A month after I emailed the council to enquire whether the rare road sign on Manor Road, which had disappeared, had been removed legitimately by the council, in the hope that it could be reinstated, I received confirmation today that it had been stolen and not removed by the council. Signs like this are incredibly rare in urban areas like Stoke Newington because most were replaced following the 1964 Worboys Committee reforms. It was likely one of the very few surviving examples left in London.

The site of Devonshire Square Baptist Church, which stood at the corner of Stoke Newington Road and Walford Road. The congregation moved to Stoke Newington in 1872 from Devonshire Square in Bishopsgate. The church sustained bomb damage during WW2, was later restored, and a smaller church was built on the site. Eventually, it was demolished for a housing development, as was the case with other large Victorian churches in the area over the years. The former church hall building on the left is now Stoke Newington Baptist Church.

122-126 Stoke Newington High St with Brooke Rd in the background.

Then & Now: Allen Road circa 1985 before clearance of houses on the right as part of the creation of Butterfield Green. (Photos by Rio Tape/Slide Newsreel Group)

Broadway Car Spares in Stoke Newington Church Street/Summerhouse Road in the late 70s. Now Oakwood Estate Agents. Photo by Mark Barnes (@mbarnesn16)

@HornseyHistSoc do you have any information please about a public library built by South Hornsey in 1898 in 1 Blackstock Road? I’m trying to establish where it was as the road may have been renumbered, as well as any other information you may have. Thank you.

@LondonPubMap Another Sewell pub, the Arundel Arms was a min walk from the Army and Navy.

@dcabcdef @spencebakery That’s an option, yes. Might also consider doing a one-off walk to fund a future project

RT @SlingsbyElaine: @HistoryOfStokey My 11th Great Grandfather, George Martin, was baptised 26 Sept. 1602 in an earlier edition of St Mary'…

Houses in Cowper Road and Wordsworth Road, along with a scrapyard, were being cleared in 1982 as part of the development of Butterfield Green. It was the second of three phases of the park’s development, as funding for the project was allocated annually, with no guarantee that all six acres would be cleared and developed. This section later became a play area. Archival photos were taken by Marc Caucutt, who lived at 33 Cowper Road. The rear of his house can be seen in the photo taken from Wordsworth Road, which shows the van.

Paradise Row, Stoke Newington Church St in 1879. Historically home to Stoke Newington's wealthiest residents, often bankers and merchants, some of whom were renowned abolitionists. Note St. Mary’s new church is without a steeple. While the church was consecrated in 1858, a steeple was only added in 1890.

Then & Now: Rectory Road.

Paradise Row, Stoke Newington Church St, in the late 1930s shortly after Millington House in the middle was built as social housing by the London County Council on the site of Paradise House, a large, 18th-century detached house. Historically, Paradise Row was home to Stoke Newington's wealthiest residents, often bankers and merchants, some of whom were renowned abolitionists. The character of this once picturesque and affluent part of Stoke Newington changed in the 1930s and 1950s as some of the old, grand houses were demolished to build social housing by the London County Council, the road was widened in places, and the New River opposite in the park was drained in 1958.

'Stoke Newington Home in Photos: The Grade II-listed property in London dates to the 1730s and was recently renovated by Butler Hegarty Architects'

The Arundel Arms, 146-148 Boleyn Road, Stoke Newington (1936-2013). Designed by Truman brewery's prolific principal architect, Arthur Edward Sewell who also designed the Red Lion, Rose & Crown and Army & Navy in the area. He designed around 50 pubs during the interwar years.

According to Darren Silk, an Architectural Assistant at Devlin Architect Ltd., whom I often consult on historical architecture, the two fireplaces at 77 Stoke Newington Church Street—a seven-bedroom, Grade II-listed early 19th century house that recently came on the market— are most likely original and date from the 1820s-1840s Late Regency / William IV period. (Photos by @CaronLipman)

Shop sign reveal in 143 Stoke Newington Road opposite Amhurst Road. Photo courtesy of Greg Ullyart.

Bethune Road was possibly named by Matthew Allen, who built Allen’s Estate in Bethune Rd/Manor Rd, after Béthune in northern France. The word 'Bethune' is derived from the Old French 'Bez-tun', which means 'at the 2 streams'. Darren James Silk, a descendant of Matthew Allen, who has researched his ancestor’s 1880s housing estate provides this possible explanation: “Manor Road already existed and the housing of Matthew Allen's design was specifically French Second Empire in design. Given that he chose all of the buildings to be French in design as well as planting out the gardens in mostly French plants the French name would have came after the construction of the housing, which means he would have likely been the influence for naming the street, as the houses opposite by another builder are not explicitly French Second Empire in style. Bethune Road was built as part of the development of Stoke Newington from a Manor Estate into a housing estate. Matthew Allen's parcel, which he bought included the existing stretch along what was then the existing rural Manor Road, but was mainly the long stretch of what is now Bethune Road. Before it would have just been a dead end field track with no name. As also the reservoirs wouldn't have been properly formed either until just before the estate.” You can watch Darren Silk’s 45min presentation about the creation of the Allen Estate here: