View source for Homerton

==History==

===Origins===
Archaeological excavations at Link Street exposed a building dating to the 11th or 12th century suggesting that Homerton existed before it was first recorded in 1343.<ref>[http://www.molas.org.uk/pages/siteSummariesDetailsAll.asp?year=summaries1997&borough=Hackney MoLAS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312112604/http://www.molas.org.uk/pages/siteSummariesDetailsAll.asp?year=summaries1997&borough=Hackney |date=12 March 2007 }} (TQ 3534 8504 summary of archaeological investigation at Link St) accessed: 20 October 2006</ref> The hamlet of Homerton (Humberton or Hummerton, named for the farm of a woman named Hunburh) developed for about a half-mile along the road on the north side of the now buried and lost [[Hackney Brook]], within the vale formed by the brook. This led from the hamlet of [[Lower Clapton|Clopton]]<!--sic, that was its name-->, passing near the [[St Augustine's Tower, Hackney|church of St Augustine]] at Hackney, then across the marshes and the crossing points of both the [[River Lea]], and its tributary, Hackney Brook. By 1605 Homerton was the most populous part of the [[Hackney (parish)|Parish of Hackney]], becoming a separate parish in 1846.<ref name=Brit>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22703 ''Hackney: Homerton and Hackney Wick'', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 10: Hackney (1995), pp. 51-59] accessed: 14 January 2008</ref>

===Medieval Homerton===
In medieval times, Homerton, like much of Hackney, was predominantly rural and arable crops were grown, together with fruit and vegetables for the [[City of London]] markets. The majority of the land was given over to pasture for sheep and cattle, and milk and cheese were also supplied to the city. Small kitchen gardens ran at the back of the houses along the road, with large fields behind. Domestic brewing was common (there are records of brewing performed at [[Sutton House, London|Sutton House]] and the Tan House). Many unsavoury activities (banned in the city) were also undertaken, such as [[Tanning (leather)|tanning]] and [[fulling]] - the cleaning of felt cloth using urine.

===Tudor wealth===
[[File:Sutton house hackney 2.jpg|thumb|left|[[Sutton House, London|Sutton House]], the oldest house in Hackney. (September 2005)]]
Homerton became a desirable suburb of London in the [[Tudor period]], with many estates and grand houses being formed from the former Templar lands ([[Knights Templar]] of St. John of Jerusalem). The village was divided between Upper and Lower Homerton, with the later extending towards the marshes and the house at [[Hackney Wick]]. Upper Homerton was divided from the village of Hackney by the width of the rectory manor's Church Field, and a path led to the churchyard. In 1538, this estate, including other fields lying along the brook, passed to the Tudor diplomat [[Sir Ralph Sadler]]. Around 1560 part of this estate came into the ownership of [[Thomas Sutton]], a resident of the Tan House (adjacent to [[Sutton House, London|Sutton House]]). This land formed part of his endowment of the [[London Charterhouse|Hospital of King James in Charterhouse]], who continued to own the property until the 20th century, building [[Sutton Place, Hackney|Sutton Place]] between 1790 and 1806.<ref name=Brit/>

===The marshes===
{{Main|Hackney Marshes}}
Marsh Road, from Homerton High Street, led to, and across the marshes, towards the Templar owned water-powered corn mill at [[Temple Mills]]. Prone to flooding, the marshes were primarily used for grazing. A [[Roman era|Roman]] stone causeway was discovered in the 1770s.<ref name=old&new>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45254 ''The northern suburbs: Haggerston and Hackney'', Old and New London: Volume 5 (1878), pp. 505-524] accessed: 14 January 2008</ref>

By 1795 the former Templar mills were being used for preparing lead. Sheets of lead were placed in clay pots and submerged in urine, then heated by decaying cow dung. The process converted the lead to lead oxide, and it was then finely ground to form a pigment for white, yellow and red [[lead paint]]. A new watermill was established on the marshes by [[Prince Rupert]] for an improved method of boring guns; however, the secret died with him in 1682, and the enterprise collapsed.<ref>Granger's Biographical History, vol. ii. p. 407. 4to. edit. Dugdale's Baronage, vol. i. p. 559</ref>

===Religion and education===
[[File:Sutton Place Hackney.jpg|thumb|right|[[Sutton Place, Hackney|Sutton Place]], [[listed building|Grade II listed]] terrace 1790–1806 in Homerton. (November 2005)]]
In the 18th century the availability of land, large houses and tolerance to [[dissenters]] made Homerton a popular place to found institutions. The educational ones were commonly known as [[English Dissenters|Dissenting Academies]]. The Kings Head Society moved to a large house here in 1768, forming [[Homerton College, Cambridge|Homerton College]] for the education of Calvinist ministers with between 12 and 20 students. Religious education moved to the new [[University College London]] in 1826, but Homerton College remained here as a teacher training college until 1896 when it moved to [[Cambridge]], eventually becoming a full college of the [[University of Cambridge]] in 2010. Students from Homerton college were principal in forming, in 1881, both the Glynn Cricket Club and Clapton Orient - which became [[Leyton Orient F.C.]] on its move to Leyton. The buildings of the college were rebuilt and expanded several times, but eventually lost to bomb damage in [[World War II]].

