67-634: Abney Park is in Stoke Newington , London , England. It is a 13-hectare (32-acre) park dating from just before 1700, named after Lady Abney , the wife of Sir Thomas Abney , Lord Mayor of London in 1700 and one of the first directors of the Bank of England and associated with Isaac Watts , who laid out an arboretum. In the early 18th century it was accessed via the frontages and gardens of two large mansions: her own manor house (Abney House) and Fleetwood House. Both fronted onto Church Street in what
134-526: A London parish), is Abney Park Cemetery , one of the most splendid and enlightened Victorian London cemeteries. It is the main London burial ground for 19th-century nonconformist ministers and William Booth , founder of the Salvation Army , is buried here. It is now a nature reserve. Abney Park was scheduled in 2009 as one of Britain's historic parks and gardens at risk from neglect and decay. Across
201-594: A Quaker, he became closely involved with the abolitionist cause , which they supported. In 1800, he married Sarah Wilberforce, sister of his friend William , who visited Stoke Newington regularly. Between them, the two men drafted the Slave Trade Act 1807 , to prohibit the international slave trade originating in Africa. In 1824, Fleetwood House was adapted for use as a new Quaker school , known as Newington Academy for Girls (also Newington College for Girls). In
268-533: A direct hit. The memorial to all the residents of the Borough who died in the air raids, including local Jewish people, can be seen in Abney Park Cemetery . Like Hackney, Stoke Newington avoided most of the later V-weapon attacks, which fell disproportionately on South London; seven V-1s and two V-2s hit the borough. Most of the historic buildings at the heart of Stoke Newington survived, at least in
335-614: A framework for both civil (administrative) and ecclesiastical (church) functions, but during the 19th century there was a divergence into distinct civil and ecclesiastical parish systems. In London the Ecclesiastical Parishes subdivided to better serve the needs of a growing population, while the Civil Parishes continued to be based on the Ancient Parish areas. The Metropolis Management Act 1855 merged
402-488: A frequent visitor to Stoke Newington, combining meetings with William Allen and his Quaker circle with visits to his sister Sarah and brother-in-law James. Stephen came to be regarded as the chief architect of the Slave Trade Act 1807 , providing Wilberforce with the legal mastermind he needed for its drafting. To close off loopholes pointed out by some critics, he became a Director of the Africa Institution for
469-508: A grave miscarriage of justice . The men were sentenced to death by burning , and Stephens' revulsion at both the trial and the verdict led him to vow never to keep slaves himself, and to ally himself with the abolitionist movement. Stephen opposed the opening up of Trinidad through the use of slave labour when the island was ceded to the British in 1797 , recommending instead that Crown land should only be granted for estates that supported
536-561: A home to many water birds and a population of terrapins . These lakes—purportedly the remains of clay pits dug for the bricks used in the building of Clissold House—are all that is left to mark the course of the Hackney Brook , one of London's lost rivers, which once flowed from west to east across Stoke Newington on its way to the River Lea . In flood at this point, the brook was known to span 10 metres. The two lakes are not fed from
603-477: A lack of money. The following year he sailed with his family to the West Indies , where they would live for the next 11 years. Stephen set up in practice as a lawyer there, becoming solicitor-general of St. Kitts , at that time a British colony. During a visit to Barbados , he witnessed the trial of four black slaves for murder. The trial, which found the men guilty as charged, was considered by many to be
670-543: A late Victorian and Edwardian suburb, Stoke Newington prospered, and continued in relative affluence and civic pride with its own municipal government until changes brought about by the Second World War. Between 1935 and 1937, the curved brick and Portland stone Town Hall was built for the Metropolitan Borough of Stoke Newington by J. Reginald Truelove. During World War II, much of the area
737-458: A reparable state. Two notable exceptions are the classically grand parish church of West Hackney, St James's, on Stoke Newington Road, which dated to 1824, and St Faith's , a Victorian Gothic church by William Burges . Both were so severely damaged, the former in the October 1940 bombing, and the latter by a flying bomb in 1944, that they were entirely demolished. St James's was replaced after
