Wapping

A residential district immediately to the east of the City of London and the Tower, Wapping was home to most of London's working commercial docks in the 17th and 18th centuries, and thus of a great variety of foreign and domestic seamen. London's great centre for the rough and tumble culture of sea-faring, it was densely populated, often but not always by poor persons living in overcrowded conditions. The area possesed one of the greatest concentrations of public and bawdy houses in London (rivaled only by the South Bank) during that era.

Submitted by Prof. Eric Weinstein.