Entrance to the parkReplica of the Shaheed Minar monumentGravestones
Altab Ali Park is a small park on the Whitechapel Road, in Whitechapel, London.[1] Formerly known as St Mary's Park, it is the site of the old 14th-century, once whitewashed church, St Mary Matfelon, from which Whitechapel gets its name.[2]
St Mary's was badly damaged by enemy action in 1940, during The Blitz,[3] and subsequently demolished. Little remains of the old church, other than the floor plan and some graves. Those buried in former churchyard include Richard Parker, Richard Brandon, Sir John Cass, and "Sir" Jeffrey Dunstan, "Mayor of Garratt".
The park was renamed Altab Ali Park in 1998[4] in memory of Altab Ali, a 24-year-old British Bangladeshi leather clothing worker, who was murdered on 4 May 1978, in the adjacent Adler Street, by three teenage boys as he walked home from work.[5] Ali's murder was one of the many racist attacks that occurred in the area at that time.[6] At the entrance to the park is an arch created by David Petersen, developed as a memorial to Altab Ali and other victims of racist attacks. The arch incorporates a complex Bengali and European style pattern, meant to show the merging of different cultures in East London.[7][8][9]
Along the path down the centre of the park are letters spelling out "The shade of my tree is offered to those who come and go fleetingly", a fragment of a poem by Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, which is no longer there.
The Shaheed Minar, which commemorates the Bengali Language Movement, stands in the southwest corner of Altab Ali Park. The monument is a smaller replica of the one in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and symbolises a mother and her martyred sons.[10] It was unveiled by the Speaker of the Bangladesh National Parliament, Humayun Rashid Choudhury, in February 1999.[11]
The nearest London Underground station is Aldgate East on the District and Hammersmith & City lines.
^"Parks and Open Spaces - Tower Hamlets". London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
^"Whitechapel's Free Art & History". exploringeastlondon.co.uk. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
^"St Mary Matfellon Whitechapel". Middlesex-heraldry.org.uk. 30 August 2009. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
^"Aldgate". London-footprints.co.uk. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
^"Brick Lane Tour". Worldwrite.org.uk. 4 May 1978. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
^Keith, Michael (2005). After the Cosmopolitan?: Multicultural Cities and the Future of Racism. Routledge. p. 144. ISBN 9781134294534.
^"Altab Ali Arch". Whitechapel's Free Art and History. Archived from the original on 28 March 2008. Retrieved 15 July 2008.
^"Altab Ali murdered in Whitechapel, London". An Oral History of the Runnymede Trust, 1968-1988. Runnymede Trust. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
^"Gateway to Altab Ali Park". Public Monuments & Sculpture Association. Archived from the original on 14 April 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
^Rafique, Ahmed (2012). "Shaheed Minar". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
^"Shaheed Minar". Survey of London. 27 June 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
AltabAliPark is a small park on the Whitechapel Road, in Whitechapel, London. Formerly known as St Mary's Park, it is the site of the old 14th-century...
AltabAli (Bengali: আলতাব আলী; 24 Oct 1953– 4 May 1978) was a Bangladeshi textile worker stabbed to death in London, in a racially motivated killing....
footprint and former graveyard remain, as part of AltabAliPark. On 4 May 1978, three teenagers murdered AltabAli, a 24 year old Bangladesh-born clothing worker...
which commemorates the Bengali Language Movement, present in AltabAliPark – the park is also the main venue for rallies and demonstrations, and also...
Street and Whitechapel High Street to St Mary Matfelon Church (now AltabAliPark) and some way along Whitechapel Road. The adjacent side streets, most...
Hall Park off Fairfield Road, Bow, which was once the site of a lunatic asylum. Other parks include AltabAliPark, Mudchute Park and Grove Hall Park. Island...
authentic Asian food and clothes in the market and on shop fronts. AltabAliPark sits on the site of the original church at the western end of Whitechapel...
footprint and graveyard – its headstones removed – are the basis of AltabAliPark on the south side of the thoroughfare. A building going by this name...
A replica of Dhaka's Shaheed Minar was built in London in 1999 in AltabAliPark, Whitechapel. Members of the community come here to mark International...
leaving Liverpool Street station. The street is the location for Monica Ali's book Brick Lane, published in 2003, and the film of the same name of 2007...
dog. the dogs of a later king, Henry VIII, who also kept deer in Greenwich Park. Again it is thought that his hunting dogs might have been kept in derelict...
constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow. Its MP since 2010 has been Rushanara Ali of the Labour Party. London overall has a directly elected executive Mayor...
Old Spitalfields Roman Road Parks and open spaces AltabAliPark Bartlett Park Island Gardens Langdon Park Mile End Park Mudchute Sir John McDougall Gardens...
Brick Lane following the murder of AltabAli in 1978, and the Newham Youth Movement following the murder of Akhtar Ali Baig in 1980. According to the UK's...
Old Spitalfields Roman Road Parks and open spaces AltabAliPark Bartlett Park Island Gardens Langdon Park Mile End Park Mudchute Sir John McDougall Gardens...
the A11 (Mile End Road) connecting the two halves of Mile End Park to form a linear park). It included new retail frontages.[citation needed] The St Clement's...
2007. Thomas, Marina (16 March 2011). "Limehouse comedian Lee Hurst joins park protesters on march to City Hall". Retrieved 14 November 2018. "David Owen...
represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Rushanara Ali of the Labour Party. London overall has a directly elected executive Mayor...
Projects include Kings Crescent Estate. In 2011 muf worked to renovate AltabAliPark. muf were formed in 1994 when they were loaned office space for 6-months...
gardens, including Canada Square, Cabot Square, Westferry Circus, Jubilee Park, and Crossrail Place Roof Garden. Together with Heron Quays and Wood Wharf...
original cemetery, which was passed to Stepney Council to maintain as a public park in mid-Victorian times. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the crypt...
represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Rushanara Ali of the Labour Party. The Spitalfields Neighbourhood Planning Forum, which...
Old Spitalfields Roman Road Parks and open spaces AltabAliPark Bartlett Park Island Gardens Langdon Park Mile End Park Mudchute Sir John McDougall Gardens...
London, protesters at AltabAliPark in solidarity for Shahbagh were attacked by Jamaat-e-Islami supporters. Protests are held at the park every week by both...
constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow, represented since 2010 by Rushanara Ali of the Labour Party. George Adams (born 1947 in Shoreditch), former professional...
Mary's Whitechapel, near where the attack took place, was renamed "AltabAliPark" in commemoration. Racially-motivated violence has continued to occasionally...
Hamlets still owes much to this campaign. A park on Whitechapel Road is named after AltabAli. The park is the main destination for demonstrations for...
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