90 people attended the 18th Stoke Newington History Talks event in St Matthias Halls and it was a great evening with talks about local ghost stories, the area’s pre-historic past and rare archeological finds and my talk about local history items I got on eBay.

Bidding on the Past: Unearthing Stoke Newington’s history through eBay finds by Amir Dotan

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Summary

In this talk Amir Dotan explores local history through nine distinct artifacts he acquired on eBay. He highlights how the platform serves as an informal archive for community history, often turning up rare items at a low cost.

Key artifacts and historical insights covered:

• 1982 High Street Map (3:26): A hand-drawn audit of businesses on the High Street that provides a rare look at the area before major changes, including the site of the former #187 house (now a restaurant) and long-standing institutions like the local chemist (5:30).
• David Paliti Turkish Delight Tin (6:33): A reminder of Stoke Newington‘s industrial past. Dotan discusses the family-run factory on Manor Road (7:42), noted for its unique inclusion of Stars of David on the building’s facade (8:49).
• Coat of Arms (10:08): Dotan examines the borough’s first coat of arms, explaining the symbolism of the trees representing the Forest of Middlesex and the historical merger of Stoke Newington and South Hornsey (12:00). He also traces the emblem’s presence on local landmarks like the library and the old swimming baths (13:00 – 14:15).
• Kelly’s Directory 1910-1911 (15:26): A valuable research tool for identifying residents, businesses, and long-lost pubs like the Falcon (16:34).
• Town Hall Design Competition (18:26): Dotan reviews the original 1933 architectural submissions for the town hall, detailing why the Art Deco design by J. Reginald True Love was ultimately chosen (20:12).
• Official Borough Guides (22:32): He showcases editions from 1959, which provide snapshots of post-war council achievements, local trolley bus routes, and the state of the New River before it was filled in (25:32).
• History of Stoke Newington Book (26:08): A 1919 publication containing detailed churchyard inscriptions and historical engravings that help bridge gaps in local records.
• Clissold Park Acquisition Act (29:08): A look at the 1887 parliamentary act required to save the park from developers, spearheaded by local campaigner Joseph Beck (30:02).
• 73 Bus Route (33:06): A nostalgic look at the history of the 73 bus, once noted as the longest route in London, using materials from a 1963 magazine.

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Stokey 300,000 BC – Stoke Newington’s Old Stone Age by Rebecca Odell

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Summary

This talk by Rebecca Odell, curator at the Hackney Museum, explores why Stoke Newington is an internationally significant site for Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) archaeology.

Key takeaways include:

• The Significance of Stoke Newington: The area provided a rare, preserved “floor” of human activity from 300,000 years ago that escaped destruction by glaciers (4:06-4:36). Over 3,000 artifacts, particularly hand axes, have been discovered here (7:16-7:22).
• Neanderthal Life: The evidence suggests Neanderthals lived in the area, which was then a landscape resembling an African savannah, populated by ancient horses, rhinos, and the massive straight-tusked elephant (4:42-6:33). They were highly skilled, creating complex, aesthetically pleasing stone tools rather than simple “clubs” (8:55-12:56).
• Archaeological Finds: Beyond stone tools, the area has yielded rare finds like sharpened wooden stakes that may represent early building structures or hunting implements (13:27-14:50), as well as evidence of a mammoth kill site (15:21-16:01).
• The Role of Worthington George Smith: The speaker highlights the contribution of Worthington George Smith, an eccentric illustrator and archaeologist whose meticulous records in the 1870s helped define our understanding of this era (17:07-20:00). He was a pioneer in using photography in archaeology and even practiced experimental archaeology to understand how these tools were crafted (19:03-19:54).

Rebecca Odell concludes by inviting the public to visit the Hackney Museum’s current exhibition, “Hackney 300,000 BC,” which showcases these local findings and runs until July 22nd (1:13-1:53, 21:29-21:36).

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Strange Stokey: Ghosts, Hauntings and Uncanny Happenings by Caron Lipman

Recording

Summary

In this talk Caron Lipman explores the history of Stoke Newington through the lens of local ghost stories and folklore. She argues that these uncanny tales serve as a “vivid portal” into the social and local history of ordinary, everyday places.

Lipman shares four distinct case studies:

• The Victorian Haunting (Church Street): A story from the late 1860s concerning the High Houses (built in 1734). It recounts a sighting of a woman that coincided with the death of a governess’s sister in Germany (1:54 – 7:08).
• The Spencer Grove Case: Set in the 1960s, this involves a house in Albert Town where a family claimed to see a Victorian woman and a hunchbacked cobbler. The case gained notoriety when the family successfully petitioned for a rent reduction based on the “haunted” nature of the property (7:13 – 12:54).
• The Hebrew Prayer: A personal research project involving a flat where the occupants heard phantom Hebrew prayers, reflecting the area’s rich history as a refuge for Jewish communities in the early 20th century (12:55 – 17:30).
• The Mildmay Club: A look at the iconic gentlemen’s club in Newington Green. Staff report various phenomena, including unexplained lights, moving objects, and shadowy figures, which Lipman suggests may be connected to the memories of long-time members whose ashes are interred in the garden (17:34 – 24:28).

Lipman concludes by discussing her ongoing project, “Stories of Our Streets,” which aims to document the social history of every street in Stoke Newington through local research and guided history walks (24:29 – 26:48).

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