Facts about Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington History
Stoke Newington or ‘new town in the wood’, has been lightly settled for hundreds of years, close to larger neighboring Saxon settlements near the River Lea. In the 19th century it was discovered that Stoke Newington Common and Abney Park Cemetery had been part of a Neolithic working area for axe-making, some examples of which can be seen in the Museum of London.
In the Middle Ages and Tudor times, it was a very small village a few miles from the city of London, frequently visited by wayfarers as a pit stop before journeying north, Stoke Newington High Street being part of the Cambridge road. At this date, the whole manor was owned by St. Paul’s Cathedral and yielded a small income, enough to support part of their work.
General Info
Stoke Newington is an area occupying the north-west part of the London Borough of Hackney in north-east London, England. It is 5 miles (8 km) north-east of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington the ancient parish. The historic core on Stoke Newington Church Street retains the distinct London village character which led Nikolaus Pevsner to write in 1953 that he found it hard to see the district as being in London at all.
Stoke Newington’s northern and western boundaries have become the north-west borders of the modern London Borough. The eastern boundary was formed by the A10 road where it goes by the name Stoke Newington High Street and Stoke Newington Road, further south. Unlike many London districts, such as nearby Stamford Hill and Dalston, Stoke Newington has longstanding fixed boundaries.
