Stepney had tidal mills along the Thames by 1086 and in the Middle Ages it provided a land market for Londoners and courtiers. The growth of all the hamlets is traced to c.1700, besides economic development to c.1550 and their local government, religious life, and charities. Bethnal Green, in the north-west, a parish from 1743 and metropolitan borough from 1900, is described to the present day.