London's East End

By: Billy Jones

Of course most people know of London because of the Queen, who lives at Buckingham Palace and has a number of other properties around the city. There is much more to London than the Queen and the usual tourist attractions of Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the likes. As the largest city in Europe the city is one of the most cosmopolitan in England and each sector of the city has it's own uniqueness. To experience the quintessential London it is best to spend some time in the area known as the East End.

Anywhere east of the centre of London is known as the East End. When visiting London, the East End is not most peoples first port of call and it is often overlooked. However the area does have a number of popular tourist attractions, one of which is the incredible Bethnal Green Museum. Inside you will discover a massive selection of exhibits including the highly interesting collection of antique Doll Houses, including some that are several hundred years old.

must have been born close enough to Bow Church to hear it's bells, which are known simply as "Bow Bells". The word originates from the word "cokeney" which is old middle English for a cock's, or misshapen, egg.

In the grim years of 1348 - 1350 London suffered the effects of the Black Death (Plague), because of the vast number of people inflicted it became necessary for the dead bodies to be piled into huge pits (this was mainly because the number who died was so huge, and the number of fit folk so few). Excavations, near to Tower Bridge, have unearthed over 700 skeletons in one of these pits (known as plague pits).

Between the years 1788 and 1960 London's East End port was, by far, the largest in the world. At one time (in the 1930's) the were about one hundred thousand men working in the port and the amount of cargo handled was incredible, around thirty five million tons. London had a number of important docks, the earliest being the West India Dock completed in 1802 (the East India Dock was built in 1806).

Over the centuries there have been a large number of famous, and some infamous, people who were born or lived in the East End. One of the most famous is Joseph Merrick (the Elephant Man), who was discovered in a freak show on the Mile End Road. The explorer Captain Cook, who hails from Wapping, met his wife in an East End Inn when she was only a sickly child. She was the daughter of the landlord. Captain Cook married his wife in 1762.

The East End of London has had a number of "high profile" criminals. During the 1960's the area was ruled by the infamous Krays, twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray. In 1888, the Whitechapel district of the East End was witness to the horrific murders of the infamous serial killer, "Jack the Ripper". Although he murdered 5 women he was not caught and even today there are powerful arguements for and against him being one of many suspects.

At the time of the Ripper murders the population of Whitechapel was about ninety percent Jewish and this led to many assuming that the Ripper must, almost certainly, have been a Jew. The East End has always been one of the areas in which new cultures settle when first arriving in England. Even today this is the case and the East End is all the richer for it.

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