Hackney, London

**Hackney** is an area in East London and is the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hackney.

Hackney focus point is Mare Street and is the location of Broadway Market, London Fields, Victoria Park and St Augustine's Tower Hackney.

## History

In the past it was also referred to as Hackney Proper, to distinguish it from the village which subsequently developed in the vicinity of Mare Street. The term Hackney Proper being applied to that wider district.

## Transport

### Rail

Hackney is served by six stations, including by the London Overground at Hackney Central railway station, and it is named after the central area of Hackney, as well as Hackney Downs. Central was open by the North London Railway opened as *Hackney* on 26 September 1850, to the east of Mare Street. It closed on 1 December 1870 and was replaced the same day by a station to the west of Mare Street, designed by Edwin Henry Horne and also named *Hackney*. This station passed in due course to the London & North Western Railway and later on to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, which closed the entire North London Line east of Dalston Junction to passenger traffic in 1944. Downs was opened on 27 May 1872 when the Great Eastern Railway opened the first part of its new line from Enfield Town to Stoke Newington.

A pedestrian link between Hackney Downs and Hackney Central stations was opened in 2015 by London Overground Rail Operations. Until Hackney Central's closure in 1944, a passenger connection had linked the two stations. However, when Hackney Central re-opened in 1985, the footway was not reinstated and passengers transferring between the two stations were obliged to leave one and walk along the street to the other until the link was rebuilt.

Hackney Wick opened on 12 May 1980 by British Rail on the re-routed line which bypassed the site of the former Victoria Park station as part of the CrossTown Link line.

In 1872, London Fields railway station was opened by the Great Eastern Railway. It closed in 1981 due to a fire, repairs were eventually carried out and the station reopened in 1986.

In February 2006, a Docklands Light Railway (DLR) report called Horizon 2020 was commissioned, which suggested that the DLR be extended to Hackney Central from Bow Church via Old Ford and Homerton, taking over the old parts of the North London Line to link up with Poplar and Canary Wharf.

### Buses

Hackney is served by a large number of London Buses routes, 26, 30, 38, 55, 56, 106, 149, 236, 242, 253, 254, 276, 277, 388, 394, 339, 425 and 488 as well as the D6, and W15. Hackney is also served by the London night bus network with routes N26, N38, N55 and N253 all running in the area. Route N277 also serves here when the 277 route was withdrawn between Dalston and Highbury Corner and the N277 was retained.

## References

1. ↑ Template:Cite book
2. ↑ Forgotten Stations of Greater London by J.E.Connor and B.Halford
3. ↑ Chronology of London Railways by H.V.Borley
4. ↑ Vyas, Shekha. "New bridge to cut commute between Hackney Downs and Central". *Hackney Gazette*.
5. ↑ Template:Cite book
6. ↑ Body, p.109
7. ↑ "A Very Political Railway" De Burton, Alan; *Electric Railway Society* 4 March 2015; Retrieved 23 May 2016
8. ↑ "DLR Horizons Report - a Freedom of Information request to Transport for London". *WhatDoTheyKnow* (23 September 2009).
9. ↑ Buses from Hackney Marsh (PDF). Transport for London (November 2014). Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved on October 11, 2021.
10. ↑ Buses from Hackney Central (PDF). Transport for London (October 12, 2019). Archived from the original on December 20, 2020. Retrieved on October 11, 2021.
11. ↑ Night buses from Hackney Central (PDF). Transport for London (October 15, 2019). Archived from the original on April 9, 2021. Retrieved on October 11, 2021.

## See also

* Metropolitan Borough of Hackney, formed in 1900 and abolished in 1965