Hackney Central

Hackney (central area)
OS grid reference	TQ345845
London borough	Hackney
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	E8
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
UK Parliament	Hackney South and Shoreditch
London Assembly	North East

Hackney Central is the central district of the London Borough of Hackney in East London. It comprises the area roughly surrounding, and extending north from Mare Street. It is situated 4 miles (6.4 km) north east of Charing Cross.

Hackney Central is the area that once would have been known as Hackney Village. This was a place that flourished from the Tudor period, when principal members of the Court had their houses in the surrounding area, and Henry VIII had a palace (located near the modern Lee Bridge Road roundabout). Hackney Central remained a popular resort for Londoners until the end of the Georgian period, when this suburb of London began to be completely built up. Railways, trams and factories brought an end to Hackney's rural atmosphere during the Victorian era, and its fortunes declined.

Extensive post-war redevelopment has replaced much of the housing stock, but the Georgian housing and Victorian terraces that remain have become popular again. The Times property section ran a Focus on Hackney in August 2007. The industries of nearby Homerton and the Lee Valley have largely disappeared, leaving the NHS and local council as the largest employers. Successive waves of immigrants, both from abroad and within the UK, make modern Hackney a vibrant inner city area of London, with both the benefits and problems that this brings.

Definition of Hackney

This district is the historical core of Hackney, and in fact, before the 1899 London County Council reorganisation, it was what many would have understood to be Hackney, although the term Hackney Proper was often used to distinguish it from other local settlements such as South Hackney, West Hackney and Hackney Wick.

However, in terms of parish boundaries, up until 1835 the areas of Hackney Proper, Homerton, Upper and Lower Clapton, Dalston, De Beauvoir Town, Stamford Hill, and Kingsland all constituted the Parish of Hackney.

Since then, the term has been vastly extended to mean, firstly the 1899 Metropolitan Borough, then, after 1965, the current London Borough.

Cultural quarter

The recently refurbished Hackney Empire is one of the oldest surviving music halls in Britain. (September 2005)

South of Hackney Central railway station Mare Street slices through Hackney's 'cultural quarter' of Town Hall Square. Its north side is dominated by Frank Matcham's Grade II* listed 1901 Hackney Empire music hall, on whose stage appeared Charles Chaplin and Marie Lloyd - who lived in nearby Graham Road.

On the west side is the 1934-7 Grade II Hackney Town Hall in Portland Stone, fronted by an open space created when its predecessor, the Hackney Vestry Hall of 1860 was demolished. Opposite on the East side, is the 2001 refurbishment of the Central Library and Methodist Hall, combined to form the Ocean Music Venue.

The square is completed by the 2002 Learning and Technology Centre. This houses the new Hackney Central Library, the Hackney Archive, the local museum and the offices of the Hackney Learning Trust.

The Clowns' archive used to be housed behind the Town Hall. It has now moved, elsewhere in Hackney, to the All Saints Centre, Haggerston (see link below).

Historical Hackney

St Augustine's Tower. Dating back to the 13th century, this is Hackney Central's oldest building. It is all that remains of the original medieval parish church, which was demolished in the late 18th century (September 2005)

In 1727, Daniel Defoe said of the villages of Hackney

All these, except the Wyck-house, are within a few years so encreas'd in buildings, and so fully inhabited, that there is no comparison to be made between their present and past state: Every separate hamlet is encreas'd, and some of them more than treble as big as formerly; Indeed as this whole town is included in the bills of mortality, tho' no where joining to London, it is in some respects to be call'd a part of it. This town is so remarkable for the retreat of wealthy citizens, that there is at this time near a hundred coaches kept in it; tho' I will not join with a certain satyrical author, who said of Hackney, that there were more coaches than Christians in it.

Early origins

Central Hackney was largely unchanged by Roman times, with Ermine Street passing to the west. The land was covered with open oak and hazel woodlands, with marshland around the rivers and streams that crossed the area. Hackney lay in the Catevallauni tribal territory.

The name Hackney derives from a 5th or 6th century Saxon settlement known as Haca's ey - or raised ground in marshland. This was due to the proximity of Hackney Brook, and was probably located on the higher ground around the later St Augustine's Tower. Hackney is not specifically mentioned in the Norman Domesday Book, as at that time it formed a part of the manor of Stepney.

The medieval village was centred on the 13th century Templar church of St Augustine, which gave Church Street its name - the modern Narrow Way - where it crossed Hackney Brook and met with the north end of Mare Street (originally near the site of the modern town hall). In common with much of Hackney, it developed along a single street - meeting Homerton and Clapton in the north; and along the line of Mare Street in the south. Where it crossed Cambridge Heath towards Bethnal Green.

Tudor village

Little remains of early Hackney, except the Tudor St Augustine's Tower, which survives as Hackney's oldest building; and the positively medieval road network. The churchyard, Hackney Brook, and the surrounding villages prevented Hackney's expansion, and by 1605 the village had a lower rateable value than the other divisions of the parish. In Tudor times, there were a number of fine houses along Church Street, but many Tudor courtiers lived in nearby Homerton. On the site of Brooke House college, in Clopton was sited one of Henry VIII's palaces, infamously where his daughter Mary took the Oath of Supremacy. Her guardian was a Bryck Place Homerton resident, Ralph Sadleir who was also Henry's Principal Secretary of State.

A further cluster of houses existed in medieval times, where Well Street enters Mare Street. It was on open ground, to the north-east of here that the Loddiges family founded their extensive nursery business in the 18th century.

