Clissold Park
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Post to the east Stoke Newington
Post to the west Finsbury Park
Post to the north Woodberry Down
Albion Road
Cubitt 1830s. Runs north to ' the old village centre
Bouverie
Road
Brownswood Road
Branch Library.
1960
Church Street
Old St Mary’s Church. Small, homely, brick –
still a village church. The building of the new parish church in the 1850s prevented a Victorian ‘restoration’. It had been rebuilt in 1563 by the Lord of the Manor, William Patten
and is thus one of the few examples of an Elizabethan church - in fact London's only example. A north aisle was added in 1829 by Barry and destroyed in 1940, but
restored in 1953 by C. M. Oldrid Scott. The Tudor south aisle is known
as Queen Elizabeth's chapel. In
the 1920s Barry's new spire was renewed and original brickwork revealed. The
church still has its box pews and double galleries.
Churchyard.
Alderman Pickett who
did up the Strand is buried here. Interesting brick paving
can be seen on the church path outside.
New St Mary’s Church. Built in 1858 by G.G.Scott on the site of the old rectory. A fine
landmark but insensitive. It was intended to accommodate huge congregations drawn by a Victorian rector, Rev. Thomas Jackson. It has a prominent spire added in 1890 by Scott's son John
Oldrid Scott, in Kentish rag and Doulting stone
Vicarage by G. G. Scott.
New River went
through the park and back again to cross Paradise Bridge. When it reached Stoke Newington Church Street
it and ran southwest alongside it the channel of which is obliterated. A short
length of fencing,
different from that on either side of it, seems to be the point at which the
New River swung south towards Clissold Crescent, crossing under the road.
Church Street workshops
Town Hall. Opened in 1937 on the site of the old manor
house. This was Stoke Newington
Municipal by Reginald Truelove. Built as the Town Hall and Assembly on the site of
an early c18 terrace. Mayor's parlour and committee rooms
along the front, with some panelled folding doors. The
result of limited competition over which Sir Edwin Lutyens presided. Especially the rooms and main offices away from the noise of
Church Street. At the centre of the curve, the main or ceremonial entrance
leads directly to a imperial stair and first floor council chamber
whilst the flanking entrances at either end. Marked by pavilions, served the
departmental offices on the ground floor.
assembly hall, designed principally for dances survives
relatively unaltered with the same high quality interior decoration frequently
exploiting materials from around the Empire. unaffected by the 20th century, attempt to get
some Civic Centre atmosphere
Library, 1892 by Bridgman Goss, an early example of a
borough library. Brick and stone, gable at each end. Extended at the rear in
1904 to provide a children’s library and
lecture hall. War Memorial entrance hall added by AD. Pom, 1923. Bust of Defoe
by Fran Ransome, from a model by Frampton.
Clissold Park
Clissold - Named
after the Revd Augustus Clissold who married, after much unpleasantness due to
opposition of her father, the heiress of
the Crawshay family, landowners in Stoke Newington in the 19th century. It was
opened with its present name in 1889; on the Ordnance map of 1877 it is called
‘Newington Park’.
New River is
now ornamental water. There are three
bridges, and lakes called Beckmere and Reitzmere. The lake itself is clearly part of the New River as it
coursed north-eastwards and turned south-east. The
south arm
of this horseshoe loop was closed when the river was stopped at Stoke Newington.
Clissold Road
Leisure Centre replacing
1930s baths. By Hodder Associates,
1998. Steel framed, toplit, with glazed wings. It replaces baths by Hobden
& Pom, 1930, which had an interesting arched concrete roof and 1920s
memorial hall. Fell down and then
rebuilt.
Stoke Newington School. was Clissold Park
School. Like Sussex University. Forceful. Building of 1967-70 by Stillman & Eastwick-Field, R. Smorczewski, D.
McCos, M. Plunkett.
Green Lanes
Medieval road from Balls Pond Road to Enfield –goes from
Newington Green to Bush Hill. Part of an
ancient route from Shoreditch to Hertford via. Enfield. Connected a series of
greens. Eastern boundary of Highbury Manor Drove
road into London. inappropriate name
of Green Lanes. Originally a mediaeval road from Ball's Pond to Enfield, this
section forms the old eastern boundary of Highbury Manor and the parish of St
Mary, Islington. Several early 19th-century houses survive in the road
Embassy Lodge
New River
went east across Green Lanes. Nothing of it remains to be seen, for after 1866 the Brownswood Park area was
developed, and the river diverted in pipeline
alongside Green Lanes
Stoke Newington Pumping station. Intermediate station for the raw water main
built in 1955. It is 19 miles deep and
links the Western Reservoirs with Coppermills.
