To KINGSLAND, DALSTON & STOKE NEWINGTON

 

KINGSLAND

 

You are in Tudor royal hunting grounds (their residence was at NEWINGTON GREEN).

A hamlet was formed on the OLD NORTH ROAD (from BISHOPSGATE), whose course was through the FOREST OF MIDDLESEX.

Now the area is rather known as *DALSTON

 

Possible diversion, alongside the REGENT’S CANAL, towards KINGSLAND BASIN, then BALMES ROAD, site of the meetings of the 5th CONGRESS of the  RUSSIAN SD & L Party, then to ISLINGTON or to STOKE NEWINGTON

Now you are entering DE BEAUVOIR TOWN

Alongside ST. PETER’S WAY 

JACOBETHAN?

 

A style popular in England in the late 1820s, derived, in inspiration and repertoire, from the ENGLISH RENNAISSANCE, with ELIZABETHAN and JACOBEAN. JOHN BETJEMAN coined the term in 1933

The BALMES ESTATE: DE BEAUVOIR TOWN

 

A French name!.  Do not pronounce it the way a Gallic speaker would do it: no one will understand you!. “Debivar”, “debouvar”… pronounce as you wish. And it has a nickname: BEAVERTOWN.

RICHARD D.B. purchased the BALMES ESTATE in 1640

Up to mid 19th c. Open countryside and  a few ground houses. A new town was  carefully planned and designed to attract prosperous, UPPER CLASS, residents.

The opening of the REGENT’ CANAL prompted the operation.

Developer and brick maker, WILIAM RHODES, grandfather of CECIL, secured a lease from PETER D.B.

Grid patt., 4 sq, on diag str, intersex at an octagon

Work stopped due to court case, which dragged for 20 y. The D.B. family got the land back, as the lease was found unfair. And the prospective dwellers chose to live in the WEST END!

The scheme was scaled down. Only one square and a few diagonal streets

 

In the 1840s emerging mid cl were occupying the residential estate, except around KINGSLAND BASIN and the SW corner where a factory was leased

In 137 the SE.  corner was re zoned for industrial use. DE BEAUVOIR CRESCENT was suggested as business zone in 1938

In the 1960s the KINGSLAND EST. ,  the DE BEAUVOIR EST. and the LOCKNER RD. EST. were built.

To stop this estate building trend by the H.C., D.B.ASSOCIATION formed (Chairman GRAHAM PARSEY). The area was designed CA and enlarged. GLC Introduced  children friendly and traffic calming or reducing measures

Gentrification:  DELI, ROSEMARY BRANCH & STUDIO THEATRE

Multicultural, though

28 Weeks Later” film

Stay With Me”, Sam Smith music video

 

Some DE BEAUVOIR TOWN famous people

 

You can divert here from the route and head towards ISLINGTON TOWN CENTRE, alongside NORTHCHURCH ROAD and ELMORE STREET, and crossing ESSEX ROAD. That makes fantastic cycling!

On the map, I have pointed out ISLINGTON TOWN HALL. To the far right of the map, DE BEAUVOIR SQ.

Northwards, towards STOKE NEWINGTON 

After the Metropolitan Benefit  Asylum, if you turn walk/cycle Westwards towards the MILDMAY ESTATE and NEWINGTON GREEN

KING HENRY’S WALK. A path is already shown in a map of 1735

See 6 for MILDMAY

After the M.B. Asylum, Eastwards,  skirting DALSTON and towards STOKE NEWINGTON

See 6 for MILDMAY, NEWINGTON GREEN and STOKE NEWINGTON

You are now in DALSTON.                                                                       You are going to discover more about DALSTON in 3

Landmarks of DALSTON: 

RIDLEY ROAD street market

TURKISH EATERIES

EASTERN CURVE GARDEN and MURAL

HOLY TRINITY, the CLOWNS CHURCH. GRIMALDI. Feb Festival

VORTEX. Jazz club

RIO CINEMA

You are entering STOKE NEWINGTON:                                                     From a delightful, calm, secluded area to a metropolitan suburb

Along WORDSWORTH ROAD, ST.MATHIAS’ CHURCH

STOKE NEWINGTON TOWN  CENTRE

The village that changed the world

A hotbed of religious and political dissent, in the 18th c.

That is,   NON-CONFORMISTS (to the ESTABLISHED ANGLICAN CHURCH; they were denied the right to develop their institutions in London), radicals and abolitionists (of SLAVERY and SLAVE TRADE)  -writers, educators, progressive members of the clergy, established churches, libraries, intellectual societies and education establishments. 

