Shacklewell

Shacklewell is a district within the London Borough of Hackney, roughly North-east of modern-day Dalston, (which historically was due South of Shacklewell).

History

The village was one of four small villages within the Parish of Hackney, Dalston, Newington, Shacklewell, and Kingsland that were all grouped for assessment purposes, together having only as many houses as the village of Hackney. The village of Shacklewell was settled on the eponymous village green [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22698 "Hackney: Dalston and Kingsland Road", A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 10: Hackney (1995), pp. 28-33] accessed: 07 December 2007] , along Shaklewell Lane [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22700 "Hackney: Shacklewell", A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 10: Hackney (1995), pp. 35-38] accessed: 11 December 2007] . By the 19th century, Shacklewell extended north to include Rectory Road, Stoke Newington Common and the northern end of Amhurst Road.

Shacklewell had a manor house that at one time was occupied by the Heron family. Cecilia, the youngest daughter of Sir Thomas More, the Catholic martyr, married into the family in 1525. The house was later occupied by the Tyssen family, who owned large parts of Hackney.

One municipal building still standing is the former 'Shacklewell Washing Baths', this was a communal bath- and washhouse for the working classes. Simple bathhouses like this were once of great importance. Even into the 1960s, in some working-class areas of London many dwellings did not possess their own bathrooms. Largely residential in the mid-19th Century, the district gained some light industry later on, including Eyre & Spottiswoode's printworks and a saw mill. Although some industry remains, largely Turkish-run, it has been superseded as a commercial centre by neighbouring Stoke Newington and Dalston.

Today

Modern Shacklewell is one of the more ill-defined districts of Hackney, most of its outer lying areas having, in public definition, been lost to the surrounding districts of Stoke Newington and Dalston. It is no longer common for a Londoner to refer to themselves as living in Shacklewell so, in its way the district is an illustration of the mutable nature of placenames in the capital. Residents will normally consider themselves along with their Postcode to be in Stoke Newington which is closely identified with N16 while those with the E8 self identify as living in Dalston. This is reinforced by ward boundaries that divide Shacklewell between Dalston (ward) and Stoke Newington Central (ward) north and south and Hackney Downs (ward) to the east.

There are two significant cultural organisations based in Shacklewell, although most would probably regard these as located in Dalston or Stoke Newington: the Arcola Theatre on Arcola Street and the Lux Cinema on Shacklewell Lane.

Education

Nearest places

* Dalston
* Hackney Central
* Stoke Newington

Postcodes

N16

References

External links

* [http://www.lux.org.uk Lux (art cinema organisation)]