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Dalston
St Mark's Church, Dalston - geograph.org.uk - 386321.jpg
St. Mark's Church – "Cathedral of the East End"
Dalston is located in Greater London
Dalston
Dalston
OS grid reference TQ345845
• Charing Cross 4 mi (6.4 km) SW
London borough
Ceremonial county Greater London
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town LONDON
Postcode district E8, N1, N16
Dialling code 020
Police Metropolitan
Fire London
Ambulance London
EU Parliament London
UK Parliament
  • Hackney North and Stoke Newington
  • Hackney South and Shoreditch
London Assembly
  • North East
List of places
UK
England
London
51°32′42″N 0°04′12″W / 51.545°N 0.070°W / 51.545; -0.070

Dalston is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) north-east of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas including Kingsland and Shacklewell, all three of which being part of the Ancient Parish of Hackney.

The area has experienced a high degree of gentrification in recent years, a process 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 has never been an administrative unit, and partly for this reason the boundaries are not fully defined. There are popularly understood boundaries in the south and west, but its northern and especially eastern extent is not delineated. This is a common situation in London’s neighbourhoods which often merge, overlap and change over time. There is an electoral Ward of the same name which covers a part of the north–west of Dalston.

Dalston’s boundaries are described with more or less precision below:

  • South: Dalston takes Hackney’s southern border with Shoreditch. Albion Drive forms much of this boundary.
  • West: The originally Roman A10 road (under the names, south to north: Kingsland Road, Kingsland High St, Stoke Newington Road) marks most of Dalston’s western margin. The exception is that both sides of Kingsland High St. are included - here Dalston takes Hackney’s western boundary as it crosses the A10 to take in a small area bounded by Boleyn Road and the Crossway. This area includes Dalston Kingsland Railway Station. The western boundary closely corresponds with the western side of the E8 postal area with which Dalston is strongly associated – though the postal area also takes in parts of central Hackney and Haggerston that aren’t ever described as belonging to Dalston.
  • North: There isn't a tradition of a clear northern boundary with Stoke Newington. Dalston’s close association with the E8 postal area means that its ‘sphere of self-identification’ doesn’t extend far, if at all, beyond the postcode boundary, and no further north than Farleigh Road.
  • East: Between Downs Road and Amhurst Road, the physical barrier of the railway embankment marks the postcode boundary with Lower Clapton. There is little tradition of a boundary with the central Hackney area except that it is sometimes said that Dalston extends 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, including Kingsland Road as it travels through London.

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 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 people

  • Tony Blair, Labour politician and former Prime Minister, lived at 59 Mapledene Road 1980–86
  • Martina Evans, poet, lives in Balls Pond Road and has referenced Dalston in some of her poems.
  • Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, performers, shared a house on St Mark's Rise in Dalston in the early 1980s
  • Sam Lee, folk musician and ethnomusicologist
  • Emily Lloyd, actress
  • Diane Morgan, interviewer from Bolton
  • Charles James Martin, director of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine
  • Alan Spenner, bass player with the Grease Band and Roxy Music
  • Rachel Whiteread, Turner Prize-winning artist

Festivals

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.

Area profile

Dalston junction 1
Dalston, looking south towards The City. A major traffic nexus. (October 2005)

Contemporary Dalston is a lively neighbourhood with an ethnically varied population. Architecturally it is a mixture of 18th and 19th century terraced houses and 20th century council estates. It is currently undergoing rapid gentrification, partly because of the redevelopment of the railway station at Dalston Junction and partly due to the revitalisation of large parts of east London in the build-up to the 2012 Olympics. (Hackney was one of the four host boroughs of the Games.)

Dalston has attracted immigrants for over 100 years; at the turn of the century it was a popular area for newly arrived Jewish people from central Europe. In the 1950s and '60s, as the Jewish community became more affluent and moved out, they were replaced by a large Caribbean community, which accounts for the wide choice of Caribbean food available in Ridley Road. As the Caribbean community slowly drifted out of Dalston it then became popular with the Turkish, as well as the Vietnamese. Recent arrivals include Poles, judging by the numbers of Polish delicatessens now appearing and other stores catering to Polish tastes.

