The Shoreditch Pump
It would be easy not to notice this 1832 water pump in the grounds of St Leonard’s church, but it sits on the spring that may have given Shoreditch it’s name, “suer“ being the Anglo-Saxon word for stream.
This fresh water supply led to the Roman’s settling in this area; Spitalfields was a vast Roman cemetery and it was from Shoreditch that many Roman roads left London to other settlements like their capital Colchester.
Before everyone had running water in their homes, 19th century pumps like these were a focal points for the parish community. Today however, the basin is full of flowers rather than water, a redundant relic to remind us of the past.
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