Clapton Common is a mainly residential community lying between Upper Clapton and Stamford Hill, on the West bank of the River Lea. The site also includes some information on Upper and Lower Clapton and Stamford Hill.
Striking natural features of the area include the River Lea, and two ridges, one broadly followed by Clapton Common, and a the other followed by the Cambridge Road from Stoke Newington Railway Station up to Stamford Hill. The two ridges were originally divided by a small stream which led into the now vanished Hackney Brook (much of which is now a sewer) which used to cross Stamford Hill road near Stoke Newington (just outside Abney Park cemetry entrance) and then flowed through Hackney down to the River Lea. In the 1830s the now lost Hackney Brook was a sizeable river - in full flood about 60 feet wide at Stoke Newington, and over 100 feet wide when it joined the River Lea.
Some maps of the area can be found on this page.
Roman remains have been found in the Clapton area. Stamford Hill Road was a roman road (Ermine Street) and it seems very likely that the area was farmed at this time.
The name Clapton suggests that a farm on a hillock existed somewhere in the area in Saxon times.
The road from Hackney to Stamford Hill is part of the old pilgrims route from London to Waltham Abbey.
In the 1600s the main community in the area was what is now called Lower Clapton.
St Thomas's hospital held land in the area
Land owned by Thomas Webbe, in 1742 succeeded his grandfather John Webbe - whose family had held land since 1664 or earlier. Before this part of Tyssen estates.
Arrival of Turnpike in 1738. A turnpike gate existed on the Stamford Hill Road where Clapton Common now joins it until 1864. A turnpike gate also existed in the area where Clapton Common joined with Lea Bridge Road.
St Thomas's Church opened as the Stamford Hill Chapel
The area was served by the horse omnibus from Tottenham to Bishopsgate, but this cost 6p a journey - so was only really available for the wealthy.
Great Eastern railway to Enfield arrived in 1872, with stations at Stoke Newington and Stamford Hill.
Tramway completed in the main road for Stamford Hill via Kingford and via Mare Street.
Workmans trams arrived at Clapton Common in 1875 prompting a burst of house building in the area between 1877 and 1888.
Sisters of the Holy Childhood established a children's home at their mother house, no 19 Clapton Commmon, in 1881, where they also did parish work and remained until c 1940.
On Old Summit House (p14) .. In 1832 Mr John Diston Powles lived here, he was one of the four gentelmen who bought St Thomas' Chapel (then called Stamford Hill Chapel) from Dr Richards in 1827, and was an important man in Clapton. …
p55 .. in 1888 the Clapton and Stamford Hill School of Art was removed here from its first home at 37, Clapton Common ..
In 1890 Metropolitan Tramways Company open depot in Portland Ave between Kyverdale and Darrenth Road, now LCC supply depot ? After war damage (1939-45) a new extension was built.
First air raid on the evening of May 31st (Zepplin ?) and the first bomb fell in Alkham Road.
Stamford Hill Theatres Super 152-158 Clapton Common in 1925, and Regent corner of Stamford Hill and Amhert Park in 1929
Trams were converted to electric power on 23rd September 1909 and continued running until 1939, when converted to Trolley Buses.
Arrival of Turnpike in 1738
Train arrived at Clapton in 1875
Swan Inn is marked oin a map of 1745, and stage coaches used to travel from the Swan to the FlowPot Inn in Bishopsgate. The pub and stage coach ismentioned in Charles Dickens. The top floor of the building was removed in 1959.
The Birdcage in Stamford Hill.
The Weaver's Arms - closed and converted into shops in 1963.
The British Oak, Oldhill Street.
Springfield Park is the site of three large houses Spring or Springhill House (now demolished, but originally just inside the upper park gates on Spring Hill, and was owned by the eldest son of Charles Dickens), Springfield House (now the refreshment room) and the Chestnuts (now demolished). These houses survived intact the building boom that followed the arrival of the trams at Clapton. In 1902 the estates went up for sale as building land, but a group of local gentelmen under the name of the Springfield Park Acquisition Committee campaigned to prevent the auction, and paid a deposit of £1,000 to the owner (T K Bros) in 1904, and started to raise funds from the public to acquire the park. The London County Council, encouraged by an approach from Hackney Borough Council stepped in and agreed to buy the property for about £40,000 in total (half of this from the LCC, £15,000 from Hackney Borough Council and the rest from other sources). The park opened to the public on 5th Augst 1905. Two of the three houses were demolished (as they were both dilapidated) and the course of Spring lane rerouted (it originally went through the centre of the park).
