Presented by Amir Dotan (www.StokeNewingtonHistory.com) at the 21st Stoke Newington History Talks event on 7 March 2024 in St. Matthias Halls. https://stokenewingtonhistory.com/stoke-newington-history-talks/

1. Amir Dotan
From Houses for Votes to
a Public Park
The Creation of Butterfield Green

2. 1. South Hornsey
2. Reform Act 1832
3. The development of Albert Town
4. Did Stoke Newington need another park?
6. The development of of Butterfield Green in the early 1980s
5. Housing redevelopment in the 1940s-70s

4. Butterfield Green

5. 1. South Hornsey

6. 1846

7. The site of the future Butterfield Green

8. Dynevor Road
Palatine Avenue
N
e
v
i
l
l
R
o
a
d
Allen Road
Matthias Road
Hornsey
Detached
Hornsey
Detached
H
o
r
n
s
e
y
D
e
t
a
c
h
e
d

9. Hornsey
Detached

10. 2. Reform Act 1832

11. Reform Act
1832
Second Reform
Act
1867
Third Reform Act
1884
Representation of
the People Act
1918
21+ 30+
Representation of
the People Act
1928
21+ 21+
Voting rights reforms
Extended voting
rights to more
property owners and
redistributed
parliamentary seats.
Further expanded
voting eligibility,
especially in urban
areas, by reducing
property qualification.
Extended voting
rights to agricultural
workers in rural
areas.
Granted the right to
vote to men aged 21
or over and women
over the age of 30,
who met minimum
property qualifications.
Achieved full
universal suffrage,
granting voting rights
to all men and
women over the age
of 21.

12. The Reform Act aimed to expand the right
to vote by modifying property qualifications
and making the electoral system more
inclusive.
A result of the tension between the Whigs
(Liberals) advocating for democratic
reforms and the Tories opposing radical
changes to maintain traditional structures.
It gave the vote to "Forty-shilling
freeholders" - men in possession of land
worth 40 shillings a year.
‘Rotten Boroughs’ were constituencies with few voters, controlled by wealthy landowners.
Reform Act 1832

13. Men eligible to vote
Before the Reform Act 1832 After the Reform Act 1832

14. 3. The development of Albert
Town

15. The National Freehold Land Society (Founded 1849)
Richard Cobden
(1804 – 1865)
Radical and Liberal politician,
manufacturer, and a
campaigner for free
trade and peace
Samuel Morley (MP)
(1809 – 1886)
Woollen manufacturer and
political radical. Philanthropist,
Congregationalist dissenter,
abolitionist and statesman.
Buried in Abney Park Cemetery
John Bright
(1811 – 1889)
Radical and Liberal
statesman and a campaigner
for free trade

16. John Milton
(1608 – 1674)
Edmund Spenser
(1552 – 1599)
William Shakespeare
(1564 – 1616)
William Cowper
(1731 – 1800)
William Wordsworth
(1770 – 1850)
William Allen
(1770 – 1843)
John Howard
(1726 – 1790)

17. Street name Houses built % of Albert Town
Shakspeare Walk 145 22%
Milton Grove 127 20%
Spenser Grove 102 16%
Cowper Road 88 14%
Howard Road 80 12%
Allen Road 76 12%
Wordsworth Road 15 2%
St. Matthias Square 12 2%
Total 645
Albert Town houses

18. Spenser Grove
Milton Grove
Shakspeare Walk
The houses were built by many builders, resulting in a variety of house designs
Cowper Road

19. 645
Albert Town houses today
Houses

20. Demolished Albert Town houses - What replaced them?
465
Houses

21. 4. Did Stoke Newington need
another park?

23. Population per acre: 56 (50,480 population/864 acres)
Existing public open space per 1,000 people: 1.1 (57 acres of Clissold Park/(50,480/1000))

24. Response to the LCC’s plan from Stoke Newington Borough Council

25. Public Open Space Acres
Clissold Park 57
Abney Park 31
Butterfield Green 5.9
Woodberry Wetlands 5.5
West Reservoir pathway to open in the future 3.65
New River Path + Playarea (West Reservoir) 2.9
Allens Gardens 2.1
New River Path (East Reservoir) 1.3
Yorkshire Grove Playarea 0.4
Quaker Burial Garden 0.2
TOTAL 110.3
Public open space in the former Borough of Stoke Newington today
The standard outlined in the 1943 County of London plan was 200
acres for Stoke Newington

