An old book on Hackney (sordid and dull)

This is the Hackney and Stoke Newington section of The Fascination of London which was contributed by the University of California.

It includes items such as this: THE way from London to Hackney was, during the last century, a way of terror. The newspaper- cuttings of the period show innumerable highway
robberies committed, particularly about Cambridge Heath. Dick Turpin, whose favourite resort was the White Horse in Hackney Marshes, must have found this a happy hunting-ground, as numerous coaches passed from London northward and back
again.

The part of the ward to the west of Mare Street is sordid and dull. The Cat and Mutton
Bridge over the canal forms the extreme boundary of the parish, and what is now the Broadway used to be called Mutton Lane. On the east side of this stood a bun house, which once rivalled that of Chelsea.