This is a cobbled passageway just off Roman Road in east London that has recently seen run-down workshops converted into loft-style apartments.

The area was still fields until the end of the 18th century, when housing began to appear along the Roman road, and Peary Place appeared around the same time, as a space between the emerging housing of the region.

Map of Greenwood 1828

Map of the 1898 operating system

At the time, the road north of the driveway was known as North Place, so the driveway was known as North Passage. However, during the early 19th century reconstruction to the north of the driveway, North Place was renamed Kirkwall Place and the driveway was renamed Peary Place, apparently after American polar explorer Robert Peary. Renaming a dark alley in east London after an American explorer who had no connection to the area seems like a very strange thing to do when you think about it. And when you think about it, the weirder it seems, even though there are plenty of reports saying that’s what happened. There is a problem. Robert Peary is said to have reached the North Pole (this is disputed) in 1909, but the decision to rename the lane was taken by London County Council in February 1907.

Whoops !

I am inclined, in the absence of other records, to suggest that since there was another, somewhat larger, northern passage not far away near what is now the Young V&A Museum, the change of name was simply a tidying up exercise to keep people from getting confused as to which was which.

The driveway and surrounding homes were surprisingly unaffected by WWII, giving the area its appearance of a mix of Victorian buildings interspersed with 1980s docklands-style apartment buildings.

At the south end of the driveway is the old Black Horse pub, which appeared to close in the mid-1990s, and while the upper floors have been let, the downstairs pub appears to have been either idle for the last decade or at least if they are occupied they have kept a very low profile.

Opposite the ex-pub is a building constructed in 1992 as a rather clumsy pastiche of the Victorian building that once stood there. It once housed a shop, then became an art gallery, which is when the fancy concrete pediment was added.

The buildings at the end of the lane are mainly 2 storey Victorian workshops which have since been converted into houses. The redevelopment of former workshops on the east side of the driveway in 2015-2017 also saw the surface of the paved road (setts) added, replacing the conventional tarmac, to give the driveway a heritage appearance similar to what it would have looked like the original.

One of the most notable properties, from the inside at least, here is 5 Peary Place, a workshop that closed in 2011 and was converted into a very modern home in 2013. At the north end, the driveway opens and passes between the social flats and the 1980s block.