Stoke Newington Common
Coordinates: 51°33′44″N 0°4′12″W / 51.56222°N 0.07000°W
Stoke Newington Common is an open space in Stoke Newington in the London Borough of Hackney. It is east of Stoke Newington High Street, with Northwold Road to the north, and it straddles the busy Rectory Road. The Common is 2.15 hectares (5.3 acres) in area.
This is old common land that came under public ownership in 1872. It was originally known as Cockhanger Green and later became Shacklewell Common, but Shacklewell's contracting sphere of influence led to it being named for a time 'Newington Common' (not to be confused with Newington Green) until finally in the early 20th century it acquired its present name.
Not merely the common's name has been mangled by time. Unlike its near neighbour, Hackney Downs, this land has been dissected by London's Victorian transport links. The deep cutting of the railway line between Stoke Newington and Rectory Road railway stations runs straight through the common from north to south, while the parallel Rectory Road making part of the A10 gyratory slices off another strip to the west. Finally the road called Stoke Newington Common carrying a busy bus route chops off a section to the south.
The now buried and lost Hackney Brook once ran across the north of the common, but this has long been replaced by the busy Northwold Road. This was due to the increased population at the time of its burial reducing the brook to no more than an open sewer.
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