Hugh de Balun was a property-owner in the area in the 12th century - he belonged to the same family as Hamelin de Balun [REF].
Daniel Defoe's 1724 work, "Tour of the Eastern Counties" (part of his "A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain"), mentions Plaistow as a town in which there had been much new building as well as repairs to existing houses since the Revolution [REF].