The present cricket ground is sited on Gilbey's Dock, is shown complete with surrounding industrial buildings (apparently calico printers, tile makers and a varnish factory) on the 1868 OS map. At one time Spring Hill must have been a busy industrial site.
The park (38 acres, now maintained by the London Borough of Hackney) is one of London's finest small parks, and commands fine views over the River Lea and Walthamstowe Marshes. The park includes specimens of horse chestnut, oak, ash, beech, rowan, hawthorn, lime, London plane, sycamore, holm oak, cedar, copper beech, and pine. There is also a tulip tree, and a curious foxglove tree near the house. There is a greenhouse open to the public.
The park demonstrates the geology of the area in a graphic manner - with a line of springs emerging on the hill side.
On the far side of the River Lea (so strictly speaking lying outside the district) are the remains of the Walthamstow marshes. Originally these were Lammas lands - thrown open to be grazed by the people of the parish, after Old Lammas day (13th August) until Old Lady day (April 6th) while no hay crop was being grown. The Manor Courts of Walthamstow appointed a Marsh Hayward every year from 1678 to 1882 whose main job was to keep fences secure and prevent cattle or carts damaging the hay. The Marsh was divided into strips (some of the markers apparently still remain) and were probably originally allocated by lot each year, although later on had fixed owners. Traditional grazing is thought to have ended sometime before 1914. The land was bought by Walthamstow Borough Council in 1934 for £66,000.
A water powered mill ground corn here in the mid-14th century. In 1670 the milll was used for grinding gunpowder, and in 1690 for rolling paper. In 1712 it was a leather mill under the management of a Frnechman, Monsieur Pierre Montier. Soon after it changed to the manufacture of linseed oil. In 1806 the mill was put up for sale, and bought and converted to a copper mill by the British Copper Company (this is largely the same building as exists today). They smelted copper ore at Landore in South Wales. The barges travelled around the south coast, travelling up the Thames and River Lee, and up the Coppermill stream. The ingots were made into penny and halfpenny tokens, used in towns throughout the UK and beyond (during the Napoleonic Wars the Government issued no copper coins). The mill was an important employer for local people. In the 1850s the East London Waterworks Company built an aqueduct over the marshes and purchased the Coppermill for use as a pumping station, adding a tower that housed a steam engine to the building in 1864/5.
The southernmost reservoir completed in 1872 was the first of the twelve completed by 1915 built across the marshes to meet the increasing demand for water. Serious problems arose from the contamination by sewage of the major source of supply, the River Lea, with cases of typhoid reported in the 1870s.
The character of the marshes was dramatically altered when the Cambridge Railway line was opened in 1840, followed by the Great Eastern Railway to Walthamstow in 1870. Beneath the railway arches next to the river, aviation pioneer Alloitt Verdon Roe assembled his triplane in 1909, and then went on to achieve the first powered flight by a British aircraft across the Marshes - a distance of 900 feet at an average height of 10 feet. The Avro company went on to build the Lancaster bomber so famous in the second world war.
Rising in Bedfordshire, this river was formerly the boundary between Middlesex and Essex, joining the Thames at Poplar. It may have been used as a navigable route by the Romans to Verulamium. According to the AngloSaxon chronicle King Alfred's ships persued the Danes up it in 896. The upper reaches were frequented by Izaak Walton. The waters of the Lea valley still furnish about a sixth of London's water supply.
Thought to have been built around 1409, and stood at the junction of Upper Clapton Road and Lea Bridge Road - on the site of the present day Brooke School. It was extensively damaged during the second world war, and demolished 1954. Was owned by Henry Algernon Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland. Percy was an admirer of Anne Boleyn before she married the King. Henry VIII is known to have visited Brooke House. Earl Percy died at Brooke House in 1537. Edward VI granted iot to the Earl of Pembroke in 1547. It belonged to Henry Carey, the first Lord Hunsdon from about 1578 to 1583. It is believed that he practically rebuilt the house. Sir Rowland Hayward was the next owner, and afterward it came into the possesion of Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford (one of the many contenders considered by some to have written Shakespeare's plays) who lived here until his death in 1604. Fulke Grenville, the 1st Lord Brooke lived there. In the time of the third Lord Brooke, Robert Grenville, the garden was visited by both Samuel Pepys and by John Evelyn who said in his diary on 8th May 1654 'I went to Hackney to see my lady Brooke's garden which is one of the neatest and most celebrated in England'. Oranges used to be grown in the Garden. Later it become a private mental hospital.
