Editing Stepney (section)

===Manor and ancient parish===
For hundreds of years the term Stepney referred to the [[Lord of the manor|Manor]] and [[Civil parish#Ancient parishes|Ancient Parish]] 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]] to the [[River Lea|Lea]] and from [[Stamford Hill]] down to the [[Thames]]; in this way covering an area equivalent to the modern borough of [[Tower Hamlets]], as well as the district of [[Hackney, London|Hackney]] (in the wider modern borough of the same name).

The origins of the Manor (and [[Vill]]) 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]] [[Episcopal see|see]]) at the time of the establishment of [[St Paul's Cathedral]] in 604 AD.<ref name=BHO>{{cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol11/pp19-52|title=Stepney:Manors and Estates pages 19–52|website=British History Online|access-date=16 September 2019}}</ref><ref name="Highgate Wood p67">The Roman Pottery site in Highgate Wood, AE Brown and HL Sheldon p67</ref>

St Dunstan's church is recorded as being founded (or more likely rebuilt<ref>on Dunstan probably rebuilding, rather than founding, the church of the manor and parochia: ''Medieval London Suburbs'', Kevin McDonnell, p136</ref>) by [[Dunstan]] 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, London|Hackney]] appears to have been an early [[Hackney (parish)|daughter parish]] of Stepney; a [[St Augustine's Tower, Hackney|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]] made it difficult to form new parishes,<ref>Churches in the landscape, Richard Morris, 169–171</ref> 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 (parish)|Hackney]]) serving the single manor of Stepney. For local government purposes, the parish sub-divided into [[Civil parish#Sub-divisions|hamlets]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol11/pp63-70|title=Stepney: Local Government &#124; British History Online}}</ref>

====Manor====
The [[Domesday Book]] survey of 1086 gives the name as ''Stibanhede'' and says that the land was held by the [[Bishop of London]] and was 32 [[Hide (unit)|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 [[Serfdom#Cottagers|cottars]] 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.<ref>Medieval London Suburbs, Pillimore Publishing, Kevin McDonnell p16</ref>

<blockquote>
Bishop William held this land in [[demesne]], in the manor of Stepney, on the day on which King Edward was alive and dead. In the same vill [[Ranulph Flambard]] holds 3½ hides of the bishop.<ref>''Domesday Book – A Complete Translation'' Folio 127V: MIDDLESEX. Penguin Books. Nov 2002. {{ISBN|0-14-100523-8}}</ref></blockquote>

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]] 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.<ref name="Highgate Wood p67"/> 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 [[Bethnal Green mulberry tree#The site|Bishopswood, and later Bishops Hall or Bonner Hall]], and was on a site in [[Bethnal Green]] later occupied by the [[London Chest Hospital]].<ref name="BHO" /> [[Edward VI]] passed Stepney to the [[Baron Wentworth|Wentworth]] family, and thence to their descendant, the [[Earl of Cleveland]]. The Manors of Stepney and Hackney were linked, until they passed into separate ownership in the 1660s.<ref name="BHO" />

The system of [[copyhold]], 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.<ref name=Stepney>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45083 ''Stepney, Old and New London: Volume 2'' (1878), pp. 137–142] accessed: 17 November 2007</ref>

====Church and parish====
{{main|Stepney (parish)}}
[[St Dunstan's, Stepney|St Dunstan's Church]] was founded (or rebuilt) around 952, by [[St Dunstan]] himself when he was [[Bishop of London]], 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]] of Stepney.<ref>The Metropolitan Borough of Stepney Official Guide – 10th Edition – 1961 – Published by Ed J Burrow and Co Ltd p29</ref> The bells of the church, cast at the [[Whitechapel Bell Foundry]], appear in the [[nursery rhyme]], [[Oranges and Lemons]]

{{blockquote|''" 'When will that be'? say the bells of Stepney"''}}

The church is known as "The Mother Church of the [[East End]]"<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.stdunstanstepney.com/|title=St Dunstan and All Saints Stepney|website=stdunstanstepney.com|access-date=18 September 2022}}</ref> 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.<ref>A survey of the Cities of London and Westminster Book 4, Chapter 5, p47</ref>

Stepney formed a [[Stepney (parish)|large Ancient Parish]] in the [[Tower division]] of the [[Ossulstone]] hundred of [[Middlesex]]. The parish included the hamlets of [[Mile End Old Town]], [[Mile End New Town]], [[Ratcliff]], [[Wapping-Stepney]], [[Bow, London|Bow]], [[Shadwell]], [[Bethnal Green]], [[Limehouse]] and [[Poplar, London|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]] and [[Haggerston]], both manors recorded at Domesday in 1086,<ref>{{cite web|title=Hoxton|url=https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ3383/hoxton/|website=Open Domesday}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Haggerston|url=https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ3483/haggerston/|website=Open Domesday}}</ref> together with a part of the Manor of Stepney.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol8/pp5-14|title=Historical introduction: Shoreditch High Street, east side &#124; British History Online|website=british-history.ac.uk|access-date=18 September 2022}}</ref> The parish church, [[St Leonard's, Shoreditch]], was built on land that was part of the Manor of Stepney. Parcels of land in [[Hackney Marshes]] (within the Manor of Stepney) long had a role in maintaining a lamp at St Leonards church.<ref>'The Church of St. Leonard, Shoreditch', in Survey of London: Volume 8, Shoreditch, ed. James Bird (London, 1922), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol8/pp91-125 [accessed 25 March 2025].</ref>

The manor of [[Hoxton]], or a manor called Hoxton, was in Shoreditch, yet in 1352 is recorded as part of the parish of Hackney.<ref>Medieval London suburbs, K McDonnell, p30</ref>
It is not clear if or how these links led to the inclusion of the parish of Shoreditch in the [[Tower Division]].

====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 [[Thames]] below the Tower and for the care of parts of the [[River Lea|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 thought to be much older, with varying estimates in the post-Norman medieval period.<ref>The Metropolitan Borough of Stepney Official Guide – 10th Edition – 1961 – Published by Ed J Burrow and Co Ltd p26 – The publication gave the view that the arrangement dated from the Norman or early Plantagenet</ref><ref>East London Papers. Volume 8 Paper 2. M. J. Power – the author noted that some believed the arrangement was around the time of the conquest, but suggested a later medieval date was more likely due to the higher local population.</ref> These arrangements evolved into the creation of the [[Tower division|Tower Division, also known as the Tower Hamlets]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol11/pp1-7|title=Stepney: Early Stepney &#124; British History Online|website=british-history.ac.uk|access-date=18 September 2022}}</ref>

The manor was unusual in practising the [[gavelkind]] method of inheritance,<ref name="Genuki">{{cite web|title=Stepney History|url=https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/MDX/Stepney/StepneyHistory|website=Genuki|access-date=16 September 2019}}</ref> a custom largely limited to [[Kent]].

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.<ref name="Genuki" />

This maritime association is remembered in the old rhyme:
{{blockquote|''"He who sails on the wide sea, is a parishioner of Stepney"''}}

====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-by-Bow|Bromley]] in the 16th. Some sub-divisions for instance those that form [[Bethnal Green]], [[Bow, London|Bow]] and [[Poplar, London|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.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

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 {{convert|830|acres}} in extent.<ref name=early>{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22731|author=T.F.T. Baker|year=1998|title=Stepney: Early Stepney, A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green}}</ref> 
[[File:Stepney Civil Parish Map 1870.png|thumb|left|upright 1.2|A map showing the 1870 boundaries of parishes which had been split from Stepney (excluding Hackney)]]

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 ecclesiastical 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.