Stoke Newington: Communications

Communications

Ermine Street, the Roman road to Lincoln, (fn. 28) was locally called in the 16th century London Way (fn. 29) or High Street (fn. 30) and later, (fn. 31) from north to south, Stamford Hill, High Street, and Stoke Newington Road. Responsibility for the road was assigned in 1713 to Stamford Hill turnpike trust (fn. 32) and in 1826 to its successor, the metropolitan turnpike roads commissioners. (fn. 33) By the Middlesex Roads Act of 1789 the parish paid a composition to the trust in lieu of statute labour (fn. 34) and in 1829 the commissioners were paid arrears unpaid since 1824. (fn. 35) Responsibility returned to the local authorities after the abolition of turnpike tolls in 1865, passing to Hackney district board of works. (fn. 36)

Green Lanes was probably ancient, although unlikely to have been the original Ermine Street. (fn. 37) Its course was certainly established by 1577. (fn. 38) In the 18th century it was still literally green lanes, a shifting track over common land which apparently left its mark on Stoke Newington's western boundary. (fn. 39) In 1786 Stoke Newington's surveyors applied to Islington and Hornsey parishes about repairing the portion of the road between Paradise Row and Newington Green (fn. 40) but in 1789 the Stamford Hill trustees were made responsible for the whole of Green Lanes from Newington Green to Bush Hill in Edmonton. (fn. 41) Stoke Newington's inhabitants were exempted from payments at the toll gate at Paradise Row. (fn. 42) The trustees widened Green Lanes at Newington Green in 1791. (fn. 43) After the abolition of turnpike tolls Hackney district board of works was in dispute with Islington and Hornsey over Green Lanes. (fn. 44) In 1892 Hackney board and Islington vestry jointly asked the L.C.C. to widen the road at the junction with Albion Road at Newington Green because of the great increase in traffic. (fn. 45)

The road from Kingsland to Green Lanes at the corner of Newington Green, which Camden believed part of the Roman route, (fn. 46) certainly existed in 1577 (fn. 47) and may be identifiable with Kellers (1569) or Kyllary (1576) Street. (fn. 48) By 1793, when an agreement was reached with Islington and Hornsey for its repair, it was called Coach and Horses Lane after an inn in Islington. (fn. 49) The southern section was called Prospect Place in 1829, (fn. 50) Back Road in 1832 and c. 1861, (fn. 51) and Boleyn Road after 1877. (fn. 52) The north-west section became Matthias Road after the opening of St. Matthias's church in 1853. (fn. 53) Stoke Newington's south-eastern boundary was formed by a road joining Stoke Newington Road at Kingsland to Coach and Horses Lane. It existed in 1577, (fn. 54) was called Cock Lane in 1735, (fn. 55) Cock and Castle Lane in the early 19th century, when responsibility for its repair was disputed between Stoke Newington and Hackney, (fn. 56) Castle Lane c. 1885, (fn. 57) and Crossway in 1913. (fn. 58)

Church Street, which divided the parish in two, (fn. 59) existed by 1329. (fn. 60) Possibly called Newington (Newton) Lane in 1403, 1449, and 1500, (fn. 61) it was Church Street in 1576 (fn. 62) and Stoke Newington Church Street from 1937. It was widened in 1872, (fn. 63) in 1899, when the junction with High Street was enlarged, (fn. 64) and during the 1930s. (fn. 65)

The only other road mapped in 1577, known in the 19th century as Cut Throat Lane, ran northward from Coach and Horses Lane to a large house (fn. 66) and was probably ancient, since it bounded two of the detached parts of South Hornsey. By 1638 it was described as a little lane from Kingsland to the lands of Roger Corbett. (fn. 67) In the 18th century it formed a through route from Kingsland to High Street and Church Street, although the northern part was only a footpath. (fn. 68) By c. 1861 the southern portion was named Wordsworth Road (fn. 69) and its continuation by 1870 Nevill Road. In 1870 part of the footpath was stopped up, breaking the connexion between the southern portion and Hussey's Lane, an alley and hedged footpath from Church Street. (fn. 70) Hussey's Lane was replaced by Oldfield Road in the 1880s and 1890s. (fn. 71) A branch to the east at High Street, perhaps more important than the access to Church Street in the mid 18th century, (fn. 72) and known as Pawnbroker's Lane by c. 1861, (fn. 73) was cut off from the rest in 1870 and had disappeared by c. 1885. (fn. 74)