On the East of the Clapton Road, near Brook House, stood Clapton House, the home of the Bishop Wood of Lichfield and Coventry who died in 1690. He is famous for staying in Hackney, which must have made visiting his diocese difficult. He apparently was viewed with disfavour by the chapter at Lichfield - being both low church and parsimonious. The house was classical in style, with large grounds that swept down to the River Lea. The house was used as a school from the 18th century onwards. Clapton House was demolished in 1890.
Stamford Hill is the hill on the Cambridge Road. This road was a roman road, and has been a major route out of London ever since. The first documented appearance of the community is in the 13th century when is was called Sanford Hill (presumably the hill by the sandy ford - the ford being the now filled in Hackney Brook).
Stamford Hill is a healthy part of London-the highest spot being 109 feet above sea level where Portland Avenue and Leweston Place meet. This spot was less healthy for some in bygone days, for here stood on Gibbet Field the gallows frequently mentioned in old records as standing on Stamford Hill.
Roques map of 1745 shows a small hamlet at the junction of Hackney Lane and Cambridge Road..
By 1795 the Cambridge Road was lined with select villas in spacious grounds. Little more was built until the railway arrived in 1872, when the surrounding fields were filled with terraced houses for the middle classes. Between the first and second war most of the 18th century villas were demolished to make way for the large block of flats.
Stamford Hill is the centre in London of the strictly orthodox Hassidic movement of Jews. Egerton Road is the home of the New Synagogue, first errected in Leadenhall Street in 1760, moved to Great St Helen's in 1838, and then to Stamford Hill in 1915.
The house has had an interesting history. The property designated was built between
1760-80. The house originally had four floors and a high pitched hip-roof covered with
rich red tiles. In 1835 a Mr Bryan lived here and stabled in the garden horses used
for ` The Magnet ' the first omnibus to start from 'The Swan,' Clapton Common, and which
went seventeen times a day to 'The Flower-pot' Bishopsgate Street. In 1853 the building is
recorded as becoming a Girls Boarding School. In 1853 the name College House was applied
to the building which became a boarding-school for girls. A large ground-floor room to the
north was added at this time. In 1888 the Clapton and Stamford Hill School of Art removed
here and carried on until 1916. During this period there were no dividing walls
between front rooms on the first and second floors.
St. Thomas' had rented the house first in 1916 when Fr. Ridgeway left the parish and the
hut in the garden of 57, Clapton Common was no longer available for parish use. In 1919
the property was purchased for £800 and the deeds deposited with the Diocese. A
completely new part of its story began March l0th, 1928, when the St. Thomas' Hall
formally opened by Lady Keymer. The large ground floor school-room had heen
metamorphosised into a fine, simple, modern hall with a very good stage. Dry rot in 1934
necessitated the removal the roof and top storey, and a flat roof with a rail on the
garden side was substituted.
The twenty-first birthday of this Hall was commemorated on March 9th, 1949, when Fr. Cuthbert, paying us a special visit, told us how the building of the Hall had been realised. After the destruction of the Church by enemy action during the war the church hall was licensed, under seal; by the Bishop of the Diocese on January 22nd, 1941 " for the performance of Divine service and the administration of the Holy Sacraments according to the rite and ceremonies of the Church of England." The services moved back to the reconstructed Church in 1950. The building was compulsory purchased by the council in 1963, and demolished to make way for an extension to the Summit estate that now stands on the site.
A writer in the Star (6/9/33) spoke of our parish as the spot "where London
disappears." Geographically situated in north-east London, a boundary of our parish
is the River Lea which divides the counties of London and Essex, and the dioceses of
London and Chelmsford. Since the postal districts E.5. and N.16 meet in our parish, we are
sometimes regarded as the top end of East London.
