Stepney is a district in the

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

of London in the

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, London borough covering much of the traditional East End of London, East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropol ...

. The district 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 Stepney Green Park is a park in Stepney, Tower Hamlets, London. It is a remnant of a larger area of common land. It was formerly known as Mile End Green. A Crossrail construction site occupies part of the green, with Stepney Green cavern below ...

is a remnant of a larger area of Common Land formerly known as Mile End Green. The area was built up rapidly in the 19th century, mainly to accommodate immigrant workers and displaced London poor, and developed a reputation for poverty, overcrowding, violence and political dissent. It was severely damaged during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

, with over a third of housing totally destroyed; and then, in the 1960s,

slum clearance Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...

and development replaced most residential streets with

tower block A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently ...

s and modern housing estates. Some

Georgian architecture Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Georg ...

and

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

terraced housing survive in patches: for example

Arbour Square Arbour Square is a late Georgian square in Stepney, in the borough of Tower Hamlets, east London, England. It is located just off the Commercial Road (A13) approximately one mile (1.6 km) east of the City of London. The square is currently ...

, the eastern side of Stepney Green, and the streets around Matlock Street.

Etymology

The first surviving record of the place name is from around 1000 AD as ''Stybbanhyð'', "Stybba's hyð"; hyð developed into hithe (meaning landing-place) in modern English, so "Stybba's landing-place". The parish of

Stebbing Stebbing is a small village in the Uttlesford district of northern Essex, England. The village is situated north of the ancient Roman road Stane Street. It is from the nearest railway station (), and from nearest airport (London Stansted). Th ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

also appears to have taken its name from an individual called Stybba. The hithe itself is thought to have been at Ratcliff, just under south of St Dunstan's Church.

Changing Scope

Historically, Stepney was a very large

manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

and

Ancient Parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...

which covered most of what would become the

. From 1900 to 1965 the place-name was applied to the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney, which in 1965 became the south-west part of the new

which currently administers the area. There is currently a Stepney episcopal area in the Anglican

Diocese of London The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England. It lies directly north of the Thames. For centuries the diocese covered a vast tract and bordered the dioceses of Norwich and Lincoln to the north ...

, which covers the London boroughs of Hackney,

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

and Tower Hamlets, and has its own

suffragan bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

. The area of Stepney has had no local government definition since 1965, but is used to refer to the whole former parish and also to a relatively small area within it.

Manor and Ancient Parish

For hundreds of years the term Stepney referred to the

Manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

and

of Stepney, with the first contemporary record of the Manor around the year 1000. The Manor covered an area stretching from the eastern edge of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

to the Lea and from Stamford Hill down to the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

; in this way covering an area equivalent to the modern borough of Tower Hamlets, as well as the district of Hackney (in the wider modern borough of the same name). The origins of the Manor (and

Vill Vill is a term used in English history to describe the basic rural land unit, roughly comparable to that of a parish, manor, village or tithing. Medieval developments The vill was the smallest territorial and administrative unit—a geographical ...

) are not known, but its large size, relatively rich soils and position so close to the walls of London have led to suggestions that the manor was the foundation grant of land made to the Bishop of London to support the creation of the new diocese of London (the

East Saxon la, Regnum Orientalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the East Saxons , common_name = Essex , era = Heptarchy , status = , status_text = , government_type = Monarch ...

see See or SEE may refer to: * Sight - seeing Arts, entertainment, and media * Music: ** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals *** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See'' ** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho * Television * ...

) at the time of the establishment of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

in 604 AD. St Dunstan's church is recorded as being founded (or more likely rebuilt) by

Dunstan Saint Dunstan (c. 909 – 19 May 988) was an English bishop. He was successively Abbot of Glastonbury, Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury, later canonised as a saint. His work restor ...

himself in 952, and as the first church in the manor, will have served the whole of that landholding. The proto-parish of Stepney will therefore have covered the same area as the manor. Hackney appears to have been an early daughter parish of Stepney; a church at Hackney is first mentioned in 1275 but is likely to have been in place before then. From the 1100s, the development and improvement in enforcement of

Canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

made it difficult to form new parishes, so Hackney seems likely to have formed an independent parish in the 12th century, with the district remaining a sub-manor of Stepney. It was usual for one or more manors to form a parish, but the manor of Stepney's great size meant that this was reversed with two parishes (Stepney and Hackney) serving the single manor of Stepney. For local government purposes, the parish sub-divided into Hamlets.

Manor

The

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

survey of 1086 gives the name as ''Stibanhede'' and says that the land was held by the

Bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

and was 32 hides large, mainly used for ploughing, meadows, woodland for 500 pigs, and 4 mills. The survey recorded 183 households; 74 of villeins who ploughed the land, 57 of

cottars The Cottars are a Canadian Celtic musical group from Cape Breton Island formed in 2000. The group's current members are Ciarán MacGillivray, Fiona MacGillivray, Bruce Timmins, and Claire Pettit. History The Cottars were founded in late 2000 wh ...

who assisted the villeins in return for a hut or cottage and 52 of bordars. This is estimated to have given the manor a total population of around a thousand people.

Bishop William held this land in
demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...
, in the manor of Stepney, on the day on which King Edward was alive and dead. In the same vill
Ranulph Flambard Ranulf Flambard ( c. 1060 – 5 September 1128) was a medieval Norman Bishop of Durham and an influential government minister of King William Rufus of England. Ranulf was the son of a priest of Bayeux, Normandy, and his nickname Flambard m ...
holds 3½ hides of the bishop.

The Bishop of London held many other estates around London, and one of them, heavily wooded Hornsey, was attached to Stepney as a remote

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

for a time (it was common practice for wooded exclaves to be attached to more intensely farmed and densely populated estates in that period). The sub-manor of Hornsey was not part of the original territory of Stepney but was subsequently attached as an administrative convenience, and detached once more around the late 13th century. The earliest record of the district's Manor house, is from 1207, but the Bishop may have had a home in the Manor long before. The house was first known as Bishopswood, and later Bishops Hall or Bonner Hall, and was on a site in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common land, Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heat ...

later occupied by the

London Chest Hospital The London Chest Hospital, located in Bethnal Green in London, adjacent to Victoria Park, London, Victoria Park, was a hospital with a national reputation for treatment of Heart, cardiac and Lung, pulmonary disease. Since 1999 it had been run by ...

. Edward VI passed Stepney to the

Wentworth Wentworth may refer to: People * Wentworth (surname) * Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth (1873–1957), Lady Wentworth, notable Arabian horse breeder * S. Wentworth Horton (1885–1960), New York state senator * Wentworth Miller (born 1 ...

family, and thence to their descendant, the

Earl of Cleveland Baron Wentworth is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1529 for Thomas Wentworth, who was also ''de jure'' sixth Baron le Despencer of the 1387 creation. The title was created by writ, which means that it can descend via femal ...

. The Manors of Stepney and Hackney were linked, until they passed into separate ownership in the 1660s. The system of

copyhold Copyhold was a form of customary land ownership common from the Late Middle Ages into modern times in England. The name for this type of land tenure is derived from the act of giving a copy of the relevant title deed that is recorded in the man ...

, whereby land was leased to tenants for terms as short as seven years, prevailed throughout the manor. This severely limited scope for improvement of the land and new building until the estate was broken up in the 19th century.''Stepney, Old and New London: Volume 2'' (1878), pp. 137–142
accessed: 17 November 2007

Church and Parish

St Dunstan's Church was founded (or rebuilt) around 952, by

St Dunstan Saint Dunstan (c. 909 – 19 May 988) was an English bishop. He was successively Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury, later canonised as a saint. His work restored monastic life i ...

himself when he was

, and therefore also Lord of the Manor of Stepney. Many bishops lived in the manor and Dunstan may have done the same. The church was dedicated to Dunstan after he was canonised in 1029, making him the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of Stepney. The bells of the church, cast at the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells a ...