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#1732787400863804-514: A time when girls' educational opportunities were limited, it offered a wide range of subjects (including sciences) "on a plan in degree differing from any hitherto adopted", according to the prospectus. It commissioned the world's first school bus , designed by George Shillibeer . One of the school's founders was William Allen , a Quaker active with the Society for Effecting the Abolition of
871-413: A towering Scottish castle. To the south of these facilities is Clissold Park , which contains a small menagerie, aviary and Clissold Mansion, a Grade II listed building , built in the 1790s for Jonathan Hoare, a local Quaker and brother of Samuel Hoare . East from here and past the two Church of England parish churches, both called St Mary's (Stoke Newington decided to retain the old one , unusual in
938-472: Is an area in the northwest part of the London Borough of Hackney , England. The area is five miles (eight kilometres) northeast 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 that led Nikolaus Pevsner to write in 1953 that he found it hard to see
1005-637: Is built today. Close by were the residences of three prominent Quaker abolitionists: William Allen (1770–1843), Joseph Woods the elder, and Samuel Hoare Jr (1751–1825). The latter two were founder members of the predecessor body to the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade . Anna Letitia Barbauld , author of An Epistle to William Wilberforce (1791), also came to live in Stoke Newington in 1802. Inevitably, Wilberforce also became
1072-501: The British Royal Family , replicated as a mural on the building. By 2009 it had become a tourist attraction, but Hackney Council wanted to remove all graffiti from the area and tried to contact the building owner to gain her agreement to remove the artwork. Unable to reach her due to incorrect Land Registry records, they started painting over the artwork with black paint. They were stopped after they had partly covered
1139-672: The New River Head in Finsbury , but since 1946 its main flow has ended at Stoke Newington reservoirs. The river bank, the New River Path , can be walked for some distance to the north through Haringey and on to its source near Hertford . Stoke Newington East and West Reservoirs were constructed in 1833 to hold water prior to treatment in the New River Company's filter beds on the other side of Green Lanes, in
1206-563: 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
1273-685: The mercantilist system of government-licensed controlled trade. In October 1805 – the same month that the British fleet under Lord Nelson defeated the French fleet – his book appeared: War in Disguise; or, the Frauds of the Neutral Flags . It called for the abolition of neutral nations' carrying trade, meaning America's carrying trade, between France's Caribbean islands and Europe, including Great Britain. Stephen's arguments two years later became
1340-427: The 1843 home of architect and district surveyor John Young , is the last-surviving (though now ruined and derelict) of several grand detached houses built in the area around that time for well-off members of the new commuter class. Gibson Gardens , an early example of quality tenement buildings erected for the housing of 'the industrious classes', was built off Stoke Newington High Street in 1880 and still stands. As
1407-526: The 1920s and is illustrated in many engravings of the period. Other trees planted at an early date at Abney Park (either in the portion leased by Fleetwood House, or that attached solely to Abney House) included American Larch and Tulip Trees from the New World . The Nonconformists of Stoke Newington had strong connections to colonists in New England . Abney Park was dominated by Abney House which
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#17327874008631474-539: The A10 from Gracechurch Street meeting house in the city. A meeting house was built in Park Street (now Yoakley Road) by William Alderson , who later designed Hanwell Pauper and Lunatic Asylum . The Anglican St Mary's Church , designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1854–58, replaced the older parish church (also St. Mary's), which survives on the opposite side of Church Street. St Mary's Lodge on Lordship Road,
1541-623: The Cambridge road (A10). 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. During the 17th century the Cathedral sold the Manor to William Patten, who became the first Lord of the Manor . His initials 'WP' and the motto 'ab alto' can be seen inscribed above the doorway of the old church next to Clissold Park . A century later, it passed to Lady Mary Abney who drew up
1608-519: The Civil Parishes of Hackney and Stoke Newington into a new Hackney District . This proved very unpopular, especially in more affluent Stoke Newington , and after four unsuccessful attempts the two parishes regained their independence when they were separated by mutual consent under the Metropolis Management (Plumstead and Hackney) Act of 1893. The London Government Act 1899 converted the parishes into Metropolitan Boroughs based on
