Site

The nearby information board gives: "It is probable that a church and surrounding churchyard has stood here since before the Norman Conquest, however no records survive of any building before 1275. The small grounds of the old church, originally St Augustine's and later St. John's, were extended on the eastern side in 1763, where the walled garden is now, and again in 1790, to the north, to allow construction of the new church.

In the 1790s Harry Sedgewick, a trustee of the church, oversaw the planting of nearly 200 elm and horse chestnut trees in avenues throughout the churchyard. Railings enclosed each area of tombs with high railings along Lower Clapton Road frontage. In 1893 large areas of the churchyard were cleared of tombs and then later in WWII the railings were removed from the site perimeter and around groups of tombs.

The Northern Recreation Ground on the north side of the church was designed formally. Its central feature is now the War Memorial which commemorates the 13,000 local men who were killed in action, many in the 1/10th (County of London) Battalion Territorial Force (Hackney) which formed in 1914."

Another board informs: "The present parish church of Hackney was completed in 1797. ... Designed by ... James Spiller...".