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Mile End

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Mile End was a hamlet located on the eastern edge of London, east of Whitechapel and exactly a mile east of Aldgate (Sugden). Stow often describes the area in terms which suggest the place was considered a part of the city’s easternmost extremity. It is likely beyond the bounds of the Agas map.
According to Sugden, Mile End was used as a training ground for the citizen forces of Lond[on], as well as for fairs and shows of various kinds. Since the area was considered the country, citizens would go there recreationally, and it was considered a fashionable area in which to reside (Sugden). On the other hand, Mile End also had a reputation for highway robberies, was the location of a lazar house, and criminals were hung in chains at [Mile End] Green (Sugden; Stow 1598, sig. 2D8r). During the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381, a group of rebels gathered at Mile End and demanded that Richard II meet them there to hear their demands; he did so and departed from them unharmed after grant[ing] to their request (Stow 1633, sig. F2r).
Mile End appears in a number of literary texts including Thomas Middleton’s The Black Book, William Shakespeare’s All’s Well that Ends Well, Ben Jonson’s Every Man in His Humour, and Thomas Dekker’s The Shoemaker’s Holiday.