111-615: George Montague (5 June 1923 – 18 March 2022) was a British gay rights activist, known as the 'Oldest Gay in the Village'. Montague was born in Hackney , London on 5 June 1923, as the son of George Montague and Nellie New. He was raised in Hitcham, Buckinghamshire . In 1974, Montague was convicted of gross indecency with a man, which was repealed in 2004. However, he challenged the government for an apology, and won, finally receiving an apology from
222-504: A county corporate or "county of itself". For most practical purposes this separate status was replaced in the late 19th century when county boroughs were introduced. Bristol developed as a major port in the medieval period, straddling both sides of the River Avon which formed the ancient boundary between Gloucestershire and Somerset . In 1373 Edward III decreed …that the said town of Bristol with its suburbs and their precinct, as
333-411: A county day in which the culture and history of the historic county is celebrated; many of these county days were created in the 21st century. A direct action group, CountyWatch , was formed in 2004 to remove what its members consider to be wrongly placed county boundary signs that do not mark the historic or traditional county boundaries of England and Wales . They have removed, resorted or erected
444-406: A culvert tunnel, dividing the hall down the middle between the two counties – a division reflected in its architecture. The 1888 Act ensured that every urban sanitary district would be considered to be part of a single county. This principle was maintained in the 20th century: when county boroughs such as Birmingham , Manchester , Reading and Sheffield expanded into neighbouring counties,
555-439: A basis for social, sporting and cultural activities. The Campaign for Historic Counties is dedicated to campaigning, both in the public arena and among parliamentarians, for the restoration of historic counties. Their objectives are: In 2013, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles formally recognised and acknowledged the continued existence of England's 39 historic counties. On 23 April 2014
666-621: A communist revolution in Russia. The first bomb of the first air raid on London, fell on 16 Alkham Road, West Hackney , in May 1915 by the German Army airship LZ 38 . No one was seriously hurt at that address but the raid killed seven people elsewhere, including four children, causing great anger among the public. East London was at particular risk at this time, due to the Kaiser's order, later rescinded, that
777-417: A county with a "-shire" suffix which is not named after a town and whose correct formation is "County of Berks". The "-shire" suffix was also appended for some counties, such as "Devonshire", "Dorsetshire" and "Somersetshire", despite their origin. For instance, there has been an Earl of Devonshire since 1603, and Duke of Devonshire since 1694. Great Britain was first divided into administrative areas by
888-422: A few years so encreas'd in buildings, and so fully inhabited, that there is no comparison to be made between their present and past state: Every separate hamlet is encreas'd, and some of them more than treble as big as formerly; Indeed as this whole town is included in the bills of mortality, tho' no where joining to London, it is in some respects to be call'd a part of it. In the 1770s Hackney became home to one of
999-692: A major local government reform took place under the Local Government Act 1972 . The Act abolished administrative counties and county boroughs, and divided England (except Greater London and the Isles of Scilly) into counties. These were of two types: "metropolitan" and "non-metropolitan" counties. Apart from local government, the new counties were "substituted for counties of any other description" for judicial, shrievalty, lieutenancy and other purposes. Several counties, such as Cumberland , Herefordshire , Rutland , Westmorland and Worcestershire , vanished from
1110-554: A mostly low-lying area in proximity to two rivers, the Lea and the Hackney Brook . This would have made the area attractive for pastoral and arable agriculture, meaning most of the area is likely to have been deforested at an early date. There is archaeological evidence for settlement and agriculture as far back as the Stone Age. During the late Iron Age, the area was part of the territory of
1221-550: A new initiative was announced to support the 'tapestry' of traditional English counties, including the removal of a restriction preventing the names of traditional counties being displayed on street and road signs. In August 2014, the first road sign was erected to mark the boundary of the historic county of Yorkshire. The Government is also publishing a new online interactive map of England's county boundaries. The Government has previously changed rules to allow local and county flags to be flown without planning permission, and supported
SECTION 10
#17328517505601332-568: A new office of High Sheriff of Middlesex appointed in the same manner as other English and Welsh counties, created the County of London with its own high sheriff, and restricted the jurisdiction of the sheriffs of London to the City. During the Middle Ages a number of other large cities and towns were granted the status of self-governing counties separate from adjacent counties. Such a county became known as
1443-496: A number of changes came into effect. The new administrative area of Greater London was created, resulting in the abolition of the administrative counties of London and Middlesex, at the same time taking in areas from surrounding counties. On the same date the new counties of Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely and of Huntingdon and Peterborough were formed by the merger of pairs of administrative counties. The new areas were also adopted for lieutenancy and shrievalty purposes. In 1974
1554-471: A number of what they claim to be "wrongly sited" county boundary signs in various parts of England. For instance, in Lancashire 30 signs were removed. CountyWatch has been criticised for such actions by the councils that erected the signs: Lancashire County Council pointed out that the taxpayers would have to pay for the signs to be re-erected. The only political party with a manifesto commitment to restore
1665-460: A public consultation in 2009 Postcomm found that many respondents objected to the use of counties in the alias file. In May 2010 Postcomm announced that it was encouraging Royal Mail to discontinue the use of counties in its alias file at the earliest opportunity. However, because some existing software included the use of counties, Royal Mail was advised not to implement the change before 2013. The historic counties of England continue to be used as
1776-622: A salaried county surveyor was to be appointed. By the 1880s it was being suggested that it would be more efficient if a wider variety of functions were provided on a county-wide basis. Some of the counties had major subdivisions. Of these, the most significant were the divisions of Yorkshire: the East Riding , West Riding , North Riding and the ainsty of York. Since Yorkshire was so large, its ridings became established as geographical terms quite apart from their original role as administrative divisions. The second largest county, Lincolnshire ,
1887-597: A small part of Victoria Park was in Hackney, but a minor boundary alteration was made so that the whole park came under the control of Tower Hamlets . The first surviving records of the place name are Hakney (1231) and Hakeneye (1242 and 1294). The name is Old English , but the meaning is not certain. It seems clear however that the 'ey' element refers to an island or a raised or otherwise dry area in marshland. The term 'island' in this context can also mean land situated between two streams. The 'island' may have been beside
1998-525: Is a district in East London , England , forming around two-thirds of the area of the modern London Borough of Hackney , to which it gives its name. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Charing Cross and includes part of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park . Historically it was within the county of Middlesex . In the past it was also referred to as Hackney Proper to distinguish it from
2109-755: Is not known. Hackney's church is first recorded around 1275 and Hackney may have been an independent parish by that time. The parish would have been based on the boundaries of the sub-manor of Hackney at the time it was created. Any boundary changes to the manor after around 1180 would not be reflected in changes to the parish boundaries as, across England, they became fixed at around that time, so that boundaries could no longer be changed at all, despite changes to manorial landholdings – though there were examples of sub-division in some parishes. The manorial system in England had largely broken down in England by 1400, with manors fragmenting and their role being much reduced. The area
2220-625: Is our tower . The battalions would be nicknamed the Hackney Gurkhas or Cockney Gurkhas , names the formation retained in the Second World War. The 1/10th was assigned to the 162nd (East Midland) Brigade in the 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division , seeing service at Gallipoli and the Middle East, finishing the war in Beirut . The 2/10th was assigned to the 175th (2/3rd London) Brigade , in
2331-564: Is referred to in the (much later) accounts of the battle. Historical records describing this period are extremely sparse, so the historicity of the battle and even Aescwine himself is disputed. The place name Hackney is Old English, so was probably first applied in this era. Hackney was part of the territory of the Middle Saxons , a people who seem to have formed a province of the East Saxons , albeit not part of their core territory. The area
SECTION 20
#17328517505602442-667: 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
2553-677: The 58th (2/1st London) Division , fighting on the western front and finishing the war in the Peruwelz area of Belgium. A third Hackney battalion, the 3/10th was based in the UK and used as a training unit, providing reinforcements to the two frontline battalions. During the Second World War , Hackney was badly affected by wartime bombing that left the area with 749 civilian war dead, with many more of its citizens injured or left homeless. Many other Hackney residents were also killed on active service around
2664-600: The British Army linked the recruiting areas of infantry regiments to the counties. Each English county sent two Knights of the Shire to the House of Commons (in addition to the burgesses sent by boroughs). Yorkshire gained two members in 1821 when Grampound was disenfranchised. The Great Reform Act of 1832 reapportioned members throughout the counties, many of which were also split into parliamentary divisions. Constituencies based on
2775-645: The Fifth Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party held at the Brotherhood Church on the east side of Southgate Road . The conference was held in the UK after being banned in other countries. Attendees included Lenin , Stalin , Maxim Gorky , Rosa Luxemburg and Leon Trotsky . The congress debated strategy for a communist revolution in Russia and strengthened the position of Lenin's Bolshevik and debated strategy for
2886-517: The Flag Institute in encouraging a new wave of county and community flags to be designed and flown by local communities. The flags of England's historic counties have been flown from Government offices in support of these identities. All 39 counties have registered flags, with the flag of Leicestershire the last to be adopted. In July 2019 the UK Government published official guidance on Celebrating
2997-559: The Friends of Real Lancashire and the Yorkshire Ridings Society , promotes the historic counties. It states that the "...ABC contends that Britain needs a fixed popular geography, one divorced from the ever changing names and areas of local government...The ABC, therefore, seeks to fully re-establish the use of the historic counties as the standard popular geographical reference frame of Britain and to further encourage their use as
