Abney Park
Encyclopedia
The historic grounds of Abney Park are situated in Stoke Newington
, London
, England
. It is a 13ha (32 acre) park dating from just before 1700, named after Lady Mary Abney
and associated with Dr Isaac Watts
. In the early 18th century, the park was accessed via the frontages and gardens of two large mansions — her own manor house
(Abney House), and the neighbouring Fleetwood House. Both mansions fronted onto Church Street
in what was then a quiet nonconformist village.
, who inherited the estate from her brother and who moved here several years after the death of her husband, Sir Thomas Abney
. She was helped in the task of landscaping the grounds into an English garden
or park by the learned Dr Isaac Watts
, and by the neighbouring Hartopp family of Fleetwood House, who leased the eastern part of the park to Lady Mary.
These landscape improvements included the planting of the Great Elm Walk and Little Elm Walk that established shady walks down to the island heronry
of the Hackney Brook at the bottom of the park. Both Wych Elm
and English Elm
were planted. At the neighbouring Fleetwood House, one of the early UK plantings of a Cedar of Lebanon
tree had already taken place, adjacent to an ornamental pond. This tree survived into the 1920s and is illustrated in many engravings.
Other trees planted at an early date at Abney Park (either in the portion leased by Fleetwood House, or that attached solely to Abney House) included American Larch
and Tulip Trees from the New World
, where Stoke Newington's nonconformists had strong connections.
and his family. In its final days it became a Wesleyan Methodist training college or seminary c.1838/9-1843, and was then 'recycled' (broken up for sale as building materials for the building trade of the rapidly expanding metropolis), as was common in the Victorian era
. The governorship of the ministerial training establishment at Abney House was granted to the Rev. John Farrar
, Secretary of the Methodist Conference on fourteen occasions and twice its elected President. When the Methodists moved into their first purpose-built college at Richmond
, south of London, in 1843, he became the Classical Tutor and remained there until 1857.
, one of Oliver Cromwell
's generals, from whom it got its name, and then through various parties. It served as a meeting place for Dissenters.
In the grounds was a third building, called the Summerhouse, but it must have been a proper dwelling, because it was taken from 1774 for summer residence by the family of the young James Stephen (1758-1832). Although not a Quaker, he grew up to be closely involved in a cause associated with them, the abolition
of the slave trade. In 1800 he married a sister of his friend William Wilberforce
, who visited Stoke Newington regularly. Between them, the two men drafted the Slave Trade Act 1807.
In 1824, Fleetwood House became the home of a new Quaker school known as Newington Academy for Girls
(also Newington College for Girls). In a time when girls' educational opportunities
were limited, it offered a wide range of subjects (including sciences) "on a plan in degree differing from any hitherto adopted", according to the prospectus. It was also innovative in commissioning the world's first school bus
, designed by George Shillibeer
. One of the school's founders was William Allen
, active with the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade
. His marriage to Grizell Hoare was the subject of a satirical cartoon, in which the school is referred to as the Newington Nunnery. It was also the subject of a doggerel verse in its praise by Joseph Pease
, a railway pioneer and later the first Quaker MP.
Fleetwood House itself was demolished in 1872. A fire station now stands on its site.
Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area . Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is a 13ha (32 acre) park dating from just before 1700, named after Lady Mary Abney
Lady Mary Abney
Mary, Lady Abney inherited the Manor of Stoke Newington in the early 18th century, which lies about five miles north of St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London...
and associated with Dr Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts was an English hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymnwriter, he was recognised as the "Father of English Hymnody", credited with some 750 hymns...
. In the early 18th century, the park was accessed via the frontages and gardens of two large mansions — her own manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
(Abney House), and the neighbouring Fleetwood House. Both mansions fronted onto Church Street
Stoke Newington Church Street
Stoke Newington Church Street is a road in north London of the borough of Hackney. The road links Green Lanes in the west to Stoke Newington High Street , in the east...
in what was then a quiet nonconformist village.
Parkland
In the early 18th century Abney Park was laid out by the first Lady of the Manor of Stoke Newington, Lady Mary AbneyLady Mary Abney
Mary, Lady Abney inherited the Manor of Stoke Newington in the early 18th century, which lies about five miles north of St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London...