WOLLSTONECRAFT, DEFOE, BARBAULD, CONRAD, POE, WESLEY, MILL, SEWELL, BOLAN … famous names. You are going to hear more of them…

 

An ANGLO-SAXON place name: A new town in or near a wood

A rural retreat until mid 19th c., 8 km. from CHARING CROSS. A population of 2000 in 1801.

A traditional working class district (51,000 in 1901), the area has been in a process of GENTRIFICATION during the lasts de axes, being, increasingly colonised by young middle classes, many of them politically radical, many working in artistic and creative professions.

 

These new STOKEYS  are catered by a host of shops, delis, wine bars, gastro pubs… a lifestyle satirised by ALEXEI SAYLE. Free availability of drugs became well known as well as police corruption…

 

 

The parish (run by the VESTRY) which for centuries, formed part of the COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, became part of the HACKNEY DISTRICT, later part of the  COUNTY OF LONDON. Later on SN was made a Metropolitan Borough, INDEPENDENT of Hackney and was given jurisdiction over SOUTH HORNSEY (Middlesex). Finally, the MBSN was abolished in 1965 and became part of the LB of HACKNEY in 1965.
And by the way MIDDLESEX disappeared from the map…

Why not walking the boundaries of the district?

DIVERSIONS.

After the churches (and a drink in the ROSE & CROWN, or a gelato in R&G) you might prefer to relax in the local park.

CLISSOLD PARK & HOUSE

 

You are in the old grounds of STOKE NEWINGTON PARK, where, in 1793, the country house you can see was called PARADISE HOUSE. A handsome residence built for JONATHAN HOARE, London merchant, philanthropist, anticslavery campaigner and a Quaker.

His brother SAMUEL, was one of the founders of the SOCIETY FOR EFFECTING THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE.

Anidyllic spot, surrounded by agricultural fields and meadows. The stretch of water which wears its way around the house was part of the NEW RIVER (ISLINGTON & CLERKENWELL).

 

Around 1798 HOARE was in financial difficulties and had to mortgage the estate (and a condition was that hi had to pay double if not repaid on time), and then lost it by foreclosure to a ROBERT PRYOR (and moved to a house in CHURCH ST.).

Popular rumours was that HOARE was selling milk from the estate farm door to door to earn money…

In 1799 THOMAS GUDGEON, merchant, acquired the estate, and in 1811, WILLIAM  CRAWSHAY, during which time of tenure became known as CRAWSHAYS FARM. They were a family from Wales, iron masters, and the purchase of this estate represented a a route into wealthy, polite society 

The modern play area is where farm buildings and the “great garden” were in the 1820s.

Crawshay refused permission for his daughter to marry A.CLISSOLD. But at his death, she inherited  the estate and they married.  The house passed then to Rev. AUGUSTUS CLISSOLD. 

He was a curate of ST. MARTIN IN THE FIELDS, but as he was a follower of EMMANUEL SWEDENBORG religious philosophy, fashionable at that time, he withdrew from the Established church, in order to promote and fund his works, and funded the lease of the SWEDENBORG SOCIETY in BLOOMSBURY SQ. (1855-1925). And he translated PRINCIPIA 

 

At his death, 1832, the estate reverted to the CRAWSHAYS, but they rarely visited. T6he ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSIONERS bought it for £65.000, intending to profit from the subsequent development. This was an era of rapid transformation, as all open spaces of the district became suburban streets (London reached a population of  7 mil. in 1901]

However, J.RUNTZ and JOS BECK persuaded the METR BOARD OF WORKS to purchase it, in 1887, to open it as a public park. The campaign to save this land for the public was a real drama, and documents are conserved in the hands of the BECK family: a strong petition, heated meetings, press articles… and still the success hanging on a thread throughout.

Money had to be raised 

People and local authorities had to be persuaded

Finally the EARL OF ROSEBERRY, CHAIRMAN OF THE  LCC opened it in 1889. BECK and PUNTZ passed away 2 years later

Voted by the locals Heart of Hackney,  the house and grounds were restored to their original design, with the help of  a Heritage Lottery Grant. The house was removed from the Heritage at Risk Reqgister

 

CLISSOLD HOUSE has an unusual design, with 2 storeys in the West side, and 3 in the East. The ground on the West was built into a carriageway, so that it looks like perched on top of a small knoll. It was designed to appear as a feature in the landscape, very fashionable at the time.

To the South open parkland, to the North, woodland. The kitchen gardens were set out to the North East, while East remained fields.

