Boleyn Castle

This house stood in Green Street, East Ham. ( East Ham is not part of Stepney but so close that it makes it worthwhile to include the following.) It was known as Boleyn Castle because the Boleyns of Hever, West Kent, were said to have owned it.

The house was once occupied by a Mr Morley who wrote to the Gentleman's Magazine in the 19th century. He said it was near here that the Henry VIII met Ann Boleyn when she was in mourning for 12 months for a young man to whom she had been betrothed. The King then built a tower house so that she could watch for him crossing from Greenwich. However this has no proof.

In 1870 Cardinal Manning (who played a major role in the great Dock Strike of 1888)  purchased it for the Catholic Church and it became a Reformatory School for Catholic Boys.

The house was still there in 1900 but was damaged by a flying bomb and pulled down in 1962.