The Prospect of Whitby is a Wapping landmark.

Wapping shown within Greater London Greater London is the top-level administrative subdivision covering London, England. The administrative area was officially created in 1965 and covers the City of London , the City of Westminster and the other 31 London boroughs. Its area also forms the London region of England and the London European Parliament constituency. The region has by far OS grid reference The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using latitude and longitude TQ345805 London borough The districts of England are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the structure of local government in England is not uniform, there are currently four types of district level subdivision. Some districts are styled as boroughs, cities, or royal boroughs. These are purely honorific titles, and do Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets ( pronunciation ) is a London borough to the east of the City of London, England and north of the River Thames in East London, taking in much of the East End. It includes much of the redeveloped Docklands region of London, including West India Docks and Canary Wharf. Many of the tallest buildings in London are Ceremonial county The ceremonial counties are areas of England that are appointed a Lord Lieutenant, and are defined by the government as the Counties for the purposes of the Lieutenancies Act 1997 with reference to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England and Lieutenancies Act 1997. They are often used in a geographic reference frame, and in this Greater London Greater London is the top-level administrative subdivision covering London, England. 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Wapping (pronounced 'Wopping') is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets ( pronunciation ) is a London borough to the east of the City of London, England and north of the River Thames in East London, taking in much of the East End. It includes much of the redeveloped Docklands region of London, including West India Docks and Canary Wharf. Many of the tallest buildings in London are which forms part of the Docklands Docklands is the semi-official name for an area in East and South East London, comprising parts of several boroughs . The docks were formerly part of the Port of London, at one time the world's largest port. They have now been redeveloped principally for commercial and residential use. The name London Docklands was used for the first time in a to the east of the City of London The City of London is a geographically small city within Greater London in England. It is the historic core of London around which, along with Southwark and then Westminster, the modern conurbation grew. The City’s boundaries have remained almost constant since the Middle Ages, and hence it is now only a tiny part of the much larger London. It is situated between the north bank of the River Thames The Thames ( tɛmz ) is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading and Windsor and the ancient thoroughfare simply called The Highway. Wapping's proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through its riverside public houses A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on or off the premises in countries and regions of British influence. Although the terms often have different connotations, there is little definitive difference between pubs, bars, inns, taverns and lounges where alcohol is and steps, such as the Prospect of Whitby and Wapping Stairs.

Many of the original buildings were demolished during the construction of the London Docks and Wapping was further seriously damaged during The Blitz The Blitz was the sustained bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, in World War II. While the Blitz hit many towns and cities across the country, it began with the bombing of London for 57 consecutive nights. By the end of May 1941, over 43,000 civilians, half of them in London, had been killed by bombing and. As the London Docklands declined after the Second World War, the area became run down, with the great warehouses left empty. The area's fortunes were transformed during the 1980s by the London Docklands Development Corporation when the warehouses started to be converted into luxury flats.

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KCSG , usually known as Rupert Murdoch, is an Australian-born global media mogul. He owns media outlets and is a major shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation (News Corp). Beginning with one newspaper in Adelaide, Murdoch acquired and started other publications in his native Australia before moved his News International News International Ltd is a British newspaper publisher owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc printing and publishing works into Wapping in 1986, resulting in a trade union dispute that became known as the "Battle of Wapping The Wapping dispute was, along with the miners' strike of 1984-5, a significant turning point in the history of the trade union movement and of UK industrial relations. It started on 24 January 1986 when some 6,000 newspaper workers went on strike after protracted negotiation with their employers, News International . News International had built".

Contents

History

Origins

The area was first settled by Saxons The Saxons were a confederation of Old Germanic tribes. Their modern-day descendants in Lower Saxony and Westphalia and other German states are considered ethnic Germans (the State of Sachsen is not inhabited by ethnic Saxons; the state of Sachsen-Anhalt only in its northwestern parts); those in the eastern Netherlands are considered to be ethnic, from whom it takes its name (meaning literally "[the place of] Wæppa's people").[1] It developed along the embankment of the Thames, 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".[2]

Wapping by James McNeill Whistler

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, boat-builders, 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 Piracy is a war-like act committed by a non-state actor, especially robbery or criminal violence committed at sea, on water, or sometimes on shore. It does not normally include crimes on board a vessel among passengers or crew. The term has been used to refer to raids across land borders by non-state actors. Piracy should be distinguished from and other water-borne criminals faced execution Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the killing of a person by judicial process for retribution, general deterrence, and incapacitation. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from Latin capitalis, literally "regarding the head" . Hence, a by hanging For lack of a better term, hanging has also been used to describe a method of suicide in which a person applies a ligature to the neck and brings about unconsciousness and then death, by means of partial suspension or partial weight-bearing on the ligature. This method has been most often used in prisons or other institutions, where full from a gibbet A gibbet is a gallows-type structure from which the dead bodies of executed criminals were hung on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals. To gibbet a criminal is to display the criminal on a gibbet. This practice is also called "hanging in chains" constructed close to the low water mark. Their bodies would be left dangling until they had been submerged three times by the tide.[2]