1675-659: The Diocese of London. This broad area comprised many estates, stretching from the Manor of Stepney in the east (of which neighbouring Hackney was a part), to Willesden in the west and Hornsey in the north. The Manor is recorded, as Neutone , in the Domesday Book of 1086, as part of the Ossulstone hundred of the county of Middlesex . Domesday also records that the Manor was held by St Paul's both before and after
1742-611: The Methodists moved into their first purpose-built college at Richmond , south of London in 1843, Farrar was appointed as the Classical Tutor. He worked there until 1857. After 1843, Abney House was 'recycled' (broken up for sale as building materials) for the building trade of the rapidly expanding metropolis, as was common in the Victorian era . Fleetwood House was built in the 1630s for Sir Edward Hartopp. By marriage
1809-532: The N16 postal area that includes Stoke Newington railway station , Rectory Road railway station and Stoke Newington Common . As a consequence Stoke Newington, like nearby Stamford Hill , has become closely associated with the N16 postcode, though a significant part of western Stoke Newington is covered by the N4 postcode district. The Manor (estate) of Stoke Newington was part of a huge block of land around London held by
1876-503: The Norman Conquest. Stoke Newington was a Prebendary Manor , providing an income to the work of the cathedral. The Ancient Parish of Stoke Newington was established to serve the area of the Manor with which it was coterminous and, like other parishes, would have had its boundaries permanently fixed by the 1180s, even if the underlying Manor's boundaries changed (though manor boundaries were generally stable at that date). From
1943-528: The People and Electors of England , in which, echoing his speeches, he had some success in urging the election of members of parliament who would not be "tools of the West India interest", paving the way for the second Abolition Bill which succeeded in 1833. Three sons from Stephen's first marriage, to Anna Stent at St Leonard's, Shoreditch in 1783, survived him, and achieved prominence in law, abolition and
2010-550: The Registration of Slaves through which he advocated a centralised registry, administered by the British government, which would furnish precise statistics on all slave births, deaths, and sale, so that "any unregistered black would be presumed free". Though he introduced many successful ideas to strengthen the legal success of the abolitionist cause, this mechanism which he believed to be "the only effective means to prevent British colonists from illicitly importing African slaves"
2077-549: The Slave Trade . His marriage to Grizell Hoare was the subject of a satirical cartoon, in which the school is referred to as the Newington Nunnery. Joseph Pease , later the first Quaker MP, wrote a doggerel verse praising Allen's marriage. Fleetwood House was demolished in 1872. A fire station was constructed on the site. 51°33′54″N 0°04′41″W / 51.5649°N 0.0781°W / 51.5649; -0.0781 Stoke Newington Stoke Newington
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2144-719: The Stoke Newington Business Association and launched "See you in Stokey", a website dedicated to the area with event listings, articles, and area guides. In the north of the district is the extensive West Reservoir, now a non-working facility, but open for leisure and surrounded by green space. At the entrance is the Castle Climbing Centre, once the main Water Board pumping station. William Chadwell Mylne designed it to resemble
2211-619: The Tudor period, parishes were obliged to take on a civil as well as ecclesiastical role, with the administration of the new Poor Law of 1601 . In the 17th century, the Ossulstone Hundred was subdivided, with the parish of Stoke Newington, on the west side of Stoke Newington High Street, becoming part of the new Finsbury division and the parish of Hackney to the east becoming part of the Tower division . The Ancient Parishes provided
2278-505: The area now known as Brownswood Park. Water is now sent from here to the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain for treatment. The West Reservoir is now a leisure facility, offering sailing, canoeing and other water sports, plus Royal Yachting Association -approved sailing courses. On its western edge stands the former filter house, now set out as a visitor centre with a café; some of the old hydraulic machinery can be viewed in
2345-627: The area) were convicted of two IRA bombings and had substantial links to lorry bombs in the 1990s. Both were arrested, firing at officers in Walford Road and later sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. Muktar Said Ibrahim was convicted, as the ringleader, on an indictment of conspiracy to murder. He planted a failed bomb on a 26 bus that misfired on the Hackney Road on 21 July 2005 . In February 2005, police had sought Ibrahim on an arrest warrant for an outstanding public order offence. After