From the top of our church tower (still standing though the rest of the church was
destroyed in December, 1940), there is a splendid view over the large reservairs and
looking towards the great trees of Epping Forest five or six miles away. In her life of
Bishop Henry Luke Paget (who lived in our parish as Bishop of Stepney fram 1909 until
1919), Mrs. E. K. Paget wrote of the old-fashioned setting of our big houses, of its rich
bird-life, and, even then, of our not being very well served in the matter of public
transport.
But although some of the big houses and gardens remain, they are fast being replaced by
huge blocks of L.C.C. and Borough flats.
No. 47 Clapton Common (formerly Clapton Terrace) has the date 1760 recording its erection.
No 57 Clapton Common used to be Priory House School. A further press cutting reports the closure of Priory House School in 1909 after a honourable career of 64 years.
" The Swan " near by takes the place of " The White Swan " shown on a map of 1765; and we have the minutes of a meeting of St. Thomas' congregation held at the " Swan Tavern " on March l2th, 1855, when action was started for obtaining complete ecclesiastical freedam from the mother parish of St. John at Hackney.
In 1880 Clapton Hall opened for the Plymouth Brethern.
In 1881 Home of the Holy Childhood founded at 19 Clapton Common, and continued until 1941 war when it was disolved. An advertisement reads 'Class of child received - Destitute orphan girls and those who have lost either parent. Illegitimate children not admitted. Payment - free in some cases; charge, 5s weekly, may be reduced in cases of need. Age of admission : from 5. Age of leaving - until ready for service, or to any age if too afflicted to earn living. Accommodation - 15. Education - St Thomas's School. Training - Domestic Service."
In 1884, the Mission of the Holy Cross was built in Ravensdale Road (sold 1905).
In 1903 during the discussions on the need for Springfield Park it is reported that some 50 or 60 houses and flats were being errected on the site of grove House in Oldhill Street. The Cazenoves and Lowe's Nursery were about to be built over, and this process is going on in all directions.
In 1932 LCC housing was built on Stanford Hill. The rent was 15s 9d or 19s 2d for the larger flats. Father Cuthbert of St Thomas wrote to the newspapers complaining about the high cost of the flats and pointing our that the poorest families were unable to afford the rent and were being forced to leave the new flats.
In 1935 the flats in Castlewood Road were opened.
In 1936 More LCC flats opened - Arran, Benoyn? etc. Also Seymour Court in Cazenove Road.
In 1951 Vincents at 104/106 Oldhill Street was acquired by Hackney Council for development as flats.
In 1962, Bud Flanagan leader of the Crazy Gang opens a licensed betting shop in Oldhill Street in conjunction with Jack Solomans.
In 1962 corner of Oldhill Street and Clapton Common widened.
In 1963 Fire completely burns the foor top two floors of 59 Clapton Common.
In 1965 postbox in Oldhill Street replaced and moved from corner of Oldhill Street (E5) to outside Church (N16).
In 1966 fire at Ironmongers shop 'Gordon's' at 91 Oldhill Street.
The Clapton skyline is dominated by the 155 feet high slender spire of the building known as " The Ark of the Covenant " or " The Abode of Love ". The church is highly decorated with extraordinary statues of nature. The place of worship was opened in 1896 (one source says 1892?) for the Agapemonites. The sect was founded by an Anglican Priest, Henry James Prince (in his early days known as a particularly pious student). Prince said that the Holy Ghost occupied his body, preached the imminent second coming, and left the conventional church in 1843, along with a fellow clergyman called Samuel Starky, and founded a chapel in Brighton. His preaching, often in the open, attracted large flocks of admirers (mainly wealthy women) and his follows raised £3,000. He bought a large house, with 200 acres of land in Sproxton in Somerset, and established his own community which was largely self sufficient, with around 60 adherents.. Although already married, he took multiple brides, while the rest of followers were expected to remain celibate. In the 1890s the sect gained many converts (including some notable members of the Salvation Army) and raised the money to build the church in Clapton. Prince died at Sproxton in 1899 (where he was apparently buried upright to aid his resurrection). Henry Smyth-Piggot, at the time a Dublin curate (although earlier a curate at St Judes Mildmay Park), took over the leadership of the community, and announced in 1902 in Clapton that he was God incarnate. This led to near riots in Clapton - crowds of 6,000 people greeting the self styled messiah with hisses, catcalls and stones. He returned to the Sproxton community, which he continued to run with some success until his death in 1927 at the age of 75. More information.
The church was acquired by the Ancient Catholic Church of England in 1956.
Large house on the East side of Clapton Common. Home of several famous people. Owned much of the land behind the church, including the four cottages (Stainforth cottages) at the end of the mews behind Clapton Terrace shown on the early maps.
Southernmost large house on the East side of Clapton Common
Large house on the West side of Clapton Common, North of Portland Avenue.
Kelley's Directory of Stoke Newington shows multiple occupany in 1914.
Large house with 70 acres of grounds, on the corner of Cambridge Road and the East side of Clapton Common, complete with distant views over Epping Forest and the River Lea, and was built in the early nineteenth century by John Craven. Samuel Morley, MP, a wealthy non-conformist and local benefactor then sold Craven Lodge to Reuben Button, who gradually disposed of the estate in building plots. Gladstone is said to have visited Morley at Craven Lodge admired the grounds, but predicted the forthcoming development of the area ("But Morley, Shoreditch is coming"). Within in 20 years Craven Pond, more usually known as Leg of Mutton pond because of it shape had dried up, and the Craven Estate was reported to be little more than a wilderness. It was finally demolished in 1924.
Thomas Windus's Gothic Hall had the appearance of a Roman Catholic chapel, and housed a collection of paintins, curios and antiques. Windus died in 1854 and the collection was immmediately dispersed.
Became the constitutional club. Demolished in 1931 to make way for London County Council flats.
Large house on the corner of Clapton Common and Springfield. Owned by the Agapemonites.
Large 18th century house at top end of Stamford Hill on Clapton Common side. Home and surgery of Dr C T Aveling, who enjoyed a large and lucrative practice as well as a high social and professional reputation. He died in 1902, and the house was demolished six years later in 1908. The houses that replaced Cedar Lodge and the other properties were not converted into shops until the 1930s.
Was the home of the Bishop of Stepney until 1932. At one stage Clapton was home to two Bishops, as in 1909 the Bishop of Islington also lived at 96 Clapton Common. The building became the British Home for Deaf and Dumb Women in 1937 (was earlier at 179-181 Lower Clapton Road)
Originally the home of the Bishop of Bedford, William How (1878-1888).
Probably built as part of the 1832 rebuilding of St Thomas Church. Although it was built as the Vicarage, it is very small, and Vicars of St Thomas have often chosen to live in other houses. Father Ridgeway lived at 57 Clapton Common. Father Cuthbert lived at 43 Clapton Common and then 96a Clapton Common. Father Thornley is thought to have lived at 6 or 10 Clapton Common.
The building has typically been used for housing curates, and the church office. In the late 1800s (until 1888) it was the headquarters of the Clapton & Stamford Hill School of Art.
The vicarage was damaged in the bomb that destroyed the church during the war. Only two rooms remained serviceable At some stage the building was reconstructed, including a new room over the Church Vestry. Vicarage dilapidations done in 1966.
The vicarage was partially reconstructed in 1970 for Father Gould
St. Thomas' Vicarage stands 102 feet above sea level, and if its 67 stairs are climbed, the top back window gives a clear view of the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral.
Saint Thomas' Church Day School was opened in 1828, in Wood Street (later called Rossington Street). Enlarged in 1856. It closed as a school in 1883. Described as a pleasant one story building, but demolished in 1962.
New day school in Lynmouth Road build in 1883. Site was given by Tyssen-Amhurst, and the building cost £3,000. Foundation stone was laid on 25th April 1883 by Amhurst T Amhurst, Lord of the Manor. Infant building alterations in 1892 at the cost of £300, more alterations in 1903 cost £800. Repairs in 1951 costing £261. Electric lights installed in 1951. New toilet block addded in 1966, and head teachers house converted.
Tyson school, Oldhill Street opened in 1930s by LCC. Kept Jewish holidays until 1964.
