Monday, 17 August, 2020
I’ve been promising myself for some time that I’d walk along Shacklewell Lane with my camera. The heat put paid to that idea last week but now it’s cooler so off I went. I’d waited for the rain to let up before I left the house but there were at least three showers while I was out, sometimes heavy.
Walking along Amhurst Road today there were signs of Summer ending. I was admiring the houses and the nice curve the street makes in either direction.
It feels like we live in a scruffier part of Amhurst Road – although not as scruffy as the piece from Dalston Lane over to Mare Street! I say this because some of the houses, architecturally the same, further up the road are set back a bit more and are better taken care of.
As you approach Shacklewell Lane, on one side you’ll see Evelyn Court where my aunt Ruth lived as a child. I’ve blogged about Evelyn Court before so I won’t say too much here but these flats were part of the second wave of Four Per Cent Industrial Dwellings, 1935.
During my walk, I was intrigued by the forks in the road. More than junctions, there are often three directions. At the junction of Shacklewell Lane, Amhurst Road keeps going up to Kingsland Road, to your left is Shacklewell Lane, also meeting Kingsland Road at a more westerly point, and to the right, Shacklewell Lane becomes Rectory Road towards Stoke Newington Common.
I turned left. Shacklewell, an area stretching along Shacklewell Lane, forming a curved loop from Kingsland High Street northwards to Stoke Newington Common. The earliest recorded inhabitant was a tenant of a London saddler in 1490. There were likely springs or wells in this area, which made it attractive to London merchants.
Shacklewell Lane has quite a few points of interest and, after my walk, I discovered there was more I could have photographed. The rain and my knees dictated otherwise, so there’s more to explore!
In the centre of the road is Shacklewell Green, a small green space that forms a traffic island. If you look straight across the green, you’ll see the Cotton Lofts. I found a great PDF file which describes them – ‘The building today known as Cotton Lofts is a former printing works, which also has connections to the East End Rag Trade, operating as George Gowns Ltd in the 1980s.’
Interestingly, the PDF also says that the whole area is considered a conservation area. I’m going to say right here that the amount of information online is somewhat overwhelming and would take up several blogs so I’ll list the references at the end to save me (and us) time.
Just beyond the Cotton Lofts, at Cecilia Road is Petchey Academy, coeducational secondary academy. ‘Our focus is on each child as an individual, through strong pastoral support systems complemented by a broad and holistic curriculum and high quality teaching that stretches and challenges students to think for themselves.’ They pride themselves on inclusion and their commitment to deaf and hearing impaired children.
I decided to do a video about the streets called Perch, April, and Seal – a collection of terraces built between 1881 to 1886 on what was once manor land. This is a favourite little part of Hackney/Dalston for me that I walk through when I go to the doctor’s office. These little houses are just lovely and I wish I could own one and make it mine!
Just beyond Petchey Academy is Independent Place, where my sister stayed when she was here. It’s a gorgeous development but I am yet to find out its origins. Perhaps it’s much newer than I once thought.
Nestled between two areas of Independent Place you’ll find the Shacklewell Washing Baths. This served the community of Shacklewell from the early 1930s up until the 1980s. It’s now The Bathhouse Children’s Community Centre.
Shacklewell Lane starts to look a little different after the small green at St Mark’s Rise leading down to St Mark’s Church and Ridley Road Market. Now you begin to really see the trendiness creeping in.
There’s a factory building just beyond the trendy shop. It’s still quite original looking but the names of the offices say there’s creative stuff going on in here. This is followed by the somewhat incongruous yard filled with machinery for hire.
My sources say that the mosque on the other side of the road was once a synagogue. They also say that it’s an indication of the changing ethnic mix in the area. Over 80 per cent of children at the local primary school are from black, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Turkish or Chinese backgrounds.
When we first came to Hackney there was a very large, rough and ready Turkish store just below the mosque on the way back down to Amhurst Road. This whole building has now been converted into The Factory Dalston. It’s sparsely occupied but I went inside to see how it was doing. It’s a pretty cool and trendy space and I think it might be where 215 Hackney (a great middle Eastern cafe near Abney Park) is opening a second branch. I’ll ask them.
It was now raining a bit more seriously. I had to skip over some of the things that might have proven interesting. St Barnabas Church for example, which is described as being ‘hip-Christian.’ I foresee one or three visits back to see some things in more detail. Shacklewell is one of Hackney’s many ‘hamlets’ ready to be enjoyed.
A word on ‘trendy,’ though. I watch some TV and I’ve spent some time in coffee shops contemplating younger people. My view of them runs to: gym-enthusiasm, waxing mania, smoothie breakfast swigging, Starbucks visiting, roomie living, yoga, zumba, Spin classes, running, gender issue contemplation, career-mindedness, success-seeking, veganism and other dietary excursions, and should I go on? I don’t fit in with this crowd but I do find it interesting, even fascinating, especially when it co-exists with the historical and traditional.
Some links for further reading:
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/tudorhackney/localhistory/lochhy4.asp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shacklewell
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol10/pp35-38
https://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/shacklewell/
https://consultation.hackney.gov.uk/planning-regulatory-services/shacklewell-green-ca/supporting_documents/Draft%20Shacklewell%20Green%20Conservation%20Area%20Appraisal.pdf