CAMPUS MARTIUS LONDINIENSIS VETUS
Sandy's Row Synagogue is located in the former Liberty of the the Old Artillery Ground.
This was a self governing district, a 'mini-council- of sorts, that was eventually absorbed into the Whitechapel Union by the Commissioners of the Poor.
This was subject to a legal dispute - did the Old Artillery Vestry with its trustees cease to exist for all purposes? In 1837 the Trustees objected to their abolition and absorption into the Whitechapel Union - to no avail.
Interestingly, the neighbouring area, Norton Folgate, appeared to continue to exist after its absorption, with its Trustees still meeting. Did the Trustees of the Old Artillery Ground continue to meet? Minute books up to the 1830's are in the Tower Hamlets Local History Collection. [S.46, S.73, S.80]
We know that when the Whitechapel Union was formed,the parish officers of the Old Artillery Ground refused to co-operate with the new Guardians.
In 1855 the liberty of Norton Folgate became part of the Whitechapel District Board of Works. In 1897 the Whitechapel District Board of Works. In 1897 the trustees contemplated agitating, together with the Old Artillery Ground Liberty, for inclusion in the City, but did not do so.
One assumes that the Trustees of the Old Artillery Ground still had independent existence in 1897, or how else could they have contemplated merging with the City of London, if they no longer existed in all respects?
It still appears in the Parliamentary Gazetter of 1848 and 1851
It was the smallest administrative area in England bound by statute.
In 1851, the inhabitants of the Old Artillery Ground were still meeting at their vestry rooms, witness this article in the Illustrated London News,1851
" On Wednesday, a meeting of the inhabitants of the Old Artillery Ground, in the Liberty of the Tower of London, was held at the Court-House,Ford Street....on the subject of the land tax payable by that liberty.....while the neighbouring parishes of Shoreditch and Bethnal Green....." seems to indicate the the Liberty of the Old Artillery was still in existence in some form or another as an administrative district as late as 1851.
Past this point in time, the Old Artillery Ground appears to lose its identity as a distinct district.
In 1900 the liberty of Norton Folgate became merged in the Borough of Stepney and the last meeting of the trustees took place on 24 October of that year.
The detailed discussion can be found here:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dIMwAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA43
A copy of the legal discussion follows below:
Here is another discussion of the legal case
Case of 1792
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