Limehouse, Middlesex

Historical Description

Limehouse, a parish in Middlesex and a parliamentary borough in the county of London, formed out of the old Tower Hamlets in 1885. The parish lies on the N bank of the Thames, along Limehouse Reach, on the Lea or Lime-house Out, on the Regent's Canal, and on the G.E.R., 3 miles E of St Paul's, London; forms a division of the Metropolitan borough of Tower Hamlets; was included in Stepney paribh till 1730; contains the Limehouse and the Regent's Canal; has a station on the railway, and is in the Eastern Suburban Postal District. It was originally called Lime-hurst, signifying " lime grove," and it is said to have got that name from the existence of many lime trees on its site. The old streets are narrow and irregular, but fine wide roads lead to the East and West India Docks and to the Bow Road. The parish suffered great injury from a fire in 1716, and much of its site prior to that time was occupied by market-gardens and rope-walks. The area of the parish is 228-2 statute acres of land and 15'5 of water, with about 16 acres of tidal water and foreshore; population, 32,202; of the parliamentary borough, 55,253. The head living, or that of Limehouse St Anne (population, 9901), is a rectory, in the gift of Brasenose College, Oxford; the living of St John the Evangelist (5764) is a vicarage, of the gross value of £300 with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of London; the living of St Matthew, Stepney (6145), which is partly in the parish of Ratcliff, is a vicarage, of the net value of £200 with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of London; the living of St Paul, Bow Common (14,302), which is partly in the parish of Mile End Old Town, is a vicarage, of the gross value of £400, in the gift of trustees; the living of St Peter, Limehouse, which is partly in the parish of Poplar, is a vicarage, of the net value of £500 with residence, in the gift of the Merchant Tailors' Company. All these livings are in the diocese of London. Limehouse Reach is the part of the Thames between Limehouse and the Isle of Dogs, extending from the Lower Pool to the Deptford Reach; has a length of about 1½ mile and a depth of from 10 to 16 feet; and is called in its deepest part, where many foreign vessels lie, Limehouse Hole.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Limehouse from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Limehouse (St. Anne))

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Middlesex is online.

Maps

Online maps of Limehouse are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)