2412-787: The attack, he was seen on the run in Farleigh Road and arrested in Dalgrano Gardens. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, to serve a minimum of 40 years before being considered for release. These days, Stoke Newington is very multicultural, with large Asian , Irish , Turkish , Jewish and Afro-Caribbean communities. The area continues to be home to many new and emerging communities, such as Polish and Somali immigrants. Stoke Newington has undergone major gentrification , as have neighbouring Newington Green , Canonbury and Dalston . Church Street includes many independent shops, pubs, bars and cafes. In 2022 traders formed
2479-681: The basis of Great Britain's Orders in Council , which placed restrictions on American vessels. The enforcement of this law by British warships eventually led to the War of 1812 , even though the Orders were repealed in the same month that America declared war, unbeknown to the American Congress . Stephen's second marriage was to Sarah, sister of William Wilberforce , in 1800, and through this connection he became frequently acquainted with many of
2546-430: The birth of the railways and the first omnibuses made possible. The latter were introduced into central London in the 1820s by George Shillibeer after his successful trial of the world's first school bus for William Allen and Susanna Corder 's novel Quaker school, Newington Academy for Girls . By the mid-19th century, Stoke Newington had "the largest concentration of Quakers in London", including many who had moved up
2613-537: The brook, which has disappeared into the maze of sewers under London, but from the mains supply. At the time of the 2011 census, there were 13,658 residents in Stoke Newington Central ward. Of these, 63.1% were White (44.9% British, 15.2% Other, 2.9% Irish and Gypsy or Irish Traveller, 0.1%). 16.6% was Black (7.3% Caribbean, 6.2% African, 3.1% Other) and 9.9% was Asian (4.2% Indian, 1.3% Pakistani, 1.6% Bangladeshi, 0.8% Chinese and 2% Other). 33.8% of
2680-530: The civil service: Sir James Stephen (1789–1859), Henry John Stephen (1787–1864), and Sir George Stephen (1794–1879). Stephen's second wife was Sarah Wilberforce (c. 1757–1816), eldest sister of William Wilberforce (1759–1833); Barbara Wilberforce (1799–1821) was her niece and daughter of William. In 1832 Stephen died, and all three were buried at St Mary's churchyard, Stoke Newington , London, along with Stephen's first wife, his mother and father and two of his infant daughters. The Stephens were connected to
2747-586: The district as being in London at all. The modern London Borough of Hackney was formed in 1965 by the merger of three former Metropolitan Boroughs , Hackney and the smaller authorities of Stoke Newington and Shoreditch . These Metropolitan Boroughs had existed since 1899 but their names and boundaries were very closely based on parishes dating back to the Middle Ages . Unlike many London districts, such as nearby Stamford Hill and Dalston , Stoke Newington has longstanding fixed boundaries; but to many,
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2814-466: The early 18th century, Lady Abney laid out Abney Park after inheriting the Manor of Stoke Newington in 1701 from her brother Thomas Gunston. Initially she and her husband Sir Thomas Abney lived there part-time, also living at his country residence in Hertfordshire . She began work on the park in those years. After her husband's death in 1722, Lady Abney moved to Abney House full-time, becoming
2881-484: The estate passed to Charles Fleetwood , one of Oliver Cromwell 's generals, and was named for him. It was later owned by various parties. It served as a meeting place for Dissenters and Nonconformists, for which residents Stoke Newington was known. In the grounds was a third building, called the Summerhouse. From 1774, it was used as a summer residence by the family of young James Stephen (1758–1832). Although not
2948-595: The figures in the anti-slavery movement. Several of his friendships among the abolitionists were made in Clapham (home to the Clapham Sect ) where he had moved from Sloane Square in 1797. Other connections were formed also in the village of Stoke Newington a few miles north of London, where Stephen's father leased a family home from 1774 onwards called Summerhouse. The property adjoined Fleetwood House and Abney House at Abney Park and stood where Summerhouse Road
3015-418: The first Lady of the Manor of Stoke Newington in her own right. She was said to be helped in designing the landscaping of the grounds as an English garden by the learned Isaac Watts , who had been a long-term house guest of her and her late husband, and continued to live in her household. The neighbouring Hartopp family of Fleetwood House, who leased the eastern part of the park to Lady Mary, also helped with
