Hackney Central

Hackney Central is the central district of the London Borough of Hackney in London, England. It comprises the area roughly surrounding, and extending north from Mare Street. It is situated 4 mi north east of Charing Cross. It is also the name of Hackney Central ward, an electoral division for Hackney Council.

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 King Henry VIII of England 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 era, 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.

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 United Kingdom, make modern Hackney a culturally vibrant part of inner London, with both the benefits and challenges that this brings.

Extensive post-war redevelopment has replaced much of the housing stock, but the Georgian housing and Victorian terraces that remain have become popular again.

History
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.

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, 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. 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. An early 18th century mansion, now the New Landsdown Club, but once the headquarters of Elizabeth Fry's British Ladies' Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners remains at 195 Mare Street. It is Grade II* listed, but in poor condition and on the English Heritage register of buildings at risk. In neighbouring Homerton, (to the east of the churchyard) Sutton Place was built by 1806, near to Sutton House.

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
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). By the turn of the 20th century, only St Johns Gardens, and Clapton Square, the areas around the 1791 church, remained as public open space.

Geography
Hackney Central is the conventional geographical 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 London Borough of Hackney.

Hackney Town Hall is about 5 mi north-east of Charing Cross; and 3.8 mi from the GLA City Hall near Tower Bridge.

Landmarks
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 of Town Hall Square 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. A new town hall complex is being constructed behind the existing building. 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 and museum used to be housed behind the Town Hall. It relocated to the All Saints Centre, Haggerston around 2005; but the exhibition has since moved out of the borough to Wookey Hole.

North of the railway bridge, Mare Street continues as The Narroway (originally known as Church Street). By St Augustine's Tower, a Grade I landmark, is the 'Old Town Hall' built to serve the Parish of Hackney in 1802. It is now a betting shop. To the east are St Johns' Church Gardens. In 2009, they were awarded Heritage Green Flag status. Within the gardens stands the Church of St John-at-Hackney (built 1792).

Transport
The area is 2 mi north-east of the City of London with frequent trains from Hackney Downs railway station to Liverpool Street. Hackney Central railway station is a part of London Overground with westbound trains to Richmond, via Dalston Kingsland railway station and eastbound trains to Stratford, via Homerton railway station.

The existing connection to the Victoria line at Highbury and Islington tube station and Stratford railway station will be supplemented by a link to the extended East London line at Dalston.

The nearest London Overground station is Hackney Central

Economy
The Narrow Way (Church Street) remains a busy shopping area, and there is a large Tesco supermarket in nearby Morning Lane (Money Lane). This international store group was founded in Hackney, from a market stall in Well Street market in 1919. The Hackney Tesco site is currently subject to planning consultation that will see a multi-storey shopping centre (with parking beneath, and housing above) erected on the site, planned to open in 2011. A former Burberry factory building is also located off Morning Lane, with a 'factory outlet' that is considered to be Hackney's most visited tourist attraction. This site is currently being redeveloped, in two phases, that will see the retention of the showroom, but add housing above.

The primary local employers are the council and the NHS at Homerton University Hospital; there are also two London Transport garages, one at the foot of the Narroway, and another about 1 mile south at Ash Grove. Between Ash Grove and London Fields there is a small industrial estate.