St Mary's parish church, Whitechapel
1831 description:
St Mary Whitechapel [1558], the church of, stands at the eastern end of Whitechapel High Street, at the south side of the beginning of the Whitechapel, or Mile-End Road. This church is of some antiquity, as appears from Hugh de Fulbourn, being its rector in 1329. It was originally a chapel of ease to the parish of Stepney, and is supposed to have received its epithet white, from the colour of its walls. The ancient name of this church was St Mary Matfel, which signifies a woman recently delivered of a son, alluding to the birth of Christ, to whose mother it is dedicated. The old church becoming very ruinous, it was taken down in 1673, and rebuilt as at present [~1830]. This church was anciently a rectory, in the gift of the rector of Stepney, in whose successors the patronage continued till 1711, when it was purchased by the principal and scholars of Brosenose College, Oxford. It is a rectory, in the diocese of London, and exempt from archidiaconal jurisdiction.
An interesting description of Ely Place by Booth. Click on the image for a full sized version.
