Editing Wapping (section)

==History==
===Origins===
[[File:Stepney Civil Parish Map 1870.png|thumb|229x229px|Wapping was made up of two parishes: [[St George in the East (parish)|St-George-in-the-East]] and St John of Wapping.|left]]

Formerly, it was believed that the name ''Wapping'' recorded an Anglo-Saxon settlement linked to a personal name ''Waeppa'' ("the settlement of Waeppa's people").<ref>Waeppa's People – a History of Wapping by Madge Darby – {{ISBN|0-947699-10-4}}</ref> More recent scholarship discounts that theory: much of the area was marshland, where early settlement was unlikely, and no such personal name has ever been found.  It is now thought that the name may derive from ''wapol'', a marsh.<ref>"Stepney: Settlement and Building to c.1700." in ''A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11, Stepney, Bethnal Green'', ed. T F T Baker (London: Victoria County History, 1998), 13–19.  ''British History Online'', accessed 1 May 2017, {{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol11/pp13-19 |title=Stepney: Settlement and Building to c.1700 &#124; British History Online |access-date=2017-11-24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201032752/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol11/pp13-19 |archive-date=1 December 2017 }}.</ref>

Wapping was historically part of the [[Stepney#Manor and Ancient Parish|Manor and Parish of Stepney]]. By the 17th century, it formed two autonomous Hamlets, a Hamlet in this context refers to an autonomous area of a parish rather than a small village. The northern Hamlet was known as ''Wapping-Stepney'', as it was the part of Wapping within Stepney, the riverside part was known as ''Wapping-Whitechapel'' as it was the part within the parish of [[Whitechapel]], a parish which was previously also a part of the parish of Stepney.

These Hamlets later became independent parishes, with ''Wapping-Stepney'' becoming known as [[St George in the East (parish)|St-George-in-the-East]] (in 1729) and ''Wapping-Whitechapel'' known as St John of Wapping (in 1694). The latter occupied a very narrow strip along nearly all of Wapping's riverside.<ref>'Stepney: Early Stepney', in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11, Stepney, Bethnal Green, ed. T F T Baker (London, 1998), pp. 1–7. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol11/pp1-7 [accessed 9 September 2022].</ref>

The Wapping parishes were part of the [[Historic counties of England|historic (or ancient) county]] of [[Middlesex]], but military and most (or all) civil county functions were managed more locally, by the [[Tower division|Tower Division (also known as the Tower Hamlets)]].

The role of the ''Tower Division'' ended when Wapping became part of the new [[County of London]] in 1889. The County of London was replaced by Greater London in 1965.

===Riverside development===

The draining of Wapping Marsh, and the consolidation of a river wall along which houses were built, were finally achieved by 1600 after previous attempts had failed. (See [[Embanking of the tidal Thames#East London|Embanking of the tidal Thames]]). The settlement developed along that river wall, hemmed in by the river to the south and the now-drained Wapping Marsh to the north This gave it a peculiarly narrow and constricted shape, consisting of little more than the axis of Wapping High Street and some north–south side streets. [[John Stow]], the 16th-century historian, described it as a "continual street, or a filthy strait passage, with alleys of small tenements or cottages, built, inhabited by sailors' victuallers".<ref name="brit">[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=45082 'The Thames Tunnel, Ratcliff Highway and Wapping', Old and New London: Volume 2 (1878), pp. 128–37] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927223040/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=45082 |date=27 September 2007 }} accessed: 29 March 2007</ref> A chapel to [[St. John the Baptist]] was built in 1617, and it was here that [[Thomas Rainsborough]] was buried. Wapping was constituted as a [[parish]] in 1694.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Maddocks|first=Sydney|title=Wapping|journal=The Copartnership Herald|date=December 1932|volume=II|issue=22|url=http://www.mernick.org.uk/thhol/wapping.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104075143/http://www.mernick.org.uk/thhol/wapping.html|archive-date=4 November 2012}}</ref>

