Clissold Park is an open space in

Stoke Newington Stoke Newington is an area occupying the north-west part of the London Borough of Hackney in north-east London, England. It is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington the ancient parish. The ...

, in the

London Borough of Hackney London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. It is bounded by Greenway Close (to the north), Church Street (south),

Green Lanes Green Lanes may refer to: *A green lane (road), a type of road, usually an unpaved rural route. *Green Lanes (London), a major road running through north London *Harringay, a neighbourhood in the London Borough of Haringey The London Borough of ...

(west) and Queen Elizabeth's Walk (east); the south-east corner abuts St Mary's Old Church, now an arts venue. The park is 22.57 hectares (55.8 acres) in extent. The main building within its boundaries is the

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Clissold House, run as a cafe and events venue. The park's facilities include children's

playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people ...

s, sports fields, a bowling green, a skatepark bowl,

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...

s, and a paddling pool. Other attractions include an aviary with assorted captive species, an enclosure of deer and goats, a butterfly dome, and two small lakes hosting wild ducks, geese, swans and other water birds. The park also comprises a short section of the New River, and the

Capital Ring The Capital Ring is a strategic walking route promoted by London's 33 local councils, led by the City of London Corporation in partnership with the Greater London Authority and its functional body for regional transport, Transport for London, ...

has some of its paths running through the park. Clissold Park received a

Green Flag award The Green Flag Award is an international accreditation given to publicly accessible parks and open spaces, managed under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a UK Government department, by Keep Britain Tidy, ...

in July 2008, and was substantially restored soon afterwards.

History

Clissold House (formerly Paradise House) was built, in the latter half of the 18th century, for

Jonathan Hoare Jonathan may refer to: * Jonathan (name), a masculine given name Media * ''Jonathan'' (1970 film), a German film directed by Hans W. Geißendörfer * ''Jonathan'' (2016 film), a German film directed by Piotr J. Lewandowski * ''Jonathan'' (2018 ...

, a

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

merchant, Quaker, philanthropist and anti-slavery campaigner. (His brother, Samuel, half-brother of Sir Joseph Hoare Bt, was one of the founders of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade.) The park was created to be his idyll, and the stretch of water which wends its way around the house was part of the New River, an artificial waterway that supplied the capital with clean water from Hertfordshire. Hoare, in financial difficulties, mortgaged the estate, and then lost it by foreclosure to a Robert Pryor. It was sold by Pryor's executors to Thomas Gudgeon, a merchant, who owned it around the beginning of the 19th century. Gudgeon sold it in 1811 to

William Crawshay I William Crawshay (1764 – 11 August 1834) was a British industrialist. Born in South Wales, he spent most of his life in London. He was the only surviving son of Richard Crawshay, one of the richest men in the United Kingdom. He had three s ...

. Subsequently, the estate passed, through a Crawshay family connection, to

Augustus Clissold Augustus Clissold (c. 1797–1882) was an English Anglican priest. He is known as a Swedenborgian, who was active in later life publishing his views. Life Born in or about 1797, the fifth son of Stephen Clissold (1764–1834) of Stonehouse, near ...

. When he died in 1882 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners bought the property, intending to profit from development. However, John Runtz and Joseph Beck persuaded the

Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the principal instrument of local government in a wide area of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent, defined by the Metropolis Management Act 1855, from December 1855 until the establishment of the London County ...

to purchase it in 1887, to open it as a public park. The two lakes were named Beckmere and Runtzmere in their honour.

Restoration

Clissold House is a Grade II listed building; it houses a cafe and serves as an event location. In 2007, Clissold Park was voted the ''Heart of Hackney'', in a poll organised by the council. On 30 March 2007 the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) announced the award of a

development grant Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped *Photographi ...

to put forward a bid for a full £4.5 million Park Restoration Grant to restore the park and house to its original 18th-century design. The subsequent bid was successful, and in addition to funds from the HLF and the council, the project also received funding from the Big Lottery Fund. Work commenced in January 2010, and over the next two years an estimated £8.9 million was spent upgrading the house and its surrounding parkland. Plans included: * Restoring Clissold House * Restoring a section of the New River * Extensive maintenance to the two small lakes * Renovating the animal enclosures * Creating a new play and wheels park area. Clissold House was added to the

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

'Heritage at Risk Register' in 1991 but removed in 2012 following the completion of the restoration programme.

Access

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, Finsbury Park and

Manor House A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

on the

Piccadilly line The Piccadilly line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the north to the west of London. It has two branches, which split at Acton Town, and serves 53 stations. The line serves Heathrow Airport, and some of its stations are n ...

are all within a mile of the park. Buses 141, 341 and 393 stop on Green Lanes adjacent to the park.

In popular culture

*Clissold Park, and its pond, feature in the

Hank Wangford Samuel Hutt, known by the stage name Hank Wangford (born 15 November 1940), is an English country and western songwriter. "Hank is a good smoke screen. He can do things I can't do. He's my clown," says Dr. Hutt, who has been struggling to bala ...

song "Jogging with Jesus". *The album ''Ham'' by The Chap features a song entitled "Clissold Park". *The ''Astrophonica''

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

features a song by label owners ''Fracture & Neptune'', titled "Clissold" named after the Park. *In

Nick Hornby Nicholas Peter John Hornby (born 17 April 1957) is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir ''Fever Pitch'' and novels '' High Fidelity'' and '' About a Boy'', all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work f ...

's 2007 novel '' Slam'', the character Sam and his girlfriend Alicia often go to Clissold Park. *The

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), best known as Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born British musician, composer and DJ. He is known for his idiosyncratic work in electronic music, electronic styles such as techno, ambient music, ambient, and jun ...

track 19 lo early morning clissold sunrise is part named after the park. *

Kate Mascarenhas Kate Mascarenhas is a writer born in 1980 of mixed heritage, with a white Irish father and a brown British mother. Mascarenhas grew up in Oldham with family in Ireland and Seychelles. Early life Mascarenhas's father, who was an alcoholic, die ...

's debut novel '' The Psychology of Time Travel'' (2018) has a chapter set in Clissold Park. *The 2017 song 'Shadows' by Manik MC (ft.

Loyle Carner Benjamin Gerard Coyle-Larner (born 6 October 1994), known professionally as Loyle Carner, is an English hip hop musician. After supporting various rappers during their tours, he released his debut album, '' Yesterday's Gone'', in 2017, which g ...

) opens with the line 'I'm billing up in Clissold Park'.

References

External links

Clissold Park User GroupHackney Tennis Club, Clissold Park
{{Green London Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Hackney Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Hackney Bowling greens in England Stoke Newington