, appear in the

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

Oranges and Lemons "Oranges and Lemons" is a traditional English nursery rhyme, folksong, and singing game which refers to the bells of several churches, all within or close to the City of London. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as No 13190. The earlies ...

The church is known as "The Mother Church of the

" as the very large parish covered most of what would become inner East London, before population growth led to the creation of a large number of daughter parishes. It is also known as "The Church of the High Seas" due to its traditional maritime connections. In 1720 the historian John Strype wrote that Stepney (together with its daughter parishes) should be esteemed a province rather than a parish, due to its large population, area and the diversity of urban, rural and maritime industries. Stepney formed a large Ancient Parish in the

Tower division The Tower Division was a liberty in the ancient county of Middlesex, England. It was also known as the Tower Hamlets, and took its name from the military obligations owed to the Constable of the Tower of London. The term ‘Hamlets’ probably ...

of the Ossulstone hundred of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

. The parish included the hamlets of Mile End Old Town,

Mile End New Town 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. History Following a period of rapid growth it became a hamlet within the large ancient p ...

, Ratcliff, Wapping-Stepney, Bow, Shadwell,

, Limehouse and Poplar. The Hamlets were territorial sub-divisions (as opposed to small villages), which ultimately became independent daughter parishes.

Ties with Shoreditch

The origin of the neighbouring parish of Shoreditch is obscure, but it primarily served the manors of

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. As a part of Shoreditch, it is often considered to be part of the East End – the historic core of wider East London. It was historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. I ...

and Haggerston, both manors recorded at Domesday in 1086, together with a part of the Manor of Stepney. The manor of

, or a manor called Hoxton, was in Shoreditch, yet in 1352 is recorded as part of the parish of Hackney. It is not clear if or how these links led to the inclusion of the parish of Shoreditch in the

Tower Division The Tower Division was a liberty in the ancient county of Middlesex, England. It was also known as the Tower Hamlets, and took its name from the military obligations owed to the Constable of the Tower of London. The term ‘Hamlets’ probably ...

Customs and obligations

The Manor of Stepney was held by the Bishop of London, but the Constable of the Tower of London had important rights and responsibilities in the area. The Constable had responsibilities for the

below the Tower and for the care of parts of the Lea. In return the people of the area helped garrison the Tower. The early origin of these arrangements is obscure and the first surviving record of the military obligation dates from 1554, but is though to be much older, with varying estimates in the post-Norman medieval period. These arrangements evolved into the creation of the Tower Division, also known as the Tower Hamlets. The manor was unusual in practising the gavelkind method of inheritance, a custom largely limited to

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. St Dunstan's has a long association with the sea, with the parish of Stepney being responsible for registration of British maritime births, marriages and deaths until the 19th century. From the Tudor era onwards, the parish-level was responsible for mitigating the poverty of people born in the area. Stepney's additional responsibility for those born at sea was something of a burden. This maritime association is remembered in the old rhyme:

Break-up of the Ancient Parish

The rapid growth in population meant that over time the parish was broken up. Hackney is thought to have become independent in the 12th century, Whitechapel in the 14th and

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

in the 16th. Some sub-divisions for instance those that form

, Bow and Poplar are known to have been based on pre-existing hamlets forming new daughter parishes. Such parish divisions were unusual and required an act of Parliament. From 1819 the rump of Stepney consisted of three hamlets; Mile End New Town (which was detached from the rest), Ratcliffe and Mile End Old Town (which included St Dunstan's church). This residual parish was in extent. Stepney Civil Parish Map 1870

Until 1837, the boundaries of English civil and Church of England ecclesiastical boundaries were identical, but after that the Church of England sub-divided its parishes to suit local needs and circumstances, especially in densely populated areas such as Stepney, and the civil and ecclesiastical boundaries differed from that point on. By 1890 the ancient parish was divided between 67 Anglican parishes (a number later greatly reduced) which had little relation to the civil parish boundaries. In 1866 the rump civil parish of Stepney came to an end when its three component hamlets (Mile End New Town, Ratcliff and Mile End Old Town) became independent civil parishes.

