This drawing depicts Stepney Manor as it would have appeared in the 15th century. Built in the east end of the city as one of the residences for the bishop of London, many early records of Stepney shed light on the general management of the building and its grounds. Within the structure of the building, there were separate chambers for the bishop and his clerks connected by an ambulatory (a covered open-air passage), as well as a chapel which was added by 1243. Documents from 1363 detail the tiling of the kitchen, bakery, bishop’s chamber, and an unspecified outside chamber. There are frequent mentions of daubing and plastering the walls of various areas of the building, demonstrating the amount of work and materials required to properly care for such a large home.
Like most manors of the Middle Ages, Stepney was largely self-sufficient. Within the compound were stables, a carriage house, and thatched granges for storing wheat, barley, and rye. The great garden and the smaller kitchen garden provided reeds for thatching other buildings on the property. Records indicate the existence of a dovecot, a structure used to house doves or pigeons, which were an important food source for the land-owning elite during the medieval period. This drawing by Faith Vardy depicts Stepney Manor after it was renovated in the 15th century. The new manor was brick-built with a courtyard and a surrounding moat encircled by brick walls. The entrance to the manor was accessible through the gatehouse called King John’s Tower. In 1597, the manor was purchased by Henry Somerset, fifth Earl of Worcester and renamed Worcester House. During the English Civil War parliament seized the property from the earl. Subsequently, the manor was turned into a Baptist College in the 1830s. After the College moved in the late 19th century, most of the buildings on the property were demolished and there are no visible remains of Stepney Manor in London today.