Lordship Road existed by 1649 (fn. 75) and was named Lordship Lane by 1694. (fn. 76) In the mid 18th century it continued as a footpath to Hangar's Lane in Tottenham. (fn. 77) Its course was altered by the Act of 1814 which opened up building on the demesne. A new road (Woodberry Down) was driven from Green Lanes to Lordship Lane, the northern part of which was stopped up. (fn. 78) In 1869 Lordship Road was one of the principal routes to Finsbury Park and Alexandra Park. (fn. 79)

A bridle way across the glebe to Newington Green was stopped up by the rector c. 1475 and in 1569 the manor court ordered its reopening. (fn. 80) It was a footpath by 1713, (fn. 81) which, as Church Path or Walk, it remained, despite attempts to close it in 1838 and 1858, (fn. 82) until rebuilding in the 1960s left truncated sections from Church Street and Newington Green respectively. (fn. 83)

North of Church Street, Queen Elizabeth's Walk and Edward's Lane probably dated from the early 18th century, although not mentioned by name until 1734 (fn. 84) and 1756 respectively. (fn. 85) Queen Elizabeth's Walk was 'ground used as a public walk', associated with Church Row, in 1704. (fn. 86) Edward's [sic] Lane was named after Job Edwards the builder (fl. 1697-1717). (fn. 87) By 1800 they were linked by Lordship Terrace. (fn. 88) Meadow Street, its extension eastward to Lordship Lane, existed by 1814. (fn. 89) Red Lion Lane existed by 1781 (fn. 90) and Barn Street by 1825. (fn. 91)

Two later roads were important for general access. Albion Road, which joined Church Street to Newington Green, was completed by 1829. (fn. 92) The metropolitan roads commissioners opened the remainder of Seven Sisters Road from Green Lanes to Tottenham High Street in 1833. (fn. 93) There were 7 1/2 miles of road in Stoke Newington in 1854, (fn. 94) 17 miles in 1897, (fn. 95) and 25 miles in 1905. (fn. 96) In 1937 the names of 23 roads were changed to avoid confusion with others in London. (fn. 97)

Money was left in 1449 to repair the 'sordid ways' towards the church (fn. 98) and in 1581 and 1611 to mend the ways from Newington to Islington. (fn. 99) Ermine Street, from the 14th century onwards, was frequently in a very bad state. Hazards in 1713 included quicksands at Kingsland and Stamford Hill, requiring a great deal of gravel. (fn. 1) The Palatine estate, formerly called Gravelpit fields, may once have provided gravel for the adjacent highway. (fn. 2) There were sloughs in Green Lanes in 1767 (fn. 3) and the disrepair of the road, in some parts impassable for carriages, was given as the reason for turnpiking it in 1789. (fn. 4) Stoke Newington vestry, which feared that traffic from west London would pass along Green Lanes and Church Street to Stamford Hill, protested that Green Lanes was 'in as good repair as it has been within memory'. (fn. 5)

Highway robbery was a worse problem than the poor state of the roads. Attacks at Stoke Newington, recorded from 1575, (fn. 6) became frequent on the London road in the mid 18th century, (fn. 7) and there were others in Green Lanes (fn. 8) and Queen Elizabeth's Walk. (fn. 9) In 1830, after the parish joined the metropolitan police district, there were complaints that Cut Throat Lane, Lordship Road, Woodberry Down, and the farther part of Green Lanes were insufficiently protected. (fn. 10)

