1/17 A #Hackney history focus to your ‘once a day’ AROUND not through LONDON FIELDS. Start London Fields Station built 1872 on Great Eastern Line, 3rd train line to cross Hackney. By c17th this area was part of gardens of big houses built as Hackney spread south down Mare St. 
2/17 Take right down Mentmore Terrace and right into Lamb Lane. Note on left remains of stone wall of church school. St Michael & All Angels built 1864 on left at end of road overlooking Fields on grounds of Pembroke House, an asylum for mentally ill staff of East India Company.
3/17 Church demolished after WW2 bombing. Former vicarage now flats on opposite corner. New church built 1960 on other side of Fields. Go left; pass early c19th houses to end of London Fields East facing Warburton House built 1938: slum clearance of 158 houses in Warburton Square
4/17 Warburton House named for Thomas Warburton, (d. 1836) who made his money looking after the mentally ill. His most famous institution was Whitmore House in de Beauvoir. He also ran an asylum in this vicinity. Nearby @MartelloHall in Mare Street formerly the Warburton Arms
5/17 Turn right. Enter briefly London Fields. Turn left; pass Darcy House built 1904 on site of Pacifico almshouse for 7 elderly Jews. Pass Porters Statues put up by Free Form Arts 1980s with local schools recalling people walking through LF to take produce to market in London
6/17 Straight on to Westgate St, opposite London Fields school founded 1874. When current 1920s building opened it was the 1st opportunity for many local kids to see electric light. Cross road, down Sheep Lane and left into Beck Rd, laid out 1891 on grounds of Providence House
7/17 Beck Rd named for Joseph Beck Stoke Newington optician manufacturer and London politician who led campaign to create Clissold Park. Road was saved from demolition in 1970s by artist residents. Opposite the end of road is St Joseph’s Hospice founded by 5 Irish nuns in 1900
8/17 @StJoHospice opened in Cambridge Villas, home of Salvation Army founder William Booth 1865-8. Right, down Mare St. On left pass Victoria Park Rd, not laid out until 1850s giving access to South Hackney. On right pass Ada Grove Bus Garage from 1981. Turn right at Andrews Rd
9/17 Follow Andrews Rd beside Regent’s Canal. On right Firmback Works building: in 1842 was British Penitent Female Refuge to help former prostitutes; later Cintique furniture factory. Plans to expand bus garage behind threaten the area’s only surviving early c19th big house.
10/17 On to Sheep Lane. On other side of canal 2 gas holders erected 1866 and 1889. Stored gas from Imperial Gas Works main site further west, now north part of Haggerston Park. Up Sheep Lane. On left before Regent Studios put up 1965, bombed site was a cycle speedway track
11/17 Turn left at Westgate St. Pass Cat and Mutton, pub since 1723 at top of Broadway Market. On left early c19th houses opposite London Fields formerly common land named because on way to London. A park since 1872 when most of Hackney’s common land bought up by local authority
12/17 Go straight up Lansdowne Drive. Pass terraced Lansdowne Place one of 1st buildings on Rhodes family’s Lamb Farm estate stretching from Dalston Junction. Built by 1827 amidst open fields. Carry on passing 1960 church replacement of bombed St Michael’s on other side of Fields
13/17 At end of Lansdowne Drive turn right. On corner is Morland Estate built on site of houses destroyed by V1 rocket 7 July 1944, killing 4 people. Robin mural put up Feb 2020 to celebrate London’s National Park City bid. Estate opposite replaced houses demolished in 1970s.
14/17 Building on corner with London Fields West Side former Duke of Marlborough pub of 1851. Pubs often 1st building of a development on a corner. Road named for Richmond, Yorkshire as Mr Rhodes convalescing there in the 1820s when asked to name the road across his estate
15/17 Carry on to Eleanor Rd. On left is post-war Wayman Court, built 1964. On right from tennis courts to Eleanor Road Richmond Rd was lined with houses, destroyed in the blitz, so extending the park. Lower ground level and line of plane trees mark where houses stood.
16/17 Turn right into Eleanor Rd which originally continued to right of Pub on the Park (Queen Eleanor from 1855) with houses on either side and a school facing the Fields bombed September 1940. Carry on up path and take a right into Martello, formerly Tower, Street
17/17 The area to east of London Fields was built up with terraced streets from the 1850s. After WW2 it was rezoned for industrial use. Lately the area has changed again with industrial building replaced by blocks of apartments, artisan food shops, clubs, breweries, cinemas, gyms