History

As with most of the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

, the contracted area now known as Stepney was sparsely populated until the 19th century, with a population focussed on scattered farms and small hamlets. The urbanisation of the area was driven by the maritime trades along the river, as well as ribbon development along the Mile End Road. Other factors included the development of London's docks and railways, combined with slum clearance, which pushed the displaced poor and various immigrants looking for work into cheap housing being built in the area. The Trinity Green Almshouses were built in 1695 to provide housing for retired sailors. They are the oldest almshouses in

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

Malplaquet House Malplaquet House is a Grade II listed Georgian house at 137–139 Mile End Road, Stepney, London. The four-storey house was built as one of three in 1742 by Thomas Andrews; only two of the houses survive to the present day. A wealthy Jewish wid ...

is named after the Battle of Malplaquet, one of the main battles of the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

, which took place in France in 1709. However, it is not known whether this naming came from the Jewish widow of the London merchant, who made his living selling war salvage, or from a later resident, the military surgeon Edward Lee. It was home to a variety of small businesses including a bookmaker and a printer, before being occupied in 1910 by the Union of Stepney Ratepayers. The Leonard Montefiore memorial fountain on Stepney Green is named for a young writer and philanthropist, Leonard Montefiore, who at the time of his death in 1879 was known for his philanthropic work in the East End of London. Montefiore attended

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, where his posthumous memoir reports that he was a devotee of

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...

. Whilst at Balliol he became a friend of

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

, who after Montefiore's death allegedly proposed to his sister Charlotte. He was also influenced by

Arnold Toynbee Arnold Toynbee may refer to: * Arnold Toynbee (historian, born 1852) (d. 1883), British economic historian * Arnold J. Toynbee Arnold Joseph Toynbee (; 14 April 1889 – 22 October 1975) was an English historian, a philosopher of history, an ...

and Benjamin Jowett. Montefiore was chief assistant to Samuel Barnett in his work regarding the extension of Oxford University to London, and was secretary of the Tower Hamlets branch of the Society for the Extension of University Teaching. The Jewish Encyclopedia says "Montefiore was associated with many philanthropic movements, especially with the movement for women's emancipation." Montefiore died at Newport, Rhode Island, aged 27. According to the Women's rights activist Emily Faithfull in her book "Three Visits to America" published in 1884 Montefiore died "''While he was visiting the United States, in order to see for himself what could be learned from the political and social condition of the people, must ever be deplored. The world can ill afford to lose men of such deep thought and energetic action.''" The memorial fountain has the following poem engraved on its side: ''"Clear brain and sympathetic heart, A spirit on flame with love for man, Hands quick to labour, slow to part, If any good since time began, A soul can fashion such souls can."'' In 1883,

Jacob P. Adler Jacob Pavlovich Adler (Yiddish: יעקבֿ פּאַװלאָװיטש אַדלער; born Yankev P. Adler; February 12, 1855 – April 1, 1926)IMDB biography was a Jewish actor and star of Yiddish theater, first in Odessa, and later in London and ...

arrived in London with a troupe of refugee professional actors. He enlisted the help of local amateurs, and the ''Russian Jewish Operatic Company'' made their debut at the Beaumont Hall, close to

Stepney Green tube station Stepney Green is a London Underground station located on Mile End Road in Stepney, London, United Kingdom. It is between Whitechapel and Mile End on the District line and the Hammersmith & City line, and is in Travelcard Zone 2. History The sta ...

