Introducing the East End of London

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.

To some people the location of the East End is obvious, but the average tourist is often confused, expecting only a small area. In actual fact the East End encompasses all those districts which are to be found east of the centre. Of course such a large area contains a number of highly interesting places to visit and a number of top class tourist attractions. One thing that you really should make the effort to see is the fascinating collection of dolls houses at Bethnal Green Museum. The collection contains numerous antique houses dating back to the 17th century.

When you mention the East End of London, a great many people automatically think of the word “Cockney” or “Cockneys”. A Cockney is a person who was born in the East End of London within hearing distance of the bells at Bow Church (Bow Bells). You may wonder about the origins of such a strange word and you may be surprised to learn that it came from an old middle English word for a misshapen egg (or cock’s egg) - “cokeney”.

Sadly, during the dark times of the plague (1348-50), there were so many men, women and children killed that the dead had to be disposed of in large pits rather than individual graves. Archaeologists, digging in the area around Tower Bridge, found the remains of more than 700 bodies.

The main port of London was in the East End with the first being the West India Dock which was completed in 1802. For a long time, from 1788 to around 1960, it was the world’s busiest port. At it’s peak (in the 1930’s) the port’s docks saw 35,000,000 tons of cargo being handled and, at this time, the port employed around 100,000.

The East End of London has been home to many famous & infamous characters. The famous explorer Captain Cook married the daughter of the landlord of an East End public house in which Cook often visited. Another famous person closely associated with the East End is Joseph Merrick because he had been appearing in a freak show at the Mile End Road billed as “The Elephant Man”, sadly a name to which he remains most widely known as to this day.

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.

The East End of London has always been the place in which new settlers set up home. At different times the area has been dominated by various cultures (during the time of Jack the Ripper it was predominantly Jewish. This led to many folk automatically assuming that he would also be a Jew) and today we have an East End that is incredibly vibrant with an amazingly diverse population incorporating many different races, cultures and creeds.