| Stepney St Dunstan | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Area | |
| • 1851 | 812 acres (3.29 km2) [1] |
| • 1861 | 812 acres (3.29 km2) [1] |
| Population | |
| • 1851 | 80,218 [1] |
| • 1861 | 98,836 [1] |
| History | |
| • Origin | Ancient parish |
| • Created | 10th century |
| • Abolished | 1866 |
| • Succeeded by | Various (see text) |
| Status | Civil parish |
Stepney was an ancient civil and ecclesiastical parish in the historic county of Middlesex to the east and north east of the City of London, England. [2] [3]
The parish had Anglo-Saxon origins as the vill of Stepney, a larger area including Hackney and Bromley-by-Bow. The vill was under the direct jurisdiction of the Bishops of London, and was centred on a church that eventually was dedicated to St Dunstan. [2] The parish was included in the returns of the Bills of mortality from 1636. [4]
It was a large parish and contained a number of distinct communities, comprising much of what became the East End of London. The area witnessed a very large increase in population from the beginning of the 17th century due both to the development of the docks and the suburban expansion of London. This led to the various parts of Stepney gradually being constituted as separate parishes. The final division of the parish of Stepney took place in 1866. [2] [3]
The parish had an open vestry until 1589. It was replaced with a select vestry of 32 members, eight from each of Ratcliffe, Limehouse, Poplar, and Mile End with Bethnal Green. Elections took place every five years, with the number of members increased to 40. [5]
Stepney had a number of well-defined subdivisions which were eventually constituted parishes in their own right. The vestries of these parishes were entrusted with a number of purely local government or "civil" functions such as highway maintenance and relief of the poor. Until 1837, when a number of new ecclesiastical parishes were formed, the boundaries of the civil and Church of England parishes were identical. [2] [3] By 1890 the ancient parish was divided between 67 Anglican parishes (a number later greatly reduced) which had little relation to the civil boundaries and are not listed here. [6]
| Daughter parish | Date of creation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Whitechapel | By 1329 | St Mary Matfelon, known as the "white chapel", built as a Chapel of ease in the 13th century, on the road to Colchester (now Whitechapel High Street and Whitechapel Road). The area had become a distinct parish by 1329. Later included reclaimed land between the medieval river wall and the low water mark and known as "Wapping-Whitechapel" to distinguish it from "Wapping-Stepney". This later became the parish of Wapping in 1694. |
| Shadwell | 1670 | Chapel of ease built for the precinct of Shadwell by the Honourable East India Company in 1656, became parish church of St Paul Shadwell in 1670. |
| Wapping (formed from Whitechapel) | 1694 | The area of reclaimed land known as "Wapping-Whitechapel" (see Whitechapel above) Chapel of ease built by Honourable East India Company in 1614, became parish church of St John Wapping in 1694. [7] |
| Stratford-le-Bow | 1719 | Chapel of ease of St Mary built in the 14th century. Made a parish in 1719. Included the Old Ford area [2] |
| Limehouse | 1729 | St Anne's Limehouse was one of the new Commission for Building Fifty New Churches, begun in 1723. [7] Became a parish church in 1729. [3] |
| St George in the East | The area formerly known as Wapping-Stepney. [2] The church was begun in 1715 by the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches. [7] Became a parish in 1729. [3] | |
| Spitalfields | Christ Church, Spitalfields was one of the new Commission for Building Fifty New Churches, begun in 1723. Became a parish church in 1729. [3] | |
| Bethnal Green | 1743 | Hamlet of Bethnal Green formed into a separate parish (St Matthew) by act of parliament |
| Poplar | 1817 | Chapel of ease for the hamlet of Poplar (now St Matthias Old Church) was built by Honourable East India Company in 1654. Following the creation of the parish, a new parish church of All Saints Poplar was built in 1821–23. The parish included the entire Isle of Dogs. [2] |
| Mile End New Town | 1866 | Hamlet adjacent to Spitalfields and Whitechapel. Was detached from the remainder of the parish of Stepney in 1743 by the separation of Bethnal Green. |
| Mile End Old Town | The Mile End area formed the centre of the parish of Stepney, and included St Dunstan's Church. | |
| Ratcliff | Hamlet of Ratcliff (or Ratcliffe) formed the remaining riverside portion of Stepney |
In 1895, the title Bishop of Stepney was given to a new suffragan in the Diocese of London responsible for an area of East London approximating to the ancient parish. [8] The name was revived for local government in 1900 when the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney was formed covering part of the ancient parish. The area of the parish now makes up the majority of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Bethnal Green is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By the 16th century the term applied to a wider rural area, the Hamlet of Bethnal Green, which subsequently became a Parish, then a Metropolitan Borough before merging with neighbouring areas to become the north-western part of the new Tower Hamlets.