. Within two years they were able to establish their own theatre in

Brick Lane Brick Lane (Bengali: ব্রিক লেন) is a street in the East End of London, in the borough of Tower Hamlets. It runs from Swanfield Street in Bethnal Green in the north, crosses the Bethnal Green Road before reaching the busiest ...

. The Metropolitan Borough of Stepney was formed in 1900. In 1965, it was abolished and a newly created London Borough of Tower Hamlets was created, which covered much of the same administrative area. Stepney Green railway station was opened in 1902 by the

Whitechapel and Bow Railway The Whitechapel and Bow Railway was an underground railway in east London, United Kingdom, now entirely integrated into the London Underground system.Wolmar, C., ''Subterranean Railway'', (2004) It was a joint venture between the Metropolitan Dis ...

, a joint venture between the

District Railway The Metropolitan District Railway, also known as the District Railway, was a passenger railway that served London from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an " inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the first par ...

and the

London, Tilbury and Southend Railway The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR), was a British railway company, whose network connected Fenchurch Street railway station, Fenchurch Street station, in central London, with destinations in east London and Essex, including , , , T ...

. The station passed to London Underground in 1950. In the early 20th century, Stepney was one of the most

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

neighbourhoods in England; it was eventually superseded as such by Stamford Hill. On 31 July 1987 the Docklands Light Railway, which operated over the old LBR line, commenced operations, with new platforms (platforms 3 and 4) built on the site of the old LBR platforms; at East Stepney which had been renamed Limehouse on 11 May that year.

Governance

The

Lord-Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ...

Ken Olisa Sir Kenneth Aphunezi Olisa (born 13 October 1951) is a British businessman and philanthropist. He is the first mixed heritage Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London. He founded and led the AIM-listed technology merchant bank Interregnum and now lea ...

Her Majesty Her Majesty may refer to: * Majesty, a style used by monarchs (or a wife of a king) ** Margrethe II of Denmark (born 1940), Queen of Denmark ** Queen Camilla (born 1947), Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms; wife of Kin ...

representative Representative may refer to: Politics *Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people *House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities *Legislator, someon ...

for Greater London, including Stepney. He has no political role and holds no office in any political party. The Lord Lieutenancy is purely an honorary titular position. Stepney is in the constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow, represented in the House of Commons of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremac ...

since 2010 by Rushanara Ali of the Labour Party. London overall has a directly elected executive Mayor of London, currently Sadiq Khan, and the

City and East City and East is a constituency represented in the London Assembly. Created in 2000 it was represented by John Biggs until 2016. Since the 2016 assembly elections the constituency has been represented by Unmesh Desai, of the Labour Party. Bo ...

seat in the

London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...

is held by the Labour Party's

Unmesh Desai Unmesh Desai is a British politician. A member of the Labour Party, he has represented City and East in the London Assembly since 2016. He served as Councillor on the London Borough of Newham from 1998 until 2016, representing East Ham Centra ...

. Tower Hamlets London Borough Council is the local authority and also has a directly elected executive mayor, the Mayor of Tower Hamlets John Biggs. Stepney has local councillors from three wards, St Dunstan's, Bethnal Green and Stepney Green.

Geography

Stepney Green, Stepney Green Court, E1 - geograph

The Stepney Green Conservation Area was designated in January 1973, covering the area previously known as Mile End Old Town. It is a large Conservation Area with an irregular shape that encloses buildings around Mile End Road, Assembly Passage, Louisa Street and Stepney Green itself. It is an area of exceptional architectural and historic interest, with a character and appearance worthy of protection and enhancement. It is situated just north of the medieval village of Stepney, which was clustered around St. Dunstan's Church. Stepney Green developed as a street of residential housing off the Mile End Road in the 15th century, and now refers to the area in north Stepney.Stepney Green Conservation Area
towerhamlets.gov.uk A brewery was founded in 1738 that developed into Charrington and Co. in 1897. The brewery building, the Anchor Brewery, was on the north side of Mile End Road, opposite Stepney Green; and is now the site of the Anchor Retail Unit, owned by

Henderson Global Investors Henderson Group plc was a global investment management company with its principal place of business in the City of London. It merged with Janus Capital Group in May 2017 to create Janus Henderson. History The Company was established in 1934 t ...