26. 5. Housing redevelopment in the
1940s-70s

27. LCC Bomb Damage Map
1944

28. Albert Town - WW2 Bomb damage
645
Houses

29. Milton Gardens Estate, 1977
Spenser Grove (1970s housing)
Milton Grove (1960s housing)

30. 6. The development of Butterfield
Green in the early 1980s

31. Greater London
Development Plan
1976
Hackney Council
Action Area plan
Shakspeare Walk
Housing Action
Area
County of London
Plan
1943
Comprehensive
urban planning
document that aimed
to guide the post-war
reconstruction and
development of
London, emphasising
greenbelt creation,
and mixed land-use
to address housing
and transportation
needs.
Strategic urban
planning document
guiding land use
policies and
development in
Greater London,
addressing growth,
infrastructure, and
housing.
Targeted urban
development strategy
delineating land use
policies and
initiatives for the
specific improvement
of the Hackney area
in London.
Designated urban
development zone
with specific
housing-focused
initiatives and
policies in place,
aiming to address
and improve living
conditions in that
area.
The Initial
Development Plan
for London
1963
Comprehensive
urban planning
strategy outlining
land use policies and
infrastructure
development for the
city. It identified a
shortage of park land
in Stoke Newington.
London Development Plans over the years

32. 1979

33. 1979

34. 1979

36. Developed in phases due to clearance of the
land in stages and the nature of the funding,
which was provided on an annual basis.
Designed by Angela Hodkinson, Penny
Gardiner and Felicity Roberts.
Butterfield Green was developed in the early
1980s, funded by Hackney Council and from
the Department of the Environment under
the Urban Programme Scheme.

37. Phase
1
Phase
2
Phase
3

38. Named by the local residents’ group after William Butterfield, Architect (1814-1900)
Built 1853

39. Phase
1
Phase
3
Bandstand
The ‘Green’
Water
feature
Playground
Ball games
area
Sitting area
Woodland
Playground
Phase
2
Wild flower
meadow
Orchard
(2007)

40. Milton Gardens
Estate
Butterfield
Green
(on the site of 92
Albert Town houses)
(on the site of 337
Albert Town houses)
1989
1971

41. Phase 1

43. 72-94 Shakspeare Walk, 1977

45. Rear of Shakspeare Walk

47. Milton Grove, 1982

49. Milton Grove, 1977

51. Phase 2

53. Cowper
Road

54. Cowper Road looking north

57. Cowper Road was closed off

58. 39 Cowper Road

59. 39 Cowper Road, 1982
Photo by Marc Caucutt

62. 13-49 Cowper Road (East side)

64. Wordsworth Road, 1982
Photo by Marc Caucutt

66. Photo courtesy of Marc Caucutt
View from back of 33 Cowper Road

69. Wordsworth Road
Photo courtesy of Jan Purkiss

71. The plan outlined the former Baptist church would become a nursery
A sunken playarea was created for the intended nursery
The nursery didn't happen, so it became a residential property

72. Phase 3

75. Allen Road

76. Photo by Rio Tape/Slide Newsreel Group
Allen Road c.1984
Photo by Rio Tape/Slide Newsreel Group

78. Cowper
Road

79. Cowper Road looking south

80. Cowper Road/Allen Road

82. 75 Cowper Road c.1984
Photo by Rio Tape/Slide Newsreel Group

85. Cowper Road, 1977
Town Hall
Approach

88. 71-73 Cowper Road

89. 71-73 Cowper Road, c.1984
Photo by Rio Tape/Slide Newsreel Group

90. 71 Cowper Road c.1984
Photo by Rio Tape/Slide Newsreel Group

91. 71 Cowper Road c.1984
Photo by Rio Tape/Slide Newsreel Group

92. 71
73

93. 71-75 Cowper Road (Rear)
Photo by Rio Tape/Slide Newsreel Group

96. Spenser
Grove

97. Spenser Grove was closed off

98. Spenser Grove, 1977

101. Spenser Grove c. 1984
Photo by Rio Tape/Slide Newsreel Group

103. Spenser Grove c.1984
Photo by Rio Tape/Slide Newsreel Group

106. 90-110 Spenser Grove, 1977

109. W
ordsworth Road

110. Wordsworth Road, 1977

112. Photo courtesy of Jan Purkiss

113. Wordsworth Road, 1977

115. 1986
Photo by Berris Conolly

117. “Butterfield Green is an example of a carefully designed
and imaginative scheme with something to offer to all
sections of the community. It is rewarding to notice that
the park seems to have encouraged a general
improvement in the area and that the surrounding
housing is gradually being upgraded.”
Angela Hodkinson, Chief landscape architect for Butterfield Green
A Place to Play, 1990

119. Thank you