Devons Road is a road in

Bow Common Bow Common was an area of common land, that lay on Bow Common Lane in what is now the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Despite the name, the common lay just inside Mile End's parish boundary with Bromley by Bow, and not in the parish of Bow ...

and

Bromley-by-Bow Bromley, commonly known as Bromley-by- Bow, is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, located on the western banks of the River Lea, in the Lower Lea Valley in East London. The area is distinct from Bow, which li ...

in east

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Part of the B140 road, it gives its name to the

Devons Road DLR station Devons Road is a Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station located in between Bromley-by-Bow and Bow Common. The station takes its name from the B140 Devons Road and is between Langdon Park and Bow Church stations and is in Travelcard Zone 2. It is ...

Motive power depots

The

North London Railway The North London Railway (NLR) company had lines connecting the northern suburbs of London with the East and West India Docks further east. The main east to west route is now part of London Overground's North London Line. Other NLR lines fell ...

established a large

motive power depot The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine shed ...

at Bow around 1850, which was demolished in 1882 and incorporated into

Bow railway works Bow railway works was at Bow, an area of London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was built in 1853 by the North London Railway. Bow railway works was built by the North London Railway in 1853 on a site which also included a ...

. Two larger locomotive depots were then built at Devons Road nearby. ;Devons Road No.1 shed The No.1 shed was badly damaged by bombing during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was rebuilt in 1946 by the

London Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...

, and then converted into the first UK diesel maintenance depot by

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

in 1958. It was closed in 1964 and demolished. ;Devons Road No.2 shed The No.2 shed was closed by the

in 1935 and demolished.

Stroudley Walk

The closure of Devons Road Number 1 shed by British Railways in the 1960s freed up the land for development as social housing. This led to a new street layout with streets and buildings named in honour of Britain's railway heritage. As a result, the north end of Devons Road, adjoining

Bow Road Bow Road is a thoroughfare in Bow, London, England. The road forms part of the A11, running from Aldgate to Norwich in Norfolk. To the west the road becomes Mile End Road, and to the east is Bow Interchange on the A12. The College of Tec ...

, was changed into a pedestrian area and renamed Stroudley Walk in honour of the great locomotive engineer

William Stroudley William Stroudley (6 March 1833 – 20 December 1889) was an English railway engineer, and was one of the most famous steam locomotive engineers of the nineteenth century, working principally for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (L ...

. In 2006 the Council transferred ownership of the housing, shops and pedestrian area to

Poplar HARCA Poplar HARCA (Housing and Regeneration Community Association) is a housing association in the East End of London, England. It is the landlord of about 9,000 homes in the East London area, a quarter of which have been sold leasehold; the remainde ...

St Andrew's Hospital

The Poplar and Stepney Sick Asylum was established in Devons Road in 1868. This institution was renamed St Andrew's Hospital in 1921, after a nearby church that was destroyed in the First World War. It housed a School of Nursing from 1875 to 1991. All its functions were eventually transferred to NHS facilities in Newham, and it was demolished in 2008. In 2010 the site was redeveloped as housing including a smaller health centre.Poplar and Stepney Sick Asylum District, Middlesex, London
at workhouses.org.uk (with photographs)

The Widow's Son

The Widow's Son is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

at 75 Devons Road. It was built in 1848 and is famous for its annual Good Friday hotcross bun ritual.

References

{{coord , 51, 31, 12, N, 0, 1, 13, W, type:landmark_region:GB-TWH, display=title Streets in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Bromley-by-Bow Bow Common Railway depots in England