Our March walk

Three churches, a farm and a family firm – our March walk from Limehouse to Stepney

We had two churches on our list – St Anne's Limehouse and St Dunstan's in Stepney. But thanks to our very own Vivienne, our walk started with the 1930s church Our Lady Immaculate and St Frederick, built for Limehouse's large Irish Catholic community. And there's more: it has the 'Steering Christ', a statue on the church that acted as a navigation aid for sailors coming into the docks.

Walking on via a look inside the old Passmore Edwards library turned hotel, we headed to the 18th century Hawksmoor church St Anne's Limehouse, now open to visitors on Fridays and Saturdays. A welcoming volunteer told us about the stained glass that has gone off to Sheffield for restoration, the church organ that was in the Great Exhibition, the church interior, most of which was replaced after a fire, invited us to explore the upper gallery via a staircase that's one of the few surviving parts of the original interior, showed us the crypt that provides community meeting space and told us how the church is supported today. We explored the church's exhibition on local historical figures and marvelled at the craft skills needed to restore the church glass and plasterwork.

Our route to Stepney took us past the Seamen's Mission (now apartments), one of a number in the area that once served sailors from all over the world, and along Salmon Lane. Then to St Dunstan & All Saints Stepney, the 'Church of the High Seas', closed – a charming note on the door explained that people were away on a pilgrimage – but in glorious sunshine, we were able to enjoy the marvellous gargoyles and read its history going back over 1,000 years. Brenda told us the story of one of the relief carvings above the door, of St Dunstan using his pincers to nip the nose of the Devil.

Our plan was to have coffee at Stepney City Farm but finding it packed, we walked through, along Stepney Green, and headed to Rinkoff Bakery, the East end family business founded in 1911 whose history (and crodoughs) we enjoyed at our June 2023 talk by Esther Rinkoff.

At walk's end, two of us strolled on to see the wildflowers at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.

A massive thank you to Vivienne for bringing her local knowledge to this walk full of interest.

Fancy joining us? Look out for our next Coming up blogpost for details.