Editing Stoke Newington (section)

===Administrative history===
The Manor (estate) of Stoke Newington was part of a huge block of land around London held by the Diocese of London. This broad area comprised many estates, stretching from the [[Stepney#Manor and Ancient Parish|Manor of Stepney]] in the east (of which neighbouring Hackney was a part), to [[Willesden]] in the west and [[Hornsey]] in the north. The Manor is recorded, as ''Neutone'', in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086, as part of the [[Ossulstone]] [[Hundred (division)|hundred]] of the county of [[Middlesex]].<ref>[http://opendomesday.org/place/TQ3386/stoke-newington/ Open Domesday Online: (Stoke) Newington], accessed May 2018.</ref> Domesday also records that the Manor was held by [[St Paul's Cathedral|St Paul's]] both before and after the Norman Conquest. Stoke Newington was a [[Prebendary|Prebendary Manor]], providing an income to the work of the cathedral.

The Ancient Parish of Stoke Newington was established to serve the area of the Manor with which it was coterminous<ref>{{cite web|title=A P Baggs, Diane K Bolton and Patricia E C Croot, 'Stoke Newington: Manor', in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 8, Islington and Stoke Newington Parishes, ed. T F T Baker and C R Elrington (London, 1985), pp. 177-178. |publisher=British History Online |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol8/pp177-178 |access-date= 7 September 2020}}</ref> and, like other parishes, would have had its boundaries permanently fixed by the 1180s,<ref>Source describes common theme of parishes becoming fixed in the late 12th century as a result of emerging Canon Law, History of the Countryside by Oliver Rackham, 1986 p19</ref> even if the underlying Manor's boundaries changed (though manor boundaries were generally stable at that date).

From the Tudor period, parishes were obliged to take on a civil as well as ecclesiastical role, with the administration of the new [[Act for the Relief of the Poor 1601|Poor Law of 1601]].

In the 17th century, the [[Ossulstone]] Hundred was subdivided, with the parish of Stoke Newington, on the west side of Stoke Newington High Street, becoming part of the new [[Finsbury division]] and the parish of Hackney to the east becoming part of the [[Tower division]].

The Ancient Parishes provided a framework for both civil (administrative) and ecclesiastical (church) functions, but during the 19th century there was a divergence into distinct civil and ecclesiastical parish systems. In London the Ecclesiastical Parishes subdivided to better serve the needs of a growing population, while the Civil Parishes continued to be based on the Ancient Parish areas.

The [[Metropolis Management Act 1855]] merged the Civil Parishes of Hackney and Stoke Newington into a new [[Hackney District (Metropolis)|Hackney District]]. This proved very unpopular, especially in more affluent [[Stoke Newington (parish)|Stoke Newington]], and after four unsuccessful attempts the two parishes regained their independence when they were separated by mutual consent under the Metropolis Management (Plumstead and Hackney) Act of 1893.<ref>{{cite web |title=Stoke Newington: Local government {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol8/pp194-200 |website=british-history.ac.uk |access-date=7 October 2018 |language=en}}</ref>
 
The [[London Government Act 1899]] converted the parishes into [[Metropolitan Borough]]s based on the same boundaries, sometimes with mergers or minor boundary rationalisations. Stoke Newington was smaller than desired for new boroughs, and there were proposals to re-merge it with Hackney, or to detach Hackney's northern part and join it with Stoke Newington. These proposals were rejected due to the experience of ''"intolerable and interminable feuds"'' between the districts when they were previously ''"forced together"'', and because Parliament recognised that there was ''"great ill-feeling and mutual ill-will... between the inhabitants of the two districts"''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Arthur Balfour, First Lord of Treasury, Hansard: Vol 71, Col 979|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1899/may/18/london-government-bell}}</ref>

[[File:Arms-stoke-newington.jpg|thumb|Coat of Arms of the Metropolitan Borough of Stoke Newington – the motto means 'Look to the past and look to the future']]

Stoke Newington was permitted to become an independent Borough, and most of South Hornsey (also a part of the Finsbury Division was transferred to it to increase the new authority's size. Parts of South Hornsey had previously been exclaves that separated southern Stoke Newington from the rest of the area. The Finsbury Division was abolished.

Stoke Newington lost its independence in 1965, when it merged with the Metropolitan Boroughs of [[Metropolitan Borough of Hackney|Hackney]] and [[Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch|Shoreditch]] to form the new [[London Borough of Hackney]].