Fassett Square was the inspiration for the BBC soap EastEnders. Originally, there were plans to film the series there, on location. However, Fassett Square (Albert Square) and Ridley Road Market (Walford Market) were rebuilt on the set in Elstree, near Borehamwood, to have a more controlled filming environment. The idea of Walford stems from Walford Road, and many of the houses on the show use the same exterior design. Coincidentally both Barbara Windsor and Tony Holland, one of the original creators of the show, lived at different times on the street.

The Hackney Peace Carnival Mural created in 1985, depicts a group of people marching for peace against "the bomb" and has become an important cultural statement from that era. It can be found opposite Dalston Junction Overground station on Dalston Lane. It has also been used on the cover of an album by local group Rudimental.

That is not the only connection with entertainment industry. Around the corner, music hall artist Marie Lloyd (1870–1922) used to reside on Graham Road. The house now has a blue plaque.

In April 2009 the Guardian published an article on Dalston claiming that it was the "coolest" place to live in Britain. In the same year however, sculpture park The Towers of Hackney was torn down to give way to new buildings.

Transport

Rail

Dalston is on the London Overground network, served by three stations:

  • Dalston Junction stn concourse
    Dalston Junction councourse
    Dalston Kingsland – for London Overground services between Stratford and Richmond or Clapham Junction. This provides Dalston with a direct rail link to Hackney Central, Highbury & Islington, Camden Road, Willesden Junction and destinations in West London.
  • Dalston Junction – for London Overground services between Highbury & Islington and either West Croydon, Crystal Palace, New Cross or Clapham Junction. This gives the area a direct rail connection to Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Canada Water and destinations in South London.
  • Haggerston – partly in the district, served by London Overground trains between Highbury & Islington and West Croydon, Crystal Palace, New Cross or Clapham Junction.

All stations are in London fare zone 2, and Oyster Cards are valid for travel from Dalston to other destinations in London. Dalston Junction is the busiest station of the three, with 5.677 million passenger entries and exits at the station in 2017–2018.

There is no direct rail link to Central London, and Dalston is not on the London Underground network. Direct connections to London's Zone 1 can be found at Hackney Central and Highbury & Islington stations. A new station in Dalston has been proposed as part of the Crossrail 2 development.

Buses

Dalston is served by London Buses on routes 30, 38, 56, 67, 76, 149, 236, 242, 243, 277, 488 and N38. Routes 76, 149, 242, 243 and 277 run 24-hours, daily.

Dalston Bus Garage on Shrubland Road has been demolished.

Road

Major roads in Dalston include:

Air Pollution

The London Borough of Hackney measures roadside air quality in Dalston, in particular the concentration of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) in the district. Diffusion tubes which measure the concentration of NO2 in roadside air show that across Dalston, the local roadside air quality failed to meet the UK National Objective of 40g/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre) in 2017.

In 2017, the average roadside NO2 levels in several key locations in Dalston were:

  • Dalston Lane (A104) – 63 μg/m3
  • Kingsland High Street (A10) – 62 μg/m3
  • Kingsland Road (A10) – 52 μg/m3
  • Dalston Library – 39 μg/m3 (which meets the UK National Air Quality objective)

Cycling

Cycling infrastructure is maintained and managed in Dalston by the London Borough of Hackney and Transport for London (TfL).

Several key routes pass through the district, including:

  • Cycle Superhighway 1 (CS1) – an unbroken, signposted route running on residential streets, north–south through Dalston. Northbound, the route carries cyclists to Stoke Newington, Seven Sisters and Tottenham. Southbound, the route passes through De Beauvior Town and Hoxton en route to Moorgate in the City.
  • Quietway 2 (Q2) – an unbroken, signposted route running on quieter streets or shared-use paths, east–west through Dalston. Westbound, the route runs to Bloomsbury via Canonbury, Angel and Finsbury. Eastbound, Q2 runs to Walthamstow via London Fields and Clapton.

Also nearby, there is a signed cycle route through Shacklewell from Hackney Downs to the east, to Clissold Park and Finsbury Park to the northwest. The Regent's Canal towpath passes through neighbouring Haggerston, which runs unbroken from Limehouse to Angel, via Mile End.

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