Stepney is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in East London and part of the East End. Stepney is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name applied to a much larger manor and parish. Stepney Green is a remnant of a larger area of Common Land formerly known as Mile End Green.
The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government Act 1888. The Act created an administrative County of London, which included within its territory the City of London. However, the City of London and the County of London formed separate ceremonial counties for "non-administrative" purposes. The local authority for the county was the London County Council (LCC), which initially performed only a limited range of functions, but gained further powers during its 76-year existence. The LCC provided very few services within the City of London, where the ancient Corporation monopolised local governance. In 1900, the lower-tier civil parishes and district boards were replaced with 28 new metropolitan boroughs. The territory of the county was 74,903 acres (303.12 km2) in 1961. During its existence, there was a long-term decline in population as more residents moved into the outer suburbs; there were periodic reviews of the local government structures in the greater London area and several failed attempts to expand the boundaries of the county. In 1965, the London Government Act 1963 replaced the county with the much larger Greater London administrative area.
Lambeth was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in south London, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855 and became part of the County of London in 1889. The parish of Lambeth became a metropolitan borough in 1900, following the London Government Act 1899, with the parish vestry replaced by a borough council.
St Pancras was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, governed by an administrative vestry. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855 and became part of the County of London in 1889. The parish of St Pancras became a metropolitan borough in 1900, following the London Government Act 1899, with the parish vestry replaced by a borough council. In 1965 the borough was abolished and its former area became part of the London Borough of Camden in Greater London.
Bethnal Green was a civil parish and a metropolitan borough of the County of London between 1899 and 1965, when it was merged with the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney and the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar to form the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Poplar was a local government district in the metropolitan area of London, England. It was formed as a district of the Metropolis in 1855 and became a metropolitan borough in the County of London in 1900. It comprised Poplar, Millwall, Bromley-by-Bow and Bow as well as Old Ford, Fish Island and Cubitt Town.
Bow is an area of east London, England, within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, 4.6 miles (7.4 km) east of Charing Cross.
Leamouth is a locality in the Blackwall area of Poplar, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area takes its name from the former Leamouth Wharf and lies on the west side of the confluence of the Bow Creek stretch of the Lea, at its confluence with the River Thames.
Old Ford is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets that is named after the natural ford which provided a crossing of the River Lea.
St Sepulchre was an ancient parish which had its southern part within the boundaries of the City of London and its northern part outside. Its former area is now within the contemporary neighbourhoods of Smithfield, Farringdon and Clerkenwell.
Shoreditch (St Leonard) was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex. It was both a civil parish, used for administrative purposes, and an ecclesiastical parish of the Church of England. The parish church is St Leonard's, Shoreditch, often simply called "Shoreditch Church".
Stoke Newington was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex. It was both a civil parish, used for administrative purposes, and an ecclesiastical parish of the Church of England.
Hornsey was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex. It was both a civil parish, used for administrative purposes, and an ecclesiastical parish of the Church of England.
Hackney was a parish in the historic county of Middlesex. The parish church of St John-at-Hackney was built in 1789, replacing the nearby former 16th-century parish church dedicated to St Augustine. The original tower of that church was retained to hold the bells until the new church could be strengthened; the bells were finally removed to the new St John's in 1854. See details of other, more modern, churches within the original parish boundaries below.
The Boundary Estate is a housing development in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London.
Edmonton is one of six hundreds of the historic county of Middlesex, England. A rotated L-shape, its area has been in the south and east firmly part of the urban growth of London. Since the 1965 formation of London boroughs it mainly corresponds to the London Boroughs of Enfield, a negligible portion of Barnet and a narrow majority of Haringey. Its ancient parish of South Mimms has since 1965 been part of the Hertsmere district in Hertfordshire.
St George Hanover Square was a civil parish in the metropolitan area of Westminster, Middlesex, later Greater London, England. The creation of the parish accompanied the building of the Church of St George's, Hanover Square, constructed by the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches to meet the demands of the growing population. The parish was formed in 1724 from part of the ancient parish of St Martin in the Fields in the Liberty of Westminster and county of Middlesex. It included some of the most fashionable areas of the West End, including Belgravia and Mayfair. Civil parish administration, known as a select vestry, was dominated by members of the British nobility until the parish adopted the Vestries Act 1831. The vestry was reformed again in 1855 by the Metropolis Management Act. In 1889 the parish became part of the County of London and the vestry was abolished in 1900, replaced by Westminster City Council. The parish continued to have nominal existence until 1922. As created, it was a parish for both church and civil purposes, but the boundaries of the ecclesiastical parish were adjusted in 1830, 1835 and 1865.
Mile End New Town is a former hamlet and then civil parish in the East End of London. Its former area is now part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
St George in the East, historically known as Wapping-Stepney, was an ancient parish, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England. The place name is no longer widely used.
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