No. 570: Pitfield Street, N1
Pitfield Street, London, N1. Photo © Roger Dean 2012
In the Slums – Rev. D. Rice-Jones, 1884:
In the annals of the Foundling Hospital it is recorded that when in former days a basket used to be kept outside the gate for the purpose of receiving any ‘love children’ whose mothers might choose to take or send them there, a very large proportion of the children so left there in infancy, never again to be seen by the parents, were the offspring of married people, who simply wanted to be rid of the burden of children; and to so great an extent was that practice carried on, that conveying babies to the Foundling Hospital became a regular and profitable trade.
[ The photograph above is of a work by the street artist Stik. He has recently altered the original image so that the character is now making off with a work by the artist tucked under his arm. I featured another of Stik’s pieces in post No. 226. R.D.]
wow so creative, I rarely bump across this street painting in london