3108-542: The Furness portion of Lancashire remained separated from the rest of Lancashire by a narrow strip of Westmorland — though it was accessible by way of the Morecambe Bay tidal flats . When the first county councils were set up in 1889, they covered newly created entities known as administrative counties . Several historic subdivisions with separate county administrations were also created administrative counties, particularly
3219-567: The Home Office in 2017. He told the BBC that "It really made my day, I was over the moon." Despite this, he was most prominently known for his iconic appearances at Brighton Pride , where he was seen on his mobility scooter , draped in rainbows, holding a sign which read 'Im the oldest gay in the village'. This soon became his nickname, and is from the Little Britain catchphrase 'I'm the only gay in
3330-565: The Kingdom of England was united as a whole in 927 it became necessary to subdivide it for administrative convenience and to this end, earldoms were created out of the earlier kingdoms, which were in turn subdivided into shires. The whole kingdom was divided into shires by the time of the Norman conquest . Robert of Gloucester accounts for thirty-five shires and William of Malmesbury thirty-two, Henry of Huntingdon, thirty-seven. In Anglo-Saxon times
3441-456: The Kingdom of Kent , Surrey from the Anglian word for 'southern region', and Essex , Sussex and Middlesex come from the East Saxons , South Saxons and Middle Saxons . Norfolk and Suffolk were subdivisions representing the "North Folk" and "South Folk" of the Kingdom of East Anglia . Only one county on the south coast of England now usually takes the suffix "-shire": Hampshire , named after
George Montague - Misplaced Pages Continue
3552-668: The Laws in Wales Act 1535 . It was then added to the Oxford circuit of the English Assizes. For legal purposes it was regarded as part of England, but Laws since the late 19th century were often applied to " Wales and Monmouthshire ". It was listed among the English counties for parliamentary purposes until 1950 and for local government until 1974, but the Local Government Act 1972 unambiguously included
3663-458: The Lea or perhaps near the confluence of the Hackney Brook and Pigwell Brook in the Hackney Central area. The Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names examined various interpretations of the place name and favoured the interpretation that Hackney means 'Haka's island', with Haka being a notable local person The Dictionary suggests that the 'Hack' element may also derive from: Hackney is
3774-589: The London post town. It is common for people to speak of " Uxbridge , Middlesex", " Dagenham , Essex" or " Bromley , Kent" (which are outside the London postal district), but much less so to speak of " Brixton , Surrey", " Greenwich , Kent", or " West Ham , Essex" (which are inside it). In 1996, following further local government reform and the modernisation of its sorting equipment, the Royal Mail ceased to use counties at all in
3885-481: 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
3996-494: The March of Wales , which after the Norman conquest had been administered by Marcher Lords largely independently of the English monarch, were incorporated into the English counties of Shropshire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire in 1535. There was historic ambiguity as to the status of the county of Monmouthshire . As with other Marcher areas added to existing counties, it was created out of "the said Country or Dominion of Wales" by
4107-475: The Norman -derived word for its county town Shrewsbury ; "Oxon" for Oxfordshire , from Latin Oxonia (referring to both the county and the city of Oxford ); "Hants" for Hampshire ; and "Northants" for Northamptonshire . Counties can be prefixed with "County of" in official contexts with any "-shire" suffix dropped, such as "County of Kent" or "County of York". There is similar usage in the single case of Berkshire,
4218-508: The Oath of Supremacy . Sutton House , the oldest surviving residential building in the district, was built in 1535. The main ‘Hackney Village’ grew much larger than the others, in 1605 having as many houses as Dalston , Newington (i.e. West Hackney) , Kingsland and Shacklewell combined. In 1727 Daniel Defoe said of the hamlets of Hackney All these, except the Wyck-house , are within
4329-553: The Regents Canal – Hertford Union Canal in part, and for the remainder marches a little to the north of it, with Victoria Park also forming part of the southern boundary. The highest points around Stamford Hill and Clapton Common are over 30m AOD, with the lowest areas being along the River Lea . The Hackney Brook was the largest natural internal watercourse, entering Hackney in the NW, at
4440-494: The assizes and quarter sessions . Later earldoms were created that were not named after a shire, particularly from the 17th century onwards, but by that time the title of earl was honorary, with no effective role in local administration. Although all of England was divided into shires by the time of the Norman conquest, some counties were formed later, such as Lancashire in the 12th century. Perhaps because of their differing origins
4551-497: The earl and sheriff were jointly responsible for administering each shire through its shire court . Each earl was responsible for multiple shires, with some fluctuation in which shires belonged to which earldoms during this period. In the years following the Norman conquest of 1066 the large earldoms of the Anglo-Saxon era were gradually replaced by smaller earldoms corresponding to a single shire. The Norman French term for an earl
George Montague - Misplaced Pages Continue
4662-442: The village which subsequently developed in the vicinity of Mare Street, the term Hackney Proper being applied to the wider district. Hackney is a large district, whose long established boundaries encompass the sub-districts of Homerton , Dalston (including Kingsland and Shacklewell), De Beauvoir Town , Upper and Lower Clapton , Stamford Hill , Hackney Central , Hackney Wick , South Hackney and West Hackney . Hackney
