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Stoke Newington
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- Note: For an area with a similar name, see the neighbouring Newington Green; and Newington, in the London Borough of Southwark.
Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.
odern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area (though this also includes parts of Stamford Hill and the almost extinct district of Shacklewell). Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too.
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Encyclopedia
- Note: For an area with a similar name, see the neighbouring Newington Green; and Newington, in the London Borough of Southwark.
Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.
Boundaries
In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area (though this also includes parts of Stamford Hill and the almost extinct district of Shacklewell). Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too. However, Stoke Newington was once a well-defined administrative unit. In 1899 the Metropolitan Borough of Stoke Newington was formed out of the greater part of the parish of Stoke Newington. The resulting boundaries seem rather anomalous now; the entire eastern side of Stoke Newington High Street and beyond, including Stoke Newington Common, were included in the next door Metropolitan Borough of Hackney, but in fact this area was already part of the parish of Hackney - not Stoke Newington - and much of it would have been regarded as being in Shacklewell at the time. These apparent oddities became moot when in 1965, the Metropolitan Borough became part of the London Borough of Hackney.
Throughout all these changes, the core of Stoke Newington, centred around Stoke Newington Church Street, has retained its own distinct 'London village' character, and indeed, Nikolaus Pevsner confessed that he found it hard to see the district as being in London at all. It also has large Orthodox Jewish and Turkish populations as well as a long term Irish population.
Open space
For one small district, Stoke Newington is endowed with a generous amount of open space. To its north, there is the extensive , now a non-working facility, but open for leisure and surrounded by greenspace, at the entrance to which is the architecturally bizarre , once the main Water Board pumping station. It was originally designed, by William Chadwell Mylne, to look like a towering Scottish castle, and is now much-loved in the area.
South of these facilities is Clissold Park, an extensive swathe of parkland complete with a small menagerie, aviary and Clissold Mansion, a Grade II listed building, built for Jonathan Hoare, a local Quaker and brother of Samuel Hoare, in the 1790¹s.
Tracking east from here and past the two Church of England parish churches, both called Saint Mary's (Stoke Newington strangely decided to retain the old one, unusual in a London parish), leads to Abney Park Cemetery, one of the most splendid and enlightened of Victorian London cemeteries. It is now a nature reserve, a role that it was in many ways originally intended for, as it was set up as an arboretum. Finally, across the high street to the east is the fragmented Stoke Newington Common. This, however, has its charms, largely due to the extensive and diverse programme of tree planting it has enjoyed in recent years.
Liquid assets
From the 16th century on, Stoke Newington has played a prominent role in assuring a water supply to sustain London's rapid growth. Hugh Myddleton's New River runs through the area and still makes a contribution to London's water. Although this originally terminated at the New River Head in Finsbury, since 1946 its main flow has ended at the reservoirs, though a slow ornamental trickle flows past the West Reservoir to go underground for a stretch on Green Lanes, reappearing for a time in Clissold Park only to disappear underground again on its way to Canonbury. The river bank, the New River Path , can be walked for some distance to the north through Haringey and on to its source near Hertford, though not all sections are open.
The East and West Reservoirs, to the north of Clissold Park, are quite substantial for urban facilities. They were constructed in 1833 to purify the New River water and to act as a water reserve. As mentioned, the West Reservoir is now a leisure facility, offering sailing, canoeing and other water sports, plus Royal Yachting Association- approved sailing courses. On its western edge stands the former filter house, now set out as a visitor centre with a café; some of the old hydraulic machinery can be viewed in the main hall. The pumping station at the reservoir gates, converted to a climbing centre in 1995 (as mentioned above) was designed in a distinctive castellated style by Robert Billings under the supervision of William Chadwell Mylne and built in 1854-56.
Besides the water board facilities and the New River, Clissold Park also contains two large ornamental lakes, a home to many water birds and a population of terrapins. These lakes - purportedly the remains of clay pits dug for the bricks used in the building of Clissold House - are all that is left to mark the course of the Hackney Brook, one of London's lost rivers, which once flowed from west to east across Stoke Newington on its way to the River Lea. In flood at this point, the brook was known to span 10 metres. The two lakes are not actually fed from the brook, which has long disappeared into the maze of sewers under London, but from the mains supply - ultimately the New River.
