Place Name
Tradition claims it is a corruption of the name St Ebba who founded a monastery of which she became Abbess at St Abbs, East Berwick, Scotland, in the 7thCentury, and who somehow had a connection with the local area, which has since been lost. This however has long since been disproved, and is today thought to be named after the family of one William (le) Aps, who lived in the area in the early 13thCentury as featured in the Hornchurch Priory records. An Edmund (le) Aps had a smallholding on Pell Street as mentioned in documents from 1285 and 1315. By 1514 the name was recorded as Aspiscrosse.
