I got on the DLR at Tower Hill and headed off to Chrisp Street Market to visit the clock tower, because I like to climb up things to get a good view over the city. Give me a high platform over London and I am happy (speaking of which, I need to book a Skygarden slot at some point).
While I was there, some of the volunteers mentioned there was a walk of the area starting at 12, and having only a vague clue where I even was at this point, I decided to stick around for that.
It was a really interesting walk, although it did involve going up the clock tower a second time, which was quite hard on my legs. A lot of the people on the walk were locals who knew about the area too, so that was good.
The Chrisp Street area was developed as part of the Festival of Britain in 1951, to show how working-class areas could be improved (or rather rebuilt) post-war with care and attention. The area didn't get as many visitors as hoped but various elements of the estate - low-rise housing, open spaces - definitely set the area apart from many places in London, even today.
The tower itself was described by its designer (Sir Frederick Gibberd) as a 'practical folly', and is a freestanding brick structure (with concrete steps) on the edge of the market place.
Views from the tower:
I didn't take many pictures on the walk round the area, but as you can see above there is some really interesting 20th century architecture, including the currently-closed Balfron tower (due to become privately-owned flats, sadly: http://www.eastendreview.co.uk/2015/03/24/balfron-tower-poplar-harca/).
As I said above, I barely knew where I was but it's definitely an area I'm interested in visiting again, preferably with a bit more forward knowledge this time!
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