THE PARISH BOUNDARIES
The Parish Boundary Markers
From its medieval origins as an agricultural hamlet, Stamford Hill became a fashionable Georgian outer suburb for London. With the arrival of public transport in the second half of the nineteenth-century the area quickly developed, and the population grew.
Parish boundary markers in Threadneedle street, the City of London showing the marker for St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange in 1796
The Parish of S. Bartholomew on Stamford Hill, starting as the Mission of S. Alban in 1897, was formed into an ecclesiastical parish in 1903. The locality was marketed by property developers as South Tottenham Village where the air was clean, being located at the terminus of the trams that ran north from the City. The new parish crossed the boundaries of the two medieval parishes of S. John at Hackney and All Hallows’, Tottenham – this former parish boundary still marks the line between the London boroughs of Hackney and Haringey. Tucked into the streetscape of the parish are a series of nineteenth-century boundary markers. These are fragile remnants of London’s social history and are detailed in this article to record them before they experience further deterioration and neglect. It is rare to find an extensive set of boundary markers extant, eight in all, and in such proximity.
Before London had any corporate government, and long before the London Boroughs were formed by the London Government Act of 1899, it was the ecclesiastical parishes that were the administrative unit for providing local services. The Parish Vestry appointed officials like the parish constable, maintained roads and bridges, sometimes provided a parish fire engine, collected tithes and rates, and assisted with the funding of education and the relief of the poor and the sick. The parish existed primary to support its local church but over time additional duties both civil and ecclesiastical were given to the Vestry whose officers included the incumbent (the parish priest), the Churchwardens and other vestrymen. The lay members of the Vestry were elected, and even today the election of Churchwardens is still open to all residents of a parish.
The St John at Hackney Parochial Fire Engine, in use from 1838 and kept at St Augustine’s tower. Now on display at Hackney Borough Museum
The boundary between Hackney and Tottenham had existed for centuries. It was formed of a natural feature, as was often the case. A stream used to flow along the edge of Bailey’s Lane (renamed Craven Park Road in 1920) and this formed the boundary. It was essential in the days before maps, and at a time when many people could not read or write, to ensure that local residents knew the boundaries of their own parish and passed this information on to the next generation. This indoctrination was carried out in a ceremony called Perambulation of the Bounds. It usually took place each Rogationtide (the three days before Ascension Day) when the vicar, prominent parishioners and schoolchildren traversed the parish to inspect the condition of the boundary markers and make sure they hadn’t been disturbed. Participants were equipped with wands of stripped willow to ‘beat the bounds’.
There are three locations along the old parish boundary where markers can still be found set into the pavement or adjoining walls. Upon the markers are the names of the serving churchwardens of S. John of Hackney and All Hallows’, Tottenham– it was to these officers to whom applications could be made under the Poor Laws. The markers showed residents to whom they could turn in times of need at a time long before the Welfare State.
On the north side of Castlewood Road. Dated 1834, and recording the initials of the Church Wardens of Tottenham Parish with a Christian cross between the letters
The two boundary markers side by side in Castlewood Road. The larger marker dated 1890 for St John at Hackney still has the word Churchwardens visible but much else is indistinct. Between the markers is carved a bench mark used in surveying.
A stone boundary marker set into the wall at the western end of Craven Park Road. The Boundary of the Parish of St John at Hackney. Philip Pike, John Jeffray, Church Wardens 1850
Two cast iron boundary markers at the western end of Craven Park Road, both record the initials of the Churchwardens. The left hand marker dated 1879 for Tottenham Parish and the right hand dated 1898 for St John at Hackney. Both recently damaged with paint.
Two cast iron boundary markers at northern end Olinda Road. The markers show the change after the 1899 London Government Act. Neither record the names of Churchwardens but rather to the left the initials of Totteham Parish’s Overseers of the Poor, and to the right, for the recently created Metropolitan Borough of Hackney, dated 1908, the name is given of the Mayor, George Billings.
Located at the northern end of Olinda Road and facing the two boundary markers illustrated above. This cast-iron marker for T[ottenham] P[arish] carries the date 1887. It records the initials of the parish’s Churchwardens and the Overseers of the Poor.