LoveEast.51

Walk Hackney
Hackney's Oldest Buildings
The three oldest
buildings in
Hackney, from left:
1. St Augustine’s
Tower.
2. St Mary’s Church.
3. Former house in
Shoreditch, circa
1693.
Built as part of a church in about
1275, St Augustine’s Tower (1), just
off Mare Street’s Narrow Way, is the
oldest building in today’s Hackney,
created when Stoke Newington
and Shoreditch were joined with
Hackney in 1965. Although the
church was rebuilt in 1519, it still
makes it 16 years older than the
second oldest, and oldest domestic,
building: Sutton House (2) in
Homerton.
The oldest building in Stoke
Newington is St Mary’s Church
(3) next to Clissold Park, rebuilt in
1563 by William Patten. Shoreditch
pulled down its medieval church
in 1736. So, Shoreditch’s oldest
building is probably what remains
of a house, of about 1693 (4), now
right next to the bridge carrying the
East London Line over Shoreditch
High Street, opposite Boxpark.
A few other houses remain from
the 1690s: on the north side of
Newington Green (4), in Sylvester
Path (4), behind Mare Street, and
the just-surviving mansion at 195
Mare Street (4). Of course, earlier
than these is the magnificent
1658 terrace on the west side of
Newington Green – but that’s in
Islington.
30 LOVEEAST
More survives from the 1700s.
Stoke Newington Church Street
and High Street boast a number of
18th century houses: 109-111 Church
Street from about 1700 (5) and
No. 169, Sisters’ Place, (6), built in
1714, as well as Nos. 81-87 dating
from 1733 (10). In the High Street,
Nos. 187(Yum Yum)-189 went up
between 1715 and 1728 (8). At the
other end of today’s Hackney, you
can find No. 237 Hoxton Street,
built around 1700 (5); further down
the road No 126 dates from 1725-30
(9), currently being restored with
its 19th century shop-front stripped
away. Around the corner is No. 16,
Charles Square, from 1725 (7), the
first Hackney building to be listed.
Nearby is the Geffrye Museum,
constructed as almshouses in 1714
(6). George Dance the Elder’s
Shoreditch Church (11), just down
Kingsland Road, was completed 24
years later.
Other survivors are scattered
around the borough. In the middle
of Dalston Lane, at No.160, stands
a house from the second quarter
of the 18th century. Opposite
Bannister House and in the heart
of Homerton’s traffic-laden High
Street, there still stand a handsome
Georgian pair with pediments and
Tuscan columns. Perhaps the most
surprising survivors, well disguised
behind shop fronts, are the houses
beside the Kingsland Waste Market,
the oldest being from 1758.
More buildings from Hackney’s
past could have survived had they
not been built over by swathes of
Victorian housing from the 1840s
onwards, blitzed or allowed to
decay into slums to be compulsorily
purchased and cleared. As you
walk though Hackney’s streets look
out for the remnants of Hackney’s
architectural heritage and cherish
them.
Looking for something to
do one weekend? Intrigued
to find out more about
Hackney?
Look up walkhackney.co.uk
and pick a walk that takes
your fancy. The next four
are in this edition's What's
On section. I look forward
to welcoming you on one of
my walks.
Images courtesy of Sean Gubbins