[[File:Richard Price West.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Richard Price]]]]
South of the Brook, by Money Lane,<ref>Money Lane is the modern Morning Lane</ref> the [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] [[Gravel Pit Meeting House]] was built between 1715 and 1716. This was the result of an acrimonious split in the congregation of the Lower Clapton meeting. Notable [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformist]] ministers preached at the Old Gravel Pit. The moral and political philosopher [[Richard Price]],<ref>[http://www.constitution.org/price/price_5.htm ''A Fast Sermon''] - Richard Price to the Old Gravel Pit Meeting - 21 February 1781 accessed 4 June 2009.</ref> known for his support of the [[American Revolution]], became morning preacher in 1770, while continuing his afternoon sermons at [[Newington Green Unitarian Church|Newington Green Chapel]], on the green where he lived. Those who attended his sermons in Homerton included American politicians such as [[John Adams]], who later became the second [[president of the United States]], and his wife [[Abigail Adams|Abigail]]. On the 101st anniversary of the [[Glorious Revolution]], he preached a sermon at [[Old Jewry meeting house]] entitled "[[A Discourse on the Love of Our Country]]", thus igniting a so-called "pamphlet war" known as the [[Revolution Controversy]], furiously debating the issues raised by the [[French Revolution]]. [[Edmund Burke|Burke]]'s rebuttal "[[Reflections on the Revolution in France]]" attacked Price, whose friends [[Thomas Paine]] and [[Mary Wollstonecraft]] leapt into the fray to defend their mentor. The reputation of Price for speaking without fear of the government on these political and philosophical matters drew huge crowds to his sermons, which were published and sold as [[pamphleteer|pamphlets]] (i.e. publications easily printed and circulated). Another eminent minister was the formidable [[polymath]], [[Joseph Priestley]], discoverer of oxygen. When [[Joseph Priestley and Dissent|his support of dissent]] led to the [[Priestley Riots|riots named after him]], he fled [[Birmingham]] and headed for London; he was appointed minister here in 1793. Today a [[Blue Plaque]] marks the site of the Gravel Pit Meeting House in Ram Place and a brown plaque marks the site of the Priestley's house at 113 Lower Clapton Road (on the corner of Clapton Passage).<ref name="hackney">{{cite web |url=http://www.hackney.gov.uk/ep-joseph-priestley.htm |title=Hackney - Archives and local history &#124; Joseph Priestley |publisher=hackney.gov.uk |access-date=31 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121027051018/http://www.hackney.gov.uk/ep-joseph-priestley.htm |archive-date=27 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Priestley said of his time here, "On the whole I spent my life more happily at Hackney than I had ever done before". The meeting house is now used as a factory.

===Victorian era===
[[File:Hackney Met. B Ward Map 1916.svg|thumb|A map showing the Homerton ward of Hackney Metropolitan Borough as it appeared in 1916.]]
A spur connecting the [[North London Railway]] at [[Dalston]] to [[Stratford, London|Stratford]], forming a part of the [[Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway]], opened in 1847 for the carriage of coal. This resulted in [[Hackney Brook]] being placed in a culvert and the loss of the extensive watercress fields to the south of Homerton High Street. Its later development as a passenger line led to the redevelopment in the 1880s of the mediaeval core of the village on Homerton High Street<ref>pictures in the Hackney Archive</ref> with [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] dwellings and public houses, and speculative building on the lands either side of Homerton High Street. In 1868 [[Homerton railway station|Homerton Station opened]].

The parish church of [[Barnabas|St Barnabas]] on Homerton High Street, designed by Hackney-born [[Arthur Ashpitel]], was built between 1843 and 1852, of [[Kentish ragstone]], with a grant from the [[National Churches Trust|Incorporated Church Building Society]] and its endowment and vicarage funded by [[Joshua Watson]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=CHURCH OF ST BARNABAS, Non Civil Parish - 1226794 {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1226794 |access-date=2022-05-14 |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=London 4 : North |date=2002 |publisher=Yale University Press |others=Bridget Cherry, Nikolaus Pevsner |isbn=0-300-09653-4 |location=New Haven |pages=484 |oclc=719418475}}</ref> Described by [[Nikolaus Pevsner]] as "interesting as an effort to copy local character", it is built in the [[Perpendicular Gothic|perpendicular style]] and was [[Listed building|Grade II listed]] in 1975.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Having been damaged by [[London in World War II#V-1 and V-2 attacks|bombing during 1944]], it was restored after [[World War II|World War Two]] and rededicated in 1958.<ref name=":0" /> At the time of the church's construction, the area was described as being inhabited by a "very poor class of [[Laborer|labourers]] & those who trust to precarious employment".<ref name=":0"/>

