The 10th Stoke Newington History Talks event was a packed event as always in St Matthias Halls. It was great seeing so many familiar faces from previous events and both Ruth and Laurie captivated the audience with their descriptions of the Willows Estate on Carysfort Road and the Hackney Brook respectively. https://www.slideshare.net/HistoryofStokeNewing/stoke-newington-history-treasure-troves-by-amir-dotan https://www.slideshare.net/HistoryofStokeNewing/the-willows-estate-rural-to-industrial-to-gated-development-in-stoke-newington-by-ruth-swirsky https://www.slideshare.net/HistoryofStokeNewing/this-plashy-stream-memories-of-the-hackney-brook-by-laurie-elks

The 9th Stoke Newington History Event was held on the 25th of February in St Matthias Halls. It was great to see the hall packed and as always, the evening offered an eclectic mix of topics, from Stoke Newington's pub rock venues of the 1970s, to an unseen collection of photos of the area taken …

Continue reading 25.02.2019 – Stoke Newington History Talks #9

I became interested in red pillar postboxes after reading about them in a book about London street furniture. I was intrigued to see how many pillar postboxes in Stoke Newington might be considered rare. More generally, I was also interested to see the number of postboxes by Royal Cypher, which gives a rough indication when …

Continue reading Surveying Stoke Newington’s red pillar postboxes 

18 months ago I had an idea to install a plaque on Barton House GP, the site of the home of Clissold Park co-founder Joseph Beck, who led the campaign in the mid 1880s to save the park from development. While there’s a commemorative fountain in the park to honour Joseph Beck and his ‘partner-in-crime’ …

Continue reading 10.11.2018 – Joseph Beck plaque unveiling ceremony

The 8th (and 2-year anniversary!) Stoke Newington History Talks event was held in St Matthias Halls on November 14th. All 100 tickets sold out in 12 hours. It was a great event in front of packed audience. I talked about Stoke Newington’s historical boundaries and how present perceptions of Stoke Newington are subjective and vary …

Continue reading 14.11.2018 – Stoke Newington History Talks #8

https://youtu.be/TcIeVpigK34 It was a pleasure talking to Helen Mulroy from BBC London News about my photo mash-up project. I love how the mash-ups were overlayed onto the footage to create a 'mash-up in motion'.

My survey of Stoke Newington coal hole covers made it to the Hackney Gazette. It's great seeing the photos in print in a double-spread. You can access the article online here.

I completed a photo survey of coal holes covers within the boundaries. I only started notice these case iron objects a few months ago and have been fascinated to see so many different patterns and designs so I decided to document all of them. I checked every Victorian house in every street in the boundaries of …

Continue reading Photo survey of Stoke Newington coal hole covers 

The 3rd Stoke Newington History Talks event at the White Hart pub was a great success, with a packed function room and brilliant talks from Ken Worpole and Alan Denney. Ken talked about the birth of the Garden City Movement, which began in Stoke Newington. Alan presented photos from the 1970's and 1980's, which are …

Continue reading 22.05.2017 – Stoke Newington History Talks #3: Images from the 70s-80s, Church St property survey, Garden City Movement

I had a great time talking to Ken Worpole about my property survey of Stoke Newington Church Street 1847-2017 as part of the Stoke Newington Literary Festival. The event was sold out (120 tickets) and there was a terrific vibe in the jam-packed Gallery Hall in Edward's Lane. My presentation slides are available here. The complete property survey …

Continue reading 04.06.2017 – Stoke Newington Literary Festival