East London Murals & Monuments

We had planned this ride for June, but heatwave weather meant that we postponed it. It also means that we've added two further memorials which have been installed in the past couple of months.

A longer ride across London, to view some interesting memorials and enjoy the extensive green space of Victoria Park. We will use quieter roads where possible and ride on shared paths through parks. However, the route does involve some busier roads and you need to be confident riding in traffic.

Riding out of Ealing, we will take the cycle route through Wormwood Scrubs and North Kensington, crossing the canal on the Halfpenny Steps Bridge and continuing via Kilburn to St John’s Wood and Primrose Hill. We skirt around Camden, perhaps with a brief stop at the Chalk Farm side of the Market, before making our way through Islington, Dalston, and to London Fields. We take a brief detour into the centre of Hackney to view the recently installed sculpture in honour of the Windrush generation https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/jun/22/its-not-a-monument-its-a-celebration-windrush-sculpture-unveiled-in-hackney. From there, it’s a short distance through Hackney and into Victoria Park. https://www.londonxlondon.com/victoria-park/.

Originally opened in 1845 and known as the People’s Park, Victoria Park has been important as a recreation space in the East End and also as a site of many political, social and cultural activities. We will cross the Park to ride into Bow, where we will see the new Blue Plaque marking the famous Match Girls' Strike https://londonist.com/london/latest-news/match-girls-strike-plaque and the impressive mural on the side of the Lord Morpeth pub on Old Ford Road, commemorating Sylvia Pankhurst, who as well as being one of the leading Suffragettes, worked in support of poor women in the East End.
https://romanroadlondon.com/sylvia-pankhurst-lord-morpeth-mural/#:~:text=A%20Sylvia%20Pankhurst%20mural%20has,helping%20women%20get%20the%20vote.
https://inspiringcity.com/2018/03/14/giant-mural-of-sylvia-pankhurst-appears-on-the-side-of-the-lord-morpeth-pub-in-bow/

Returning to Victoria Park, we will visit the Burdett Coutts drinking fountain in the East Park, before heading to the Pavilion Café in the West Park https://pavilionbakery.com/pages/victoria-park for refreshments.

Our route will then take us down to Bethnal Green, to view the rather strange and very sad Stairway to Heaven memorial next to the tube station https://stairwaytoheavenmemorial.org/home/images/.

We will then ride down through Whitechapel to meet Cycleway 3 on Cable Street and visit the mural commemorating the Battle of Cable Street http://londonmuralpreservationsociety.com/murals/battle-cable-street/.

All our sightseeing completed, we have the option of following Cycleway 3 back to the Royal Parks, riding along South Carriage Row, and then returning to Ealing via Kensington, Fulham, Hammersmith and Cycleway 9 to Kew Bridge; or we can take public transport, using the Elizabeth Line and London Overground services, which are air conditioned and will take us, with a couple of step-free interchanges, all the way back to Ealing.

Although Covid restrictions are no longer in force, please continue to be mindful. Please do not attend if you have any Covid 19 symptoms, have tested positive, or are currently advised to self-isolate. You may wish to bring a face covering for use in enclosed public spaces.

A longer ride across London, to view some interesting memorials and enjoy the extensive green space of Victoria Park.

We will take quieter roads where possible; shared paths through parks; segregated cycle tracks; some busier roads

We will visit a number of interesting memorials in the area and have a refreshment stop at the Pavilion Cafe in Victoria Park.

Money/card for cafe; locks for your bike.

First-timers welcome!