Stepney covered almost all the area between the suburbs of the City of London and the river Lea, the eastern boundary of Middlesex, until the early 14th century when the first of several daughter parishes was created. vill included Hackney, and probably at one time also Bromley, a parish created from an estate in 'Stepney' claimed unsuccessfully by the bishop in 1086. The date at which the three achieved separate parochial status is not known: since Stepney gave its name to the vill it is assumed it was a Saxon parochia, but on the other hand, because of its closeness to London it may have remained part of the parochia of St. Paul's until relatively late. Stepney's boundaries were first delineated in 1703: to the south was the Thames, to the east Bromley and, across the Lea, West Ham (Essex), to the north Hackney, and to the north-west Shoreditch.
Deposits since Roman times have added to the Neolithic alluvium along the Thames, where much of the land may have been submerged at high tide as late as the 2nd century A.D. All the parish of Stepney, save the western part of Bethnal Green and a patch near the west end from above sea level. By the 12th century those areas were known as marshes, the most important being Walmarsh or Wapping marsh, in St. George-in-the-East and Whitechapel, and Stepney marsh or Poplar marsh, in the Isle of Dogs. Flooding in Stepney or Poplar marsh hastened the transition from arable to pasture in the 15th century and saw the abandonment of a settlement at the south end of the Isle of Dogs. The extent of the alluvial marsh may explain why a landing-place, the Stybba's hythe which evolved as 'Stepney', gave its name to a large area of Middlesex. The marshes provided sites for medieval tidal mills. The high tidal range made necessary repeated reclamation work until adequate embanking was carried out in the 16th century.
The manor of HARDWICK was among the possessions of the abbey of Chertsey in this parish; the first reference to it occurs in 1430, when the manor, held by the abbey, was assigned to William Frowyk to farm and of frankpledge of the manor of Chertsey to which the half-hundred of Godley (q.v.) did suit. The manor of Hardwick has, throughout, followed the descent of the manor of Chertsey. The site of the manor of Hardwick at the time of the Dissolution, or shortly after, was in the tenure of William Cooke.
In 1535 land called DEPENHAMS in Chertsey was valued among the possessions of the monastery at £6 13s. 4d. It was conveyed to Henry VIII as a manor by the Abbot of Chertsey in 1537, but no other reference to Depenhams as a manor occurs. It was granted in 1550 on a lease to Sir William Fitz William, being then, or having previously been, in the tenure of William Loksmyth. The grant was extended in 1569 to Joan Fitz William, widow of Sir William, for twenty-one years. A tenement called SHRYMPLEMARSHE (Simple Marsh, or Simple Mere) was included among the abbey lands, being valued in the 16th century at 100s. At the surrender of the monastery it was granted to John Prior; in 1550 it was leased to William Fitz William, after whose death it was granted in 1569 to his widow Joan for twenty-one years. It was granted in 1613 to Francis Morrice and Francis Phillips. In 1616 they conveyed it to Richard Tylney. Other records refer to a rabbit-warren on St. Anne's Hill, otherwise Eldebury Hill, in Chertsey, which belonged to the monastery and was granted to Sir William Fitz William in 1550, and sold during the Commonwealth to George Vincent.
Chertsey manor, known from about the 14th century by the name of 'Chertsey-Beomond' as well as by the simpler form of 'Chertsey,' remained in the possession of the monastery until 1537, when, upon the surrender of the latter, the abbot conveyed its lands to the king.The manor of Chertsey was leased in 1550 to Sir William FitzWilliam for thirty years and granted by Edward VI after 1553. He died before 1569, when the lease was extended for twenty-one years to his widow Joan. In 1602 Matthew Browne, son and heir of the daughter Mabel who had married Thomas Browne, conveyed the site of the abbey to John Hammond, afterwards physician to James I; a formal grant was made by the Crown in 1610. James I granted it to his eldest son, Henry Prince of Wales, after whose death Sir Francis Bacon and others held it in trust for Charles Prince of Wales for ninety-nine years, the term beginning in 1617.
The Domesday Survey records the existence of a forge at Chertsey which served the abbey, and also of a mill. Gilbert Fitz Ralph held the latter of the abbey in 1197. There was a gaol, belonging to the abbey, at Chertsey in 1297. Water-mills known as the Oxlake or Okelake mills in Chertsey, appear to have been in existence at an early date. They belonged to the abbey and are marked in a chart of the abbey and its lands which is found in the ledger book of the monastery. The abbot and convent were responsible for the repair of Chertsey Bridge over the Thames. In 1630 the inhabitants of Chertsey petitioned for the repair of Chertsey Bridge. A survey of the manor of Chertsey made in 1627 mentions as common fields or pastures lands called Wheatworth, Wentworth, Adlesdon Moor, and Chertsey Mead. The Parliamentary Survey of 1650 includes Marleheath, Childsey Common, and New Lodge Heath as common lands.
A Stepney watercourse, probably rising near Spitalfields, ran south-eastward through Haresmarsh to Mile End, crossing the Colchester road near the junction with Cambridge Heath Road, passing north of the parish church, and curving round into Poplar to enter the Thames at Limehouse dock. It may have given the name to Brokestreet, near the church, by the 14th century. In 1703 it crossed the Colchester road by a bridge, known as Stonebridge in 1731. The stream was gradually culverted and by the late 18th century, when it was known as the Black Ditch, was clearly distinguished only between Rhodeswell Road and the Thames. Long straight stretches suggest that its course had already been modified.
The parish church of ST. PETER - A vicarage of Chertsey, with an endowment of £6 13s. 4d., is mentioned in the yeare 1291. The church belonged to the abbot and convent, and remained in their hands until John Cordrey, the last abbot, gave up his possessions in 1537. The vicarage was formally ordained in 1331; the vicar and his successors were granted the house and certain lands belonging to the vicarage and oblations from the church. He was not required to pay any pension to the abbey, and was entitled to eat in the abbey at the abbey's expense on Rogation days and at Easter. Augmentation of the vicarage was made in 1402, as the provision made for the vicar was found to be inadequate. The advowson, in addition, all tithes from the working artificers and merchandises of the parishioners; tithes of the fishing of the parishioners, unless done in the private waters of the abbey; tithes of milk, butter, cheese, cream, eggs, and pigeons; and half tithes of geese, honey, wax, hemp, apples, pears, onions, garlic, and all things titheable if they grew in the gardens of the parish. Various exceptions to the foregoing were made. The vicar was to pay all synodals, martinals, and tenths to the king for the portion of the vicarage. The registers date from 1610.