4773-512: The 1540s the office of Lord Lieutenant was instituted. The lieutenants had a military role, previously exercised by the sheriffs, and were made responsible for raising and organising the militia in each county. The lieutenancies were subsequently given responsibility for the Volunteer Force . In 1871 the lieutenants lost their positions as heads of the militia, and their office became largely ceremonial. The Cardwell and Childers Reforms of
4884-463: The 1930s, 1940s and 1960s the area's large Jewish and other minority populations made it a target for provocative rallies by Oswald Mosley and the far-right organisations he founded. These were actively opposed by many local people, together with organisations such as the 43 Group and this led to a number of violent confrontations, notably in the Ridley Road area of Dalston . Hackney was one of
4995-548: The Caribbean, Australia and the far East. The growth of the East End of London was stimulated by the building of Regent's Canal between 1812 and 1816, with construction work on a new town at De Beauvoir beginning in 1823 and continuing through the 1830s. The arrival of the railways, around 1850, accelerated the spread of London and the expansion of the existing nuclei so that Hackney was almost entirely built up by 1870. In 1907,
5106-414: The English counties started to take shape soon afterwards, with the Kingdom of Kent founded by settlers around 445. In southern England more widely, shires emerged from earlier sub-kingdoms as part of the administrative structure of Wessex , which then imposed its system of shires, boroughs (or burhs ) and ealdormen on Mercia after it came under West Saxon control during the 10th century. Once
5217-489: The Historic Counties of England, stating that "the tapestry of England's historic counties is one of the bonds which draws our nation together". Sussex and Yorkshire , both historic counties and long abandoned as units for administrative purposes, have continued to be widely recognised as cultural regions, significant in sport and used by many organisations as regional units. These counties, and several others, have
5328-531: The Isle of Wight, the former kingdoms of the Jutes , "...shire" was not used. Counties ending in the suffix "-sex", the former Saxon kingdoms, are also in this category. Some of these names include compass directions. The third category includes counties such as Cornwall and Devon where the name corresponds to the tribes who inhabited the area. County Durham is anomalous in terms of naming and origin, not falling into any of
5439-536: The London urban area sprawls into Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. The Local Government Act 1972 sought generally to unite conurbations within a single county, while retaining the historic county boundaries as far as was practicable. In a period of financial crisis, the Post Office was able to alter many of its postal counties in accordance with the 1965 and 1974 reforms, but not all. The two major exceptions were Greater London and Greater Manchester . Greater London
5550-547: The Metropolis Management (Plumstead and Hackney) Act of 1893. The London Government Act 1899 converted the parishes into Metropolitan Boroughs based on the same boundaries, sometimes with minor rationalisations. Neighbouring Stoke Newington was smaller than the desired size for the new boroughs, and there were proposals to re-merge Stoke Newington and Hackney, or to detach the northern part of Hackney and join it with Stoke Newington. These proposals were rejected due to
5661-622: The North of England was left depopulated and was included in the returns for Cheshire and Yorkshire in the Domesday Book. However, there is some disagreement about the status of some of this land. The area in between the River Ribble and the River Mersey , referred to as "Inter Ripam et Mersam" in the Domesday Book, was included in the returns for Cheshire. Whether this meant that this land
SECTION 50
#17328517505605772-578: The Romans, most likely following major geographical features such as rivers. Before their arrival there were distinct tribal areas, but they were in a constant state of flux as territory was gained and lost. After the demise of Roman Britain around 410 these first divisions of land were generally abandoned, although traditional divisions taking the form of petty kingdoms such as Powys , Dumnonia and Elmet remained in those areas which remained British , such as south west England . The areas that would later form
5883-557: The Saxons in the 9th century. Devon and Cornwall were based on the pre-Saxon Celtic tribes known in Latin as the Dumnonii and Cornovii , in the latter case with the suffix wealas , meaning foreigners, added by the Saxons. When Wessex annexed Mercia in the 10th century, it subdivided the area into various shires of roughly equal size and tax-raising potential or hidage . These generally took
5994-557: The Tower meant local men served in the Tower garrison and Tower Hamlets Militia, rather than the Middlesex Militia. This arrangement lasted until 1900. The ancient parishes provided a framework for both civil (administrative) and ecclesiastical (church) functions, but during the nineteenth century, there was a divergence into distinct civil and ecclesiastical parish systems. In London, the ecclesiastical parishes sub-divided to better serve
6105-783: The administrative map, while new entities such as Avon , Cleveland , Cumbria and Humberside appeared, in addition to the six new metropolitan counties . The built-up areas of conurbations tend to cross historic county boundaries freely. Examples are Bournemouth – Poole – Christchurch ( Dorset and Hampshire ) Greater Manchester ( Cheshire , Derbyshire and Lancashire ), Merseyside (Cheshire and Lancashire), Teesside (Yorkshire and County Durham), South Yorkshire (Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire ), Tyneside (County Durham and Northumberland ) and West Midlands ( Staffordshire , Warwickshire and Worcestershire ). Greater London itself straddles five ancient counties — Essex , Hertfordshire , Kent, Middlesex , Surrey — and
