St Mary Matfellon stood in Whitechapel High Street, and its presence is recorded from at least the thirteenth century. 'Whitechapel' itself referred to the church's whitewashed exterior. The high street was known for butchers' and shoemakers' shops, but (according to Stow) was filthy, despite having been paved in 1572. The district itself (on London 's eastern outskirts in the early modern period) was disreputable. The meaning of 'Matfellon' is unclear: Stow advances a clearly apocryphal etymology involving a felon, while other possibilities involve a corruption of either the Hebrew word 'matfel', meaning a woman who has just given birth, or of 'mater et filio'.