Stepney

From the Wikipedia page [1]

Stepney is area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in London's East End. Stepney includes Arbour Square.

Stepney grew out of a medieval village around St Dunstan's church and was built up rapidly in the 19th century, mainly to accommodate immigrant workers and displaced London poor, and developed a reputation for poverty, overcrowding, violence and political dissent.

Geography

Stepney is located 3.6 miles (5.8 km) east north-east of Charing Cross. It is roughly bounded by Shadwell south of Commercial Road and Limehouse with northern leg of Salmon Lane. The various side streets make up the boundary between the E1/14 postcode around York Gardens is considered to be the division with western Limehouse in the south, the streets above Carlton Square form a border with Globe Town and the southern leg of Bancroft Road forms an borderline with Mile End as do Hartford Street/Aston Road. The western boundary with Whitechapel is Jubilee Street.

History

Stepney formed a large ancient parish in the Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex; bounded by Bromley and West Ham to the east, the River Thames to the south, Shoreditch and Hackney to the north and the City of London and the Liberties of the Tower of London to the west. The parish included the hamlets of Mile End Old Town, Mile End New Town, and Ratcliff. At its early extent it additionally included Whitechapel, Wapping, Stratford Bow, Shadwell, Spitalfields, Bethnal Green, Limehouse and Poplar. Over time the parish was broken up with these settlements forming new independent parishes, leaving a residual parish of 830 acres comprising Mile End Old Town, Mile End New Town and Ratcliff

Stepney is an episcopal area in the Anglican Diocese of London, which covers the London boroughs of Hackney, Islington and Tower Hamlets, and has its own suffragan bishop.

The Metropolitan Borough of Stepney was formed in 1900, then dissolved in 1965 when it was absorbed into the newly created London Borough of Tower Hamlets which currently administers the area

Transport

Underground

Stepney is linked to the London Underground at Stepney Green Underground Station on the Hammersmith & City and District lines.

Buses

Close to Arbour Square, on Commercial Road, London Buses east to west routes, these are the 15, 115, 135 and N550.

Further routes is the 309 (running east-north) and 339 (south-east) via Ben Johnson Road.