The Bell Inn, by execution dock was run by Samuel Batts. His daughter, Elizabeth, married James Cook Captain James Cook FRS RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy. Cook was the first to map Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean during which he achieved the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands as in 1762 at Barking Barking is a suburban town in East London, England in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. A retail and commercial centre situated in the west of the borough, it lies 9.1 miles east of Charing Cross, after the Royal Navy captain had stayed at the Inn[3]. The couple initially settled in Shadwell Shadwell is an inner-city district situated within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets located on the north bank of the Thames between Wapping to the south and Limehouse to the east. It is located 3 miles east of Charing Cross and forms part of the East End of London, 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.

Dockland area

Said to be England's first, the Marine Police Force The Marine Police Force, sometimes known as the Thames River Police and said[who?] to be England's first Police force, was formed by magistrate Patrick Colquhoun and a Master Mariner, John Harriott, in 1798 to tackle theft and looting from ships anchored in the Pool of London and the lower reaches of the river. Its base was in Wapping High Street, 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.[4]

In 1811, the horrific Ratcliff Highway murders took place nearby at The Highway and Wapping Lane.[5]

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 district became isolated from the rest of London, although some relief was provided by Brunel's Thames Tunnel The Thames Tunnel is an underwater tunnel, built beneath the River Thames in London, United Kingdom connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping. It measures 35 feet wide by 20 feet (6 m) high and is 1,300 feet (396 m) long, running at a depth of 75 feet (23 m) below the river's surface (measured at high tide). It was the first tunnel known successfully to to Rotherhithe Rotherhithe is a district of central south-east London in the London Borough of Southwark. It is located on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping and the Isle of Dogs on the north bank, and is a part of the Docklands area. The opening of Wapping tube station on the East London Line The East London line was a line of the London Underground, coloured orange on the Tube map. It ran north to south through the East End and Docklands areas of London, entirely in Travelcard Zone 2. It closed on 22 December 2007 for construction work, and was replaced by bus services in 1869 provided a direct rail link to the rest of London.

Modern times

Gun Wharves, Wapping. Now home to luxury flats.

Wapping was devastated by German bombing The Blitz was the sustained bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, in World War II. While the Blitz hit many towns and cities across the country, it began with the bombing of London for 57 consecutive nights. By the end of May 1941, over 43,000 civilians, half of them in London, had been killed by bombing and in World War II[6] 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 Quango or qango is an acronym used notably in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and elsewhere to label colloquially an organisation to which government has devolved power. In the United Kingdom the official term is "non-departmental public body" or NDPB 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.

In 1986, Rupert Murdoch's News International built a new £80m printing and publishing works in the north of Wapping. This became the scene of violent protests after News International's UK operation moved from Fleet Street to Wapping, with over 5,000 print workers being sacked when new technology was introduced.

Wapping dispute

Main article: Wapping dispute

The "Wapping dispute" or "Battle of Wapping" was, along with the miners' strike of 1984-5, a significant turning point in the history of the trade union movement and of UK industrial relations. It started on 24 January 1986 when some 6,000 newspaper workers went on strike after protracted negotiation with their employers, News International (parent of Times Newspapers and News Group Newspapers, and chaired by Rupert Murdoch). News International had built and clandestinely equipped a new printing plant for all its titles in Wapping, and when the print unions announced a strike it activated this new plant with the assistance of the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU).

The plant was nicknamed "Fortress Wapping" when the sacked print workers effectively besieged it, mounting round-the-clock pickets and blockades in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to thwart the move. In 2005, News International announced the intention to move the print works to regional presses based in Broxbourne (the world's largest printing plant, opened March 2008),[7] Liverpool and Glasgow. The editorial staff were to remain, however, and there was talk of redeveloping the sizeable plot that makes up the printing works[8]

Landmarks

Wapping old stairs

Perhaps Wapping's greatest attraction is the Thames foreshore itself, and the venerable public houses that face onto it. A number of the old 'stairs', such as Wapping Old Stairs and Pelican Stairs (by the Prospect of Whitby) give public access to a littoral zone (for the Thames is tidal at this point) littered with flotsam, jetsam and fragments of old dock installations. Understandably it is popular with amateur archaeologists and treasure hunters - it is surprisingly easy for even a casual visitor to pick up a centuries-old shard of pottery here.

St George in the East

Main article: St George in the East

St George in the East on Cannon Street Road is one of six Hawksmoor churches in London, built from 1714 to 1729, with funding from the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches.

When the church was hit by a bomb during the Blitz the original interior was destroyed by the fire, but the walls and distinctive "pepper-pot" towers stayed up. In 1964 a modern church interior was constructed inside the existing walls for the active congegration, and a new flat built under each corner tower.

