Place Name
Leading to Wapping Dock Stairs which go down to the River Thames. For many years it was believed that the area was called Wapping after the personal name of a Saxon chieftan’s settlement, and so Wæppa’s people. But researchers now believe that this is unlikely on two grounds, firstly the name is not recorded anywhere else. And secondly the area was marshland, where early settlement was unlikely. It is now thought that the name may derive from the Old English word wapol, meaning a marsh. Either way the area was known as Wapping from around 1220 and later in 1231 spelt Wappinges and Woppin in 1650.
