History

Around 952 AD Dunstan, at the time Bishop of London and hence Lord of the Manor of Stepney – and later to be Archbishop of Canterbury – replaced the small wooden church on the site by a new stone building dedicated to All the Saints. In 1029 Dunstan was canonised and the church's title became St. Dunstan & All Saints. Until the early 1300s when new churches were built at Whitechapel and Bow, it served the whole of Middlesex to the East of the City of London. The present building – of Kentish ragstone – is the third on the site and is mainly 15th century, though the chancel dates from 200 years earlier, and is all in the Perpendicular style.

The church's ten bells are rung regularly and were all made nearby in Whitechapel Bell Foundry, having been recast in 1806. They are commemorated in the rhyme 'Oranges and Lemons' : "...When will that be, say the bells of Stepney."

Our greatest treasure is a tenth century Saxon Rood (cross) now under the East window. It shows Jesus on the Cross flanked by his mother and St. John. Also in the chancel is a small 12th century carving of the Annunciation and 13th century sedilia, as well as fine 16th century tombs. There are many other interesting memorials in the church.

Hugh Easton designed the large East window. It shows the risen Christ above the ruins of Stepney after the WWII Blitz. Two other Hugh Easton windows are Jesus being encouraged to take his first steps in the carpenter's shop in Nazareth, and a sailor at the foot of the Cross, a memorial to Merchant and Royal Navy seamen who gave their lives on the high seas during WWII.

The church has a long-standing association with the sea. The designation of one of the three churchwardens is the Hamlet of Ratcliffe, which included the Port of London. Births, marriages and deaths at sea were registered at St. Dunstan's until fairly recently, and it was known as the "Church of the High Seas"; the flag flown from the tower is still the Red Ensign. Parish registers complete from 1586 are now housed at the London Metropolitan Archives; they also show numerous victims of the Plague, which was a notifiable disease. No less than 6,583 sufferers died in the parish in eighteen months; on one particular day in September 1665, 154 victims were buried in the specially enlarged churchyard. Nowadays this churchyard of nearly seven acres has been cleared of most of its tombstones and provides a welcome open space for the whole community.