Upper Clapton

Upper Clapton is a district in the London Borough of Hackney.Upper Clapton approximates to the northern part of the E5 (Clapton) postal district. The district borders the River Lea (spelled Lea or Lee) to the east and the border with Lower Clapton to the south is marked by the Lea Bridge and Kenninghall Roads.Neither Upper Clapton nor the wider Clapton area have ever been an administrative unit and consequently their extent has never been formally determined. Describing Upper Clapton as northern E5 is useful but also informal and imperfect, for instance a small area of Clapton Common and the immediately adjacent community is excluded from the postal district despite almost always being publicly viewed as being part of Upper Clapton.As is frequently the case with London districts, these boundaries are often uncertain and overlapping because of the meeting of the developing expansion of the original settlements. Western parts of the area are often considered part of a wider Stamford Hill, understandable perhaps because of the public transport junction and shopping area at Stamford Broadway, and that the Hasidic Jewish community identified as being located in Stamford Hill extends into Upper Clapton.HistoryClapton was from 1339 until the 18th century normally rendered as Clopton, meaning the "farm on the hill". The Old English clop - "lump" or "hill" - presumably denoted the high ground which rises from the River Lea. Clapton grew up as a straggling hamlet along the road subsequently known as Lower and Upper Clapton Road, and as the area became urbanised, the extent of the area called Clapton eventually increased to encompass most of the north-eastern quarter of the Ancient Parish and subsequent Metropolitan Borough of Hackney.