Behind the church lies St George's Gardens, the original cemetery, which was passed to Stepney Council to maintain as a public park in mid-Victorian times.

Execution Dock

Main article: Execution Dock Wax figure of a pirate hanged at Execution Dock. Madame Tussauds, London

The "Execution Dock" was located on the Thames. It was used by the Admiralty for over 400 years (as late as 1830) to hang pirates that had been convicted and sentenced to death by the Admiralty court.

The Admiralty only had jurisdiction over crimes on the sea, so the dock was located within their jurisdiction by being located far enough offshore as to be beyond the low-tide mark. It was used to kill the notorious Captain Kidd.[9] Many prisoners would be executed together as a public event in front of a crowd of onlookers after being paraded from the Marshalsea Prison across London Bridge and past the Tower of London to the dock.

Public houses

Though Execution Dock is long gone, this gibbet is still maintained on the Thames foreshore by the Prospect of Whitby public house

Three venerable public houses offer much-needed refreshment after exploring the district, all conveniently located near Stairs. By Pelican Stairs is the Prospect of Whitby, which has a much-disputed claim to be the oldest Thames-side public house still in existence. Be that as it may, there has been an inn on the site since the reign of Henry VIII, and it is certainly one of the most famous public houses in London. It is named after a then-famous collier that used to dock regularly at Wapping. A replica of the old Execution Dock gibbet is maintained on the adjacent foreshore, although the actual site of Execution Dock was nearer to the Town of Ramsgate. This also is on the site of a 16th century inn and is located next to Wapping Old Stairs to the west of the Prospect; by Wapping Pier Head — the former local headquarters of the Customs and Excise.

Situated half way between the two is the Captain Kidd, named after the Scottish privateer William Kidd. He was hanged on the Wapping foreshore in 1701 after being found guilty of murder and piracy. Although the pub occupies a 17th century building, it was established only in the 1980s.

Literary and cultural references

Wapping has been used as the setting for a number of works of fiction, including the Dr Who episode The Talons of Weng-Chiang;[10] the Ruby In The Smoke novel in the Sally Lockhart series by Phillip Pullman;[11] the BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, in which the central character, Alf Garnett, shares his name with Garnet Street in Wapping;[12] and the brothel in The Threepenny Opera, in which Mac the Knife was betrayed by Ginny Jenny.[13]. The Darlings of Wapping Wharf Launderette is a compilation album by East End group the Small Faces. [14]

Fictional residents also include Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe, an officer in the British Army during the Napoleonic wars; and Dr. Lemuel Gulliver, the title character of Johnathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels who, in the novel, lived in Wapping before going to sea.

In the best-selling Playstation 2 game Stuntman the first 'film' the player takes part in is entitled 'Toothless in Wapping.' Game designers stated in an interview in Kerrang that they chose Wapping because "We went there once and it proper smelled of throw-up."

Notable people

Among the people born in Wapping are W.W. Jacobs, author of The Monkey's Paw. The American painter James McNeill Whistler, well known for his Thames views, painted Wapping when he lived at Wapping between October 1860 and 1864. [15] The painting is permanently displayed at the National Gallery of Art Washington.

During the 90s Wapping was home to American entertainer Cher.

Education

For details of education in Wapping, see List of schools in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

Transport

The Thames Tunnel, the world's first underwater tunnel.
Nearby areas

Opening in June 2010, the nearest London Overground station is Wapping.

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Waeppa's People - a History of Wapping by Madge Darby - ISBN 0 947699
  2. ^ a b 'The Thames Tunnel, Ratcliff Highway and Wapping', Old and New London: Volume 2 (1878), pp. 128-37 accessed: 29 March 2007
  3. ^ Famous 18th century people of Barking and Dagenham Info Sheet #22, LB Barking & Dagenham
  4. ^ History of the Marine Support Unit (Met) accessed 24 Jan 2007
  5. ^ Stepney Murders: The Ratcliffe Highway Murders accessed 21 Jan 2007
  6. ^ My Mum's War: Life in the East End - BBC WW2 People's War accessed 1 Apr 2007
  7. ^ BBC NEWS | UK | World's biggest print plant opens
  8. ^ Daily Telegraph Money 9 February 2006 accessed 5 May 2007
  9. ^ http://www.shadwatch.co.uk/wapping_history_01.htm
  10. ^ http://www.doctorwholocations.net/locations/wappingoldstairs
  11. ^ http://www.damaris.org/content/content.php?type=1&id=197
  12. ^ http://www.jbutler.org.uk/London/TowerHamlets/Wapping.shtml
  13. ^ http://www.nodanw.com/shows_t/threepenny_opera.htm
  14. ^ Darlings of Wapping Wharf Launderette Retrieved September 16, 2008
  15. ^ Wapping

Bibliography

External links

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