Bluegate Fields

Bluegate Fields (also known as Blue Gate Fields) was one of the worst slum areas that once existed just north of the old, east London docks during the Victorian era. Two streets in the area had actually been named Bluegate Fields at different times – present-day Dellow St. (along the eastern edge of the St. George’s-in-the-East church yard) is one of them – Cable Street (along the northern edge of the church yard) is the other.

The area is visited by the eponymous character in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde,^[1] and inspired a scene in The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens.^[2]

References

1. Wilde, Oscar (1890). "10". The Picture of Dorian Gray. Project Gutenburg. Retrieved 4 November 2016. Then, suddenly, some night he would creep out of the house, go down to dreadful places near Blue Gate Fields, and stay there, day after day, until he was driven away.
2. Ackroyd, Peter (1991). Dickens. HarperCollins. p. 1046. ISBN 0060166029.

External links

• Description from victorianlondon.org.
• Map containing the 1746 location of Bluegate Field (just north of the church yard of St. George’s-in-the-east).
• Brief but informative description of Blue Gate Fields.

Coordinates: 51°30′37″N 0°03′22″W / 51.51028°N 0.05611°W