 

Enjoy the park and the café in the House. There are tennis courts, children’s playground,an animal enclosure, a boating lake, a bowling green for putting, rounders and cricket and a bandstand. And you can fish as well.

The lakes, home to waterfowl,  used to be clay pits: the house was build with bricks made in situ.

They are called BECKMERE and RUNTZMERE. A granite FOUNTAIN commemorates the founders, as wel.

The NEW RIVER used to flow through the grounds.

 

Possible diversion: 

To the North, the PUMPING STATION

The arms of SN date from 1934. They include SWORDS (ST.PAUL’S), LION (arms of John CUDLEY),  COLOUR OF THE CROSS (from arms of PATTEN), OAK TREES (recalling the ancient forest), and a GRIFFIN (arms of DANIEL DEFOE). The motto: “Respice, Prospice”

Oxfordians?

****

Entrance to ABNEY PARK  CEMETERY: the  preserved GATE to ABNEY HOUSE (site). Famous dwellers of the burial ground

32 a dating from the end of the 16th c., named after LADY MARY ABNEY.

 

This was the access via frontages and gardens of 2 large mansions: ABNEY and FLEETWOOD. In 1840  these grounds were turned into a cemetery where 200.000 people were buried. And now, it serves mainly as a nature reserve.

LADY  ABNEY (née GUNSTON), after inheriting the manor from her brother, in 1701, laid out the park. She and her husband, SIR THOMAS ABNEY, merchant and banker, Lord Mayor, lived here, owning as well a country residence in Hertfordshire. When Sir Thomas died, 1722, she moved here, as Lady of the Manor. And she helped in the design of the landscaping, as an English garden, basically the work of SIR ISAAC WATTS, a hymn writer, theologian, logician, and Non-Conformist, friend of the family.

The East part was leased by the HERTOPP of FLEETWOOD, who helped in the landscaping.

Lady Mary planted the GREAT ELM and the LITTLE ELM WALKS, establishing shady walkways down to the ISLAND HERONRY of the HACKNEY BROOK.
WYCH EKMS and ENGLISH ELMS were planted. And the HERTOPPS completed one of the earliest plantings of a CEDAR OF LEBANON in Britain, adjacent to an ornamental pond. It survived until the 1920s.

As the Non-Confirmists had strong connections with the colonists of NEW ENGLAND, AMERICAN LARCH and TULIP TREES, from the New World, amongst others, were planted

 

 

ABNEY HOUSE, which dominated the park, was the residence, early 19th c., of JW FRESHFIELD MP and founder of the law firm.

In its final years a WELSH METHODIST TRAINING COLLEGE was established in the house. JOHN FERRAR was the governor (and he was elected 14 times Secretary of the Methodist Conference, and twice its President).

After 1843 it was broken up and its materials helped expand the build up of the areah

PARK or CEMETERY?. 

YOU ARE VISITING, one of the SEVEN MAGNIFICENT cemeteries of London!.  I bet that architectural historian HUGH MELLER got some inspiration from the famous Western…

Two hundred years ago the small parish churchyards of London were overcrowded as the London population was reaching the 2 mil. mark… Decaying matter was getting into the water supply, epidemics were rising… graves were being dug in unmarked plots that already contained bodies…sewer rats were infiltrating the graveyards drains… Already back in the 17th c. WREN and VANBRUGH had proposed establishing suburban cemeteries.

 

And several Britons , including GF CARDENAL, after visiting Paris, were inspired by the PÈRE LACHAISE CEMETERY

Finally a 1832 Act encouraged the establishment of large private cemeteries outside London.

KG, WNORW, HIGH, ABNEY, BROMP, NUNHEAD, TOWER HAM

 

Thus, here, in 1840, a new model garden cemetery was open, as well as pioneering a non-denomination place of rest.

The Congregational Church role in the LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY was the base of the approach, which drew also on American ideas on burial: MOUNT AUBURN (MASS.), first garden cemetery, where prominent BOSTON BRAHMINS were buried.

AP was not formalised a cemetery through ACT OF PARLIAMENT  or CONSECRATION.  Burial use had come to predominate over the wider landscape access and educational objects of its founders.

 

In the 1880s a strictly cemetery company was formed to run the burial place. A trust was formed, in charge of running a joint stock company. Plots were sold as a freehold land. However the government taxed its  profits.
Later on it was sold on the open market.  The arboretum was replaced, the path infilled. Pollution began to make inroads. The company went into liquidation, and ceased. 

The council took over in 1978. Nature was left to take its course, and only courtesy occasionally burials ocurred. In 2007 it was placed on the Heritage Risk Register, due to de ay and neglect. AP TRUST volunteers and staff kept damage low though,  notwithstanding unauthorised climbing and theft in the chapel.