There is a siphon for initial flow and it goes north east from Hampton
Ring Main Shaft. The new London water ring main passes under this site at about 45
metres underground. Construction site and access shaft. The ring main connects
to these shafts at a depth of 40m
Greenway Close
Highbury Quadrant
Sculpture. 1959.
‘The Neighbours’ by Siefried Charoux Of cemented iron. Highbury Quadrant estate, 1954 London County Council
housing. Early post-war housing by the
LCC, 1954.
New River went east across Green Lanes
Highbury Quadrant School
Highbury Quadrant Congregational
Church. 1954 by Hastie, Winch & Kelly. Portal-framed with stained glass by
Clifford Rankin. It replaced John
Sulman's Gothicchurch of 1880-2 octagonal schoolroom at the end, which, with other ancillary
rooms, survives from Sulman's church; the schoolroom was galleried but is now
two-storey.
Birchmore Hall
Birchmore Walk
Riversdene
Twelve Acres
Highbury Terrace, 1789.
Houses are taller than in Highbury Place, built high and isolated. Local antiquaries said the western gradient
was a Roman defence, but not so. Houses
in the block at the end of the terrace were squatted for many years.
New River original
course went along here
Lordship
Estate South
1936 by Howes & Jackman, one of
Stoke Newington's first big housing schemes.
Lordship Road
Flats. L-shaped block of flats clad in dark blue, buttressing the United Reformed Church 1967-75 by
Peter F. Smith, redevelopment of over-large church sites.
Grazebrook School. GLC 1970
Lordship Park
continues as Manor Road, traversing
the manor of Stoke Newington. Starts with ambitious houses at either end, their
gaunt height relieved by some coloured brickwork, but has humbler two-storey terraces in between
Gate posts. This
was once an exclusive suburb and the posts were topped with heraldic
beasts. The griffin has long disappeared but a lion still stands guard. Manor
Road
10 Politi and Sons. Turkish delight Manufacturers. Politi and Sons Ltd were well-known for the
manufacture of Rabat Lacoum, British Manufacture Turkish Delight which was
marketed in wooden drums with paper seals. They had a 1901 horizontal
single-cylinder steam engine by Marshall Sons & Co Ltd of Gainsborough
still at work c1978 there was also on standby an inverted vertical
single-cylinder enclosed engine made about 1950 by W Sisson and Co Ltd of
Gloucester. The engines were probably used to stir the
Turkish-delight mix but it would also have been used for process purposes and
there were boilers and a square-cross-section brick chimney built at the back
of the works.. The yellow brick building of two storey, of two bays with double
pitch roofs. The gables are decorated with the Star of David and on the eastern
gable is the date 1911. In the centre of the façade at first floor level there
is a loading loophole with a cathead. The red labelled boxes were a popular
luxury at Christmas about 45 years ago. The powder, used to pack the Turkish
Delight, was a mixture of cornflour and icing sugar. The Turkish Delight itself
was of several flavours indicated by colour and the powder packing was to stop
it fusing together into one great lump. An Politi wooden Rabat Lacoum drum
measures just over five and a quarter inches in diameter across the lid and is
overall about two and a quarter inches deep. It is marked one and a quarter
pounds nett and cost nine shillings including purchase tax which the address
London N16 on the lid of the drum. Turkish Delight was eaten with orange sticks
or a wooden fork which were on top of the Turkish Delight when the drum was
opened. David Politi was a persecuted Greek Jew who moved to England and
started the manufacture of British Turkish Delight in 1872. Politi's seem to
have gone out of business before 1987,.
Lordship Terrace
Bunker.
