HACKNEY
OSSULSTONE HUNDRED
PARISHES IN THE TOWER DIVISION 1819
Hackney, (fn. 1) a favourite residence of wealthy Londoners from the Middle Ages until
the 19th century, was the largest Middlesex parish to be included in the county of
London in 1889. Near the south-western corner, the bridge bearing Kingsland
Road across the Regent's canal was c. 1.8 km. north of the bar of London at
Bishopsgate. From the bridge the road, a section of Ermine Street and under
various names, led almost due north for 3.8 km. to enter Tottenham at Stamford
Hill. For part of its length, as Stoke Newington Road and High Street, it formed
Hackney's western boundary, whence the parish stretched eastward for c. 3.6 km.
to Temple Mills on the river Lea. Besides Hackney village, the parish included
part of Kingsland, Dalston, Shacklewell, Stamford Hill, Upper and Lower
Clapton, Homerton, Hackney Wick, and part of Stoke Newington village along
the high road.
The area of the parish was estimated with some accuracy at c. 3,300 a. in 1765
and 1831. (fn. 2) A south-westerly projection beyond Kingsland Road had sometimes
been described as in the northern part of Hoxton, a manor of Shoreditch, before
Hackney and Shoreditch reached agreement in 1697. After building had obscured
the field lines, it was confirmed in 1843 that the boundary followed Branch Place
and De Beauvoir Crescent across the canal; its course farther east was also
established. (fn. 3) Other boundary disputes had arisen with Islington in 1655, 1660, and
1666-7, the last leading to a lawsuit about grazing rights behind Kingsland chapel, (fn. 4)
with Bethnal Green in 1732 and again in 1779, when a perambulation was ordered,
with Bow in 1806, and with Stoke Newington in 1822. (fn. 5) In 1690 the bounds had
not been perambulated for five years. (fn. 6) Although most of the eastern boundary
followed the original course of the Lea, c. 65 a. beyond the river lay in Hackney:
in the extreme north-east opposite the foot of Spring Hill, at Lea bridge, and at
Temple Mills where the boundary was a mill stream, presumably of medieval
origin and later a waterworks river. (fn. 7)
Under the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, Hackney became a civil
metropolitan parish within the area of the M.B.W. Under the London
Government Act, 1899, it became a metropolitan borough of 3,288 a. (1,330.7
ha.), (fn. 8) whereupon the boundaries with boroughs to the west and south were
adjusted. The main changes were that Hackney gained houses along the east
side of Bethune Road from Stoke Newington and the south side of Ball's Pond
Road from Islington, that it surrendered the west side of Southgate Road to
Islington, that the Shoreditch boundary was rationalized to run along the
canal south of De Beauvoir Town and farther east to follow Albion Road
(from 1939 Albion Drive) and Brougham Road, and that the straight boundary
with Bethnal Green was made to follow the curve of Gore Road. (fn. 9) A further
change was the transfer to Tottenham from 1908 of houses on the south side
of Bailey's Lane (later Craven Park Road) in exchange for some on the north side
of Vartry Road. (fn. 10) From 1965 the metropolitan borough became part of the
London Borough of Hackney, along with Stoke Newington and Shoreditch. (fn. 11)
Alluvium lies along the Lea and beneath Hackney marsh. It is bordered on the
west by a narrow strip of London Clay, which broadens out along the Tottenham
boundary, covering the north- western tip of the parish and extending south in a
shorter strip beneath the G.E.R.'s Enfield branch line to a little beyond Hackney
Downs. Brickearth lies beneath Stamford Hill and Clapton common, between the
tongues of clay, and farther south intrudes from the west beneath Stoke Newington
High Street. The centre and the south-western part of the parish lie on Taplow
Gravel, stretching from Lower Clapton and Hackney village along Mare Street
and Kingsland Road. Victoria Park and the area around Well Street common are
on flood-plain gravel. (fn. 12)
The land rises westward from the Lea, most steeply towards the north-west to
reach more than 30 m. above sea level around the top of Clapton common and
Stamford Hill. The highest point on the road from London is at 33 m. near Portland
Avenue. Thence the road falls steeply towards Tottenham, to 20 m. just beyond
the boundary, but more gradually towards the south, to below 25 m. at Stoke
Newington station, rising slightly along Stoke Newington Road but dipping to
remain at below 20 m. south of Dalston junction. Upper Clapton is mainly above
25 m. and Lower Clapton, like Shacklewell, above 20 m. Hackney Downs lies at
20 m. but to the south and east most of the parish, drained by Hackney brook and
minor streams through the gravel towards the Lea, is lower. Victoria Park lies
below 15m. and part of Hackney Wick below 10 m. There the almost imperceptible
slope to the river contrasts with the abrupt descent farther north, from Upper
Clapton: steep roads fall from nearly 25 m. to less than 10 m. at High Hill ferry
and from more than 25 m. at the longer Spring Hill. (fn. 13)
The parish was crossed by Hackney brook. (fn. 14) In Hackney its upper stretch,
described as Dalston brook in 1745 (fn. 15) and 'the old brook' by 1831, ran along the
north side of Stoke Newington common before turning southward to skirt the
western side of Hackney Downs and then south-eastward across Dalston Lane to
cross Mare Street a few yards south of Bohemia Place. Above Mare Street,
immediately south of a garden behind the Mermaid, Hackney brook was joined by
Pigwell or Pitwell brook, which flowed from Kingsland green and followed part
of the line of the modern Graham Road. (fn. 16) From Mare Street Hackney brook runs
north of Morning Lane, giving its name to the curving eastern section once called
Water Lane, and the line of Wick Road to Hackney Wick, whence it passed
southward to White Post Lane in Bow and so to the Hackney cut and the Lea.
The well drained gravel of southern Hackney gave rise to unnamed streamlets,
sometimes marked as common sewers and perhaps including a tributary of the
brook along the line of Well Street. The long stretches of Hackney brook which
remained open in 1857, (fn. 17) north-west and east of Hackney village, had been covered
by the M.B.W. by 1861. (fn. 18)
As a much visited resort, Hackney in the 18th century was thought to have given
rise to the term 'Hackney horse' and so to the Hackney coaches or chairs which
plied for hire. (fn. 19) The place-name, however, was of pre-Conquest origin and
unconnected with the occupation of hackneyman, recorded in 1308, (fn. 20) and the
French horse called a haquenée. (fn. 21)