The church of [[Luke the Evangelist|St Luke]], Chatham Place, consecrated in 1872, is situated in the south of the Homerton area.<ref>{{Cite book |last=commissioners |first=Ecclesiastical |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJ4OAAAAQAAJ&dq=st+luke+homerton&pg=PA8 |title=Appendix to the twenty-sixth (twenty-seventh, thirty-fifth-forty-seventh) report |date=1875 |pages=8 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="historicengland.org.uk">{{Cite web |title=CHURCH OF ST LUKE, Non Civil Parish - 1235557 {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1235557 |access-date=2022-05-14 |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en}}</ref> It was designed by Arthur Shean Newman and [[Arthur Billing]] in a [[Gothic Revival architecture|gothic revival]] style, and is [[Grade II listed]].<ref name="historicengland.org.uk"/> Construction of the [[Grade II listed]] red brick church of [[Paul the Apostle|St Paul]], Lower Homerton on Glyn Road, was completed in 1891.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite web |title=FORMER CHURCH OF ST PAUL, Non Civil Parish - 1226406 {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1226406 |access-date=2022-05-14 |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en}}</ref> It was designed in combination of [[Arts and Crafts architecture|Arts and Crafts]] and [[English Gothic architecture|Early English]] styles, by Henry Cowell Boyes, the architect of the [[Worshipful Company of Grocers]], which also operated a [[Hackney Downs School|school in the area]], with its foundation stone being laid by the livery company's Master.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="ReferenceA"/> It was declared redundant, first being used by the [[Celestial Church of Christ]] before being taken over by a [[Seventh-day Adventist Church|Seventh-Day Adventist]] congregation in 2006.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=National Archives |title=Saint Paul, Homerton: Glyn Road, Hackney |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/db0eb4ae-d4fb-4379-b17f-ab5cd04898dc}}</ref> The [[Catholic Church in England and Wales|Roman Catholic]] church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Kenworthy Road, designed by [[Charles Alban Buckler|C.A. Buckler]] and inspired by the churches of [[Santa Maria in Domnica|Sta Maria in Dominica]] and [[Santi Nereo e Achilleo|Santi Nereo e Achillo]] was completed in 1883, and rebuilt after damage in [[World War II|World War Two]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=zoothorn |date=2013-11-17 |title=Immaculate Heart of Mary & St Dominic, Kenworthy Road, Homerton (Roman Catholic) |url=https://londonchurchbuildings.com/2013/11/17/immaculate-heart-of-mary-kenworthy-road-homerton-roman-catholic/ |access-date=2022-09-04 |website=London Churches in photographs |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Cherry |first1=Bridget |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVHqBvtuLyMC&dq=%22immaculate+heart+of+mary%22+kenworthy+road+pevsner&pg=PA484 |title=London: North |last2=Pevsner |first2=Nikolaus |date=2002-01-01 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-09653-8 |pages=484 |language=en}}</ref>

In the early 1890s, the author of ''Glimpses of Ancient Hackney'' wrote: "Few who traverse Homerton today will fail to note the [[Poverty|squalid poverty]] of many of its inhabitants, the mean tumble-down dwellings, for which we have to thank the jerry-builders, who doubtless will pass the odium on to the ground landlords".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clarke |first=F. R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nX8_AQAAMAAJ |title=Glimpses of Ancient Hackney and Stoke Newington: Being a Reprint of a Series of Articles Appearing in the Hackney Mercury, from April 23rd, 1892, to November 25th, 1893. With an Appendix Dealing with the Conversion of a Portion of Hackney Churchyards Into Open Space |date=1893 |publisher=A.T. Roberts, son & Company |pages=129 |language=en}}</ref>

By the 1860s, London fell prey to epidemics of fever. The 200 bed Eastern Fever Hospital was founded in September 1870 by the Metropolitan Asylums Board to prevent contagion. There were six wards for typhus, two each for scarlet fever and enteric patients. Two smaller wards were reserved for 'special cases'. The buildings were almost entirely demolished in 1982<ref>[http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=5156&inst_id=51&term1=eastern%20hospital History of the Eastern Hospital]  (at Archive in London and the M25) accessed: 20 October 2006</ref> and the site became the core of the modern [[Homerton University Hospital]], which opened in 1986.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hospitals|url=http://www.derelictlondon.com/hospitals.html|publisher=Derelict London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Chambers |first1=Veronika & Fred |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9KqlBAAAQBAJ&dq=homerton+hospital+1986&pg=PT144 |title=Hospitals of London |last2=Higgins |first2=Rob |date=2014-08-15 |publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-4456-3827-0 |language=en}}</ref> This replaced the old Hackney Hospital which (in turn) had been formed from the Hackney Union Workhouse. These buildings are now used by the Hackney Mental Health Trust.<ref>[http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=5158&inst_id=51 History of Hackney Hospital and the Union Workhouse] (at Archive in London and the M25) accessed: 20 October 2006</ref>