3082-410: The first detailed maps of field boundaries and began to lay out a manorial parkland behind today's fire station on Church Street , with the aid of her daughters and Dr Isaac Watts . During the course of the century, given its proximity to the city a number of Quaker and nonconformist families became settled in the area. During the early 19th century, as London expanded, the Manor of Stoke Newington
3149-399: The high street to the east is the fragmented Stoke Newington Common , which has had an extensive and diverse programme of tree planting. From the 16th century onwards, Stoke Newington has played a prominent role in assuring a water supply to sustain London's rapid growth. The artificial New River runs through the area and still makes a contribution to London's water. It used to terminate at
3216-474: The immigration of free Africans. He considered that, besides the evangelical arguments in support of freedom from slavery, internal security, particularly from potential French interests, could be obtained in the British West Indian islands by improving the conditions of slaves. Stephen was a skilled lawyer whose speciality was the laws governing Great Britain's foreign trade. He was a defender of
3283-463: The informal perception of Stoke Newington has blurred over time, to stretch east of the originally Roman A10 to overlap areas of the former Ancient Parish and subsequent Metropolitan Borough of Hackney . The Metropolitan Borough largely adopted the Ancient Parish's boundaries, including the eastern boundary, which followed the A10 road, though there were minor rationalisations, notably
3350-554: The main hall. The pumping station at the reservoir gates, converted to a climbing centre in 1995 was designed in a distinctive castellated style by Robert Billings under the supervision of William Chadwell Mylne and built in 1854–56. The site is still used as a pumping station for the Thames Water Ring Main . Besides the water board facilities and the New River , Clissold Park contains two large ornamental lakes,
3417-557: The mural. James Stephen (British politician) James Stephen (30 June 1758 – 10 October 1832) was the principal English lawyer associated with the movement for the abolition of slavery . Stephen was born in Poole , Dorset; the family home later being removed to Stoke Newington . He married twice and was the father of Sir James Stephen , grandfather of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen and Sir Leslie Stephen , and great-grandfather of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell . James Stephen
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#17327874008633484-608: The park. Her improvements included planting of the Great Elm Walk and Little Elm Walk, which established shady walkways down to the island heronry of the Hackney Brook at the bottom of the park. Both Wych Elm and English Elm were planted. The Hartopp family had already completed one of the early plantings of a Cedar of Lebanon tree in Great Britain, adjacent to an ornamental pond. This tree survived into
3551-471: The same boundaries, sometimes with mergers or minor boundary rationalisations. Stoke Newington was smaller than desired for new boroughs, and there were proposals to re-merge it with Hackney, or to detach Hackney's northern part and join it with Stoke Newington. These proposals were rejected due to the experience of "intolerable and interminable feuds" between the districts when they were previously "forced together" , and because Parliament recognised that there
3618-501: The sites of the small hamlet of Stoke Newington and part of Newington Green , but excluded the open space known since the early 20th century as Stoke Newington Common (originally Cockhangar Green). Stoke Newington railway station was built close to, but just outside, this area. More recently, many have come to see Stoke Newington as extending east of the A10 to overlap the AP \ MB of Hackney to include West Hackney , an ill-defined area of
3685-432: The transfer of areas of Hornsey . 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 (originally High Street , until a name change in 1937 ) and Stoke Newington Road (meaning the road to the hamlet of Stoke Newington) further south. These boundaries included
3752-464: The war by a much more modest structure, St Paul's, which is set well back from the street. Traces of the old church's stonework can still be seen facing Stoke Newington Road. During the war, much residential housing was destroyed, and in the aftermath much was demolished, being considered beyond economic repair. Postwar redevelopment has replaced many of these areas with large estates, some more successful than others. Much of this residential redevelopment
