East End of London - History

History

The East End came into being as the separate villages east of London spread and the fields between them were built upon, a process that occurred in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. From the beginning, the East End has always contained some of the poorest areas of London. The main reasons for this include the following:

• the medieval system of copyhold, which prevailed throughout the East End, into the 19th century. Essentially, there was little point in developing land that was held on short leases.
• the siting of noxious industries, such as tanning and fulling downwind outside the boundaries of the City, and therefore beyond complaints and official controls.
• the low paid employment in the docks and related industries, made worse by the trade practices of outwork, piecework and casual labour.
• and the concentration of the ruling court and national political epicentre in Westminster, on the opposite western side of the City of London.

Historically, the East End is conterminous with the Manor of Stepney. This manor was held by the Bishop of London, in compensation for his duties in maintaining and garrisoning the Tower of London. Further ecclesiastic holdings came about from the need to enclose the marshes and create flood defences along the Thames. Edward VI passed the land to the Wentworth family, and thence to their descendants, the Earls of Cleveland. The ecclesiastic 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.

In medieval times trades were carried out in workshops in and around the owners' premises in the City. By the time of the Great Fire these were becoming industries and some were particularly noisome, such as the processing of urine to perform tanning; or required large amounts of space, such as drying clothes after process and dying in fields known as tentergrounds; and rope making. Some were dangerous, such as the manufacture of gun powder or the proving of guns. These activities came to be performed outside the City walls in the near suburbs of the East End. Later when lead making and bone processing for soap and china came to be established, they too located in the East End rather than the crowded streets of the City.

The lands to the east of the City had always been used as hunting grounds for bishops and royalty, with King John establishing a palace at Bow. The Cistercian Stratford Langthorne Abbey became the court of Henry III in 1267 for the visitation of the Papal legates, and it was here that he made peace with the barons under the terms of the Dictum of Kenilworth. It became the fifth largest Abbey in the country, visited by monarchs and providing a popular retreat (and final resting place) for the nobility. The Palace of Placentia at Greenwich, to the south of the river, was built by the Regent to Henry V, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester and Henry VIII established a hunting lodge at Bromley Hall. These Royal connections continued until after the Interregnum when the Court established itself in the Palace of Whitehall and the offices of politics congregated around them. The East End also lay on the main road to Barking Abbey, important as a religious centre since Norman times and where William the Conqueror had first established his English court.