Pre-Roman Hackney is a mostly low-lying area in proximity to two rivers, the
Lea and the
Hackney Brook. This would have made the area attractive for pastoral and arable agriculture, meaning most of the area is likely to have been deforested at an early date. There is archaeological evidence for settlement and agriculture as far back as the Stone Age. During the late Iron Age, the area was part of the territory of the powerful
Catuvellauni tribe.
Roman There will have been a network of probably minor, local roads in Hackney before the Romans conquered southern Britain after 43AD, but 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 Street just outside Bishopsgate and headed SW-NE across Hackney, across the
Dalston,
Hackney Central and
Lower Clapton areas to cross to the Lea on its way to
Great Dunmow in
Essex. Three Roman sarcophagus burials have been found, two of stone and one of marble. These, particularly the marble example indicate a high-status settlement of some sort. The stone examples had a coin hoard found nearby.
Anglo-Saxon The area around Millfields Park,
Lower Clapton, is sometimes described as the site of a battle in which
Aescwine, having rebelled against
Octa,
King of Kent, defeats him in battle and became the (reputed) first
King of Essex. The ford over the Lea neighbouring
Leyton is referred to in the (much later) accounts of the battle. Historical records describing this period are extremely sparse, so the historicity of the battle and even Aescwine himself is disputed. 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 seem to have formed a province of the
East Saxons, albeit not part of their core territory. The area was a part of the huge manor of
Stepney, an area owned by the
Bishop of London, and its great size and proximity to the
City means it may have been part of the grant of land made when the
Diocese of London (The East Saxon Diocese), was re-established in 604 AD. Later, the Middle and East Saxon area would become subject to various other Kingdoms, last among them
Wessex, which sought to unite
England and roll back the partial
Viking conquest of the country. A coin of
Egbert of Wessex was found on
Stamford Hill. The Kings of Wessex divided their kingdom into shires, with Hackney becoming part of the shire of
Middlesex, an area named after the
Middle Saxons.
The Norman Conquest After their victory at Hastings, the Normans needed to secure London. To this end, they burned
Southwark, crossed the river upstream and harried much of
Middlesex and Hertfordshire. The
Manor of Stepney was less badly hit than much of the rest of Middlesex, though the area along
Ermine Street (the A10), in Hackney, is believed to have been badly affected. The
Domesday Book of 1086 covered England at
manorial level, so Hackney is only assessed as part of
Manor of Stepney, of which it was a sub-manor. The landscape at this time was largely agricultural, Domesday returns for Middlesex indicate that it was around 30% wooded (much of it wood-pasture), about double the English average. Hackney would have had a lower proportion than the county as a whole, consisting of mostly lower land, close to rivers that made it more attractive for farming. The proportion of woodland in England decreased sharply between the
Conquest and the
Black Death due to the pressure of a rapidly increasing population, and the same pressures would have been experienced here.
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 which was, nonetheless, close to the capital; in some ways it was comparable to a modern commuter town. A number of royal courtiers lived in
Homerton, while
Henry VIII had a palace at
Brooke House,
Upper Clapton, where
Queen Mary took the
Oath of Supremacy.
Sutton House, the oldest surviving residential building in the district, was built in 1535. perform at Sutton House
Urbanisation The main
‘Hackney Village’ grew much larger than the others, in 1605 having as many houses as
Dalston,
Newington (i.e. West Hackney),
Kingsland and
Shacklewell combined. In 1727
Daniel Defoe said of the hamlets of Hackney As the population of London and surrounding areas grew, areas such as Hackney became home to
market gardens which used new agricultural methods to produce large amounts of fruit and vegetables to help feed the capital. At this time Hackney was particularly famous for a type of turnip grown in the area. In the 1770s Hackney became home to one of the largest and most celebrated plant nurseries in England, Loddiges Paradise Field Nursery, founded by German born Joachim Conrad Loddiges (1738–1826) and continued by his son George Loddiges (1786–1846), and known as The Hackney Botanic Nursery Garden. With its range of heated glasshouses the nursery was famed for displaying newly discovered plants from around the globe including the Americas, the Caribbean, Australia and the far East. The growth of the
East End of London was stimulated by the building of
Regent's Canal between 1812 and 1816, with construction work on a new town at
De Beauvoir beginning in 1823 and continuing through the 1830s. The arrival of the railways, around 1850, accelerated the spread of London and the expansion of the existing nuclei so that Hackney was almost entirely built up by 1870.
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. The conference was held in the UK after being banned in other countries. Attendees included
Lenin,
Stalin,
Maxim Gorky,
Rosa Luxemburg and
Leon Trotsky. The congress debated strategy for a communist revolution in Russia and strengthened the position of Lenin's
Bolshevik.