===Industry and housing===
[[File:Homerton, former church of St Paul - geograph.org.uk - 3283837.jpg|thumb|The church of St Paul, Lower Homerton, built 1890-91]]
The coming of the railways and the building of the fever hospital drove many of the wealthier residents away. The tightly packed Victorian streets provided homes for the clerks and employees of the new purpose-built factories (like Berger Paints) being built in the area. From 1937 onwards, the [[London County Council]] built mass housing, sweeping away the worst of the slums, but also eliminating many older buildings containing shops on Homerton High Street, effectively destroying it as a commercial area. The [[Matchbox (toy company)|Lesney]] die cast model factory was built in the 1940s on the Homerton side of the Lee Navigation, just north of Homerton Road, producing for many years their ''[[Matchbox (toy company)|Matchbox]]'' brand. The factory closed in 1990 and was demolished in 2010.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

The oldest surviving residential building in Hackney is [[Sutton House, London|Sutton House]] on Homerton High Street. It was built in 1535 and is owned and run by the [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]].

===In modern times===
[[File:hackney hospital.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Hackney Hospital, August 2005. [[Marc Bolan]] (born, Mark Feld), and [[Anthony Newley]] were both born here.]]
1970s [[glam rock]] singer [[Marc Bolan]] and actor [[Ray Winstone]]<ref>[http://www.copperlily.com/AboutRayWinstone/RWbiog.htm Ray Winston Biography] accessed 10 May 2007.</ref> were born in Hackney Hospital, on Homerton High Street. The hospital, originally built in 1841 as the Hackney Union [[Poor law|workhouse]], finally closed in 1995. The old hospital was refurbished in 2006 and reopened to serve the mental health trust.

Homerton's links with popular music continued with the arrival of [[Toe Rag Studios]], relocated from [[Shoreditch]] to the [[Lower Clapton]]/Homerton border, an [[8-track tape|eight-track]] recording studio which uses reclaimed 1960s analogue equipment, where the [[White Stripes]]' acclaimed 2003 album ''[[Elephant (album)|Elephant]]'' was produced. More recently,{{when|date=July 2024}} Sound Savers studios was also established in Homerton, and Gun Factory Studios relocated to the area from [[Stoke Newington]]. [[UK drill]] artist [[Unknown T]] is from Homerton.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

[[File:Homerton university hospital 1.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Homerton University Hospital main entrance. (February 2006)]]
Homerton is also home to Chats Palace arts centre, named after the nearby Chatsworth Road. Chats Palace has presented and encouraged a wide variety of music, comedy, theatre, photography, carnival, disability arts, dance and transgressive performance, including [[Clifford Jarvis]], [[Tom Hunter]], [[Miniscule of Sound]], [[Red Saunders (photographer)|Red Saunders]], [[Asian Dub Foundation]] and [[Graeae Theatre Company]].{{cn|date=July 2024}} The building itself was originally established as a [[Carnegie library]], built in 1912–13 for the betterment of the people of the [[East End of London|East End]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=OLD LIBRARY BUILDING, Non Civil Parish - 1235655 {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1235655 |access-date=2022-05-14 |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en}}</ref> The council closed the library in 1976 but members of the local community reclaimed the building.<ref>[http://www.chatspalace.com/ Chats Palace] official website</ref> In October 2014, historic pub the [[Chesham Arms]] on Mehetabel Road became Hackney's first [[Asset of Community Value]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=An Asset of Community Value saved from illegal development - The Chesham Arms Public Inquiry|url=https://news.hackney.gov.uk/an-asset-of-community-value-saved-from-illegal-development---the-chesham-arms-public-inquiry/|access-date=2021-01-19|website=An Asset of Community Value saved from illegal development - The Chesham Arms Public Inquiry|language=en}}</ref>

Homerton is home to the [[Castle Cinema, Hackney|Castle Cinema]], which re-opened following a successful [[Kickstarter]] campaign raised £57,000 to support its renovation in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Powell |first=Tom |date=2017-02-26 |title=Abandoned cinema reopens 60 years after showing last film |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/abandoned-hackney-cinema-reopens-60-years-after-showing-last-film-a3475566.html |access-date=2023-07-08 |website=Evening Standard |language=en}}</ref>