Haggerston is a locale in East London, England, centred approximately on Great Cambridge Street (now renamed Queensbridge Road). It is within the London Borough of Hackney and is considered to be a part of London's East End. It is about 3.1 miles (5 km) northeast of Charing Cross. The adjacent neighbourhoods are

Dalston Dalston () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas includ ...

(to the north),

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. As a part of Shoreditch, it is often considered to be part of the East End – the historic core of wider East London. It was historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. It li ...

(to the west) and

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By ...

(to the south east). Haggerston historically formed part of Shoreditch borough, and was divided into the following ecclesiastical parishes: All Saints, St Chad, St Columba, St Mary, St Paul, St Augustine, and St Stephen. In 1965, the

Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch The Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch was a Metropolitan borough of the County of London between 1899 and 1965, when it was merged with the Metropolitan Borough of Stoke Newington and the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney to form the London Borough ...

became part of the new London Borough of Hackney. There is an electoral ward called Haggerston within the borough. In the 1990s a number of the area's more rundown housing estates were refurbished and some disused public buildings were privately converted into

gated communities A gated community (or walled community) is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. ...

. In 2010, Haggerston Railway station re-opened, a little to the north of the original station.

History

Haggerston is first recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

as ''Hergotestane'', possibly of

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

origin, and an outlying hamlet of Shoreditch. On Rocque's 1745 map of Hackney, the village is shown as ''Agostone'' but by the 19th century it had become ''Haggerstone'', and part of the growing urban sprawl, with factories and streets of workers' cottages lining the canal.

Today

The proximity to

and Shoreditch has made the area popular with students and workers in the creative industries, as these nearby areas have grown more expensive. In recent years, escalating property prices have driven commercial art galleries further into east London, which has exacerbated this effect. For the same reason, Haggerston has been attracting tech start ups over Silicon Roundabout in Old Street, with some people calling the area "Hackerston". A shortage of secondary school places has made the area less attractive to families but this is likely to change with the building of

The Bridge Academy The Bridge Academy is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in the Haggerston area of the London Borough of Hackney in England. The Bridge Academy opened in 2007 in new buildings sited along the banks of R ...

on Laburnum Street.

Governance

The Haggerston electoral ward forms part of the

Hackney South and Shoreditch Hackney South and Shoreditch is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Meg Hillier of Labour Co-op. History The seat was created in February 1974 from the former seat of Shoreditch and Finsbury. ...

constituency. The ward returns three councillors to Hackney Council, with an election every four years. At the election on 6 May 2010, Ann Munn, Jonathan McShane, and Barry Buitekant, all Labour Party candidates, were returned. Turnout was 54 per cent; with 5,006 votes cast. Current councillors (2020) for the Haggerston ward are Ajay Chauhan, Humaira Garasia and Patrick Spence.

Geography

Education

Secondary schools in the area include

Haggerston School Haggerston School (previously Haggerston Girls' School) is a 900-place school in Weymouth Terrace in Haggerston, London Borough of Hackney, England. It is a Community School and from September 2010 became a co-educational school with its own si ...

and

Landmarks

is a Grade II listed building, designed by the modernist architect

Ernő Goldfinger Ernő Goldfinger (11 September 1902 – 15 November 1987) was a Hungarian-born architect and designer of furniture. He moved to the United Kingdom in the 1930s, and became a key member of the Modernist architectural movement. He is most prom ...

and built in 1964–65.

Culture

Besides the

Regent's Canal Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in e ...

Haggerston Park Haggerston Park is an open space in Haggerston, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is bounded by Whiston Road (to the north), Hackney Road (south) and St Saviour's Priory, Queensbridge Road (west) and Goldsmith's Row (east). The park was ori ...

, on the site of a demolished gasworks on Hackney Road, provides much-needed open space in the area. Also in the area is the

Hackney City Farm Hackney City Farm is a city farm and independent alternative school in Haggerston in the London Borough of Hackney. It is situated at the junction of Hackney Road and Goldsmith's Row. The farm was established in 1984 as a community and educatio ...

. The

Regent Estate Regent Estate is a housing estate in Haggerston in the London Borough of Hackney. The estate is named in reference to the nearby Regent's Canal, which was commissioned by the Prince Regent who later became King George IV. It is adjacent to, but ...

provides the Regent Estate Pensioners Club/Hall and the Regent Estate Community Centre/Hall which together provide community services and spaces for hire. The Regent Estate Pensioners Hall is also used as a

polling station A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English and British English, although polling place is the building

. The Grade II listed Haggerston Pool, designed by

Alfred Cross Alfred William Stephens Cross (1858–1932) was a British architect. From 1889 to 1899 he was in partnership with Henry Spalding as Spalding and Cross, taking part in many competitions for building design. Cross and his son (Kenneth Mervyn B ...

and opened in 1904, was closed in 2000. In June 2009, after a long community campaign, a £5m grant was announced from the Department for Children, Schools and Families to refurbish and reopen the pool. The building would also contain community facilities and a GP surgery. This area of Hackney has a long association with clowning. Holy Trinity Church still hosts an annual clowns' service to commemorate Joseph Grimaldi and All Saints Centre at one time housed the Clowns Gallery and Museum, including props and a unique collection of painted eggs, serving as the 'registration' of clowns' make-up. Much of the collection is now on display at Wookey Hole. Other Anglican churches in Haggerston are All Saints, Haggerston Road; St Columba, Kingsland Road; and Sts Mary and Chad, Nichols Square. The

Little Sisters of Jesus The Little Sisters of Jesus are a community of Catholic religious sisters inspired by the life and writings of Charles de Foucauld, founded by Little Sister Magdeleine of Jesus (Madeleine Hutin). Little Sister Magdeleine of Jesus 1898 - 1989 ...

