Brownswood Park, Hackney
A little-used name for the part of Finsbury Park that lies between Blackstock Road and Green Lanes, in the borough’s extreme north-western corner
Some of the original pipework has been retained as a centrepiece for the housing development that has replaced the filter beds
Brownswood was formerly the local manor, dating back to the thirteenth century. An early version of the name indicates that the landlord may have been called Brand.
In 1852 the New River Company’s filter beds were constructed on the west side of Green Lanes and 150 acres of surrounding land began to be built up soon afterwards. Within two decades there were over a thousand homes on the Brownswood Park estate. Blackstock Road later became a part of the Finsbury Park shopping district. During the 1990s the filter beds were filled in and more housing built.
Some years ago, the erection of barriers to convert streets into cul-de-sacs resulted from efforts to prevent the area’s use as a red light district. The north-eastern end of Seven Sisters Road has the only ‘hotel zone’ in the London Borough of Hackney. Brownswood ward has a high proportion of young, single, university-educated residents.
