Narrow Street - Art and Literature

Art and Literature

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Narrow Street's harsh conditions and extreme poverty attracted the attention of early social reformers and latter political agitation for better working conditions led to the creation of some of London's earliest trade unions.

Its picturesque buildings and atmospheric location abutting onto the River Thames also attracted artists and writers.

• Charles Dickens' godfather Christopher Huffam ran his sail-making business from Newell Street, Limehouse.
• James McNeill Whistler and Charles Napier Hemy sketched and painted at locations on Narrow Streets' river waterfront.
• Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes visits an opium den in Limehouse looking for clues.
• George Orwell's book Down and Out in Paris and London features a Limehouse lodging house.