have had a community of sisters within Fellows Court, Haggerston, since 1990. Many

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

, Cambodian and Laotian people have formed communities in Haggerston and nearby Shoreditch. Outside the area, the most visible sign of this is the profusion of Southeast Asian restaurants on nearby

Kingsland Road Kingsland Road is the name given to an East London stretch of the A10 road within the London Borough of Hackney in England. The A10 was originally a Roman Road better known as Ermine Street or sometimes the Old North Road. The name ''Kingsland ...

in Shoreditch and on Mare Street in Hackney. There is also a notable

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

community focused on bars and cafés along Kingsland Road. Haggerston is home to

The Free Association The Free Association, or The FA, is a London-based improvised comedy theatre and school. It was founded in 2015 and operates two comedy venues and training centres in London. They are currently the largest provider of improvisation training in t ...

improvised comedy theatre and school.

Transport

Railway stations

* Haggerston station, served by

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a large part of Greater London as w ...

Walking and cycling

The

Regents Canal Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames ...

towpath is easily accessible to pedestrians and cyclists. It provides access to

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

to the east and Islington to the west.

Public art

The condemned Haggerston and Kingsland Estate was scheduled for demolition in the 1990s but the process did not get underway for another 20 years. In 2009 the artists Andrea Luka Zimmerman and Lasse Johansson, who lived on the Haggerston Estate on Dunston Road, created the I AM HERE project, placing on the building large portrait photographs of the current estate residents who were about to be moved out so the building could be demolished. These faced the Regent's Canal and were popular with passersby. The project came down in April 2014. A feature film ''Estate, a Reverie'' (83 mins, Zimmerman) about the Haggerston estate was completed in 2015. Filmed over seven years, ''Estate, a Reverie'' reveals and celebrates the resilience of residents who are profoundly overlooked by media representations and wider social responses. The film was nominated for several awards, including the 2015 Grierson awards. On the Kingsland Estate in Whiston Road, Egyptian painter Nazir Tanbouli created the "King's Land" project where, in the space of four months, he covered all of the buildings of the condemned estate with murals. The Kingsland Estate was demolished in late 2013.

Little Sisters of Jesus

The

are a Roman Catholic community of religious sisters inspired by the life and writings of

Charles de Foucauld Charles Eugène de Foucauld de Pontbriand, Viscount of Foucauld (15 September 1858 – 1 December 1916) was a French soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnographer, Catholic priest and hermit who lived among the Tuareg people in the Sahara in Alg ...

, founded in Algeria in 1939 by Little Sister Magdeleine of Jesus (Madeleine Hutin). They have had a community of Sisters at their

council flat A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 a ...

on the 13th Floor of Fellows Court Tower Block in Weymouth Terrace, Haggerston since 1989.

Notable people

* Kray Twins, criminals, and perpetrators of organised crime, born in Haggerston in 1933. *

Frank Buttle Frank Buttle (19 October 1878 – 11 February 1953), was a priest of the Church of England and the founder of Buttle UK. Early life William Francis Buttle was born in Brixton on 19 October 1878. He was a son of William Buttle, a solicitor, ...

, Vicar of St Chad's Haggerston (1937-1953), founder of the National Adoption Society and The Frank Buttle Trust *

William Randal Cremer Sir William Randal Cremer (18 March 1828 – 22 July 1908) usually known by his middle name "Randal", was a British Liberal Member of Parliament, a pacifist, and a leading advocate for international arbitration. He was awarded the Nobel Peace P ...

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

MP for

Haggerston Haggerston is a locale in East London, England, centred approximately on Great Cambridge Street (now renamed Queensbridge Road). It is within the London Borough of Hackney and is considered to be a part of London's East End. It is about 3.1 miles ...

(1885-1895 and 1900–1908), winner of the 1903

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...

Edmund Halley Edmond (or Edmund) Halley (; – ) was an English astronomer, mathematician and physicist. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed in 1720. From an observatory he constructed on Saint Helena in 1676–77, Hal ...

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

, was born here in 1656 *

Iain Sinclair Iain Sinclair FRSL (born 11 June 1943) is a writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, recently within the influences of psychogeography. Biography Education Sinclair was born in Cardiff in 1943. From 1956 to 1961, he was educate ...

, writer *

Nazir Tanbouli Nazir Tanbouli (born 1971) is an Egyptian born artist. He was born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt and studied at the University of Alexandria Faculty of Fine Arts. His uncle is the painter Ibrahim El-Tanbouli (b. 1954) and his great uncle was the ...

, artist *

Andrea Luka Zimmerman Andrea Luka Zimmerman is a Jarman Award winning artist, filmmaker and cultural activist whose work focuses on aspects of working class experience, and that of people margnalised by mainstream society, that are seldom seen or discussed. Andrea work ...

, artist, transforming the Haggerston estate with the large-scale public art / photography 'i am here' project (2009–14) * Lasse Johansson, artist, transforming the Haggerston estate with the large-scale public art / photography 'i am here' project (2009–14) *

Rachel Whiteread Dame Rachel Whiteread (born 20 April 1963) is an English artist who primarily produces sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She was the first woman to win the annual Turner Prize in 1993. Whiteread was one of the Young British Ar ...

, sculptor,

References

External links

Haggerston Community Centre

Hackney City Farm

Haggerston ward profile

Labour Party profile of Jonathan McShane

Labour Party profile of Barry Buitekant

The Clowns' Gallery, Museum and Archive

London Natural History Society website
''"one of the largest societies of its kind anywhere in the world"''
Terrence Mahoney's Wartime memories of Haggerston
{{LB Hackney Districts of the London Borough of Hackney Areas of London