Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for POPLAR

POPLAR, a parish and a district in Middlesex. The parish is part of the metropolis; lies on the river Thames, between the Limehouse and the Blackwall reaches, 4 miles E of St. Paul's; includes the Isle of Dogs and Blackwall, extending to the influx of the river Lea; is traversed by the Blackwall railway; was given, by William of Wyke-ham, to St. Mary de Grace abbey at Tower Hill; washeld by Charles I., when Prince of Wales; formed part of Stepney parish till 1817; was ecclesiastically cut into Poplar-All Saints and Poplar-Christchurch in 1860; contains the West India docks, the East India docks, and numerous small or private docks; constitutes a prominentsection of the port of London, with large warehouses and other port appliances; carries on ship-building, chaincable-making, steam factory work, wire rope-making, and other employments suited to the wants of a greatport; has, for many years, undergone great and variousimprovements; contains a town hall, three churches, the East India Company's chapel, a number of dissenting chapels of various denominations, the sailors' home and chapel, two endowed schools with £240 and £24 a year, four other public schools, three suites of alms-houses, aworkhouse, and aggregate charities of £379, besides ashare in some at Stepney; and has stations with telegraphs on the Blackwall railway, post-offices‡ and postal pillar-boxes under London E, and a Kpolice station. The docks and other matters connected with shippingare noticed in our account of London. The town hallwas built in 1770, on the site of a previous one; and contains a portrait of the philanthropic ship-builder Green. All Saints church was built in 1821-3, at a cost of £33,077; and has a tower and spire 161 feet high. Christchurch was built in 1860. St. Stephen's church was built in 1866. The East India Company's chapel was originally built in 1650-4; was rebuilt at a comparatively recent period; and contains monuments of the heralds Dethicks, thelexicographer Ainsworth, the Shakespearian commentator Stevens, and two Ridleys, father and son, one of themthe author of " Tales of the Genii." Two Independentchapels date from 1812 and 1814. One Wesleyan chapeldates from 1780; and another, in the decorated English style, was built in 1848, at a cost of £7, 350. The work-house is spacious; and, at the census of 1861, had 488 inmates. The parish comprises 1, 185 acres of land, and 305 of water. Real property, £224, 953. Pop. in 1851, 28, 384; in 1861, 43, 529. Houses, 5, 868. Pop. of the Christchurch section, in 1861, 8, 579. Houses, 1,097. The living of All Saints is a rectory, and the livings of Christchurch and the East India chapel are p. curacies, in the diocese of London. Value of A. S., £632; * of C., £300; * of E. I. chapel, £500. Patron of A. S., Brase-nose College, Oxford; of C., the Bishop of London; of E. I. chapel, the Secretary of State for India. See Blackwall and London.

The district contains also the parishes of Bow and Bromley-St. Leonard. Acres, 2, 918. Poor-rates in 1863, £39, 954. Pop. in 1851, 47, 162; in 1861, 79, 196. Houses, 11, 123. Marriages in 1863, 696; births, 3, 755, of which 118 were illegitimate; deaths, 2, 430, of which 1,068 were at ages under 5 years, and 31 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 5, 101; births, 25,035; deaths, 15, 556. The places of worship, in 1851, were 5 of the Church of England, with 4, 852sittings; 3 of Independents, with 2, 693 s.; 2 of Baptists, with 820 s.; 5 of Wesleyans, with 2, 537 s.; 2 undefined, with 629 s.; 1 of Latter Day Saints, with 50 s.; and 2of Roman Catholics, with 408 s. The schools were 21public day schools, with 4, 406 scholars; 55 private day schools, with 1, 118 s.; 15 Sunday schools, with 3, 106 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 22 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: Poplar CP/ExP/Ch       Poplar RegD/PLU/PLPar       Middlesex AncC
Place: Poplar

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