6216-421: The ancient county boundaries remained in use until 1918. From the 16th century onwards the county was increasingly used as a unit of local government as the justices of the peace took on various administrative functions known as "county business". This was transacted at the quarter sessions , summoned four times a year by the lord lieutenant. By the 19th century the county magistrates were exercising powers over
6327-436: The area added became associated with the county borough's geographic county. However, this principle was not applied to Stockport or Cardiff , which remained divided, the latter even divided between Wales and England (from 1938 Cardiff included Rumney in the territory of the historic county of Monmouthshire , which was legally regarded as part of England until 1972 when it was instead assigned to Wales). On 1 April 1965,
6438-464: The area as part of Wales. A charter of Henry I in about 1130 gave the City of London its own Sheriff . The Sheriff of London also had jurisdiction over the county of Middlesex, so that "London and Middlesex were from that time regarded as one from an administrative point of view", although they retained their separate identities. This relationship continued until the Local Government Act 1888 created
6549-413: The back window. The hearse was followed by a special double-decker bus decked out in pride colours. His husband Somchai Phukkai, who was by his side when he passed, said that he was "privileged to have been part of his life" and that "George was a very loving, caring person." Paul Kemp, the director of Brighton Pride, said he was "a lovely spirit" who "died a happy man". Hackney, London Hackney
6660-585: The basis for county cricket teams and the governance of cricket in England through the ECB County Boards . There are exceptions in that Rutland is integrated with Leicestershire; the Isle of Wight has its own board outside the Hampshire one; there is a board for the ceremonial county of Cumbria which is representative of both Cumberland and Westmorland. In addition, the ECB County Boards include one for
6771-434: The boroughs or cities of Lincoln (1409), Nottingham (1448), Lichfield (1556) and Worcester (1622) as counties. The County of the City of Coventry was separated from Warwickshire in 1451, and included an extensive area of countryside surrounding the city. Charters granting separate county status to the cities and boroughs of Chester (1238/9), York (1396), Newcastle upon Tyne (1400) and Kingston-upon-Hull (with
SECTION 60
#17328517505606882-557: The boundaries and political functions of all ancient counties, including Middlesex and Monmouthshire , is the English Democrats Party . By the late Middle Ages the county was being used as the basis of a number of functions. The Assize Courts used counties, or their major divisions, as a basis for their organisation. Justices of the peace originating in Norman times as Knights of the Peace, were appointed in each county. At
6993-438: The boundaries now exist, henceforward shall be separated and exempt in every way from the said counties of Gloucester and Somerset, on land and by water; that it shall be a county in itself and be called the county of Bristol for ever… Similar arrangements were later applied to Norwich (1404), Southampton (1447), Canterbury (1471), Gloucester (1483), Exeter (1537), and Poole (1571). Charters were granted constituting
7104-455: The centuries that followed their establishment, as well as their administrative function, the counties also helped define local culture and identity. This role continued even after the counties ceased to be used for administration after the creation of administrative counties in 1889, which were themselves amended by further local government reforms in the years following. Unlike the partly self-governing boroughs that covered urban areas,
7215-520: The counties varied considerably in size . The county boundaries were fairly static until the Local Government Act 1888 . Each shire was responsible for gathering taxes for the central government; for local defence; and for justice, through assize courts . In southern England the counties were mostly subdivisions of the Kingdom of Wessex , and in many areas represented annexed, previously independent, kingdoms or other tribal territories. Kent derives from
7326-405: The counties of medieval England existed primarily as a means of enforcing central government power, enabling monarchs to exercise control over local areas through their chosen representatives – originally sheriffs and later the lord-lieutenants – and their subordinate justices of the peace . Counties were used initially for the administration of justice , collection of taxes and organisation of
7437-569: The country of Wales. A review of the structure of local government in England by the Local Government Commission for England led to the restoration of the East Riding of Yorkshire , Herefordshire , Rutland and Worcestershire as administrative areas in the 1990s; the abolition of Avon, Cleveland and Humberside within 25 years of their creation; and the restoration of the traditional borders between Somerset and Gloucestershire (except at Bristol ), County Durham and Yorkshire (towards
7548-405: The direction of mail. Instead it now uses the outward code (first half) of the postcode. The former postal counties were removed in 2000 from its Postcode Address File database and included in an "alias file", which is used to cross-reference details that may be added by users but are no longer required, such as former street names or historic, administrative and former postal counties. During
7659-539: The experience of "intolerable and interminable feuds" between the districts when they were previously "forced together" , and because the First Lord of the Treasury , Arthur Balfour recognised that there was "great ill-feeling and mutual ill-will... between the inhabitants of the two districts" . In 1965, Hackney merged with Shoreditch and Stoke Newington to form the new London Borough of Hackney . Prior to 1994,
