Mare Street is a street 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 has existed since the 15th century, when it was one of the first roads at the centre of the parish. It was then known as ''Merestret''. The word ''mere'' was either the Old English ''mǣre'' meaning a boundary — referring to the boundary with the parish of

Stepney Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name appl ...

— or

mere Mere may refer to: Places * Mere, Belgium, a village in East Flanders * Mere, Cheshire, England * Mere, Wiltshire, England People * Mere Broughton (1938–2016), New Zealand Māori language activist and unionist * Mere Smith, American televisi ...

, a large pond which was fed by

Hackney Brook The Hackney Brook is one of the subterranean rivers of London. It crossed the northern parts of the current London boroughs of Hackney and Islington, emptying into the River Lea at Old Ford, with its source in Holloway. Course of the River ...

Location

Mare Street runs north–south through the centre of Hackney. It starts at the junction of Dalston Lane with the Lower Clapton Road and runs south to 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 eas ...

. The northernmost section is a largely traffic-free shopping street, known as The Narroway. South of the

North London Line The North London line (NLL) is a railway line which passes through the inner suburbs of west, north-west, north, and east London, England between Richmond in the south-west and Stratford in the east, avoiding central London. Its route is a rou ...

Hackney Central railway station Hackney Central is a London Overground station on the North London line in Hackney Central, Greater London. It lies between and and is in Travelcard Zone 2. The station and all trains serving it are operated by National Rail services under ...

, Mare Street follows the A107 to the canal, where it becomes the Cambridge Heath Road.

History

Mare Street was established by 1593 when the Flying Horse Inn was a staging post for travellers. By 1720, it was the most populous part of Hackney. In the 18th century,

St Thomas’ Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...

was developed on Mare Street, followed by a

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

chapel. The

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

came to Mare Street in 1872, bringing more residential development, as well as institutions including Morley Hall, later the Electric Cinema,

Lady Eleanor Holles School Lady Eleanor Holles School (often abbreviated to LEH or LEHS) is an independent day school for girls in Hampton, London. It consists of a small junior school and a larger senior school, which operate from different buildings on the same site. It ...

(on the site later used by

Cordwainers College The London College of Fashion is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, in London, England. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate, short courses, study abroad courses and business-training in fashion, make-up, beauty-therap ...

) and

St Joseph's hospice ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

. After the First World War, the area became more industrial, and after World War II, a mixture of bomb damage and

slum clearance Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...

led to building of housing estates and Hackney Technical College. In 1945, the Cordwainers' College moved from

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The well after which it was named was redisco ...

to 182 Mare Street (formerly Lady Holles's School and the Dalston county school).

Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft (, ; 27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was a British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional personal relationsh ...

, author of ''

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman ''A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects'' (1792), written by British philosopher and women's rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797), is one of the earliest works of feminist philosoph ...

'', pioneer of women's rights and mother of

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic fiction, Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of scie ...

, lived at what is now 373–375 Mare Street in 1784.

Notable buildings

The 14th century St Augustine's Tower on the Narroway, is a remnant of Hackney parish's medieval church which was replaced by the present St. John at Hackney church in 1797. The

Hackney Empire Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as ‘the most beautiful theatre in Lon ...

is at 291 Mare Street. Built by

Frank Matcham Francis Matcham (22 November 1854 – 17 May 1920)Mackintosh, Iain"Matcham, Frank" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, accessed 7 July 2019 was an English architect who specialised in the design o ...

in 1901 as a music hall, it was later used as a television studio and a bingo hall, before reopening as a theatre in 1986. Next to the Hackney Empire is

Hackney Town Hall Hackney Town Hall is a municipal building in Hackney, London. The town hall, which is the headquarters of Hackney London Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building. History The original civic facility in Hackney was a private house, erect ...

, a stone-faced 1930s

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

building, set back from Mare Street with a landscaped forecourt. The

London College of Fashion The London College of Fashion is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, in London, England. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate, short courses, study abroad courses and business-training in fashion, make-up, beauty-therap ...

is at 182 Mare Street, having incorporated the former Cordwainers' College. The

Ash Grove bus garage Ash Grove bus garage is a bus garage in Hackney, East London. It is located on the Mare Street, where it crosses the Regent's Canal. The depot is occupied by two companies, Arriva London and Stagecoach London, and holds around thirty buses. Op ...

is at Mare Street, being operated by two operators,

Arriva London Arriva London is a major bus company operating services in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus and operates services under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in 1998 from a fusion of previously separate Arriva s ...

and

HCT Group HCT Group was a social enterprise providing transport services and community services in several areas of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1982 as Hackney Community Transport in the London Borough of Hackney, to provide transport services ...

. File:Hackney Empire, Mare Street.JPG, The

is a prominent Victorian

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

. File:Trough mare street hackney.jpg, A drinking trough provided by the

Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association was an association set up in London by Samuel Gurney, a member of Parliament and philanthropist, and Edward Thomas Wakefield, a barrister, in 1859 to provide free drinking water. ...

References

{{Coord, 51, 32, 48.63, N, 0, 3, 18.07, W, scale:1563_region:GB, display=title Streets in the London Borough of Hackney 15th-century establishments in England Hackney, London