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]
Governance
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]
Component areas and division of parish
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]
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.
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]
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]
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]
^ abcdefgT F T Baker, ed. (1998). "Stepney: Early Stepney". A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green. British History Online. pp. 1–7. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
^Reginald H. Adams (1971). The Parish Clerks of London. Phillimore.
^Hill, George William; Frere, Walter Howard (1890). Memorials of Stepney Parish. Guildford: Billing and Sons.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
