Origins and toponymy 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"). 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. Wapping was historically part of the
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 (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. The Wapping parishes were part of the
historic (or ancient) county of
Middlesex, but military and most (or all) civil county functions were managed more locally, by the
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.
Geography and St John of Wapping.|left The combined area of the two parishes bordered the Thames to the south and
Commercial Road – known as White Horse Lane, until road improvements and slight re-alignment in 1802 – the northern boundary with Mile End. Sir Thomas More Street (originally Nightingale Lane) and the brook beside it formed part of the western boundary with
East Smithfield and Back Church Lane formed the western boundary with Whitechapel. Wapping shared boundaries with Ratcliff (Handinge Street, now partially replaced by Bishop Challoner School) and Shadwell to the east. A line a short distance west of Garnet Street (originally New Gravel Lane) formed the eastern boundary with Shadwell. The boundaries became ward boundaries after Wapping and its neighbours became part of the
Metropolitan Borough of Stepney in 1899, though the Shadwell boundary was adjusted to run along Garnet Street.
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). 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". 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. 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. The couple initially settled in
Shadwell, attending
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, 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. 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. In 1811, the
Ratcliff Highway murders took place nearby at
The Highway and Wapping Lane.
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.
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. There was a sizeable Irish presence in Wapping from the 16th century onward. It is probably under their influence a stretch of
Cable Street, and the area around it, become called
Knock Fergus. The
Irish name of
Knock Fergus (sometimes spelled
Knock Vargis) is first known to be recorded in 1597 and continued to be recorded in Stepney parish rolls in the 1600's.
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. 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. 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 (formerly St George's Highway) and west of Cannon Street became known – together with neighbouring parts of
Whitechapel – as
Little Germany. There appears to have been a considerable
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. There appears to also have been a sizeable black population in the areas to the west, the parish of
St Botolph without Aldgate (both the
Portsoken and
East Smithfield areas of the parish, and possibly also in
St Katharine's Precinct, a densely populated little district that was swept away to build
St Katharine Docks.
Modern times bomber over the
Surrey docks and Wapping in the
East End of London on 7 September 1940 Wapping was devastated by
German bombing in the
Second World War 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. ==Wapping dispute==