2-699-119 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Kirby Castle, Bethnal Green (The Blind Beggar's House)', (c1872). 'Kirby's Castle', built in 1570 by John Kirby at Bethnal Green, (now part of east London), later became a private lunatic asylum - Wright's Madhouse. The house also became associated with the ballad The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green. From Old and New London, Vol. II: A Narrative of Its History, Its People, and Its Places, by Walter Thornbury. [Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., London, Paris & New York]