Georgian period

By 1724, while still consisting of a single street, there is an unbroken line of buildings, except by the churchyard and by the brook, with large gardens behind for the finer houses and inns. The 16th century church, despite galleries being installed, became too small for the needs of the parish, and parliament was petitioned in 1790 for a modern larger church to be built. This began in 1791 on a field to the north east of the old church, but was bedeviled by builders' bankruptcies and not finally completed until 1812-13 when the tower and porches were added. Further disaster struck in a fire of 1955.

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1830 print of St John-at-Hackney

In the churchyard stands the tomb of Francis Beaufort, devisor of the Beaufort scale; and that of John Hunter, the second governor of New South Wales. The Loddiges family also has a tomb in the churchyard, and memorials within the church. The parish burial register records the death of Anthony, a poore old negro, aged 105 in 1630. This is all that is known of Anthony, but he is the first recorded Black resident of Hackney.

The villages of Hackney, Lower Clapton and Homerton remained separated by fields into the 19th century. The fine houses remained, with large gardens behind. Artisans and labourers lived in cottages established in these gardens. There was not the room, or the will, for major rebuilding in the village. By 1800, St Thomas' Square, a Georgian square was laid out on the southern end of Mare Street. By the 20th century, these buildings had declined and were replaced with public housing. In neighbouring Homerton, (to the east of the churchyard) Sutton Place was built by 1806. An early 18th century mansion, now the New Landsdown Club remains at 195 Mare Street. It is Grade II* listed, but in poor condition.

The rebuilding of the Church, on a field to the north of the village altered the course of the road and allowed the establishment of Clapton Square in 1816, in nearby Lower Clapton. Much of the area to the north and east of the churchyard now forms the Clapton Square Conservation Area, designated in 1969.

Victorian Hackney

1830 Map of Hackney village

During the Victorian era, many of the old buildings were swept away and the estates broken up to form streets of terraced housing. The change from rural suburb to firmly urban, was marked by the arrival of the railway in 1850, with a great iron rail bridge crossing Mare Street. Trams began to make their appearance on the streets in the 1870s, and a tram depot opened in 1882 on Bohemia Place.

Increased access and the culverting of Hackney Brook in 1859-60, brought about the present road layout. Many older buildings were pulled down to intensify development and to make room for street widening and the railway. In 1802, The Old Town Hall was built on the site of the vestry house, by the tower. This was re-fronted in a baroque style in 1900. In turn, this building was replaced as being too small for the needs of the borough, the political centre moving to the front of today's Town Hall (1937). Only St Johns Gardens, and Clapton Square, the areas around the 1791 church, remained as public open space.

Today

The Narrow Way (Church Street) remains a vibrant shopping area, and there is a large Tesco supermarket in nearby Morning Lane. This international store group was founded in Hackney, from a market stall in Well Street market in 1919. A Burberry factory is also located off Morning Lane, with a 'factory outlet' that is considered to be Hackney's most visited tourist attraction.

The area is gentrifying its large stock of Georgian and Victorian terraces and money is pouring fast into new apartments. Despite development its London's 'greenest borough' and 'best cycle borough' with one third of its area being parks or open spaces. In August 2007 The Times Property Section did a special Focus on Hackney.

There's a triad of factors feeding Hackney's urban renewal:

• The 'city' effect (proximity to the financial district).

• The 'artistic' effect (proximity to the Hoxton, Shoreditch, London Fields scene).

• The 'hope' effect of the 2012 Olympics (one third of the Olympic Park will be in Hackney) and its enduring improvements in local transport and infrastructure.

Transport

Hackney Central is a stone's throw to the City with trains running from Hackney Downs to Liverpool St every few minutes. Hackney Central Station will be renovated as part of the new London Overground investment by TFL, with doubled service frequencies and 20 new tube style trains by 2009. It will link to Dalston's new East London line tube, the Victoria line at Highbury/Islington and neighbouring Stratford's Olympic Village.

On 11 November 2007 TfL takes over management of the North London line from Silverlink. There will be £1.4bn investment into the new London Overground which will be shown on the Tube map (from November) and deliver an Underground-style service. Passengers will benefit from similar fast, frequent services, safety and security standards and Oyster pre-pay.

20 new high-capacity, 3 carriage, air-conditioned trains with audio and visual announcements will go into service on the North London line by 2009. Frequency will apparently increase to 8 per hour (every 7.5 mins). Photos of interior/exterior at : http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/london-overground/

By 2010 the East London Line opens and will subsequently link in Dalston with the improved North London line to form the beginning of an orbital railway around the capital.

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Nearest places

• Homerton
• Dalston
• Haggerston
• Bethnal Green
• Lower Clapton
• Hackney Downs

Nearest stations

• Hackney Central railway station
• Hackney Downs railway station

Education

For details of education in Hackney Central see the Hackney article

References

• Tudor Hackney (from the National Archives)

See also

• Metropolitan Borough of Hackney (1900-1965)
• Hackney carriage
• Hackney Central Parliamentary constituency (1885–1950, 1955–1983)
• Hackney Central (ward)

External links

• Silverlink Trains Serves Hackney Central railway station.
• London Overground Investment Planned improvements.
• Hackney Empire
• Sutton House (National Trust)
• St John at Hackney
• The Round Chapel
• Hackney Walks
• The Clowns' Gallery, Museum and Archive
• Hackney Village Facebook group