This week sees the Spitalfields Winter Festival, a celebration of music, craft and art inspired by this part of East London.
It's currently home to a strong Bengali community, but Spitalfields is perhaps most famous for its textile industry and in particular for the production of Spitalfields silk.
The silk industry arrived here at the end of the seventeenth century with the French Huguenots, fleeing persecution in France. Right at the heart of this most successful of London industries was a woman. Anna Maria Garthwaite, who has inspired many artists today.
The architectural historian Dan Cruickshank explained to Victoria Shepherd what the area and the industry were like.
Spitalfields Winter Festival is on until 19 December. See website for more details.