, who inherited the estate from her brother and who moved here several years after the death of her husband, Sir Thomas Abney
Thomas Abney
Sir Thomas Abney was Lord Mayor of London.Abney was born in Willesley, which at the time was in Derbyshire but is now in Leicestershire. He was educated at Loughborough Grammar School, where a house is named after him....
. She was helped in the task of landscaping the grounds into an English garden
English garden
The English garden, also called English landscape park , is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical Garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The...
or park by the learned Dr Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts was an English hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymnwriter, he was recognised as the "Father of English Hymnody", credited with some 750 hymns...
, and by the neighbouring Hartopp family of Fleetwood House, who leased the eastern part of the park to Lady Mary.
These landscape improvements included the planting of the Great Elm Walk and Little Elm Walk that established shady walks down to the island heronry
Heronry
A heronry is a breeding ground for herons, sometimes called a heron rookery.- Asia :* Kaggaladu Heronry is in Karnataka state of India...
of the Hackney Brook at the bottom of the park. Both Wych Elm
Wych Elm
Ulmus glabra, the Wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Urals, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese in Greece; it is also found in Iran...
and English Elm
English Elm
Ulmus procera Salisb., the English, Common, or more lately Atinian, Elm was, before the advent of Dutch elm disease, one of the largest and fastest-growing deciduous trees in Europe...
were planted. At the neighbouring Fleetwood House, one of the early UK plantings of a Cedar of Lebanon
Lebanon Cedar
Cedrus libani is a species of cedar native to the mountains of the Mediterranean region.There are two distinct types that are considered to be different subspecies or varieties. Lebanon cedar or Cedar of Lebanon Cedrus libani is a species of cedar native to the mountains of the Mediterranean...
tree had already taken place, adjacent to an ornamental pond. This tree survived into the 1920s and is illustrated in many engravings.
Other trees planted at an early date at Abney Park (either in the portion leased by Fleetwood House, or that attached solely to Abney House) included American Larch
Tamarack Larch
Tamarack Larch, or Tamarack, or Hackmatack, or American Larch is a species of larch native to Canada, from eastern Yukon and Inuvik, Northwest Territories east to Newfoundland, and also south into the northeastern United States from Minnesota to Cranesville Swamp, West Virginia; there is also a...
and Tulip Trees from the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
, where Stoke Newington's nonconformists had strong connections.
Abney House
Abney Park was dominated by Abney House. For some time in the early decades of the 19th century, it was the residence of James William FreshfieldJames William Freshfield
James William Freshfield was an English lawyer and founder of the international law firm of Freshfields. He was also a Conservative politician and Member of Parliament, representing the seats of Penryn and Boston.-Early life:...
and his family. In its final days it became a Wesleyan Methodist training college or seminary c.1838/9-1843, and was then 'recycled' (broken up for sale as building materials for the building trade of the rapidly expanding metropolis), as was common in the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
. The governorship of the ministerial training establishment at Abney House was granted to the Rev. John Farrar
John Farrar (minister)
Rev. John Farrar was a Methodist minister. He served as Secretary of the annual British Methodist Conference on fourteen occasions, and was twice its elected President. Farrar was tutor and governor of several Wesleyan colleges...
, Secretary of the Methodist Conference on fourteen occasions and twice its elected President. When the Methodists moved into their first purpose-built college at Richmond
Richmond
Richmond often refers to:*Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia*Richmond, North Yorkshire, the original Richmond in Yorkshire.*Richmond, London, previously Richmond, Surrey*Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Metro Vancouver...
, south of London, in 1843, he became the Classical Tutor and remained there until 1857.
Fleetwood House
The neighbour to Abney House was Fleetwood House, which was built in the 1630s for Sir Edward Hartopp. By marriage the estate passed to Charles FleetwoodCharles Fleetwood
Charles Fleetwood was an English Parliamentary soldier and politician, Lord Deputy of Ireland from 1652–55, where he enforced the Cromwellian Settlement. At the Restoration he was included in the Act of Indemnity as among the twenty liable to penalties other than capital, and was finally...
