Cambridge Heath Area
Located in the Bethnal Green area of Tower Hamlets, about 5.7 km north east of Charing Cross, Cambridge Heath is an urban area within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It shares its name with a former heath in London’s East End. Located at Covent Garden, the Regents Canal forms a northern boundary with the area including Vyner Street, a street of street art and art galleries.
Cambridge Heath is served by the London Overground train station.
Toponymy
The name was first used in written form in 1275 as Camprichthesheth by a scribe at a time when orthography varied greatly. A variety of other variations followed shortly after. There could be no connection with Cambridge at all and rather be derived from a plant known as comfrey or an uncommon name. Bishopswood, a forest which spread from the east to the west, was once marshland and forest.
History
Cambridge Heath’s Bethnal Green gasworks were designed by John Clark in 1866 and 1889 for Bethnal Green, then a Metropolitan Borough. For several decades before the 1960s, these sites manufactured and stored town gas from coal. The holders were used to store natural gas after the 1960s natural gas was discovered in the North Sea.
Cambridge Heath Road became the site of The Wilkinson Gallery in 1998. In 2007, it moved to Vyner Street. Joan Jonas, Dara Birnbaum, and Laurie Simmons were among the first in London to exhibit at the gallery. Despite its acclaimed reputation, however, Wilkinson Gallery closed in 2017.
Governance
Rushanara Ali has served as Parliamentary representative for Cambridge Heath since 2010 and is a member of the Labour Party.
London is ruled by a directly elected and appointed Mayor of London who has significant powers in transportation, long-term planning, infrastructure planning, and long-range strategy. At present, Sadiq Khan holds this position. The London Assembly oversees and may steer the Mayor; both are re-elected every four years. Labour is represented by Unmesh Desai in the City and East seat.
Check Brondesbury Area