Metropolitan Borough of Poplar

London - Pax Britannica

Poplar was a local government district in the metropolitan area of London, England. It was formed as a district of the Metropolis in 1855 and became a metropolitan borough in the County of London in 1900. It comprised Poplar, Millwall, Bromley-by-Bow and Bow.

Formation and boundaries

The borough bordered the metropolitan boroughs of Hackney, Stepney, and Bethnal Green to the west and north, and the county of Essex to the east. To the south, the River Thames formed borders with the metropolitan boroughs of Bermondsey, Deptford and Greenwich.

It was formed from three civil parishes: St Mary Stratford-le-Bow, St Leonard Bromley and All Saints Poplar. In 1907 these three were combined into a single civil parish called Poplar Borough, which was conterminous with the metropolitan borough.[2] In 1965 the parish and borough were abolished, with their former area becoming part of the newly formed London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

It included the districts of (from north to south):

• Bow
• Bromley St Leonard
• Poplar
• Blackwall
• Isle of Dogs

Geography

Architecturally it is a mixture of 18th- and 19th-century terraced houses and 20th-century council estates. Notable examples include the Lansbury Estate and the Balfron Tower, St John's Estate and Samuda Estate.

History

The parishes that would ultimately become the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The parish boundaries of Bow, Bromley and Poplar preserved in ward boundaries within the former Metropolitan Borough of Poplar.

Poplar was formerly part of the parish of Stepney and was first recorded in either 1327 or 1350.

It took its name from the Black Poplar trees which once flourished in the area. Black Poplar is a very rare and exceptionally large tree that grows well in the wet conditions which the Thames and Lea historically brought to much of the neighbourhood. A specimen persisted in the area until at least 1986 when the naturalist Oliver Rackham noted "Nearby, in the midst of railway dereliction, a single Black Poplar even now struggles for life".

In 1654, as the population of the hamlet began to grow, the East India Company ceded a piece of land upon which to build a chapel and this became the nucleus of the settlement. St Matthias Old Church is located on Poplar High Street, opposite Tower Hamlets College.

Landmarks

A new Church Green next to St. Mary and St. Joseph Church was created in 2012 on the site of the former Blitz-bombed Catholic church, across the road from the current church designed by Adrian Gilbert Scott. It is open to the public during the day and public sculptures include, the former Catholic Boys' School entrance statue dedicated to dockers and seafarers, a 15-foot crucifix that stood on the site of the old high altar and a contemporary granite and light sculpture, A Doorway of Hope, by sculptor Nicolas Moreton.

Poplar High Street is host to a number of landmarks due to it previously being the principal street in Poplar, including the old Poplar Town Hall, which has mosaic detail and now a hotel[29] and Poplar Bowls Club, founded in 1910 and is part of Poplar Recreation Ground and a recently reopened sports centre called The Workhouse stands on the site of Poplar Workhouse,[31] where local politician Will Crooks spent some of his earliest years (a nearby council housing estate is named after him) and the designated Grade II* listed St Matthias Old Church, now a community centre and formally a chapel that was built by the East India Company in 1654.

The original Poplar Baths opened in 1852, costing £10,000. It was built to provide public wash facilities for the East End's poor as a result of the Baths and Washhouses Act 1846. The Baths were rebuilt in 1933 to a design by Harley Heckford and the larger pool was covered over to convert the building into a theatre and designated the East India Hall. Poplar Baths reopened in 1947 after the Second World War and continued to be used as a swimming facility, attracting on average 225,700 bathers every year between 1954 and 1959, the Baths closed again and was conversion to an industrial training centre in 1988. The Baths once again re-opened on 25 July 2016 and were removed from the Buildings at Risk register.

The Museum of London Docklands in West India Quay, opened in 2003 on the site of a grade I listed early-19th century Georgian "low" sugar warehouses built in 1802 on the side of West India Docks in the Port of London.

Industry

Poplar still remains a part of the Port of London as Northumberland Wharf is still retained as a working wharf with special status from the Mayor of London and the Port of London Authority (PLA) as a safeguarded wharf. It is run by Cory Riverside Energy who also managed the Reuse and Recycling Centre which is next to the wharf and for the transportation of waste by barge along the River Thamees.

Poplar Borough Council had been authorised in 1893 to supply electricity to the borough. Electricity supplies began in October 1900 from a power station on the corner of Glaucus Street and Yeo Street. The station was later known as Poplar Watts Grove (off Devons Road)