Kingsland, London

Kingsland was a small road-side settlement centred on Kingsland High Street on the Old North Road (the present A10), around the junction with Dalston Lane. It is no longer discernable as a separate settlement, though the historic street pattern remains. Since the opening of Dalston Junction station in 1865, the area has become known as Dalston, which was originally a separate hamlet further east. Historically part of the county of Middlesex, the area is within the London Borough of Hackney.HistoryOriginsKingsland derives its name from being the hunting grounds of a Tudor royal residence at Newington Green – hence King's Lands. At the time, the area was still heavily forested – as part of a forest stretching from Shoreditch to Enfield Chase – and roamed by wild bulls, stags and wild boars. Deforestation occurred quickly as the demands of the nearby City took wood for building and firewood, and the cleared land was quarried for brick clay. There were many wells and springs in the district. The (now lost) Pigwell Brook had its source on Kingsland Green and followed the line of the modern Graham Road, before joining Hackney Brook in the region of Church Street (now the Narroway). Another chalybeate spring beyond Dalston was tapped and its water piped to Aldgate in 1535.