After Green Lanes and Seven Sisters Road had been disturnpiked in 1870, the Local Government Board paid Hackney district board of works an annual contribution for their maintenance until 1888, when responsibility passed to the L.C.C. In 1899 there was a clash between the L.C.C. and Stoke Newington vestry, which thereafter had to pay three-eights of the cost. (fn. 11)

Stamford, originally Sanford, the sandy ford, was where the London road crossed Hackney brook. (fn. 12) There was a wooden bridge there in 1675 (fn. 13) and a 'great bridge' by 1687. (fn. 14) In 1826, called Newington bridge, it was a two-arched brick bridge nearly 40 ft. wide, built and maintained by the turnpike trustees at the expense of the county. (fn. 15) In 1830 a landlord, who planned to build along Stamford Hill, petitioned for the widening of the bridge on the Stoke Newington side where the parapet wall extended dangerously into the road. There was, however, disagreement about paying for the widening and it seems unlikely that it was done. (fn. 16) The brook was culverted in the 1850s; the old bridge was uncovered by excavations in 1910. (fn. 17)

There were several bridges where Green Lanes crossed the New River, including Green Lanes bridge in the north and Newington Green bridge in the south. The New River Co. was responsible for their maintenance. By 1826 Hackney brook was culverted where it passed under Green Lanes. (fn. 18) In 1734 the parish surveyors were to mend Stoke Newington's part of the bridge over the New River in Church Street, at the boundary with Hornsey. (fn. 19) In 1882 Hackney district board of works negotiated with the New River Co. to widen Lordship Road bridge over the New River. (fn. 20) Park Lane (later Clissold Crescent) bridge over the New River was demolished when the road was widened in 1931. (fn. 21)

A stage coach plied along the London road to Stoke Newington in 1760 (fn. 22) and Samuel Hoare (d. 1796) made daily journeys from Paradise Row to the City by coach. (fn. 23) There were hourly coach services from Stoke Newington to Gracechurch Street by 1820, hourly and half-hourly services to Bishopsgate, and daily services to Skinner Street and Covent Garden by 1822. (fn. 24) In 1838-9 four omnibuses ran to Bishopsgate Street, six omnibuses and one short-stage coach to the Bank, an omnibus to Oxford Street, and a shortstage coach to Fleet Street. (fn. 25) By 1845 omnibuses ran to the City every 15 minutes and to the west end of London every half hour. (fn. 26) In 1849 four omnibus proprietors ran frequent vehicles to Bishopsgate, Piccadilly, Charing Cross, and the Exchange. (fn. 27) Six owners from Stoke Newington handed 11 omnibuses over to the London General Omnibus Co. in 1856. (fn. 28a) The company leased coach houses at the rear of no. 83 Church Street from 1867 to 1910. (fn. 29a)

In 1885 the L.G.O.C. had 17 buses at Stoke Newington, each making five journeys a day from Stamford Hill to Victoria station via Church Street, Albion Road, and Essex Road; the number had doubled by 1889 and reached 280 journeys each way by 1893. (fn. 30a) In 1881 Henry Marshall, jobmaster of Stoke Newington, started a private omnibus service from Brownswood Park to Stoke Newington station, in Hackney, via Manor Road. (fn. 31a) He was making 48 journeys each way by 1889. By 1893 the omnibuses of Messrs. Rackshaws and Roberts were making 120 journeys and private buses 28 journeys on that route. (fn. 32a) In 1895 vehicles of the L.G.O.C. made 160 journeys each way from Stamford Hill on the Church Street and Albion Road route to Victoria and 198 journeys each way from Stamford Hill to London Bridge along Ermine Street, while 56 private buses ran from Stoke Newington station to Brownswood tavern and another 56 from the station to Finsbury Park station, both along Manor Road. (fn. 33a)

Proposals in the 1860s for railway lines across Stoke Newington came to nothing (fn. 34a) but in 1872 the Great Eastern Co. opened a station called Stoke Newington just outside the parish, in Hackney, on its line to Bishopsgate (after 1874 Liverpool Street) station. (fn. 35a)