 

No dividing lines separating build up areas by faith or religion. And keeping in mind that this was 

a garden , not consecrated (by the established church).

 

“CAMPO SANTO” OF DISSENTERS.

When BUNHILL FIELDS (CITY, CITY ROAD) became full, AP, in the words of a 1903 brochure, became the  ~.  that is, it took its mantle as a sacred field.

And, as a symbol of an important  attachment to the land  by Non-Conformists (because of its historical associations:  it was the grounds of houses occupied by Non-Conformists, like DR.WATTS, a man far removed from sectarianism. 

However it became mostly a burial place of ministers and educationalists belonging to CONGRE, BAPT, METHO or SALV ARMY churches. Not so many QUAKERS.  And not at all of RC or JEWISH.

 

Remember: NORTH LONDON had a long history of innovative teaching by the DISSENTING ACADEMIES.

CHARLES REED, director and MP for HACKNEY  was as well chair of the LSB

 

THE FAMOUS

”GENERAL” BOOTH and CATHERINE, his wife, founders of the SALVATION ARMY, and son

BRIDGET FLEETWOOD, CROMWELL’s daugter

Memorial to ISAAC WATTS (buried in BUNHILL FIELDS)

JAMES STEPHEN, WILBERFORCE’ s son in law, visited his father at SUMMERHOUSE

Dr. THOMAS BINNEY, “the Archbishop of Non-Conformity” and convenle of the ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY

CHRISTOPHER NEWMAN HALL (with his father): influential in the American Civil War

Rev.JOHN SHERMAN, who wrote UNCLE TOM’S CABIN introduction. The novel was based in JOSIAH HENSON, who escaped  Britain assisted by SAMUEL MORLEY, who buried here

Rev. JOSEPH KETLEY, abolitionist in DEMERARA

Rev.JOHN MORRISON, patron of escaped slave MOSES ROPER

JOANNA VASSA, daughter of OLAUDAH EQUIANO

Revs SAMUEL OUGHTON and THOMAS BURCHELL, from JAMAICA

AARON BUZACOTT, Secretary of ANTI+SLAVERY INTERNATIONAL 

THOMAS CAULKER, son of the King of BOMPEY, now SIERRA LEONE

LEOTA, from SAMOA ISLAND 

Missionaries: WILLIAM ELLIS, JOHN WILLIAMS’ wife and son, Dr.WALTER HENRY MEDHURST, EDWARD STALLYBRASS, SARAH BUZACOTT

Evangelist EMILY GOSSE

Sir CHARLES REED, and father ANDREW, who had links with the USA

HENRY RICHARD MP, PEACE SOCIETY, and encouraged ALBERYSTBURY UNIVERSITY (first in WALES)

Sir HUGH OWEN, the founder of that university

Rev.NUN MORGAN HARRY, PEACE SOCIETY secretary 

BETSI CADWALADR, nurse with FLO NIGHT

JAMES BRADWOOD, pioneer firefighter

 

ALBERT CHEVALIER, entertainer

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371 COMMONWEALTH SERVICE PERSONNEL (registered in the COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION)

2 CROSSES OF SACRIFICE were constructed after WW1,  based on BLOOMFIELD’s famous design

 

 

VISITING THE ABNEY PARK CEMETERY.

You are visiting an inner-city nature reserve

 

EGYPTIAN REVIVAL ENTRANCE. Like a forecourt of a temple.  Arch.HOSKINS (professor at KING’S COLLEGE of architecture and engineering construction), BONOMI,  COLLISON II

First one in the UK (MOUNT AUBURN). Motifs not associated with any contemporary faith. 

The SOUTH LODGE houses a visitor centre with displays of history, and access to burial records.

 

 

 

ASTRID, THE PARK KEEPER

The PROLL sisters met ANDREAS BAEDER and GUDRUN ENSSLIN through their father THORWALD, who was involved in firebombing in 1968, but left the group early.

In 1970, Astrid vas involved in a bank robbery, and as a getaway driver she (with ENSSLIN, MEINHOF, SCHUBERT & GAERGENS) helped BAEDER to escape from police custody.

In 71 managed to get away when stopped by police, but she was finally arrested as she was recognised (from a WANTED poster) by a pump attendant, who alerted the police.

After the run in with the police, was accused of attempted murder of a policeman,  sentenced and imprisoned, but then released and transferred to a sanatorium.