, one of Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
's generals, from whom it got its name, and then through various parties. It served as a meeting place for Dissenters.
In the grounds was a third building, called the Summerhouse, but it must have been a proper dwelling, because it was taken from 1774 for summer residence by the family of the young James Stephen (1758-1832). Although not a Quaker, he grew up to be closely involved in a cause associated with them, the abolition
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
of the slave trade. In 1800 he married a sister of his friend William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce was a British politician, a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming the independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire...
, who visited Stoke Newington regularly. Between them, the two men drafted the Slave Trade Act 1807.
In 1824, Fleetwood House became the home of a new Quaker school known as Newington Academy for Girls
Newington Academy for Girls
The Newington Academy for Girls, also known as Newington College for Girls, was a Quaker school established in 1824 in Stoke Newington, then north of London. In a time when girls' educational opportunities were limited, it offered a wide range of subjects "on a plan in degree differing from any...
(also Newington College for Girls). In a time when girls' educational opportunities
Female education
Female education is a catch-all term for a complex of issues and debates surrounding education for females. It includes areas of gender equality and access to education, and its connection to the alleviation of poverty...
were limited, it offered a wide range of subjects (including sciences) "on a plan in degree differing from any hitherto adopted", according to the prospectus. It was also innovative in commissioning the world's first school bus
School bus
A school bus is a type of bus designed and manufactured for student transport: carrying children and teenagers to and from school and school events...
, designed by George Shillibeer
George Shillibeer
George Shillibeer was an English coachbuilder.Shillibeer was born in St Marylebone, London the son of Abraham and Elizabeth Shillibeer. Christened in St Marys Church, Marylebone on 22 October 1797, Shillibeer worked for the coach company Hatchetts in Long Acre, the coach-building district of the...
. One of the school's founders was William Allen
William Allen (Quaker)
William Allen FRS, FLS was an English scientist and philanthropist who opposed slavery and engaged in schemes of social and penal improvement in early nineteenth century England.-Early life:...
, active with the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade
Society for effecting the abolition of the slave trade
The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, , was a British abolitionist group, formed on 22 May 1787, when twelve men gathered together at a printing shop in London, England.-Origins:...
. His marriage to Grizell Hoare was the subject of a satirical cartoon, in which the school is referred to as the Newington Nunnery. It was also the subject of a doggerel verse in its praise by Joseph Pease
Joseph Pease (1799-1872)
Joseph Pease was involved in the early railway system in the UK and was the first Quaker elected to Parliament.-Life:...
, a railway pioneer and later the first Quaker MP.
Fleetwood House itself was demolished in 1872. A fire station now stands on its site.
Sources
- Shirren, A.J. (reprint; 1951 1st ed) The Chronicles of Fleetwood House. University of Houston Foundation: Pacesetter
- Whitehead, Jack (1983) The Growth of Stoke Newington. London: J Whitehead
- Joyce, Paul (1984) A guide to Abney Park Cemetery. London: Hackney Society
See also
- Abney Park CemeteryAbney Park CemeteryAbney Park in Stoke Newington, in the London Borough of Hackney, is a historic parkland originally laid out in the early 18th century by Lady Mary Abney and Dr. Isaac Watts, and the neighbouring Hartopp family. In 1840 it became a non-denominational garden cemetery, semi-public park arboretum, and...
- Temple Lodges Abney ParkTemple Lodges Abney ParkThe Abney Park Temple Lodges are entrance lodges to Abney Park in the London Borough of Hackney.-History:The Abney Park Temple Lodges were designed by William Hosking as entrance lodges to the historic eighteenth century parkland associated with Isaac Watts and Lady Mary Abney...
- Abney Park ChapelAbney Park ChapelAbney Park Chapel, is a Grade II Listed chapel, designed by William Hosking and built by John Jay that is situated in Europe's first wholly nondenominational cemetery, Abney Park Cemetery, London....
- The Reservoirs Nature Society (TeRNS). Wildlife information from Stoke Newington, Hackney N16.