In 1871 the district board of works welcomed the Tramways Act of 1870, hoping that tramways would save the roads. (fn. 36a) A line from the City along the London road to Stamford Hill was completed in 1872 (fn. 37a) and another from Newington Green along Green Lanes to Clissold Park in 1874, extended to Manor House in 1883. (fn. 38a) In 1885 there were 169 daily journeys each way on the North Metropolitan Tramways Co.'s service between Stamford Hill and Moorgate Street and another 53 journeys between Stamford Hill and Bishopsgate, both services operating along the London road. (fn. 39a) The North London Tramways Co. opened a line along Seven Sisters Road from Tottenham to Manor House in 1885 and along Green Lanes from Manor House to Wood Green in 1887. (fn. 40a) In 1889 the North Metropolitan Tramways Co. operated three services along the London road from Stamford Hill: red cars to Moorgate Street (137 journeys daily each way), yellow to Bishopsgate (12 journeys), and green to Holborn (142 journeys). It also operated green cars from Finsbury Park along Green Lanes to Moorgate Street (203 journeys). The North London Tramways Co. ran a service along the rest of Green Lanes and Seven Sisters Road. (fn. 41a)

In 1892 the North Metropolitan Tramways Co. acquired the North London Tramways Co.'s services. It ran yellow cars and increased the journeys along Green Lanes from Finsbury Park to Wood Green to 78 by 1892 and 98 by 1895, while blue cars increased those along Seven Sisters Road to 71 by 1892 but reduced them to 64 by 1895. Services along the London road similarly increased. (fn. 42a) The North Metropolitan Tramways Co. was allowed in 1898 to build stables at its depot on the north side of Seven Sisters Road. (fn. 43a) In 1904 the Metropolitan Electric Tramways Co., which had acquired the lines of the North Metropolitan Tramways Co. in the area, electrified the lines along Seven Sisters Road and the northern part of Green Lanes from Manor House to Wood Green. (fn. 44a)

The question of steam- or electric-powered trams was raised in 1890, since horse-droppings were greatly impeding road sweeping. There were steam trams on parts of Green Lanes and Seven Sisters Road and although they were considered unsightly, they were normally less noisy than the horse trams. (fn. 45a) In 1895 the L.C.C. purchased the North Metropolitan Tramways' system within its boundary on a lease-back arrangement (fn. 46a) and by the London County Tramways (Electrical Power) Act of 1900, it obtained powers to electrify. (fn. 47a) Nevertheless it was not until 1907 that the L.C.C. electrified the line from London to Stamford Hill and in 1912 the southern part of Green Lanes as far as the Manor House. (fn. 48a) A new service along Amhurst Park to link the Seven Sisters Road trams with those at Stamford Hill was opened in 1924. (fn. 49a)

An inquiry in 1925 found that there were six tram and three motor bus services along the London road, trams along Green Lanes and Seven Sisters Road, and motor buses 'in all directions' in Stoke Newington, but that there was great overcrowding at Finsbury Park station and traffic congestion in Stoke Newington High Street. Stoke Newington was felt to be greatly in need of a tube railway. (fn. 50a) There had been an abortive scheme to bring a railway along the London road in 1903 and in 1906 a line (later the Piccadilly) opened between Hammersmith and Finsbury Park, which remained Stoke Newington's nearest tube station until the line was extended in 1932 with a station at Manor House. (fn. 51a)

The London Passenger Transport Board, to which transport by bus, tram, and underground railway had passed in 1933, (fn. 52a) under a series of Acts from 1934 to 1937 (fn. 53a) converted the trams into trolleybuses, starting with Seven Sisters Road (1936), then the northern parts of the Green Lanes and London road routes (1938), and ending with the southern part of the London road (1939). (fn. 54a) By 1959 Stoke Newington was served by 16 trolleybus, 5 other London Transport motor bus services, and 3 Green Line coach routes. (fn. 55a) In 1961 trolleybuses were replaced by motor buses, of which there were 18 services in 1980. (fn. 56a)