History
Stoke Newington or 'new town in the wood', has been lightly settled for many hundreds of years, close to larger neighbouring Saxon settlements near the River Lea. In the nineteenth century it was discovered that Stoke Newington Common and Abney Park Cemetery had been part of a Neolithic working area for axe-making, some examples of which can be seen in the Museum of London.
Stoke Newington is recorded as part of the Ossulstone hundred in the county of Middlesex in the Domesday Book of 1086. In the 17th century, for administrative purposes the west of Stoke Newington High Street became part of the new Finsbury division and the east part of the Tower division. Both divisions were in 1889 then incorporated into the County of London.
In the Middle Ages and Tudor times it was a very small village a few miles from the city of London, frequently visited by wayfarers as a pit stop before journeying north, Stoke Newington High Street being part of the Cambridge road (A10). At this date the whole Manor was owned by St. Paul's Cathedral and yielded a small income, enough to support part of their work. During the 17th century the Cathedral sold the Manor to William Patten who became the first Lord of the Manor. His initials 'WP' and the motto 'ab alto' can be seen inscribed above the doorway of the old church next to Clissold Park. A century later it passed to Lady Mary Abney who drew up the first detailed maps of field boundaries and began to lay out a manorial parkland behind today's Fire Station on Church Street, with the aid of Dr Isaac Watts and her daughters.
During the early 19th century, as London expanded, the Manor of Stoke Newington was 'enfranchised' to be sold in parcels as freehold land for building purposes. Gradually the village became absorbed into the seamless expansion of London. It was no longer a separate village by the mid to late 1800s.
Being on the outskirts at this time, many expensive and large houses were built to house London's expanding population of nouveau riche whose journey to the commercial heart of the capital was made possible by the birth of the railways and the first omnibuses. The latter were first introduced into central London in the 1820s by George Shillibeer, following his successful trial in a more limited capacity of the first school bus in the world for William Allen and Susannah Corder's novel Quaker school at Fleetwood House, Abney Park in Stoke Newington.
- the 1843 home of noted architect and District Surveyor John Young - is the last-surviving of several grand detached homes built in the area around that time for well-off members of the new commuter class.
As a late Victorian and Edwardian suburb, Stoke Newington prospered, and continued in relative affluence and civic pride with its own municipal government until changes brought about by the Second World War.
Gibson Gardens, an early example of quality tenement buildings erected for the housing of 'the industrious classes' were built off Stoke Newington High Street in 1880 and still stand today.
Between 1935–37, the curved brick and Portland Stone Town Hall was built for the Metropolitan Borough of Stoke Newington by J. Reginald Truelove.
Second World War
During World War II, much of the area was damaged in the Blitz, and many were made homeless, although the level of destruction was much lower than in those areas of East London further south, such as Stepney or Shoreditch, or even in next-door Hackney. The death toll, too, was relatively low, almost three-quarters of civilian deaths being due to one tragic incident on 13 October 1940, when a crowded shelter, at Coronation Avenue off the high street, received a direct hit. The memorial to all the residents of the Borough who died in the air raids, including local Jewish people, can be seen in Abney Park Cemetery. And (like Hackney and Tottenham), Stoke Newington avoided most of the later V-weapon attacks, which fell disproportionately on South London; only a total of seven V-1s and two V-2s hit the borough.
So most of the historic buildings at the heart of Stoke Newington survived, at least in a repairable state. A notable exception was the classically grand Parish Church of West Hackney, St James's, on Stoke Newington High Street, which dated from 1824. This was so severely damaged in the October 1940 bombing that the entire church had to be demolished, never to be rebuilt. It was replaced after the war by a much more modest structure, St Paul's, which is set well back from the street. Traces of the old church's stonework can still be seen facing the High Street.
