De Beauvoir Town: Difference between revisions
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[[Fi Glover]] is the presenter of [[Saturday Live (BBC Radio 4 show)|Saturday Live]] on [[BBC Radio 4]]. She's a BBC journalist and presenter. Her style is characterised by a mix of serious journalism and subtle satirical and sarcastic comment. [[Edmund Gosse]] was a poet, author critic, and the son of naturalist [[Philip Henry Gosse]]. De Beauvoir Town is home to William Lyttle, a 75-year-old retired electrical engineer, known as the ''Mole Man of Hackney''. During this time Mr Lyttle has been digging a series of [[tunnels]] under his property on the corner of Mortimer Road and Stamford Road. In 2001, his tunnelling caused an {{convert|8|ft|m|abbr=on}} hole to appear in the pavement on Stamford Road. Reports that the tunnelling had started again in 2006 were confirmed when [[Hackney Council]] found a web of tunnels and caverns, some 8m (26ft) deep, spreading up to 20 m in every direction from his house. In August 2006, the Council succeeded in getting a court order banning Mr Lyttle from his property while they carry out emergency repairs.<ref>[http://society.guardian.co.uk/communities/story/0,,1839538,00.html ''After 40 years' burrowing, Mole Man of Hackney is ordered to stop''] ''[[The Guardian]]''</ref><ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2304981,00.html ''Mole Man faces £100,000 bill for undermining the neighbourhood''] ''[[The Times]]'' Online- </ref> |
[[Fi Glover]] is the presenter of [[Saturday Live (BBC Radio 4 show)|Saturday Live]] on [[BBC Radio 4]]. She's a BBC journalist and presenter. Her style is characterised by a mix of serious journalism and subtle satirical and sarcastic comment. [[Edmund Gosse]] was a poet, author critic, and the son of naturalist [[Philip Henry Gosse]]. De Beauvoir Town is home to [[William Lyttle]], a 75-year-old retired electrical engineer, known as the ''Mole Man of Hackney''. During this time Mr Lyttle has been digging a series of [[tunnels]] under his property on the corner of Mortimer Road and Stamford Road. In 2001, his tunnelling caused an {{convert|8|ft|m|abbr=on}} hole to appear in the pavement on Stamford Road. Reports that the tunnelling had started again in 2006 were confirmed when [[Hackney Council]] found a web of tunnels and caverns, some 8m (26ft) deep, spreading up to 20 m in every direction from his house. In August 2006, the Council succeeded in getting a court order banning Mr Lyttle from his property while they carry out emergency repairs.<ref>[http://society.guardian.co.uk/communities/story/0,,1839538,00.html ''After 40 years' burrowing, Mole Man of Hackney is ordered to stop''] ''[[The Guardian]]''</ref><ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2304981,00.html ''Mole Man faces £100,000 bill for undermining the neighbourhood''] ''[[The Times]]'' Online- </ref> |
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==Elected representatives== |
==Elected representatives== |
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Revision as of 04:29, 1 July 2008
De Beauvoir Town [dē bō-vwär' toun] is a district of the London Borough of Hackney, in North London. Its borders are Kingsland Road in the east, Southgate Road in the west, the Regent's Canal in the south and Tottenham Road in the north.
It shares the northern London postal district of N1 with neighbouring Islington, Barnsbury, Canonbury and Hoxton.
History
19th Century
Until 1820 the area now covered by De Beauvoir Town was open country with a few grand houses. In 1821, stimulated by the opening of the Regent's Canal the previous year, developer William Rhodes secured a lease for 150 acres (0.61 km2) of land from Peter de Beauvoir. Rhodes planned to build residences for the upper classes in a grid pattern, with four squares on diagonal streets intersecting at an octagon. However, work stopped in 1823 when Rhodes was found to have obtained his lease unfairly and after a court case spanning over 20 years the land reverted to the de Beauvoir family in 1834.
The delay in building had meant that Rhodes' clientele had since moved on to the new suburbs of the West End. The scheme was scaled down and of the planned squares only the southeastern was built, as De Beauvoir Square, although the diagonals partly survived in Enfield Road, Stamford Road and Ardleigh Road. Occupied in the 1840s by the newly emerging middle classes, the estate was almost wholly residential, except around Kingsland Basin and the south-west corner where a factory was leased from 1823.
20th Century
In 1937, due to its easy access to Kingsland Basin, the south-east corner between Downham Road and Hertford Road was re-zoned for industrial use. Soon after all the area south of Downham Road was included. This distinguished it from the north side of Downham Road, which was already zoned for business and acted as a buffer for the mainly residential streets beyond. In 1938 De Beauvoir Crescent was suggested as another business zone to protect housing to the north.
In the early 1960s the northern part of De Beauvoir Town, between Buckingham Road and Tottenham Road was rebuilt as the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney's Kingsgate estate. In the late 1960s a larger area, west of the canal basin, which contained many small factories, made way for the De Beauvoir Town council estate. The east side of De Beauvoir Square was also lost to the Lockner Road estate. In 1968 the De Beauvoir Town association was formed and the rest of the square with the area bounded by Englefield Road, Northchurch Road, Southgate Road, Hertford Road, and Stamford Road became a conservation area in 1969. This area was later extended to cover most of De Beauvoir Town; the eastern edge, however, is in the Kingsland conservation area.
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Notable residents
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 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2008) |
Fi Glover is the presenter of Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4. She's a BBC journalist and presenter. Her style is characterised by a mix of serious journalism and subtle satirical and sarcastic comment. Edmund Gosse was a poet, author critic, and the son of naturalist Philip Henry Gosse. De Beauvoir Town is home to William Lyttle, a 75-year-old retired electrical engineer, known as the Mole Man of Hackney. During this time Mr Lyttle has been digging a series of tunnels under his property on the corner of Mortimer Road and Stamford Road. In 2001, his tunnelling caused an 8 ft (2.4 m) hole to appear in the pavement on Stamford Road. Reports that the tunnelling had started again in 2006 were confirmed when Hackney Council found a web of tunnels and caverns, some 8m (26ft) deep, spreading up to 20 m in every direction from his house. In August 2006, the Council succeeded in getting a court order banning Mr Lyttle from his property while they carry out emergency repairs.[1][2]
Elected representatives
The local MP is Meg Hillier. Local councillors for De Beauvoir ward are Rob Chapman, Gulay Icoz and Chris McShane.
Education
- For details of education in De Beauvoir Town see the Hackney article
Transport and locale
The nearest underground station is about 20 minutes walk, but in 2010, the East London Line is due to open. This will be part of London Overground and improve transport links to the London Underground network. The area is well served by buses.
Nearest underground stations
- Dalston Junction (opens 2010)
- Haggerston (opens 2010)
Nearest railway stations
Nearby bus routes
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Nearest places
References
- 28 Weeks Later filmed in De Beauvoir. Featured in Hackney Today Issue 158, 07 May 2007. URL: http://www.hackney.gov.uk/hackney-today-158-part1.pdf
- Projects Filmed in De Beauvoir. URL: http://www.hackney.gov.uk/projects-filmed-in-hackney-2.htm
- 'Hackney: De Beauvoir Town', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 10: Hackney (1995), pp. 33-5. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22699. Retrieved: 14 August 2006.
- Building Exploratory. 'Brickfields: Georgian landscape' (n.d.). URL: http://www.brickfields.org.uk/text/georgian-landscape.html. Retrieved: 14 August 2006.
External links
- The De Beauvoir Association - includes further information and image of William Rhodes' original plans