3819-403: The ward were Christian, 11.1% Muslim, 3.2% Jewish, 39% had no religion and 10% did not state their religion. Stoke Newington contains only one Grade I listed building ( St Matthias Church ), and several Grade II* and Grade II buildings. There are many Grade II listed properties on Stoke Newington Church Street, the historical heart of the district, and two other notable residential streets to
3886-401: The west of the district, Albion Road and Clissold Road, are replete with listed properties. Close to the local pub The Lion, local resident and property owner Sofie Attrill gave consent for pop group Blur to create some publicity for their 2003 single " Crazy Beat ". The album's cover and single artwork were undertaken by graffiti artist Banksy , with the single featuring a spoof image of
3953-494: Was "great ill-feeling and mutual ill-will... between the inhabitants of the two districts" . Stoke Newington was permitted to become an independent Borough, and most of South Hornsey (also a part of the Finsbury Division was transferred to it to increase the new authority's size. Parts of South Hornsey had previously been exclaves that separated southern Stoke Newington from the rest of the area. The Finsbury Division
4020-407: Was "enfranchised" to be sold in parcels as freehold land for building purposes. Gradually the village became absorbed into London's seamless expansion. It was no longer a separate village by the mid- to late 19th century. Being on the outskirts at this time, many expensive and large houses were built to house London's expanding population of nouveau riche whose journey to London's commercial heart
4087-617: Was abolished. Stoke Newington lost its independence in 1965, when it merged with the Metropolitan Boroughs of Hackney and Shoreditch to form the new London Borough of Hackney . Stoke Newington is part of the Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency , which has been represented by Labour MP Diane Abbott since 1987. Stoke Newington, or 'new town in the wood', has been lightly settled for hundreds of years, close to larger neighbouring Saxon settlements near
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#17327874008634154-562: Was born to James Stephen and Sibella Stephen (née Milner). He began his career reporting on parliamentary proceedings for the Morning Post . He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1775 and was called to the bar there in 1782. His father had earlier been a member of the Middle Temple but was expelled before being called to the bar. James also read law at Marischal College, Aberdeen , for two years but ended his studies due to
4221-531: Was built in 1700. For some time in the early decades of the 19th century, it was the residence of James William Freshfield and his family. In its final years, it was adapted for use as a Wesleyan Methodist training college (c.1838/9–1843). Rev. John Farrar was the Governor of the college. He was elected Secretary of the Methodist Conference on fourteen occasions and twice its president. When
4288-458: Was damaged in the Blitz and many were made homeless, although the level of destruction was much lower than in areas of East London further south, such as Stepney , Shoreditch or even next-door Hackney. The death toll was also relatively low: almost three-quarters of civilian deaths were due to one incident on 13 October 1940, when a crowded shelter at Coronation Avenue off the high street received
4355-565: Was never taken up. His last public engagement was a speaking engagement at a meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society at Exeter Hall in 1832. From 1808 to 1815 James Stephen became an MP , firstly for Tralee and afterwards for East Grinstead and in 1811 Master in Chancery . His want of education and his fiery temper prevented him from doing justice to considerable natural powers of eloquence. In 1826 he issued An Address to
4422-604: Was planned by Frederick Gibberd , the designer of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral . Communist Party meetings were held in the Town Hall in the postwar years. From the 1970s onwards the area has experienced, or been associated with, a number of terrorist acts. The 'Stoke Newington 8' were arrested on 20 August 1971 at 359 Amhurst Road for suspected involvement in The Angry Brigade bombings. Stoke Newington residents Patrick Hayes and Jan Taylor (not originally from
4489-422: Was then a quiet mainly Nonconformist (non-Anglican) village. In 1840, the grounds were turned into Abney Park Cemetery , where 200,000 people were buried. Since 1978, the grounds have served as a cemetery open only to burials in a few remaining paid-up plots; an enclosed woodland park and events venue open to the public managed by the London Borough of Hackney, and since 1993, as a Local Nature Reserve , too. In
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