Postwar developments
After the war a substantial amount of residential housing, particularly to the east of modern Stoke Newington, in Hackney borough at the time, had been either destroyed or left in such a bad state that it was seen by the urban planners of that era as better to demolish it. Postwar redevelopment has replaced many of these areas with large estates, some more successful than others. Much of this residential redevelopment was planned by Frederick Gibberd, the designer of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.
Ever a home to radicals, Communist Party meetings were held in the Town Hall in the post-war years. And although Stoke Newington became part of the London Borough of Hackney in 1965, it has never quite lost its own identity. Indeed, following the 1960s, it increasingly became home to a number of squatters, artists, bohemians and also political radicals. Famously, the 'Stoke Newington 8' were arrested on 20 August 1971 at 359 Amhurst Road for suspected involvement in The Angry Brigade bombings.
The most famous examples of political terrorism by Stoke Newington residents, none originally from the area, are Patrick Hayes, Jan Taylor and Muktar Said Ibrahim. The first two were convicted of two bombings and had substantial links to the huge lorry bombs of the 1990s. Both were arrested, firing at officers in Walford Road and later sentenced to thirty years imprisonment. The third, Muktar Said Ibrahim, was arrested in Farleigh Road and later convicted of planting a failed bomb on the 26 bus, misfiring later in Shoreditch on the 21st July 2005.
These days, Stoke Newington is a very multicultural area, with large Asian, Irish, Turkish, Jewish and Afro-Caribbean communities. The area continues to be home to many new and emerging communities such as Polish and Somali immigrants. In recent years, the area has undergone a rapid gentrification, attracting many affluent professionals and the housing around Stoke Newington Church Street in particular has become increasingly desirable. It is also worth noting that Stoke Newington is home to both a very large lesbian community and the greatest number of young families in London.
On Saturday mornings, the playground of William Patten Primary school, in Stoke Newington Church Street, hosts an active . This was the first farmers’ market in the UK to have only organic and biodynamic producers.
People associated with Stoke Newington
- Lady Mary Abney, inherited the manor and commissioned the first map-based survey.
- William Allen, quaker, philanthropist, scientist and abolitionist - lived in Stoke Newington.
- Anna Lætitia Barbauld, writer and poet of the Victorian era, lived at 113 Stoke Newington Church Street.
- Wynne Edwin Baxter, Coroner for several of the Jack the Ripper murders of 1888 died at his home in Church Street in 1920.
- Buster Bloodvessel, singer with Bad Manners, lived in Stoke Newington.
- Mark 'Bedders' Bedford, bass player with Madness - lives in Stoke Newington.
- Violet Berlin, television presenter - lives in Stoke Newington with partner Gaz Top.
- Marc Bolan (born, Mark Feld), musician - lived on Stoke Newington Common until age 15.
- William Booth and his wife Catherine, founders of the Salvation Army, are buried in Abney Park Cemetery.
- Eric Bristow, retired darts player, 5 times world professional darts champion, born in Stoke Newington
- Clem Cattini, musician - born in Stoke Newington.
- Joseph Conrad, writer - lived in Stoke Newington.
- Sir Horace Cutler, politician - born in the district.
- Elton Dean, experimental jazz saxophonist from Bluesology lived in Stoke Newington.
- John Diamond, journalist and radio presenter - born in Stoke Newington.
- Daniel Defoe, writer - born and lived on Church Street. His gravestone can be seen in the .
- DJ Dextrous, Ivor Novello & BAFTA awards winning Producer/DJ - born in Stoke Newington.
- Rupert Evans, film and theatre actor lived in Stoke Newington.
- Charles Fleetwood, Parliamentary General during the English Civil War, later Lord Deputy of Ireland and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces lived in Stoke Newington.
- Paul Foot, political activist and writer - born in Palestine, lived in Stoke Newington.
- Jonathan Freedland, journalist and author - lives in Stoke Newington.
- Samuel Hoare, Quaker and abolitionist lived in Paradise Row, Stoke Newington.
