Hackney

Probably from Hakon's Eye (or Ey or Ea) - Eye meaning an island. The neighbourhood was marshy. It may possibly be named from a farm owned by a Dane named Haca and may have been a Danish settlement.

Bounded on the north by Tottenham; on the east by Walthamstow and Leyton; on the south by Bow, Bethnal Green and Shoreditch; on the west by Islington and Stoke Newington. It was once part of Stepney.

Several ancient manors are to be found in Hackney, of which the principal one, Lordshold, formed part of the possessions of the bishopric of London. It is not mentioned in Domesday Book, which omission Lysons accounts for by conjecturing it was included in the Survey of Stepney.

In 1551 Bishop Ridley surrendered the manor to the Crown and it was granted to Lord Wentworth. It remained with the Wentworth family for 100 years until the estates of the Earl of Cleveland were forfeited to Parliament.

After this it passed through many hands, remaining but a short time with any one holder, and eventually became the property of Francis Tyssen.

The manor next in importance was that of the Knights Templars who purchased land in the parish in 1233. When the Knights Templars of St John were dissolved the lands were granted to Henry, Earl of Northumberland. At his death the Crown seized the manor and it was known as the Manor of Kingsland. In 1547 Edward VI granted it to the Earl of Pembroke who sold it in the following year, and then it quickly changed hands and was eventually bought by Francis Tyssen.

The third manor of importance was that which the Templars had granted to Robert de Wyke or Wick. This was also Crown property at various times of its existence. Maud, Countess of Salisbury died possessed of it in 1425, having held it partly from the Bishop of London and partly from the Prior of St John of Jerusalem. There was also a manor of Hoggerston - i.e. Hoxton - which was considered to be within the parish of Hackney, but the site is not known.

The church was originally dedicated to St Augustine but changed its patron saint, it is supposed, out of compliment to the Knights of St John.

Strype described the parish as 'a pleasant healthful town' where divers nobles in former times had their country seats.

The wells of Hackney were at one time famous. Pig-well in Church-field; Well Street;one on the Downs. There was a chalybeate well a little out of Church Street, towards Dalston, and Shacklewell derived its name from a well in the vicinity.

Extracted from: Hackney and Stoke Newington (The Fascination of London Series) by G E Mitton, Ed. by Sir Walter Besant. Pub: Adam & Charles Black, London 1908