Oldhill Street had its own Tollgate, on the patch of land now occupied by the row of very narrow houses. This tollgate controlled a short cut from Clapton Common to Stamford Hill. The Toll cottage was a small building, complete with a very narrow strip of land used as an allotment by the Tollgate keeper - which explains the very odd size of the buildings. The Toll cottage was demolished about 1870.
Dick Turpin is said to have robbed the mail on one occasion at Stamford Hill.
It was at the top of Stamford Hill (perhaps at the Stamford Turnpike, now Egerton Road) that King James I coming from Scotland to take possession of his new kingdom was met in 1603 by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, City Officials and '500 grave citizens'. 'The multitudes of people in high wayes, fieldes, medowes, closes an on trees were such, that they covered the beautie of the fieldes, and so greedy were they to behold the cointenance of the King, that with much unrulinesse they injursed and hurt one another, some even hazarded to the daunger of death ... all the way as his Majestie past with shoutes and cries, and casting up of hattes (of which many never returned into the owners hands), he passed by them over the fields' quote from True Narration of the Entertainment of his Royall Majestrie, 1603.
Thomas Day, author of Sandford and Merton lived at Sandford Lodge which once stood at the corner of Osbaldeston Road.
Samuel Morley was visited at Craven Lodge by Mr. W. E. Gladstone in the 1860's.
Stainforth House, once a notable residence, lived a series of public people : Richard Foster (founder of new parish churches), Bishop Walsham How (who entertained Miss Charlotte Yonge, the novelist, here), and two other Bishops,
Dickens mentioned the gardens of Clapton and Stamford Hill in his Sketches by Boz, and his eldest son lived in a house (no longer standing) in Spring Hill. "If the regular city man who leaves Lloyds at five o'clock and drives home to Hackney, Clapton, Stamford Hill or elsewhere can be said to have any daily recreation beyind his dinner, it it his garden. He never does anything to it with his own hands, but he takes a great deal of delight in it notwithstanding, and if you are desirous of paying your attention to his youngest daughter, be sure to be in raptures over every flower and shrub it contains.
Robert Browning visited William Johnson Fox, minister of the South Place Chapel, who lived in Stamford Grove West (sometime between 1830 and 1834).
Tyssen Amhurst family owned most of the land in the area and were the lords of one of the two manors (Lordshold) of Hackney. The Tyssens were originally merchants at Flushing in Holland, but about the reign of James II they settled in London and became very wealthy. They lived in Hackney or Shacklewell, and several of them are buried in Hackney Church. Francis Tyssen of Shacklewell died in 1717 and was buried (in considerable style) in Hackney Parish Church. His wife shorlty afterwards gave birth to his only son Francis John Tyssen, who died in 1781, leaving a daughter who married into the Amhursts of Rochester. The property pased through marriage to William George Daniel of Foley House Kent, who assumed the name and arms of Tyssen. His eldest son took the additional name of Amhurst.
John Howard the famous penal reformer was born in Clapton (in Laura Place)
Major John Andre (the infamous spy hanged by George Washington) was born in Clapton.
Various documents in St Thomas's Vicarage. Major source is copies of hand written papers taken from Some notes on Clapton Past and Present from Florence Bagust (also available to be consulted in Hackney Archives D/F/BAG). She produced 15 volumes of notes, copy items and cuttings compiled c1913-29. The vicarage has a copy of an article prepared for the Hackney Review and Stoke Newington Chronicle, in May and June 1922. The 1914 reprint map shows a Mrs Bagust living in Craven House, at 146 Durley Road.
Also a collection of notes and clippings presumed to be by various priests at St Thomas up to the time of Father Datchler in 1969.
Notes from the back of the Alan Godrey old Ordnance Survey maps, London sheet 21, for Stamford Hill 1868 and 1913.
The London Encyclopaedia by Ben Winreb and Christopher Hibbert, Macmillan, London 1995 (a really excellent reference book on London)
The Parks and Woodlands of London, by Andrew Crowe, Fourth Estate, London 1987
Old London - Highgate & Hampstead to The Lea, Edward Walford, The Village Press, 1989 (but originally published sometime in the mid to late 1800s)
An Encyclopaedia of London, Ed William Kent, J M Dent, London, 1937
Lee Valley Regional Park
London Borough of Hackney Archives
London Metropolitan Archive
The Hackney Society
The Hackney Historic Buildings Trust
National Monuments Record