- John Howard, founding father of the prison reform movement, lived in Stoke Newington.
- Hugh Gater Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Putney, representative 1958–1965 of the Stoke Newington & Hackney constituency on the London County Council.
- Gareth Jones, aka Gaz Top, TV presenter and producer - lives in Stoke Newington.
- Stewart Lee, comedian and writer - lives in Stoke Newington.
- Michael Levy, Baron Levy, impresario and political fund raiser - born in Stoke Newington.
- Leona Lewis, singer, songwriter and winner of X Factor 2006 - worked as a receptionist on the High Street.
- Joseph Jackson Lister, amateur opticist and physicist, inventor of the modern microscope and the father of Joseph Lister - born in Stoke Newington.
- Ken Livingstone, former Mayor of London was the representative for Stoke Newington on the Greater London Council between 1977 - 1981.
- Zoe Lucker, actress in Holbyblue & Footballers Wives lives in Stoke Newington.
- Thomas Manton, appointed minister of St Mary's Church 1644/5; a forthright defender of Reformed principles and one of Oliver Cromwell's chaplains
- Jean Marsh, actress and writer for television, co-creator of Upstairs, Downstairs.
- Warren Mitchell, actor - born in the district.
- Samuel Morley MP, businessman, statesman, philanthropist and abolitionist - lived in Stoke Newington.
- David O'Leary, football manager and Arsenal FC appearance record holder - born in Stoke Newington.
- Alexei Sayle, comedian - wrote a famous stand up sketch about Stoke Newington.
- Tjinder Singh, lead singer of Cornershop, currently lives in Stoke Newington.
- Chris Singleton, the Irish singer-songwriter, currently lives in Stoke Newington; his 'Twisted City' album cover features a girl walking in Abney Park Cemetery.
- James Stephen, slavery abolitionist - his father moved the family home to Stoke Newington in 1774.
- Edgar Allan Poe, writer - attended Manor School on Church Street around 1820. (His stay in the area provides the background for the popular 2004 novel, The American Boy, by Andrew Taylor).
- Isaac Watts, theologian, logician and hymnwriter - lived and died at Abney House.
- Barbara Windsor, actress in EastEnders & the Carry On films - born in Shoreditch but grew up around Amhurst Road.
- Joseph Woods, Quaker, botanist and architect, son of a founding abolitionist by the same name.
- Fyfe Dangerfield, lead singer of Guillemots lives in Stoke Newington
- Andrew Ranken, drummer in The Pogues
Listed buildings
Although Stoke Newington contains only one Grade I listed building (St Matthias Church), it contains a fair number of Grade II* buildings for one London district. Unsurprisingly, given its nature, residential buildings are strongly represented, and this becomes even more clear when the lowest grade, Grade II, is considered, where almost whole streets are listed in some cases.
Grade I
Grade II*
- 187-191 Stoke Newington High Street
- 81/83 Stoke Newington Church Street
- 85/87 Stoke Newington Church Street
- Saint Mary's Old Church
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- Saint Andrew's Church, Bethune Road
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Grade II (selective)
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- 113 Stoke Newington Church Street, one time residence of the poet and writer Anna Laetitia Barbauld.
- Sanford Terrace
There are many Grade II listed properties on Stoke Newington Church Street, the historical heart of the district, and two other notable residential streets to the west of the district — Albion Road and Clissold Road — are replete with listed properties.
Education
- For details of education in Stoke Newington see the Hackney article
Primary schools
Secondary schools
Entertainment
Stoke Newington has many good pubs and bars and a lively music scene, including contemporary jazz, and some comedy. A few venues: Maggie's Bar (formerly Stage B), Ryans and the Lion, all on Stoke Newington Church Street, The Others, above the snooker hall on Manor Road, and Bodrums, farther down the High Street on the same side. The Vortex Jazz Club also used to be on Church Street.
Transport and locale
Neighbouring areas of London.| |
The station is about 1.5 miles from Stoke Newington.
External links
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- With archive images and History.
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