Sunday, 22 April, 2018
I’ve seen Hackney tours advertised quite often but they’re on Saturdays – I can’t manage Saturday before lunch. For some reason, the last time I saw a tour advertised it was on a Sunday so I set about rearranging my day before worrying about my ability to keep up with a group and on a tour that promised we would climb St Augustine’s Tower, all 135 steps of it.
No matter. I arrived at Hackney Town Hall for 11am and hoped for the best! The group were mostly older but a few young ‘uns thrown in there. I think we were all more or less locals and wondering what we’d learn that we didn’t know.
The tour guide is Sean Gubbins and, because Hackney is a very large borough (the largest in London), every two or three weeks he tours around a different area. Today was the Heart of Hackney tour – around the town hall, the Narrow Way, and some stops on the way over to Sutton House.
Hackney Town Hall, it turns out, is the third town hall of Hackney. The first was a little one over on the Narrow Way. It became a bank at one point and I remember going in and seeing a plaque that said that Ted Cohen, the founder of Tesco, had started his business with a loan there. Now it’s a betting shop, one of far too many around the borough. The second incarnation was where the new one is now but closer to the main road of Mare Street. This one was very imposing but I do think that the new one, being set back from the road with the square in front of it and the new library and Hackney empire flanking it, is nicely located if not beautiful.
Ever wondered why there are palm trees at the Town Hall and around the borough?
A world-renowned Victorian nursery garden and hothouse once stood near Mare Street – where Hackney Town Hall is now. It was called Loddiges, founded by Joachim Conrad Loddiges.
Described as a ‘latter-day Eden,’ the original Loddiges was home to the world’s largest hothouse. Famed for its collection of orchids and ferns, the nursery was a pioneer in the import and cultivation of rare exotic plants into Britain and attracted visitors from all over Europe and was known as the Grand Palm House. Here palms flourished like nowhere else in the world, set amidst an array of other tropical plants.
Over time, Loddiges supplied plants to places like Kew Gardens, Woburn Abbey, Chatsworth House, St James’ Park and Kensington Gardens, as well as the Imperial Gardens of St. Petersburg and the Adelaide Botanic Garden.
Unfortunately, following the deaths of Joachim’s sons, William and George and due to the changing London landscape, Loddiges closed its gates in 1852. Two years later, Londoners witnessed the stately procession of thirty-two plumed horses as they drew a giant palm tree, the jewel in the Loddiges Nursery’s crown, to its final resting place at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham. The Loddiges tomb can be found in the former churchyard behind St Augustine’s Tower. Continue reading “Heart of Hackney Tour”