At the rear of Stoke Newington Town Hall. It's
entrance is hidden between two buildings, one of them a portable two storey
building that now stands on top of the bunker. The entrance consists of a small
surface concrete blockhouse with a single door giving access to a stairway,
which turns 90 degrees at the bottom into the bunker. This bunker was probably
built in 1953 as part of the network of Emergency War Rooms and although some
papers found in the bunker give it the designation Sub Control 42, Duncan
Campbell lists it in War Plan UK as Control 51 B5 reporting to the North East
Group War Room at Wanstead Flats. The entrance stairway enters the bunker
one-third along the main east -west spine corridor which gives access to rooms
on both sides. Starting with the north side of the corridor the first and
largest room has 'Control & Information' on the door and on one wall there
is a rectangular blackboard with painted heading 'Display board' and columns
'Date' and 'To be seen by ' In the east side wall there is a large sliding
message passing window into the next room, there is also a separate doorway
into the next room alongside. The purpose of this room is unclear but it too
has a large sliding message passing window into the communications room beyond.
This room has acoustic booths along two walls, which would have contained the
links to the various agencies. Many of the wooden drawers still contain Civil
Defence message pads and Evacuation Warrants. Several copies of 'Operational
Orders for Civil Defence Exercises' have recently been removed for safekeeping.
One of these orders contained a reference to Sub Group 42 and listed staff
involved in the exercises. The final room on the north side is the plant room
containing both the standby generator and the ventilation and filtration plant
and electrical switchgear. The Ventilation plant is by Woods of Colchester. It
consists of two fans, one connected directly to the fresh air inlet, which is
fed through filters to ducting around the bunker. The outlet is adjacent to the
entrance blockhouse. The generator is dated 1953. There are also two
metal-framed bunk bends in the plant room (presumably not their original
position). There is an original sign in the corridor outside the plant room
which reads 'In case of fire in plant room 1 Put power switch painted red in
off position wearing special gloves provided 2 Use Pyrebe PI Extinguisher and
sand for electrical fires 3 Use Phomeni extinguisher and sand for oil fires'.
On the south side of the spine corridor the rooms are from east to west: The
dormitory, this still contains two metal framed bunk beds and at floor level
alongside the entrance tunnel to the emergency escape shaft. The next room is
the kitchen, which still contains a sink (now lying on the floor) and a water
heater. There is a large opening at floor level into some pipe tunnels running
the length of the bunker. The next room is the gent's toilet with two urinals,
washbasin and a water heater and a WC in a cubicle, adjacent to this is the ladies
toilet with washbasin, water heater and two WC's in cubicles. Beyond the
toilets are the stairs up to the surface, a small room of unknown purpose with
the final room being the teleprinter room. This still contains two teleprinter
tables identical to those found at the Southall (North West Group Bunker)
unlike Southall which just had GPO Teleprinter cases, the cases here have their
teleprinters in them with heavy power supply unit on the floor under each
table. There is also a rack mounted electrical cabinet labelled S + DX FM
Telegraph System. Although this equipment is rather tatty it all appears to be
complete and the council might be prepared to donate it to a relevant museum.
The bunker has had new electrical lighting installed and is bone dry throughout.
It is used to store redundant computer hardware pending disposal. Although the
entrance design is similar to the WW2 bunker at Hackney it seems likely that
this bunker was constructed post war although the blast protection at the
entrance seems minimal with only a wooden door and there is even a ventilation
hatch in the door at the bottom of the stairs. In the larger rooms brick
pillars have recently been constructed to take the weight of the buildings
above. All but one of the internal wooden doors have been removed.
Manor Road
St.Anne’s Home for the Elderly. For the Little Sisters of the Poor. Dauntingly large by Edward Goldie, Chapel and wing, 1878-9; the
rest 1893-6.
Milton Grove
Site of old Stoke Newington Vestry Hall. Formerly South Hornsey Local Board Offices. Demolished. Built in 1881 for what was then
a detached area of Hornsey parish, this building was designed by the board
surveyor F. Fry. It included his own official residence as well as the usual
offices and board room It was
demolished in the 1960s.
Queen Elizabeth Walk
Named because stopped there before she was queen. Line of
a walk from the Manor House to the church
Riversdale Road.
New River was known as the ‘Boarded River’ along
here. Originally the New River crossed the valley by
an embankment some 600 yards long,
its south end where Wyatt Road now joins Riversdale Road. The Wyatt Road junction is where the Boarded River crossed the valley of
the Whichbrook, which ran at the back of the Arsenal Tavern.
99-121 Back
garden fences show the line of the New River on its old curved alignment
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