Many of the houses in Spittle fields still display a bobbin sign outside. This was used to indicate that there were silk weavers occupying the house. The house above (detail) and below is 18 Folgate Street. It is at 18th century house in Spitalfields, London created by the artist Dennis Severs. Open to the public who can wander around the house in silence.
 I first saw this house in the early 80s when Dennis Severs kept song birds in cages outside the basement windows. I was not taking photographs, but looking from across the road with a degree of natural curiosity. Severs came out of the house shaking his duster in the air not giving me a glance but hoping the dust of his performance would assail my nostrils.

 

CHRIST CHURCH SPITALFIELDS
This picture was taken on the longest day of the year as the light faded. 
The Church was built/designed  by Hawksmoor and completed in 1714. See Hawksmoor churches

Charles Spiers & Son, Hat Trimming Manufacturer

Charles Spiers & Son, Hat Trimming Manufacturers, 18, Union Street, Borough, S.E. - One of the most notable houses in London in connection with the manufacture of hat trimmings is that of Messrs. Charles Spiers & Son, a concern now under the sole control and proprietorship of Mr Joseph Spiers, whose family have been associated with this business since the close of the last century. In 1782 Mr Joseph Spiers’ great-grandfather came from Leicestershire to London with a family of 17 children. The youngest of these commenced business as a manufacturer of hat and other trimmings, all the others working with him in the trade. At his death the oldest son continued the business, and in 1810 he had two partners. The firm established a factory at Halstead, in Essex, but owing to the existence at that time of an Act of Parliament (soon afterwards repealed) forbidding any Middlesex manufacturer to have a factory in any other county, an arbitary action was brought against the firm, and its success necessitated the abandonment of the Halstead factory. The business was removed to the Borough in 1812, and two years later the existing partnership was dissolved. Mr Spiers, great-uncle of the present proprietor, continued the business after that with the assistance of Mr Charles Spiers. In 1823 a removal was made to Church Street, Spitalfields, and the manufacture of broad silk was commenced. This departure was followed in 1825 by the opening of a factory at Chippenham, Wiltshire, where girls were taught winding, weaving, &c., and this enterprise proved so successful that in a short time the factory was filled with looms, throwing machinery, and other apparatus all in busy operation. In 1830 the firm removed from Church Street to Steward Street, Spitalfields, and the total number of hands then employed in the various branches of the industry, including Chippenham, London, and a third factory at Macclesfield, was no less than one thousand. In 1838 the concern was wound up, and Mr Charles Spiers continued on his own account, retaining the Chippenham factory as the principal industrial centre. He died in 1868, and was succeeded by his son, Mr Joseph Spiers, the present head of the house. The headquarters of the business are now in Union Street, Borough, (Southwark) where the premises occupied comprise a large four- storey building, which affords excellent accommodation.

At Chipenham the firm have a very extensive factory, and carry upon a scale of much magnitude the manufacture of every description of hat trimmings, all of which - including galoons, silks, and satins for linings, leather linings, bands, &c.- are stocked at Union Street in large quantity and comprehensive variety. The trade controlled is one of very great volume, and is almost entirely confined in its effect to London, Lancashire, Glasgow, and Bristol, supplying the silk hat makers of the metropolis and the felt hat manufacturers of the Denton district. A large force of hands is employed, and several travellers are also engaged in waiting upon the firm's influential connections. Mr Joseph Spiers maintains the entire business and control of the business himself, and the conspicuous prosperity of the house under his capable administration stands as an ample and eloquent tribute to his personal resource and judgement. Individually, Mr Spiers is highly esteemed by all who have dealings with him, and his is a prominent name on the membership roll of the City Liberal Club.’