Dalston, Middlesex

Dalston
Middlesex
St. Mark's Church, Dalston
Location
Grid reference:	TQ345845
Location:	51°32’42"N, 0°4’12"W
Data
Post town:	London
Postcode:	E8,N1,N16
Dialling code:	020
Local Government
Council:	Hackney
Parliamentary constituency:	Hackney South and Shoreditch

Dalston is an urban village of Middlesex, deep within the metropolitan conurbation, four miles north-east of the City of London.

Dalston began as a hamlet within the parish of Hackney, either side of Dalston Lane. As the area urbanised, the term came to apply to surrounding areas including Kingsland and Shacklewell.

The former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who lived in Mapledene Road from 1980–86, described Dalston as being on "the wrong side of Kingsland Road", contrasting the then deprived East End with more fashionable north London districts.

Gentrification has led to a rapid increase in the price of property, with current prices 8% above the London average. The process of change was accelerated by the East London line extension, now part of London Overground, and the reopening of Dalston Junction railway station, part of London's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympics.

Bounds

Dalston is fully contiguous with its neighbouring districts and with undefined boundaries. There are popularly understood boundaries in the south and west, but its northern and especially eastern extent is not delineated.

To the south, Dalston is bounded by the edge of Shoreditch, along Albion Drive. To the west its natural edge is the A10 road, an old Roman road, under the names of Kingsland Road, Kingsland High Street and Stoke Newington Road. To the north it runs into Stoke Newington and to the east there is a physical barrier in the shape of a railway embankment which may make a boundary. Dalston may be said to extend as far as the park at London Fields.

History

The name 'Dalston' is thought to have derived from Deorlaf's tun (farm) in much the same way as nearby Hoxton was named after the farm of "Hoch". The first written record available is from 1294 when the name was written as Derleston.

The village was one of four small villages within the Parish of Hackney (along with Newington, Shacklewell, and Kingsland) that were grouped for assessment purposes, together having only as many houses as the village of Hackney.

John Rocque's map of 1746 shows the village of Kingsland centred on the crossroads at what is now Dalston Junction and the small village of Dalston further east along Dalston Lane. Another clear feature is Roman Ermine Street which now forms most of the western boundary of this area. Ermine Street now has the road number A10 and goes by a number of names.

Around AD 1280 a leper hospital was founded in Dalston by the citizens of London and in AD 1549 it was attached to the chapel of St Bartholomew as an outhouse.

During the 18th and 19th centuries the area changed from an agricultural and rural landscape to an urban one. By 1849, it was described as a recently increased suburban village, with some handsome old houses, and by 1859 the village had exceeded its neighbour and, with the railways and continuous building, the village of Kingsland disappeared.

During the 1930's, 40'sand 60's the areas large Jewish and other minority populations made it a target for provocative rallies by Oswald Mosley and the various 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.

Notable buildings

St Mark's Church is a large, Victorian church primarily built in the period 1864–66 to a design by Chester Cheston. It is reputedly the largest parish church in Middlesex, capable of hosting congregations of 1,800-2,000 people and its great size has earned it the nickname, the "Cathedral of the East End". The residential area around the church is also of high architectural quality and has accordingly been designated the St Mark’s Conservation Area.

FiftySevenEast is a fifteen-floor mixed-use development under construction on the site of the former Peacock’s store on Kingsland High Street. The relatively tall nature of the scheme attracted a degree of controversy.

The German Hospital, locally known as 'The German', is a group of attractive Victorian red brick buildings that were home to a hospital from 1845-1987. The hospital was initially founded to cater primarily for London's then large German-speaking community. It eventually became an ordinary National Health Service facility, before its facilities were merged and moved to Homerton University Hospital.

Popular culture

Dalston is known for music, events and its nightlife. Its biggest festival to date began in 2015, Dalston Music Festival. Centred on Gillett Square and 8 clubs in the surrounding area, it was founded by Andrew Bunsell of Dalston Studios.

The Dalston Culture House

Dalston has always been an important transport and shopping centre. It was also, at one time, an important entertainment centre, with four or five cinemas within a radius of a ⅓ of a mile, and the Dalston Theatre, a former hippodrome and music hall that later became the Four Aces blues club and the Labyrinth nightclub. The Dalston Theatre was demolished in February 2007, despite an active local campaign to save it.

The Dalston Rio Cinema

Dalston was a hub for 1970s and 1980s pub rock venues but these are largely defunct. However, the new Dalston Culture House, the first wing of which has opened on Gillett Square, hosts the Vortex Jazz Club, moved from Stoke Newington in 2005.

Shopping

Dalston's Ridley Road market

Established in the 1880s, Ridley Road Market is opposite Dalston Kingsland railway station. Fruit and vegetables, some fairly exotic, are available. Halal butchers cluster around the high street end of the market.

Ridley Road market is reputedly the basis for the one found in the BBC's EastEnders. The Kingsland Shopping Centre (formerly Dalston Cross) is just south of Ridley Road Market. Kingsland Road and the surrounding streets are home to an ever-growing number of boutiques, bars and cafés.

Cultural references

Interior of St Mark's Church in Dalston

• Run Fat Boy Run (2007 film) was filmed in Dalston (St Mark's Conservation Area). Dennis (Simon Pegg) stays in a flat on Sandringham Road across the road from St Mark's Church.
• The Mighty Boosh (television series): The second and third series are set in Dalston.
• Dalston Songs is a staged song cycle with seven singers created and composed by Helen Chadwick and choreographed by Steven Hoggett. It was based on interviews with people in East London about home and was performed in 2008 at the Royal Opera House.
• Britney Spears recorded the pop video for the song Criminal in Dalston in September 2011.
• British indie rock band Razorlight recorded a song called "Don't go back to Dalston", featured on their debut album Up All Night.
• Connan Mockasin's song "Forever Dolphin Love" mentions Dalston.
• Dalston was featured in an episode of the 1990s Channel 4 comedy series Drop the Dead Donkey, in which the reconstruction of a fictitious post office robbery is staged, in a 'Crime Watch' type parody.

Railways

Dalston has two main stations:

• Dalston Kingsland and
• Dalston Junction;

both served by London Overground and linking with west and south London.

• Haggerston railway station straddles the boundary between Haggerston and Dalston.

Dalston has no direct rail link to central London; passengers often change at Highbury & Islington station for the London Underground.

A new station in Dalston is proposed for the Crossrail 2 line.

Outside links

• History of Dalston & Kingsland Road
• Bombs dropped on Dalston in the Second World War: Bomb Sight