LondonSomers Town, was named for Charles Cocks, 1st Baron Somers. The area in St Pancras, London, was originally granted by William III to John Somers, Lord Chancellor and Baron Somers of Evesham. It was to be strongly influenced by the three mainline north London railway termini: Euston , St...
- Spitalfields rookeryDorset Street, LondonFor the Dublin street of the same name, see Dorset Street Dorset Street was situated at the heart of the Spitalfields rookery in the East End of London, England. It should not be confused with the road of the same name in Marylebone, in London's West End...
- Wych StreetWych StreetWych Street was a street in London, roughly where Australia House now stands on Aldwych. It ran west from the church of St Clement Danes on the Strand to a point towards the southern end of Drury Lane...