Wapping's proximity to the river gave it a strong maritime character for centuries, well into the 20th century. It was inhabited by sailors, mastmakers, boatbuilders, blockmakers, instrument-makers, victuallers and representatives of all the other trades that supported the seafarer. Wapping was also the site of '[[Execution Dock]]', where [[pirates]] and other water-borne criminals faced [[execution]] by [[hanging]] from a [[gibbet]] constructed close to the low water mark. Their bodies would be left dangling until they had been submerged three times by the tide.<ref name=brit/>

[[File:Wapping 1889.jpg|thumb|222x222px|Part of [[Charles Booth (philanthropist)|Charles Booth]]'s [[poverty map]] showing Wapping in 1889, published in ''[[Life and Labour of the People in London]]''. The red areas are "well-to-do"; the blue areas are "Intermittent or casual earnings" and black areas are the "lowest class...occasional labourers, street sellers, loafers, criminals and semi-criminals".]]The Bell Inn, by the execution dock, was run by Samuel Batts, whose daughter, [[Elizabeth Batts Cook|Elizabeth]], married [[James Cook]] at [[St Margaret's Church, Barking]], Essex on 21 December 1762, after the [[Royal Navy]] captain had stayed at the Inn.<ref>''Famous 18th century people of Barking and Dagenham'' Info Sheet #22, LB Barking & Dagenham</ref> The couple initially settled in [[Shadwell]], attending [[St Paul's Church, Shadwell|St Paul's church]], but later moved to [[Mile End]]. Although they had six children together, much of their married life was spent apart, with Cook absent on his voyages and, after his murder in 1779 at [[Kealakekua Bay]], she survived until 1835.

Said to be England's first, the [[Marine Police Force]] was formed in 1798 by magistrate [[Patrick Colquhoun]] and a Master Mariner, [[John Harriott (sailor)|John Harriott]], to tackle theft and looting from ships anchored in the [[Pool of London]] and the lower reaches of the river. Its base was (and remains) in Wapping High Street and it is now known as the [[Marine Support Unit]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080311191342/http://www.met.police.uk/msu/history.htm History of the Marine Support Unit (Met)] accessed 24 January 2007</ref> The Thames Police Museum, dedicated to the history of the Marine Police Force, is currently housed within the headquarters of the Marine Support Unit, and is open to the public by appointment.<ref>[http://www.thamespolicemuseum.org.uk/museum.html Thames Police Museum] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100922120300/http://www.thamespolicemuseum.org.uk/museum.html |date=22 September 2010 }} Retrieved 1 June 2010</ref>

In 1811, the [[Ratcliff Highway murders]] took place nearby at [[The Highway (London)|The Highway]] and Wapping Lane.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927200419/http://website.lineone.net/~fight/Stepney/marr.htm Stepney Murders: The Ratcliffe Highway Murders] accessed 21 January 2007</ref>

===London Docks===
The area's strong maritime associations changed radically in the 19th century when the [[London Docks]] were built to the north and west of the High Street. Wapping's population plummeted by nearly 60% during that century, with many houses destroyed by the construction of the docks and giant warehouses along the riverfront. Squeezed between the high walls of the docks and warehouses, the riverside area became isolated from the rest of London, although some relief was provided by Brunel's [[Thames Tunnel]] to [[Rotherhithe]]. The opening of [[Wapping tube station]] on the [[East London line]] in 1869 provided a direct rail link to the rest of London.<ref name="Rose">{{harvnb|Rose|2007}}</ref><ref name="Day 1979 32">{{harvnb|Day|1979|p=32}}</ref>

===Migration===
Wapping's position by the Thames has meant it has long attracted people from around the world. In the 15th century, the population of the area included a number of foreigners, in particular seamen from the [[Low Countries]].<ref>Waeppa's People – a History of Wapping by Madge Darby, p28 – {{ISBN|0-947699-10-4}}</ref>