, though the Brewery Offices still remain on the corner of Mile End Road and Cephas Avenue.

Nearest places

* Limehouse * Mile End * Shadwell * Whitechapel * Bow

Community

The Stepney Community Trust, a community-led charity with a long history of local action, was set up in 1982 as the St Mary's Centre to respond to the severe housing and social deprivation in the area. The name was later changed to Stepney Community Trust.

Stepney City Farm Stepney City Farm is a city farm in Stepney, London, England. It is situated on Stepney Way with its entrance on the roundabout leading onto Stepney High Street and Belgrave Street towards Limehouse. The land is owned by Tower Hamlets Council t ...

is a city farm which provides a number of community services, such as guided tours, workshops and other activities., was founded in 1979 by Lynne Bennett; at that time it was called Stepping Stones. Local residents, schools, churches and community groups were consulted and wasteland left after a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

bomb destroyed the Stepney Congregational Church in 1941 was secured for the farm's use. The Stepney Historical Trust was set up in 1989 to advance the public's education on the history of Stepney and the surrounding areas. It is based in the London Dockers Athletic and Social Club and has installed a series of plaques on sites of historic interest. Jewish Care was created in 1990 by the merger of two previous charities to care for the community needs cost-effectively. It is based at the Brenner Centre in Raine House. The

City Gateway City Gateway is a charitable organisation, charity that provides training for disadvantaged young people in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and other boroughs of Greater London. Services City Gateway works with disadvantaged individuals throu ...

Women Programmes were established to provide opportunities for local women in Stepney to gain independence, grow in confidence and access employment and develop skills in a supportive community environment.

Demographics

Due to the availability of cheap housing, the

and London Borough of Stepney has been home to various immigrants who have contributed to the culture and history of the area, such as the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

s in the 17th century, the Irish in the 18th century,

Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

fleeing

pogroms A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russian ...

in Eastern Europe towards the end of the 19th century, and the

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...

community settling in the East End from the 1960s onwards. The area still contains a range of immigrants, particularly young Asian families, as well as elderly East Enders, some students, and the beginnings of a young middle class. The 2011 UK Census revealed that 47% of the population was Bengali; the highest percentage of Bengalis in Southern England.

White British White British is an ethnicity classification used for the native white population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population wa ...

people comprise just over a quarter of the ward of St. Dunstan's and Stepney Green.

Education

Stepney All Saints School Stepney All Saints Church of England Secondary School (formerly known as Sir John Cass's Foundation and Redcoat School) is a Church of England voluntary aided school and sixth form located in Stepney, London, England. The last Ofsted report in ...

is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

voluntary aided school A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation), contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In mo ...

that was opened in 1710 by Sir John Cass as the Sir John Cass School. It merged with the Redcoat Secondary School in 1966 and took the name of Sir John Cass's Foundation and Red Coat School that year. It took its current name in 2020.

Stepney Green Maths, Computing and Science College Mulberry Stepney Green Maths, Computing and Science College is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form. It is situated in Stepney, in the heart of the historic East End of London and adjacent to the developments in Docklands, it serves ...

is a community school for boys, the curriculum is broad, there is a wide range of extra-curricular activities offered before, during and after school.

Sports

Stepney F.C. is a non-league

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team which currently plays in the Tower Hamlets-based Inner London Football League. The district's Senrab Street gave its name to

Senrab F.C. Senrab F.C. is a Sunday League football club, based at Wanstead Flats in the Forest Gate district of London, England. It is noted for the high number of professional players who played for the club in their youth. History The club takes its n ...

, a youth team now based in Wanstead Flats and notable for producing many future professional players.

