Bethnal Green library is a

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

situated in Bethnal Green Gardens on Cambridge Heath Road in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By t ...

, London. The library was opened by Mayor Councillor J.J. Vaughan on 13 October 1922. The first known building on the site was built in 1570 and was leased in 1727 to Matthew Wright. It was then turned into a private

lunatic asylum The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry ...

which became known as Wright's Madhouse. The asylum closed in 1920.

History

The first building that has been recorded on the site in Bethnal Green Gardens was a large timber-framed mansion. It was built in 1570, by a rich merchant named John Kirby, and was known as 'Kirby's Castle' by locals. Matthew Wright was leased the building in 1727 and turned it into a private lunatic asylum: Wright's Madhouse. It became notorious for its cruel treatment of patients. Thomas Warburton bought the asylum in September 1800. Shortly after, it was extended and renamed the White House. There was another large mansion next door, named the Red House, which also became a part of the mental asylum. Eventually the White House was demolished, and the Red House was enlarged to include a new male block in the south-west side of the asylum in 1896. This would eventually become the site of Bethnal Green Library. The library was hit by a bomb at the beginning of the World War Two Blitz, then librarian George F. Vale and his deputy Stanley Snaith extended the library service to the underground bomb shelters with a "Shelter Library". In 2019 the library was renovated and nominated for the New London Architecture Awards' Conservation and Retrofit category. In March 2021 the library, along with Cubitt Town Library, was threatened with closure. The decision was reversed at the last moment at a council cabinet meeting. Children's area of Bethnal Green Library

Children's area of Bethnal Green Library

2022 will see Bethnal Green Library celebrate its centenary, with events and activities.

Events

The library has held many types of events. The bands

Sacred Paws Sacred Paws is a Scottish rock band, comprising Ray Aggs (guitar, bass, vocals) and Eilidh Rodgers (drums, vocals), who met as members of the band Golden Grrrls. Their debut album ''Strike a Match'' won the 2017 Scottish Album of the Year Awar ...

Ste McCabe Ste McCabe (from Liverpool, England) is an English DIY, queercore singer-songwriter, previously based in Manchester, and later Edinburgh, Scotland. Career McCabe started performing solo in 2006, using only a drum machine and electric guitar as a ...

and

Tuff Love Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...

have played gigs at the library. There have also been talks, children's activities and book fairs.

References

{{Libraries in London Libraries in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Library buildings completed in 1922 Public libraries in London Bethnal Green