Scotland

Most folk know that the capital city of the United Kingdom is London in the south east of England. As Europe’s largest city, with a population exceeding 7 million people, there are several areas where different cultures seem to congregate leading to a multi-cultural and rather cosmopolitan society. One of the areas most people associate with true Londoners is the East End of London.

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.

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.

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.

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.

During the 1960’s the East End became famous for the gangster operations of the “Krays”. The Kray twins (Ronnie and Reggie) ruled an incredibly lucrative criminal empire which became headline news when they were finally brought to justice. One infamous East End criminal who famously evaded capture was “Jack the Ripper”. In 1888 Jack the Ripper brutally murdered five women then ceased much to the annoyance of the police. There were many suspects but little hard evidence and the debate continues to this day as to who really was the Ripper.

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.