7770-468: The foot of the southern foot of Stamford Hill and exiting in the south-east, however, this watercourse was fully culverted in the 19th century. The boundaries of Hackney take in the sub-districts of Homerton , Dalston (including Kingsland and Shacklewell), De Beauvoir Town , Upper and Lower Clapton , Stamford Hill , Hackney Central , Hackney Wick , South Hackney and West Hackney . The Lea and Hackney Marshes are underlain by alluvium soils , and
7881-401: The former town of "Hamwic" (sic), the site of which is now a part of the city of Southampton . A "lost" Saxon county was Winchcombeshire which lasted from 1007 to 1017 before being incorporated into Gloucestershire . Dorset and Somerset derive their names from the saete or inhabitants of the areas around the towns of Dorchester and Somerton respectively; the names were first used by
7992-583: The head of the legal hierarchy were the High Sheriff and the Custos rotulorum (keeper of the rolls) for each county. The justices had responsibility for maintaining county gaols and houses of correction . During the 19th century penal reformers campaigned against the often primitive conditions in gaols, and under the Prison Act 1877 they came under Home Office control. Until the 19th century law enforcement
8103-501: The higher ground between Homerton and Stamford Hill is formed on a widening bed of London Clay . Brickearth deposits are within tongues of clay extending beneath Clapton Common, Stamford Hill and Stoke Newington High Street. The centre and southwestern districts lie on river terrace deposits of Taplow Gravel. The area around Victoria Park and Well Street Common lies on flood plain gravel. It lies approximately 49 feet (15 m) above sea level. Open spaces in Hackney include: Hackney
8214-684: The historic county boundary runs right up the middle of the high street; in Royal Tunbridge Wells the historic county boundary had a theatre (now the Corn Exchange) built right on it, with the actors playing in Sussex to an audience in Kent; and in Todmorden, the historically fractious border between Lancashire and Yorkshire (the river known as Walsden Water) had Todmorden Town Hall built right on top of it on
8325-422: The host areas when London staged the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games , with three venues falling within its part of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park : Hackney's solution to affordable housing has been able to put more of it on the market by making use of inclusionary practices. This district built a significant number of affordable units and subsidised them with market-rate units. In Hackney about half of
8436-450: The largest and most celebrated plant nurseries in England, Loddiges Paradise Field Nursery, founded by German born Joachim Conrad Loddiges (1738–1826) and continued by his son George Loddiges (1786–1846), and known as The Hackney Botanic Nursery Garden. With its range of heated glasshouses the nursery was famed for displaying newly discovered plants from around the globe including the Americas,
8547-430: The licensing of alehouses, the construction of bridges, prisons and asylums, the superintendence of main roads, public buildings and charitable institutions, and the regulation of weights and measures. The justices were empowered to levy local taxes to support these activities, and in 1739 these were unified as a single "county rate", under the control of a county treasurer. In order to build and maintain roads and bridges,
8658-445: The marble example indicate a high-status settlement of some sort. The stone examples had a coin hoard found nearby. The area around Millfields Park, Lower Clapton , is sometimes described as the site of a battle in which Aescwine , having rebelled against Octa , King of Kent , defeats him in battle and became the (reputed) first King of Essex . The ford over the Lea neighbouring Leyton
8769-404: The military, and later for local government and electing parliamentary representation. They continue to form the basis of modern local government areas in many parts of the country away from the main urban areas, although the newly created areas sometimes have considerably altered boundaries from the historic counties on which they are based. The name of a county often gives a clue to how it
8880-609: The mouth of the River Tees ; not in Teesdale ), and Yorkshire and Lincolnshire for ceremonial purposes in these areas. The case of Huntingdonshire was considered twice, but the Commission found that "there was no exceptional county allegiance to Huntingdonshire, as had been perceived in Rutland and Herefordshire". The Association of British Counties (ABC), with its regional affiliates, such as
8991-499: The name of the main town (the county town ) of the county, along with "-shire". Examples are Northamptonshire and Warwickshire . In some cases the original names have been worn down: for example, Cheshire was originally "Chestershire". In the east Midlands, it is thought that county boundaries may represent a 9th-century division of the Danelaw between units of the Danish army. Rutland
9102-445: The needs of a growing population, while the civil parishes continued to be based on the same ancient parish areas. The Metropolis Management Act 1855 merged the civil parishes of Hackney and Stoke Newington under a new Hackney District . This proved unpopular, especially in more affluent Stoke Newington, and after four unsuccessful attempts, the two parishes regained their independence when they were separated by mutual consent under
9213-715: The new units are affordable. In an effort to avoid displacing current residents, construction was completed in phases. The outline of Hackney's traditional boundary resembles a right-angled triangle with the right-angle in the SW and the Lower Lea Valley, running NW–SE forming the hypotenuse. The western boundary is based on the N–S axis of the Roman A10, though the sub-district of De Beauvoir Town lies beyond it, as do small areas of Dalston and Stamford Hill. The district's southern boundary follows