Transport

Stepney is connected to the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

on the Hammersmith & City and District lines. The area overall is covered by

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus se ...

services, mostly west–east by the 25, 205, N25, N205 on Mile End Road and 15, 115,

135 135 may refer to: * 135 (number) * AD 135 * 135 BC * 135 film, better known as 35 mm film, is a format of photographic film used for still photography *135 (New Jersey bus) 135 may refer to: * 135 (number) * AD 135 * 135 BC * 135 film, better know ...

and N550 on Commercial Road, the 309 and 339 via Ben Johnson Road. An automatic air monitoring site in nearby Mile End recorded a 2017 annual average of 48 μg/m³. Alternative monitoring sites on Mile End Road also failed to meet air quality objectives with a site at the junction with Globe Road recorded 52 μg/m³ as a 2017 average.

Notable people

The English physician

Richard Mead Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...

, responsible for advances in understanding transmissible diseases, was born in Stepney. Others born in Stepney are entertainer Des O'Connor, actor

Steven Berkoff Steven Berkoff (born Leslie Steven Berks; 3 August 1937) is an English actor, author, playwright, theatre practitioner and theatre director. As a theatre maker he is recognised for staging work with a heightened performance style eponymously k ...

, playwright Arnold Wesker, gardener Rachel De Thame, television executive Alan Yentob, artist

Frank Paton Frank Paton (23 November 1855 – 13 November 1909) was an English artist of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, best known for his paintings of animals and scenes of rural life. He was a successful artist during his lifetime and could even coun ...

, drummer Kenney Jones, musician and writer Jah Wobble, singer Kenny Lynch and his sister

Maxine Daniels Maxine Daniels (2 November 1930 – 20 October 2003) was an English jazz singer who achieved notability in the post-war era. Early life Daniels was born Gladys Lynch in Stepney, London, an elder sister of singer and entertainer, Kenny Lynch.

, singer Charles Coborn,

footballers A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

Ledley King Ledley Brenton King (born 12 October 1980) is a former player who was a one-club man, spending his entire career at Tottenham Hotspur and playing 323 competitive matches for the club from 1999 to 2012. He is currently a club ambassador for Tot ...

Ashley Cole Ashley Cole (born 20 December 1980) is an English football coach and former player who is currently a first-team coach at Premier League club Everton. As a player, he played as a left-back, most notably for Arsenal and Chelsea. Cole is consi ...

Mark Lazarus Mark Lazarus (born 5 December 1938) is an English retired professional footballer. He played as a right winger and made more than 400 Football League appearances, scoring over 100 goals. A prominent Jewish player, he initially chose football o ...

, Barry Silkman, and Darren Purse, Heavyweight

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

"Bombardier" Billy Wells, former

armed robber Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

and businessman

Roy Shaw Royston Henry Shaw (11 March 1936 – 14 July 2012), also known as Roy "Pretty Boy" Shaw, Roy "Mean Machine" Shaw and Roy West, was a property investor, author and businessman from the East End of London who was formerly a criminal and Prison se ...

, former British featherweight boxing champion

Sammy McCarthy Sammy McCarthy (5 November 193110 February 2020) was a British professional boxer who was the featherweight champion between 1954 and 1955. He also fought for the British lightweight title and the European and British Empire featherweight titles. ...

, sportswriter

Norman Giller Norman Giller (born 18 April 1940, Stepney, East End, London) is an English author, a sports historian and television scriptwriter, who in October 2015 had his 100th book published. His 101st book, ''July 30, 1966 Football's Longest Day'', was publ ...

, and

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

politician

Wes Streeting Wesley Paul William Streeting (; born 21 January 1983) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since 2021, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford North since 2015. He serve ...

. Clergymen

John Sentamu John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu, Baron Sentamu, (; ; born 10 June 1949) is a retired Anglican bishop and life peer. He was Archbishop of York and Primate of England from 2005 to 2020. Born near Kampala in Uganda, Sentamu studied law at Makerere U ...

