The 1894 Ordnance Survey Map

Large scale of the Albion Road area

At the top is the site of the present Municipal Offices. The houses shown were demolished to build it. Earlier still it had been the site of the Manor House which Queen Elizabeth I is said to have visited about 1578.

After the Restoration in 1660, the Manor House was occupied by a John Gunston, a wealthy linen draper, but by 1695 it was in need of repair and demolished. A row of houses took its place and these are the ones shown on the map.

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St Mary's Church was started in the late Middle Ages but may have been a Saxon foundation. About 1560, a W tower, a S aisle and a S.E. vestry were added. The 1560 windows are gothic. In 1824, Barry added a N aisle. The spire was added in 1829.

The New Church, 1858, by Sir G. G. Scott is an example of Early English Gothic with cut stone quions (corner stones) and rubble walls. It is one of many similar churches which he built. He is more famous for the Foreign Office, the Albert Memorial, St Pancras Station Hotel (not the fine train shed) and his own house in Ellerdale Rd, Hampstead.

The nursery along Church Path, between Clissold Road and Albion Road, gave a rural impression. One could walk from Newington Green to St Mary's Church along a country path past the backs of gardens and this Nursery land. This would have been on the rich Brickearth which was famous for its crops, but some factories seem to have been creeping into Albion Road.

The old Glebe Field has been completely built over. The Victoria County History has a terse note saying that by 1903 the richer people had already left and poorer people taken their place. The 'richer people' here would have been the very well off, with large grounds, stables, conservatories, forcing houses and small orchards, like the ones described in the sale plans of Newington Hall and River View Estate. The houses in Clissold Road were substantial, built for prosperous business and professional peeople with good incomes. In the smaller roads weare two and three storey houses, now sold for high sums, but which were built to be rented at £30 to £35 a year. To achieve this rent they were often let to two or more families, who may themselves have had lodgers.

The 1894-96 Ordnance Survey Map