9324-516: The partial Viking conquest of the country. A coin of Egbert of Wessex was found on Stamford Hill . The Kings of Wessex divided their kingdom into shires, with Hackney becoming part of the shire of Middlesex , an area named after the Middle Saxons . After their victory at Hastings, the Normans needed to secure London. To this end, they burned Southwark , crossed the river upstream and harried much of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. The Manor of Stepney
9435-422: The powerful Catuvellauni tribe. There will have been a network of probably minor, local roads in Hackney before the Romans conquered southern Britain after 43AD, but the area's proximity to the provincial capital, Londinium , meant that it was soon crossed by two large long-distance routes. The first was Ermine Street (modern A10) which emerged from Bishopsgate and headed north to Lincoln and York. The second
9546-507: The raiders limit their attacks to targets east of the Tower of London. Hackney raised two front-line infantry battalions for the London Regiment during the conflict: the 1/10th (City of London) Battalion (Hackney) and the 2/10th (City of London) Battalion (Hackney) . The battalions had their own cap badge, depicting Hackney's emblem, St Augustine's Tower , together with the borough's motto Justitia Turris Nostra , Latin for Justice
9657-665: The re-routed line which bypassed the site of the former Victoria Park station as part of the Crosstown Linkline . Historic counties of England The historic counties of England are areas that were established for administration by the Normans , in many cases based on earlier kingdoms and shires created by the Angles , Saxons , Jutes , Celts and others. They are alternatively known as ancient counties , traditional counties , former counties or simply as counties . In
9768-564: The same pressures would have been experienced here. From the Tudor period onwards, the various settlements in Hackney grew as wealthy Londoners moved to what they saw as a pleasant rural alternative to living in London which was, nonetheless, close to the capital; in some ways it was comparable to a modern commuter town. A number of royal courtiers lived in Homerton , while Henry VIII had a palace at Brooke House , Upper Clapton , where Queen Mary took
9879-619: The separate ridings of Yorkshire , the separate parts of Lincolnshire, and the East and West divisions of Sussex. The Local Government Act 1888 also contained wording to create both a new "administrative county" and a "county" of London , and to ensure that the county boroughs which were created at the same time continued for non-administrative purposes to be part of the county which they geographically lay. These counties were to be used "for all purposes, whether sheriff, lieutenant, custos rotulorum, justices, militia, coroner, or other". The effect
9990-405: The surrounding area of Hullshire ) (1440). In 1551 Berwick upon Tweed , on the border with Scotland , was created a county corporate. The ancient counties have many anomalies, and many small exclaves , where a parcel of land was politically part of one county despite not being physically connected to the rest of the county. The Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 was passed, the effect of which
10101-623: The three categories. Instead, it was a diocese that was turned into the County Palatine of Durham , ruled by the Bishop of Durham . The expected form would otherwise be "Durhamshire", but it was rarely used. There are customary abbreviations for many of the counties. In most cases, these consist of simple truncation, usually with an "s" at the end signifying "shire", such as "Berks" for Berkshire or "Bucks" for Buckinghamshire . Some abbreviations are not obvious, such as "Salop" for Shropshire , from
10212-623: The time of the Domesday Book , some parts of what later became Wales were included in English counties: Monmouth , for example, was included in Herefordshire . Additionally, the Domesday Book included, as part of Cheshire, areas that later became part of Wales, including the two hundreds of Atiscross and Exestan , and the southern part of Duddestan Hundred (as it was known as the time), which later became known as Maelor Saesneg (English Maelor), and (later still) " Flintshire Detached". Parts of
10323-581: The village'. In 2015, Montague appeared on the cover of Attitude magazine's July issue, which was the magazine's 21st birthday special. Montague died on 18 March 2022 at his home in Brighton from Alzheimer's . His funeral was on 11 April 2022, where there was a procession through the city, which closely followed the Brighton Pride parade route, eventually ending at Downs Crematorium on Bear Road . His hearse had colourful flowers and his iconic sign in
10434-498: The world. The number of devices hitting Hackney was upwards of 613 high explosive bombs, 16 parachute mines , 37 V-1 'doodlebugs' , 10 V-2 rockets and many thousands of 1 kg incendiary devices. Notable buildings destroyed by bombing included Tudor-era Brooke House in Upper Clapton and West Hackney church . The post-war period saw extensive re-building, and the area became increasingly multi-cultural in character. During
10545-495: Was subsequently treated as part of Worcestershire , as the remainder already was. Exclaves that the 1844 Act did not touch included the part of Derbyshire around Donisthorpe , locally in Leicestershire ; a part of Huntingdonshire near Woodbury Park , separated by Cambridgeshire ; and most of the larger exclaves of Worcestershire, including the town of Dudley , which remained surrounded by Staffordshire . Additionally,
10656-448: Was a comte or count ; whilst in England the title count was not used for the person, the territory they controlled nevertheless became known as a 'county'. As the shires and counties were generally the same areas from the 12th century onwards, the terms shire and county came to be used interchangeably. The earls' role in administering their counties was gradually reduced as the shire court was eclipsed in importance by other courts, notably
10767-527: Was a part of the huge manor of Stepney , an area owned by the Bishop of London , and its great size and proximity to the City means it may have been part of the grant of land made when the Diocese of London (The East Saxon Diocese) , was re-established in 604 AD. Later, the Middle and East Saxon area would become subject to various other Kingdoms, last among them Wessex , which sought to unite England and roll back
