Alan Russell

@soxgnasher.bsky.social

448 Followers 258 Following

Born Homerton Hackney London local history mainly Hackney history - has es ven yox rufn eyds antisemetik

Bombsite at the corner of Haggerston Road and Lee Street A view looking north-east from the top of Acton House in Lee Street, Haggerston, with Haggerston Road running from left to right. The open area in the centre of the photograph was cleared of bomb damaged buildings after World War II; the two-storey building is a temporary depot for building materials operated by Hackney Council. Acton Street joins Haggerston Road to the north of the depot and beyond this is a lorry park. The Church of All Saints stands on Haggerston Road. Built in 1856 and designed by the architect Phillip Hardwick, it was Grade II listed in 1994, listing number 1261786. A cafe and a shop can be seen to the north of the church. The depot and Acton Street have been replaced by Stonebridge Gardens, a park. 1952
COLLEGE STREET. Back gardens with their outdoor wash houses, looking north to Eastern Hospital HOMERTON. In 1930 demolished as slums now Banister House Estate Council Housing
The Eastern Fever Hospital in Homerton (E9) was one of England's first state-funded infectious disease facilities. Opened by the Metropolitan Asylums Board (MAB) between 1869 and 1871, it initially comprised a 200-bed fever hospital and an adjacent 100-bed smallpox hospital on Homerton Grove. Built to manage massive urban epidemics of typhus, scarlet fever, and relapsing fever. The complex merged in 1884 to officially become the Eastern Fever Hospital.Public Use Initially restricted to paupers, services became free for all Londoners following the Public Health (London) Act of 1891. It joined the NHS in 1948. During the post-war era, its focus shifted heavily toward tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, and neurology before closing its original buildings in 1982. The old buildings were mostly demolished, including the first Ambulance station built in UK,and the site became home to the Homerton University Hospital, which opened in 1986 and served as the designated hospital for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.Today, the only surviving structures from the historic 19th-century complex are Chatsworth House and its distinctive boundary wall along Brooksby's Walk.
The River Lea at Spring Hill (Upper Clapton/Hackney) captures a historic era of pleasure boating. The boathouse was originally established in the 1850s by entrepreneur John Verdon and later became known as Tyrrell's Boathouse. The area became a major hub for pleasure boats, leading to the establishment of boatyards and boathouses along the river lea.1903 John Verdon's business was taken over by Jacob Tyrrell, whose family ran it for decades.1970 Tyrrell's boathouse and the nearby Radley's boatyard merged their rowing clubs to form the Lea Rowing Club, which still operates there today.The site alongside Springfield Park has transformed. The original converted cottages now serve as a base for the club and a waterside venue called The Boathouse.Historical Context During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this stretch of the river was incredibly popular for recreation, competitive rowing, and leisure. The River Lea was a bustling social hub for East Londoners, long before the area became integrated into the Lee Valley Regional Park.
Before the early Victorian villas were built and the gardens were laid out in the 1840s, the land that makes up the Albion Square area in Haggerston was largely farmland and commercial nursery grounds.The history of the site's transformation highlights this evolution During the early 19th century, much of this area of Hackney—particularly the land stretching east and west of Kingsland Road—consisted of rich, fertile market gardens and plant nurseries.The 1840s Development The expansion of the Regent’s Canal spurred rapid urbanisation in Hackney. In the 1840s, the ground landlords (the Middleton family) and the developer Islip Odell built up the square, replacing the former nursery grounds with picturesque, Italianate paired villas. When the square was originally built, the central rectangular plot was laid out as a picturesque private garden (using a design popularised by landscape designer J.C. Loudon). It was locked and accessible only to residents who possessed keys, acting as an incentive to attract wealthy middle-class tenants. By the 1890s, the garden had fallen into an "abandoned and deplorable condition". To save it from dereliction, the Middleton Estate trustees handed the land over to the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association. It was restored, opened as a public garden in 1899, and is now a community space that includes a restored 1910 drinking fountain.
Albion Square Swimming Baths Hackney London Albion Hall was a building on the west side of Albion Square, Hackney, built by Islip Odell between 1849 and 1850. It was owned by the Literary and Scientific Institute until 1861. Under the management of the institute, the hall managed lectures, a library, entertainment and classes in chess, French, book-keeping and arts and science. From 1861 it was run as an assembly hall, and after the installation of swimming baths in the 1860s, became public baths. Between 1850 and 1894 the building was licensed, but it closed in 1897. The London School Board re-opened the building in 1899.The building was demolished in 1944, following bomb damage by a flying bomb during World War II.
HARRIET SQUARE Haggerston SHOREDITCH, c1950 View of east side looking north from Cremer Street. photograph 1950.Harriet Square which backed onto Geffrye Street and at one end, adjoined the Museum of the Home grounds.
CASSLAND ROAD. South side c1915 Cassland Road from junction with Harrowgate Road looking east. Includes Dongray Bros Store. Photographic copy of postcard c1915..jpg
MARE STREET North . HACKNEY, c1840 View South from Dalston Lane. In 1840.Mare Street was a relatively narrow, busy coaching route lined with a mix of substantial 18th-century mansions and shops. The scene includedtransport, such as horse-drawn carriages, carts, and pedestrians, with flocks of sheep sometimes being herded toward markets. Near the intersection of Dalston Lane and North Mare Street, there were "gentleman's residences" with front gardens. Further south, the "Old Mermaid" tavern, which was a 17th-century coaching inn, was located near the church, though it was shortly after replaced by 1840-1845 by the manor house.
Glasshouse at Finsbury Park 1911 Haringey North London The chrysanthemum displays at Finsbury Park attracted visitors from all over the London. The glasshouses were removed in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1890 a Victorian-style Chrysanthemum House was constructed to house the park's prize chrysanthemums. It was this glass building, sadly no longer there
Brownswood Park Tavern, 271 Green Lanes, Finsbury Park At Brownswood Terrace in 1874
Highbury NLR Station, Highbury Corner, Islington - c1910 Flickr
The Manor House Finsbury Park A Growler cab turning left into Seven Sisters road Stoke Newington
ELECTRIC TRAMS FINSBURY PARK. 1910 At terminus outside Finsbury Park.
Kathy Motchman @Kathy_Motch · 10h @soxgnasher my uncle in the late 60s took this photo of where my great grandfather was born. Looking at Google maps, I see that the area has been completely redeveloped. I just thought that I would share it with you.
F L WATTS, CORN & SEED DEALER, c1910 Frampton Park Road and premises on Paragon Road (Stanley Yard), c1910. Now totally a removal firm. Photographs donated by Mr O Watts (father sitting on cart), grandson of F L Watts (on the left).
Kingsland Green was located to the northwest of the Kingsland Road and Balls Pond Road junction, often described as part of the land north of Kingsland Passage. During the 1870s, this area was a transitional space transitioning from semi-rural land to urban development. In the 1870s, the land was considered a market garden or nursery before being sold off for development. The area around Kingsland was known for such spaces, with records noting nurseries operated by families like the Bassingtons in the area. The land was used for "raucous fairs" between the 1850s and 1870s. It was not formally a public open space during that time, but rather, by the early 1880s, the green was sold off as building plots. To the west of the area, early 18th-century houses (sometimes described as 17th or early 18th century, such as those near the Unitarian Chapel or Newington Green) existed, which were later replaced or absorbed by the rapid urbanisation of the late 19th century. By the 1880s, the area was largely developed, and Kingsland Green itself ceased to exist as a green space, with "Kingsland Passage" remaining as a remnant of its location.