There was a sizeable Irish presence in Wapping from the 16th century onward.<ref>My East End, A History of cockney London. Gilda o'Neill p54-55</ref> It is probably under their influence a stretch of [[Cable Street]], and the area around it, become called ''Knock Fergus''.<ref>Waeppa's People – a History of Wapping by Madge Darby, p54 – {{ISBN|0-947699-10-4}}</ref> The [[Irish Language|Irish]] name of ''Knock Fergus'' (sometimes spelled ''Knock Vargis'') is first known to be recorded in 1597<ref>The Place Names of Middlesex – English Place name Society – Vol 18 – Gover Maw and Stenton – Cambridge University Press – p157 – 1942</ref> and continued to be  recorded in Stepney parish rolls in the 1600's.<ref>Overview and map of the place name Knock Fergus https://www.theundergroundmap.com/article.html?id=65458</ref> ''Knock Fergus'' (the hill of Fergus) is an old name for [[Carrickfergus]] in [[County Antrim]]. In the 20th century Irish migration to Wapping slowed and by the middle of the century the local Irish community had been assimilated.<ref>East London Papers, Volume 6, Number 2, The Irish in East London, December 1963, John A Jackson.</ref>

In 1702, a French-speaking church established at Milk Alley, next to St Johns Church, close to the shore in western Wapping. The church was established to support a community of French speaking seafarers originating in [[Jersey]] and [[Guernsey]] who had been joined by [[Huguenot]] refugees from France. There seems to have been a good relationship with the rest of the population as it received financial support from the Rector of St Johns, when it was in financial difficulty, and its long term future was settled by an intervention from Queen Anne who provided it with an allowance.<ref>Waeppa's People – a History of Wapping by Madge Darby, p50 – {{ISBN|0-947699-10-4}}</ref>

Starting in the 16th century, and accelerating later, parts of Wapping attracted large number of German migrants, with many of these people, and their descendants working in the sugar industry. The area north of [[The Highway, London|The Highway (formerly St George's Highway)]] and west of Cannon Street became known – together with neighbouring parts of [[Whitechapel]] – as ''Little Germany''.<ref>East London Record – No 13 – 1990 https://www.mernick.org.uk/elhs/Record/ELHS%20RECORD%2013%20(1990).pdf</ref>

There appears to have been a considerable [[Black British people|black]] presence in late 18th century Wapping, on account of the many black and mulatto (mixed race) people, often seamen, being baptised at the two parish churches of St John's and in particular St George in the East.<ref>Waeppa's People – a History of Wapping by Madge Darby, p52-3 – {{ISBN|0-947699-10-4}}</ref> There appears to also have been a sizeable black population in the areas to the west, the parish of [[St Botolph without Aldgate]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Britain's first black community in Elizabethan London |work=BBC News |date=20 July 2012 |access-date=5 May 2025 |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18903391 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=History |work=stgitehistory.org.uk |access-date= |url= http://www.stgitehistory.org.uk/history.html }}</ref> (both the [[Portsoken]] and [[East Smithfield]] areas of the parish, and possibly also in [[Royal Foundation of St Katharine#Precinct|St Katharine's Precinct]], a densely populated little district that was swept away to build [[St Katharine Docks]].

===Modern times===
[[File:Heinkel_over_Wapping.jpg|thumb|[[Heinkel He 111]] bomber over the [[Surrey Commercial Docks|Surrey docks]] and Wapping in the [[East End of London]] on 7 September 1940]]

Wapping was devastated by [[The Blitz|German bombing]] in the [[Second World War]]<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/20/a1143820.shtml My Mum's War: Life in the East End – BBC WW2 People's War] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211233214/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/20/a1143820.shtml |date=11 February 2011 }} accessed 1 April 2007</ref> and by the post-war closure of the docks. It remained a run-down and derelict area into the 1980s, when the area was transferred to the management of the [[London Docklands Development Corporation]], a government [[quango]] with the task of redeveloping the Docklands. The London Docks were largely filled in and redeveloped with a variety of commercial, light industrial and residential properties.

[[St John's Church, Wapping]] (1756) was located on what is now Scandrett Street. Only the tower and shell survived wartime bombing, and have now been converted to housing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.london-footprints.co.uk/wkshadwapproute.htm |title=A Shadwell & Wapping Walk |url-status=live |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113020351/http://www.london-footprints.co.uk/wkshadwapproute.htm |archive-date=13 January 2013 }}</ref>