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Hackney Wick is a neighbourhood in East London, England. The area forms the south-eastern part of the district of Hackney, and also of the wider London Borough of Hackney. Adjacent areas of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, namely Fish Island, are sometimes also described as being part of Hackney Wick. The area lies 4.2 miles (6.8 km) northeast of Charing Cross.
/ref> in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets are also sometimes described as Hackney Wick, due to similar post-industrial land uses and their proximity to Hackney Wick railway station. The boundary runs along Wallis Road and the railway.
The core area lies west of the Lee Navigation, here called Hackney Cut, however the parts of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park within Hackney have often also been described as Hackney Wick, and the East Wick
/ref> development within the Olympic Park reflects that.
The A12 and East Cross route form major barriers to the north and west (within Hackney), though the Wick Woodland
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In the Ancient Rome period the River Lea was much wider, and the tidal estuary stretched as far as Hackney Wick. In 894, a force of
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Historically, Hackney Wick was an area prone to periodic flooding. The construction of the canals and relief channels on the Lea alleviated that and allowed the development of the area. In historic times, the marshes were used extensively for grazing cattle, and there was limited occupation around the 'great house' at Hackney Wick. This area as well as the marshes were historically part of Lower Homerton (also a part of the parish of Hackney). The former Hackney Brook once flowed through the area, with a confluence with the Lea a short distance to the south in Old Ford.
The area had its roots in the landholding called Wick Manor, in the parish of Hackney, which was farmed from a large building known as Wick House. In 1745 the population was limited to Wick House and a handful of cottages. There was very little urbanisation until the rapid growth of the 1860s and 1870s, which followed the arrival of the railway station.Juliet Davis (2016) The making and remaking of Hackney Wick, 1870–2014: from urban edgeland to Olympic fringe, Planning Perspectives, 31:3, 425–457, DOI: 10.1080/02665433.2015.1127180
It was no doubt conditions such as these which hastened the involvement of Eton College about this time to instigate their urban mission in Hackney Wick, a philanthropic and perhaps more accurately pedagogical outreachArthur C. Benson, Hugh, Memoirs of a Brother, chapter eight shared with several other public schools.Boys Own Paper 1915-1919 The Eton Mission lasted from 1880 to 1971 when the college decided that a more local social project was appropriate for changed times, and has left as legacy a fine church by G. F. Bodley, a noted rowing club, and the 59 Club.
In the last quarter of the eighteenth century, water mills on the Hackney Brook were adapted for the manufacturer of silk, and in particular crêpe. In 1811, it was said that 'the works at these mills are moved by two steam engines, on an improved principle, which set in motion 30,000 spindles, besides numerous other implements of machinery used in the manufacture.'D.Lysons, The Environs of London, (London, 1811) p.295.
The world's first true synthetic plastic, parkesine, invented by Alexander Parkes, was manufactured here from 1866 to 1868, though Parkes' company failed due to high production costs. In contrast shellac, a natural polymer was manufactured at the Lea Works by A.F. Suter and Co. at the Victory Works for many years. The factory at nos 83/4 Eastway commenced operation in 1927. Subsequently, they relocated to Dace Road in Bow. A.F.Suter and Co.,Shellac Manufacturers accessed: 11 December 2007 For many years Hackney Wick was the location of the oil distiller Carless, Capel & Leonard, credited with introduction of the term petrol in the 1890s. London's Lea Valley -More Secrets Revealed, Jim Lewis (Phillimore 2001) pp.65–7 The distinguished chemist and academic Sir Frederick Warner (1910–2010) worked at Carless's Hackney Wick factory from 1948 to 1956. Papers of Sir Frederick Warner FRS accessed: 17 February 2020 William J Leonard (1857–1923) was followed by his son Julian Mayard Leonard (1900–1978) into the firm, where he became managing director and deputy chairman. Biographical Database of the British Chemical Community accessed 11 December 2007
The firm of Brooke Simpson Spiller at Atlas Works in Berkshire Road had taken over the firm of William Henry Perkin at Greenford Green near Harrow in 1874, but subsequently disposed of some operations to Burt Bolton Heywood in Silvertown. accessed 11 December 2007 Nevertheless, Brooke Simpson Spiller is the successor company to the founding father of the British Dyestuff Industry. accessed: 11 December 2007 The company employed the brilliant organic chemist Arthur George Green (1864–1941) from 1885 until 1894, when he left to join the Clayton Aniline Company in Manchester and ultimately, when the British chemical industry failed his talents, to the chair of Colour Chemistry at Leeds University. At Hackney Wick, Green discovered the important dyestuff intermediate Primuline. He was a contemporary of the organic chemist Richard John Friswell (1849–1908) who was from 1874 a research chemist, and from 1886 until 1899 director and chemical manager. Perhaps even more distinguished was the Jewish chemist, Professor Raphael Meldola FRS, who is remembered for Meldola's Blue dye and is commemorated by the Royal Society of Chemistry's Meldola Medal. He worked at Hackney Wick from 1877 until 1885, Obituaries, Royal Society of Chemistry where Meldola's Blue was discovered. Meldola's Blue accessed 11 December 2007 Meldola's Blue accessed 11 December 2007 Friswell went on to succeed Armstrong as Professor of Chemistry at Finsbury Technical College. Julian Levett Baker obituary, RSC 1958 accessed 13 March 2018 Friswell eventually left Hackney Wick to work for the British Uralite Company at Higham although he was still a director there in 1893 when he wrote to H.E. Armstrong to describe bad trading conditions at Atlas Works. Imperial College papers of HE Armstrong accessed 13 March 2018 A large collection of Hackney made dyestuffs is on view at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney Australia. Powerhouse Museum,Sydney,Australia accessed: 11 December 2007 The firm of W.C.Barnes of the Phoenix Works was also engaged in the aniline dye industry at Hackney Wick.
