To the north of Shoreditch lies HOXTON, originally Hoggesdon, a densely populated manufacturing district. It is traversed by the long Kingsland Road, continuing Shoreditch High St. On the east side of Kingsland Road, about + mile north of Shoreditch Church and in the heart of the cabinet-making district of London, is the Geffrye Museum, an interesting collection illustrating the development of furniture design and domestic craftsmanship (open free daily, 11-6, Sunday 2-6; closed on Monday other than bank holidays). The museum, opened in 1914, occupies the old Geffrye or Ironmongers' Almshouses (1715), a group of fourteen one-story houses ranged round three sides of a forecourt. The small chapel (shown on application) is a characteristic example of its class and period. Over the entrance is a statue of the founder, Sir Robert Geffrye (1613-1703), Lord Mayor and Master of the Ironmongers' Company.
The exhibits include complete rooms of various periods, staircases, doorways, chimney-pieces, grates, and iron, lead, and wood work from old London houses, besides many interesting and beautiful specimens of furniture (chiefly English) of the 16th, 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. Many of these are on loan and are frequently changed.
ROOM I. Deal panelling from Bradmore House. ROOM 2. Panelled room from 8 New Inn (1690). - ROOM 3. Deal panelled room from 63 Mansell St., with Chimneypiece from 56 Lincoln's Inn Fields. ROOM 6. Oak staircase from St. Augustine's Church, carvings by Gibbons from St. Paul's; 18th century doorways. ROOM 8. Carved deal staircase (1637) from Boswell's House in Great Queen St.; oak panelling. ROOM 9. Mahogany panelled room designed by Alfred Stevens, from his house in Haverstock Hill. ROOM 10. Door from Newgate.
To the north of Hoxton lie the relatively uninteresting quarters of DE BEAUVOIR TOWN, KINGSLAND, and DALSTON, the last with the German Hospital and Dalston Junction, a busy station.