Hackney Gurkhas From 1860 to 1912, Hackney was part of the recruiting district of the
7th Battalion, Essex Regiment. Hackney provided three of the
battalion's eight
companies,
Leyton and
Walthamstow two each, and
West Ham (with a depot at
Silvertown) one. The establishment of a recruitment district spanning the Lower Lea was anomalous in that Hackney (unlike Leyton, Walthamstow and West Ham) was part of the
Tower Hamlets (or Tower Division) of Middlesex, rather than
Essex. However the local connections meant the arrangement worked well. From 1912 onward,
Hackney raised its own infantry battalion with the Hackney companies of the 7th Essex transferred over to form the core of the new battalion, which retained some Essex Regiment traditions until at least the 1920s. The 7th Essex struggled to replace their Hackney comrades and were still understrength at the start of WW1. The new battalion focussed recruitment in Hackney, but also attracted men from neighbouring areas such as
Stepney and
Shoreditch. The battalions would be nicknamed the
Hackney Gurkhas or
Cockney Gurkhas. It’s not clear which shared traits gave rise to the nickname - though smart appearance, tenacity and cheerful resourcefulness have all been suggested - but some sources emphasise their short stature, resulting from a malnourished upbringing in some of the country’s poorest districts. Whatever the origin, the Eastenders were flattered by being likened to their tough far eastern counterparts and proudly adopted the term, ensuring it survived through both world wars and beyond. The battalion had its own cap badge, depicting Hackney's emblem,
St Augustine's Tower, together with the
borough's latin motto
Justitia Turris Nostra. A direct translation into English is
Justice is our tower, but this may be paraphrased as
Fairness is our strength. The battalion was 'duplicated' in WWI, so that Hackney raised two front-line infantry battalions for the
London Regiment: the
1/10th (City of London) Battalion (Hackney) and the
2/10th (City of London) Battalion (Hackney). , 1918 The 1/10th was assigned to the
162nd (East Midland) Brigade in the
54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division, seeing service at
Gallipoli and the Middle East, finishing the war in
Beirut. The 2/10th was assigned to the
175th (2/3rd London) Brigade, in the
58th (2/1st London) Division, fighting on the
western front and finishing the war in the
Peruwelz area of Belgium. A third Hackney battalion, the 3/10th was based in the UK and used as a training unit, providing reinforcements to the two frontline battalions. By WW2, Hackney's battalion was organised as the 5th Battalion of the
Royal Berkshire Regiment, a very unusual arrangement as Hackney had no connection with Berkshire, and most of the men had never been there. On 1 September 1939
Germany invaded Poland, and with war expected, the Battalion was mustered to
West Ham United's Boleyn Ground. A call for volunteers would lead to some of the Hackney men, together with men from other units, forming
No. 3 Independent Company, a precursor to the Commandos. After
service in Norway, the Company was disbanded and the men returned to their units. In the early years of the war the Hackneys were deployed to defend the east coast against a potential German invasion. The Hackney Battalion came ashore under fire, in support of the
Canadian 3rd Division, at and around
Bernières-sur-Mer,
Juno Beach, early on the morning of
D-Day, the 6th June 1944. It fought as infantry on D-Day, with a particular focus on mopping up by-passed strongpoints (such as
pill-boxes) and other resistance so troops landing later could land unhindered. Some elements pushed forward five miles with the Canadians that night. After D-Day the focus switched to its Beach Group duties which was mainly
stevedore work, but also included marking minefields, processing prisoners, the wounded and the dead. The battalion continued to take casualties through artillery, airstrikes, mines and accidents. At 2am on 24 March 1945, two companies of the Hackney Battalion troops, acting in support of
15th (Scottish) Infantry Division as part of
Operation Plunder, were among the first British troops to cross the
River Rhine, in the
Xanten area. The battalion was still in the area when
VE-Day came soon after. It was disbanded in June 1945. The Hackney's were revived as 648th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery in 1947, before finally being disbanded in 1955.
World War One - Home Front 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 2 people, Henry Good, a 49 year old labourer, and his wife Caroline were found burnt to death in Balls Pond Road, Hackney. It was widely reported that the couple were found kneeling, as though in prayer and the Henry Good's arm lay round his wife's waist. Five people were killed elsewhere in London, 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.
World War Two - Home Front During the
Second World War, Hackney was badly affected by wartime bombing that left the area with 749 civilian war dead, with many more of its citizens injured or left homeless. Many other Hackney residents were also killed on active service around the world. The number of devices hitting Hackney was upwards of 613 high explosive bombs, 16
parachute mines, 37
V-1 'doodlebugs', 10
V-2 rockets and many thousands of 1 kg incendiary devices. Notable buildings destroyed by bombing included Tudor-era
Brooke House in Upper Clapton and
West Hackney church.
Post-war and Olympic Games The post-war period saw extensive re-building, and the area became increasingly multi-cultural in character. 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 the far-right organisations he founded. These were actively opposed by many local people, together with organisations such as the
43 Group and this led to a number of violent confrontations, notably in the Ridley Road area of
Dalston. Hackney was one of the host areas when London staged the
2012 Olympic and
Paralympic Games, with three venues falling within its part of the
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park: •
Copper Box Arena hosted events including Handball, Modern Pentathlon and Goalball. This 7,000 seat multi-sport venue is still used for community and elite sport. • The
Riverbank Arena was a temporary venue that hosted
Field Hockey during the Olympics, and
Football 7-a-side and
Football 5-a-side during the Paralympics. •
London Olympics Media Centre. The facility is still in use and now known as
Here East.
Affordable housing Hackney's solution to
affordable housing has been able to put more of it on the market by making use of inclusionary practices. This district built a significant number of affordable units and subsidised them with market-rate units. ==Geography==