10878-635: Was a route which branched off Ermine Street just outside Bishopsgate and headed SW-NE across Hackney, across the Dalston , Hackney Central and Lower Clapton areas to cross to the Lea on its way to Great Dunmow in Essex . This crossing appears to have crossed the Lea 168 metres south of the Bridge at Mandeville Street near Millfields Road (sometimes known as Pond Lane Bridge). Three Roman sarcophagus burials have been found, two of stone and one of marble. These, particularly
10989-570: Was a successor to the Viking kingdom of York and the Brittonic kingdom of Elmet ; at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 it was considered to include what was to become northern Lancashire , as well as parts of Cumberland , and Westmorland . Most of the later Cumberland and Westmorland were under Scottish rule until 1092. After the Norman Conquest in 1066 and the harrying of the North , much of
11100-536: Was actually part of Cheshire is however not clear. The Northeast land that later became County Durham and Northumberland , was left unrecorded. Cumberland, Westmorland, Lancashire, County Durham and Northumberland were established as counties in the 12th century. Lancashire can be firmly dated to 1182. Part of the domain of the Bishops of Durham , Hexhamshire was split off and was considered an independent county until 1572, when it became part of Northumberland. At
11211-565: Was an administrative unit with consistent boundaries from the early Middle Ages to the creation of the larger modern borough in 1965. It was based for many centuries on the Ancient Parish of Hackney , the largest in Middlesex . Hackney was a sub-Manor of the Manor of Stepney , and the ancient parish of Hackney was an early daughter parish of Stepney, though the date the Hackney parish was established
11322-570: Was an anomalous territory or soke , associated with Nottinghamshire , but it eventually became considered the smallest county. Lincolnshire was the successor to the Kingdom of Lindsey , and took on the territories of Kesteven and Holland when Stamford became the only Danelaw borough to fail to become a county town. Much of Northumbria was also shired, the best known of these counties being Hallamshire and Cravenshire . The Normans did not use these divisions, and so they are not generally regarded as ancient counties. The huge county of Yorkshire
11433-509: Was around 30% wooded (much of it wood-pasture), about double the English average. Hackney would have had a lower proportion than the county as a whole, consisting of mostly lower land, close to rivers that made it more attractive for farming. The proportion of woodland in England decreased sharply between the Conquest and the Black Death due to the pressure of a rapidly increasing population, and
11544-429: Was formed, either as a division that took its name from a centre of administration, an ancient kingdom, or an area occupied by an ethnic group. The majority of English counties are in the first category, with the name formed by combining the central town with the suffix "-shire", for example Yorkshire . Former kingdoms which became earldoms in the united England did not feature this formulation; so for Kent, Surrey and
11655-460: Was less badly hit than much of the rest of Middlesex, though the area along Ermine Street (the A10) , in Hackney, is believed to have been badly affected. The Domesday Book of 1086 covered England at manorial level , so Hackney is only assessed as part of Manor of Stepney , of which it was a sub-manor. The landscape at this time was largely agricultural, Domesday returns for Middlesex indicate that it
11766-538: Was mostly carried out at the parish level. With an increasingly mobile population, however, the system became outdated. Following the successful establishment of the Metropolitan Police in London, the County Police Act 1839 empowered justices of the peace to form county constabularies outside boroughs. The formation of county police forces was made compulsory by the County and Borough Police Act 1856 . In
11877-603: Was not adopted in 1965, since, according to the Post Office at the time, it would have been too expensive to do so, while it gave as its reason for not adopting Greater Manchester the ambiguity of the name with the Manchester post town . Perhaps as a result of this, the ancient counties appear not to have fallen completely out of use for locating places in Greater Manchester, along with areas of Greater London that are not part of
11988-439: 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
12099-677: Was part of the historic (or ancient) county of Middlesex , but military and most (or all) civil county functions were managed more locally, by the Tower Division (also known as the Tower Hamlets) , a historic ‘county within a county’, under the leadership of the Lord-Lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets (the post was always filled by the Constable of the Tower of London) . The military loyalty to
12210-557: Was that new county boroughs which were counties corporate retained their status as separate counties. In retrospect, these "statutory" counties can be identified as the predecessors of the ceremonial counties of England. The censuses of 1891, 1901 and 1911 provided figures for the "ancient counties". Several towns are historically divided between counties, including Banbury , Burton upon Trent , Newmarket , Peterborough , Royal Tunbridge Wells , Royston , Stamford, Tamworth , Todmorden , Warrington and Wisbech . In Newmarket and Tamworth
12321-545: Was to treat many of these exclaves as part of the county which surrounded them. This had already been done for Parliamentary purposes under the Great Reform Act 1832. Large exclaves affected by the 1844 Act included the County Durham exclaves of Islandshire , Bedlingtonshire and Norhamshire , which were subsequently treated as hundreds of Northumberland ; and those parts of Halesowen forming part of Shropshire, which
#559440