Travel Hackney, London Map

Travel to Hackney, London Map

Hackney, London tourist guide map of landmarks & destinations by Walkfo

Hackney, London history

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Pre-Roman

Hackney is a mostly low-lying area in proximity to two rivers, the Lea and Hackney Brook. This would have made the area attractive for pastoral and arable agriculture. There is archaeological evidence for settlement and agriculture as far back as Stone Age.

Roman

There will have been a network of probably minor, local roads in Hackney before the Romans conquered southern Britain after 43AD. The area’s proximity to the provincial capital, Londinium, meant that it was soon crossed by two large long-distance routes. The first was Ermine Street (modern A10) which emerged from Bishopsgate and headed north to Lincoln and York. The second was a route which branched off Ermine and headed SW-NE across Hackney, across the Dalston, Hackney Central and Lower Clapton areas.

Anglo-Saxon

Aescwine, having rebelled against Octa, King of Kent, defeats him in battle and became the (reputed) first King of Essex. The place name Hackney is Old English, so was probably first applied in this era. Hackney was part of the territory of the Middle Saxons, a people who formed a province of the East Saxons.

The Norman Conquest

Hackney is only assessed as part of the Manor of Stepney, of which it was a sub-manor. Domesday returns for Middlesex indicate that it was around 30% wooded, about double the English average. Hackney would have had a lower proportion than the county as a whole.

Post-medieval

From the Tudor period onwards, the various settlements in Hackney grew as wealthy Londoners moved to what they saw as a pleasant rural alternative to living in London. A number of royal courtiers lived in Homerton, while Henry VIII had a palace at Brooke House, Upper Clapton.

Urbanisation

The main ‘Hackney Village’ grew much larger than the others, in 1605 having as many houses as Dalston, Newington (ie West Hackney), Kingsland and Shacklewell combined. In the 1770s Hackney became home to one of the largest and most celebrated plant nurseries in England, Loddiges Paradise Field Nursery.

Edwardian

In 1907, the Fifth Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party held at the Brotherhood Church on the east side of Southgate Road. Attendees included Lenin, Stalin, Maxim Gorky, Rosa Luxemburg and Leon Trotsky.

World War One

The first bomb of the first air raid on London, fell on 16 Alkham Road, West Hackney in May 1915 by the German Army airship LZ 38. No one was seriously hurt at that address but the raid killed seven people elsewhere, including four children, causing great anger among the public. East London was at particular risk at this time, due to the Kaiser’s order, later rescinded, that the raiders limit their attacks to targets east of the Tower of London. Hackney raised two front-line infantry battalions for the London Regiment.

Blitz

Hackney was badly affected by wartime bombing that left the area with 749 civilian war dead. Many other Hackney residents were also killed on active service around the world. Notable buildings destroyed by bombing included Tudor-era Brooke House in Upper Clapton.

Post-war and Olympic Games

During the 1930s, 1940s and 1960s the area’s large Jewish and other minority populations made it a target for provocative rallies by Oswald Mosley and far-right organisations he founded. The post-war period saw extensive re-building, and the area became increasingly multi-cultural in character. Hackney was one of the host areas when London staged the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Affordable housing

Hackney built a significant number of affordable units and subsidised them with market-rate units. In Hackney about half of the new units are affordable. In an effort to avoid displacing current residents, construction was completed in phases.

  

Hackney, London map & travel guide with history & landmarks to explore

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Tourist Guide to Hackney, London Map

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Walkfo Hackney, London travel map key: visit National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top travel destinations in Hackney, London