Huguenot Footsteps
Monthly walks from the front of Christ Church Spitalfields on the first Tuesday of the month until October
Time: 2pm Fee: £10
7th May
4th June
2nd July
6th August
3rd September
2nd October
Raising money for the
Huguenot Art Fund
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Photographs
The Photographer for the Huguenot Festival was Jeremy Freedman, photo highlights from the Festival and other events can be seen on our Facebook Page.
Anna Maria Garthwaite and the Huguenots of Spitalfields
2013 is the year of two significant anniversaries in the intertwined history of the Spitalfields district in London and the silk weaving industry created by Huguenots (French Protestant refugees who fled Catholic France from the 16th century).
It is the 250th anniversary of the death of Anna Maria Garthwaite (1690-1763), an outstanding English textile designer who played an important part in the story of the Spitalfields silk weavers.
It is also the 415th anniversary of the signing of the Edict of Nantes, on 13th April 1598. This decree by Henry IV of France served as a guarantee to the Protestant Huguenots that their rights to worship would be respected. However, it was revoked by Louis XIV in 1685 with the result that large numbers of French protestants fled to England to escape persecution. Over twenty thousand settled in Spitalfields where there was already an established weaving community.
Come and spend the day in Spitalfield, take a walk and browse around the Market, call in at Christ Church Spitalfields, the finest Baroque church in the country; visit Dennis Severs' House, drop into the Town House for coffee and delicious cakes - there is so much to see and do - you will not be disappointed.
Huguenot Public Art Fund
It was at the end of April when this beautiful statue near Spital Square by Lori Park was removed which proved to be the inspiration for staging a Huguenot Festival to raise funds for a permanent memorial to the Huguenots of Spitalfields.
Please help us to raise funds by supporting the Festival. A number of events are free to attend but donations to the Huguenot Public Art Fund would be much appreciated.