Originally called Cockhanger Green, then Newington Common, Stoke Newington Common lies in the parish of West Hackney, not Stoke Newington.
Historically, the Common was used for pasture throughout the year. It used to be considerably larger before strips around the edge were enclosed for private use in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Several early maps survive in the Hackney Archives.
The roads which now dissect the Common (Northwold Road, Rectory Road and Stoke Newington Common) have been in approximately the same location for at least 300 years, connecting Stamford Hill with Clapton and Shacklewell, but they bore no motorised traffic until the past half-century. Hackney Brook used to run along what is now Northwold Road, turning south at the eastern tip of the Common to run down and across Mare Street. The brook was first canalised and then buried in the later 19th Century, following concerns that it was used as an open sewer.
The earliest housing around the Common was on the west side. Sanford Terrace is the only surviving stretch of the terraces built in 1788–90, which graced the entire length until the 1970s, when they were demolished to make way for the Smalley Road Estate. As late as 1868, the area to the north and south was still fields, market gardens and three large houses.
When speculative development in terraced avenues commenced in the 1870s, first in the streets south of the Common, then to the north, the area was discovered to be an important Paleolithic site: excavations revealed many flint tools dated to 400,000 years ago, now in the Museum of London.
The Common became publicly-owned property in 1872, when the railway further split the largest piece of common into two. At that point the Common comprised 5.5 acres, and the paths and trees were established as they are today. In 1880, Gibson Gardens was built at the north-west corner of the Common. An early example of quality tenement dwellings for working class people, Gibson Gardens used to look over Raines Dairy to the Common, but it is now masked from the Common by the Peabody Trust's new Raines Court development on the same site.
British History Online - A history of Newington and Stamford Hill Wikipedia - Stoke Newington Common
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