, formerly Bishop of Stepney, and Father Richard Wilson, founder of the ''Hoppers' Hospitals'' at

Five Oak Green Five Oak Green is a village near Tonbridge, Kent in the Civil Parish of Capel. The village was a centre for hop growing. In the 19th century, The Rose and Crown public house was converted to a hospital to treat the many hop pickers who resided ...

, Kent, lived in the borough at one time. Actors

Bernard Bresslaw Bernard Bresslaw (25 February 193411 June 1993) was a British actor. He is best known as a member of the ''Carry On'' film franchise. Bresslaw also worked on television and stage, did recordings and wrote a series of poetry. Biography Bernard B ...

Terence Stamp Terence Henry Stamp (born 22 July 1938) is an English actor. Stamp is known for his sophisticated villain roles. He was named by ''Empire Magazine'' as one of the 100 Sexiest Film Stars of All Time in 1995. He has received various accolades inc ...

Craig Fairbrass Craig John Fairbrass (born 15 January 1964) is an English actor, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his roles as Delmar in the thriller film ''Cliffhanger'' (1993), Dan Sullivan in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' (1999–2001), ...

Jeff Shankley Jeffrey Richard Shankley (born 17 November 1947) is a British actor, singer and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company who has had a long career as a television and stage actor particularly in the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber for wh ...

, John Lyons, Ben Onwukwe, Victor McLaglen, Roy Marsden

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

actress Anita Dobson. Danny Shea, (the first footballer to be transferred for £2,000), was born in Wapping in 1887, Nicola Walker. Musicians Monty Norman (composer of the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

theme) and Lionel Bart (known for creating the book, music and lyrics to the production ''

Oliver! ''Oliver!'' is a coming-of-age stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before op ...

''), were also born in Stepney, as was musician Wiley, widely considered to be the founding father of grime music. British communist

Alf Salisbury Alf Salisbury (1909 – 5 November 2000) was a British communist, Jewish activist, trade union leader, and anti-fascist. During the 1930s he smuggled monetary support from British communists to German communists to help resist the Nazis. Salisbur ...

, who smuggled monetary funds to German anti-fascists during Hitler's rise to power, and fought in both the Battle of Cable Street and for the

International Brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed f ...

during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

, was born in Stepney. Later in life he led a successful campaign to convince the BBC and other British news outlets to stop using the term "Mongols" to refer to people with

Down Syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...

. For this work he was awarded with special commondations from the

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

n embassy.

In popular culture

In her 2002 memoir ''Call the Midwife'', Jennifer Worth writes a graphic account of 1950s Stepney at the height of its urban decay describing bombsites, condemned buildings, filth, and rampant prostitution. In the 1965 Rolling Stones song Play with Fire, it is said an heiress whose wealth has been carried off by her husband “gets her kicks in Stepney, not in Knightsbridge anymore.” Elton John refers to Stepney in the song "Bitter Fingers" which was written by Elton and Bernie Taupin. Folk noir duo Ruby Throat released a song called "Forget Me Nots of Stepney" on their 2012 album ''O' Doubt O' Stars''. Mentioned in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels "Hand made in Italy, hand stolen in Stepney"

Notable people

Laurence Graff Laurence Graff (born 13 June 1938) is an English jeweller and billionaire businessman, best known as the founder of Graff Diamonds, supplier of jewellery and jewels. Early life Graff was born in Stepney in 1938 into a Jewish family, the son of ...

was born in Stepney

References

External link

{{Authority control Conservation areas in London Districts of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Places formerly in Middlesex

Etymology

Changing Scope

Manor and Ancient Parish

Manor

Church and Parish

Ties with Shoreditch

Customs and obligations

Break-up of the Ancient Parish

History

Governance

Geography

Nearest places

Community

Demographics

Education

Sports

Transport

Notable people

In popular culture

Notable people

See also

References

External link