Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for STEPNEY

STEPNEY, a parish and a district in Middlesex. The parish lies on the North London, the Blackwall, and the Great Eastern railways, chiefly between Commercial-road and the Great Eastern railway, 2½ miles E of St. Paul's, London; included, prior to 1669, Limehouse, Shadwell, St. George-in-the-East, Spitalfields, Bethnal-Green, Bow, Poplar, and Blackwall; was known at Domesday as Stebenhede, and afterwards as Stebunhithe, Stebenhythe, and Stebonheath; belonged early to the Bishops of London, and had a palace of theirs at Bethnal-Green; was the meeting-place of a parliament in 1299; went, in the time of Edward VI., to the Wentworths; passed afterwards to the Mannerses and the Colebrooks; was devastated by plague in 1625 and 1665; included, for a long time, nearly all parts of the Thames having berthage for London vessels, insomuch that a current adage said, "He who sails on the wide sea is a parishioner of Stepney;'' had, as residents, Secretary Lake and the lexicographer Bailey,-and, as natives, Lord Exton, the theologian Lawrence, the annalist Strype, the scholar Dr. King, the lawyer Hough, and the Shakspearean editor Steevens; comprises now only Mile-End-New-Town, Mile-End-Old-Town, and part of Ratcliff, all a compact portion of the metropolis; contains Arbour, Sidney, Henry, Beaumont, and Trafalgar squares; has a r. station with telegraph, post-offices‡ under London E, and a K-police court with stations; and is cut ecclesiastically into the sections of St. Dunstan, St. Philip, St. Peter, Holy Trinity, All Saints, and parts of St. Paul-Bow-Common and St. Thomas. Acres, 812. Real property, with the rest of Ratcliff, £311,642; of which £32,084 are in railways. Pop. in 1851, 80,218; in 1861, 98,836. Houses, 13,991. The living of St. Dunstan is a rectory, and the other livings are p. curacies, in the diocese of London. Value of the rectory, £652.* Patron, the Bishop of L. The church is of the 14th century, much altered by repairs; and contains many ancient monuments. Archbishop Segrave, Bishops Lumney and Fox, Dean Colet, and Pace the friend of Erasmus, were rectors. Some of the other churches are noticed in other articles. There are 12 dissenting chapels, a Jews' synagogue, numerous public schools, numerous hospitals or alms houses, and several other charitable institutions. The Stepney Meeting, in lien of one of the oldest Independent chapels about London, was built in 1863, at a cost of £10,000; and is in the decorated English style, with tower and spire. The Independent chapel in Burdett-road was built in 1866, at a cost of £3,200; and is in the Byzantine style.

The district now excludes Mile-End-Old-Town, but formerly included it; and it has always included the rest of Ratcliff and the parishes of Wapping, Shadwell, and Limehouse. Acres, with M.-E.-O.-T., 1,257; without it, 576. Poor rates in 1863, with M.-E.-O.-T., £64,394; without it, £38,041. Pop., with M.-E.-O.-T., in 1851, 110,775; in 1861, 129,636. Houses, 18,198. Pop. without it, in 1851, 54,173; in 1861, 56,572. Houses, 7,441. Marriages, with M.-E.-O.-T., in 1863, 1,446; births, 4,997,-of which 138 were illegitimate; deaths, 3,240,-of which 1,549 were at ages under 5 years, and 40 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 11,918; births, 43,368; deaths, 28,909. The places of worship, inclusive of M.-E.-O. T., in 1851, were 10 of the Church of England, with 11,242 sittings; 1 of the Church of Scotland, with 752 s.; 1 of English Presbyterians, with 530 s.; 10 of Independents, with 7,614 s.; 5 of Baptists, with 1,530 s.; 4 of Wesleyans, with 2,209 s.; 2 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 440 s.; 1 of Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, with 2,250 s.; 1 of Brethren, with 150 s.; 2 undefined, with 386 s.; 2 of Latter Day Saints, with 150 s.; 1 of Roman Catholics, with 715 s.; and 1 of Jews, with 50 s. The schools were 30 public day schools, with 7,021 scholars; 197 private day schools, with 4,251 s.; 28 Sunday schools, with 6,824 s.; and 5 evening schools for adults, with 182 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a parish and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Stepney CP/AP       Stepney CP       Stepney RegD/PLU       Middlesex AncC
Place names: STEBENHEDE     |     STEBENHYTHE     |     STEBONHEATH     |     STEBUNHITHE     |     STEPNEY
Place: Stepney

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