She escaped, ran underground, fled to England, married and  hanged her identity, adopting her husband name. ANNA PUTTICK.  Here, in HACKNEY, she worked in LESNEY’S TOY FACTORY, and as a park keeper. She took a course in car mechanics and participated in a drug rehabilitation initiative, keeping a low profile.

In 1978 she was arrested by SPECIAL BRANCH, transferred to Germany, sentenced and released.

She went on to study film and photography, and became a picture editor.

She published a memoir about her tine

To WOODBERRY WETLANDS

 

Leaving the HIGH STREET alongside  MANOR ROAD,

Lordship Rd

 

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 

 

Jewish Schools

 

WOODBERRY DOWN PARK

 

NEW RIVER path

The COAL HOUSE CAFE

The NEW RIVER & the WOODBERRY WETLANDS

 

In NORTH LONDON you will com across a  meandering watercourse, and some bridges over it… and lovely walks along it!. The NEW RIVER was engineered, at the beginning of the 16th c. by HUGH MYDDLETON, a Welsh goldsmith (wealthy, of course, and who had mi inn experience) in order to bring water to a growing London (population 250.000, the WEST END was still not born).

London based its water supply in local streams, wells and springs…and it was pumped from the THAMES, as well.), from HERTFORDSHIRE. See CLERKENWELL in order to visit the end of the course…

The endeavour had been authorised by KING JAMES I who, when MYDDLETON got into financial difficulties, gave him. A hand, in exchange of shares.

Until very recently, first water was fed into reservoirs, built in 1833: where you are now, it was filtered here and then pumped to the taps of Londoners. Later on, the water held at the EAST RESERVOIR was send to be processed at WALTHAMSTOW RESERVOIRS.

Finally, nowadays, no water for consumption is held here. That is why we are allowed in!. The WEST RESERVOIR was converted into a water sports centre in 1989.

What used to be owned by a water company (from the NEW RIVER CO. to THAMES WATER) is now a property of the LONDON WILDLIFE TRUST, as it has become an urban nature reserve, and a Site of Metropolitan Importance For Nature Conservation.

 

Thanks to the funding from the LOTTERY FUND and the collaboration of LBH, LWT, BERKELEY HOMES and The W, from 2016 it has been opened to the public. 

A PUMPING STATION was built in 1854, designed by CHADWELL MILNE (CHADWELL is the name of one of the springs in HERTFORDSHIRE), to look like a medieval castle (the locals had to be contented, as they objected to the building of something ugly. NIMBYS!

 

The reservoirs were lined, at their higher levels with STONES from a LONDON BRIDGE in the process of being taken down. Not all LONDON BRIDGE ended in America!.

 

The wetlands history is very short. On the crest of a hill, bears, boars and peasants roamed the pastures, the meadows and the woodland.

However, prior to the recent regeneration the area was devoid of any wildlife, as the water was treated with chlorine and sodium phosphate gas, in order to “clean” it.

Now, you are close to the RIVER LEA VALLEY, and this has become a resting place for migrant birds that move to and from there: gadwell, shoveler, pochard…visiting, and the waterfowl: grey heron, tufted duck, reed warbler, kingfisher, reed bunting…

The expansion of has provided  reed beds ideal habits to breed.

Damselflies, dragonflies, amphibians, bats

 

And what about humans?.  

In Victorian times, until 1920 this area, MANOR HOUSE, WOODBERRY DOWN, became a stockbroker belt, famous for suburban luxury, where large Victorian and Edwardian mansions whose gardens overlooked the New River and the reservoirs.

During the interwar  to postwar  period the houses became unused,  sold out (compulsorily purchased by the LCC and public housing (a huge housing estate) build,  especially to rehouse Eastenders (but, as well, sought after by people from WESTMINSTER!).   The brainchild of Labour MP HERBERT MORRISON  in order rehouse inner city’s slum dwellers in a sort of paradise, driving out the former mansion owners.

The first British purpose built comprehensive was built here, an a new health centre: the cradle-to-grave welfare estate

At the start the  initiative was hailed as an utopian success, but later on, from the 70s, neglect for lack of funds caused a deterioration of the housing stock.

From the 1990s. The land was sold out. A project to build housing on the filled in reservoir was firmly opposed by the locals, who succeeded in saving them. And wildlife took over again.

And the former council estate is no more.  Keep in mind that the “WARSAW GHETTO” that you saw in SCHINDLER’S LIST  featured some of the dilapidated buildings. And this is not at all the only occasion where London council estates feature in films in the role of an ominous backdrop…

Are you in DALSTON  or in HORNSEY ?

A detached part of H