Hackney was a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

in the

historic History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

county of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

. The parish church of St John-at-Hackney was built in 1789, replacing the nearby former 16th-century parish church dedicated to

St Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...

(pulled down in 1798). The original tower of that church was retained to hold the bells until the new church could be strengthened; the bells were finally removed to the new St John's in 1854. See details of other, more modern, churches within the original parish boundaries below.

Ancient parish

The

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

of the parish, in common with all parishes in England, was entrusted with various administrative functions from the 17th century. The parish vestry administered the Poor Law until 1837, until it became part of the Poor Law Union of Hackney. The ecclesiastical and civil roles of the parish increasingly diverged, and by the early nineteenth century they covered different areas.

Civil parish

A distinct

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

dates from 1855, with the incorporation of ''The Vestry of the Parish of Hackney in the County of Middlesex'' by section 42 of the Metropolis Management Act. With Stoke Newington it formed part of the Hackney District, governed by the Hackney District Board of Works, within the area of 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 Cou ...

. Under the

Metropolis Management Act 1855 The Metropolis Management Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c.120) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the Metropolitan Board of Works, a London-wide body to co-ordinate the construction of the city's infrastructure. The Act al ...

any parish that exceeded 2,000

ratepayers Rates are a type of property tax system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one, the proceeds of which are used to fund local government. Some other countries have taxes with a more or less comparable role ...

was to be divided into wards; as such the parish of St John at Hackney within the Hackney District Boards of Works was divided into seven wards (electing

vestrymen A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

): No. 1 or Stamford Hill (15), No. 2 or West (18), No. 3 or De Beauvoir Town (18), No. 4 or Dalston (18), No. 5 or Hackney (18), No. 6 or Homerton (15) and No. 7 or South (18). In 1894, the district and board were dissolved, with the Hackney vestry taking on its duties within the parish. In 1894 as its population had increased the incorporated vestry was re-divided into eight wards (electing

): Stamford Hill (15), West (18), Kingsland (12), Hackney (12), Mare Street (15), South (15), Clapton (12) and Homerton (21). In 1889 Hackney was included in the new

County of London The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government A ...

, and in 1900 the vestry was dissolved with the parish becoming the

Metropolitan Borough of Hackney The Metropolitan Borough of Hackney was a Metropolitan borough of the County of London from 1900 to 1965. Its area became part of the London Borough of Hackney. Formation and boundaries The borough was one of twenty-eight metropolitan boroughs ...

. The civil parish was abolished when the borough became part of the London Borough of Hackney in 1965. The boundaries of the civil parish were identical to the ancient parish, and it covered . The populations recorded in National Censuses were: Hackney St John's Vestry 1801–1899

Ecclesiastical parish

The ancient parish, was originally dedicated to

. By 1660 it was rededicated to

St John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

and usually referred to as St John at Hackney.
'Hackney: The Parish Church', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 10: Hackney (1995), pp. 115-122. Date accessed: 13 March 2014. It and its successors are in the Diocese of London. From 1825, building and the population of Hackney increased rapidly and new parishes were formed, a few of which have since been dissolved:
'Hackney: List of Churches', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 10: Hackney (1995), pp. 122-128. Date accessed: 13 March 2014. * St John of Jerusalem, South Hackney in 1825 * St James, West Hackney aka (West Hackney Church) in 1825 * St Thomas the Apostle, Stamford Hill in 1828 * St Philip, Dalston in 1841 * St Peter, De Beauvoir Town in 1841 * St Barnabas, Homerton in 1846 * St James the Greater, Clapton in 1863 * St Augustine of Canterbury, Hackney Wick in 1867 * St Matthew, Upper Clapton in 1866 * Christ Church, Clapton in 1871 * All Saints, Lower Clapton in 1873 * St Luke, Homerton in 1873 * Holy Trinity, Dalston in 1879 * All Souls, Clapton Park in 1884 * St Michael and All Angels, Stoke Newington Common in 1886 * St Paul, Lower Homerton in 1889 * St Mary of Eton, Hackney Wick in 1893 * St Bartholomew, Dalston in 1897 Periphal parts of the ancient parish contributed to three other new parishes as follows: * St Michael and All Angels, South Hackney London Fields in 1865 — ''with parts of St Jude, Bethnal Green'' * Christ Church, South Hackney in 1871 — ''with parts of St James the Less, Bethnal Green, St John, Bethnal Green, and St Stephen, Haggerston'' * St Mark, Dalston in 1871 — ''with parts of St Matthias, Stoke Newington''

External links

Hackney Local Government

Hackney Churches

Sources

* ''Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England'', Vol.1, Frederic Youngs, London, 1979 {{coord, 51, 32, 51.98, N, 00, 03, 17.08, W, type:landmark_scale:3000, display=title History of the London Borough of Hackney Religion in the London Borough of Hackney Parishes governed by vestries (Metropolis) Parishes united into districts (Metropolis) Former civil parishes in London Bills of mortality parishes