The confectioner Clarnico is synonymous with Hackney Wick. The company, known as Clarke, Nickolls, Coombs until 1946, arrived in Hackney Wick in 1879. Hackney: Homerton and Hackney Wick, A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 10: Hackney (1995), pp. 92–101 accessed: 10 December 2007 British Library Catalogue accessed 6 April 2008 Despite being taken over by Trebor Bassett, the name lives on in Bassett's Clarnico Mint Creams Clarnico Mint Creams accessed 10 December 2007 and also in the CNC Property company. CNC Properties-History accessed 10 December 2007 Just after the second world war, Clarnico was the largest confectioner in Britain but moved further across the Lea to Waterden Road in 1955 where it survived for another 20 years. The company had its own brass band in the early 20th century.
Another pathfinding entrepreneur in Hackney Wick was the Frenchman, Eugene Serre. His father, Achille Serre, who had settled in Stoke Newington, introduced dry cleaning to England. Design Journal 1970 (6) accessed 9 December 2007 The Achille Serre Story by Roy Brazier accessed 9 December 2007 Eugene expanded the business into a former tar factory in White Post Lane which still carries traces of the firm's name.
The Atlas Works of 1863, backing onto the Lee Navigation, was demolished to make way for housing in the 1990s. Buildings at Risk in Hackney, (Hackney Society 1987) In the 1930s it had been the home of the British Perforated Paper Co, famous for inventing toilet paper in 1880.
Conversely, concerns have been raised over some of the local effects of the Olympic Park development, including the potential impact to the future of the century-old Manor Garden Allotments, which has inspired a vocal community campaign.
In 2011 the largest ethnic group is White (48.4%), followed by Black or Black British (31.8%), Mixed (11.1%) and Asian or British Asian (8.7%). The remaining 4.4 per cent is made up of other unspecified ethnic groups. As for religion, in 2011 50.4% of residents identified as Christian, 12.7% as Muslim, 1.5% as Buddhist, 1.0% as Jewish, 0.5% as Sikh, 0.4% as Hindu, 0.4% having an unspecified religion, 8.1% not stating their religion, and 25.1% having no religion.
The area has also a number of established creative arts venues with the Schwartz Gallery, Stour Space, The Yard micro theatre, and the artists collectives such as the Performance Space, and the White Building, London's centre for art, technology and sustainability which was developed in partnership with the London Legacy Development Corporation and is occupied by Space studios.
Following the Olympic Games in 2012, Hackney Wick has seen the onset of rapid gentrification in part due to the opening of new residential locations within the Olympic legacy site but also specifically the artist culture which has been long established in recent history.
The historic Hackney Wick Stadium, well known throughout the East End for greyhound racing and speedway, became derelict in the late 1990s and closed in 2003. However, it became the site for the 2012 Olympic media and broadcast centre and, after the Games, was to be turned over for commercial use.
There are many other signs of revival. Not only will the area benefit from the 2012 Olympics development, but London's artistic community, increasingly forced out of the old warehousing and industrial zones to the south of Hackney borough and in Tower Hamlets by rising rents, are taking an interest in the more affordable industrial buildings out at the Wick. Though rents rose through 2011 and 2012 because of the upcoming Olympics. Hackney Wick's first arts festival, Hackney Wicked, took place from 8 to 10 August 2008. The festival weekend included show openings from a series of the Wick's local art venues, including Mother Studios, Elevator Gallery, The Residence, Decima Gallery, Schwartz Gallery, Show Dome, Mainyard Gallery, Top and Tail Gallery, The Peanut Factory and Wallis Studios. 2009 saw the staging of a second 'Hackney Wicked' arts festival, which took place from Friday 29 July to Sunday 1 August. The Festival had the 4th edition in 2011, taking place between 29 July and 31 July where you can watch a film of its true spirit. In September 2012, Hackney Film Festival curated an outdoor canal-side screening of Andrew Kötting and Iain Sinclair's olympic sized travelogue 'Swandown', with a Q&A session at Carlton London Exhibition Space, during the closing ceremony of the Paralympics. The evening was hosted by Gareth Evans in association with the Mayor of London.
The notable 59 Club for motorcyclists was founded at the Eton Mission church in 1959 in Hackney Wick.
A song titled "Hackney Wick" is featured on singer Rose Gray's debut studio album Louder, Please, released on 17 January 2025.
Victoria Park railway station was on the North London Railway to Poplar, which closed to passengers in 1943 Hackney: Homerton and Hackney Wick, A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 10: Hackney (1995), pp. 51–59 accessed: 4 December 2007 and to goods in the early 1980s. It was on the site of the present East Cross Route and opened in 1866 at the former junction of the Stratford and Poplar lines, replacing a short-lived station of 1856 on the north side of Wick Lane (now Wick Road). No trace of either remains. The redundant viaduct carrying the former goods line to the Millwall docks over the East Cross Route was removed in the 1990s. The present Hackney Wick railway station was built on the 1854 spur from the original North London Line to Stratford. The entrance poles to the former Hackney Wick Goods and Coal Depot (a site now occupied by housing) are still to be seen beside the Kenworthy Road bridge. Branch Lines of East London, J.E.Connor (Middleton Press 2000)
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