Watercolour of Barber's Barn, Hackney, by an unknown artist, about 1800.

Painting of a house by a moat, with two men in top hats fishing at the back and some figures in the upstairs window.

Given by the Hon. Arthur Villiers

This object was part of the John Edmund Gardner collection of topographical prints and drawings of London. After Gardner's death the collection passed to his son Edmund Thomas, but was sold to Edward Coates MP in 1910. The collection was sold again in 1923 after Coates' death, and was split between various institutions and private collectors. The portion connected with Hoxton, Homerton, Hackney and Bethnal Green was bought by the Hon. Arthur Villiers and donated to the Bethnal Green Museum.

The house in this image was known as Barber's Barn or Barber's Baron, after the land it was built on (Barbour Berns). It was on Mare Street in Hackney and was built in around 1591. It was owned and occupied in the mid 17th century by John Okey, a signatory to Charles I's death warrant, and in the mid 18th century its gardens were used as nurseries for exotic plants by John Busch and later Messrs. Loddidges. The house survived until the late 18th or early 19th century, when it was pulled down by Conrad Loddidge to build modern terraces. [Information from 'Old and New London: Volume 5'. Cassell, Petter & Galpin, London, 1878.]

E.4670-1923