HAGGERSTON, a parish in the Tower division of
the hundred of OSSULSTONE, county of MIDDLESEX, 1
mile (N.E. by N.) from London. The population is re"
turned with the parish of; St. Leonard, Shoreditch. This
place, formerly an inconsiderable hamlet in the parish
of St. Leonard, Shoreditch, .has, within the last few
years, become an extensive and populous district.
Many new streets have been formed, consisting of neat
ranges of houses of a moderate size; the parish is partially
paved, lighted with gas, and amply supplied with
water. Among the larger of the various works -which
have been erected on the banks of the Regent's canal,
which passes through-the parish, are those of the Imperial
and Independent Gas-light and Coke Companies,
the former of which was established in 1822, for lighting
the eastern district of the metropolis, and the latter
incorporated in 1829. The facility afforded by the canal
has contributed greatly .to increase the trade of the
place: there are several chemical works on an extensive,
scale, manufactories for japanned leather, floor--
cloth, and hearth-rugs 5 a manufactory for bone ashes,
several limerworks, tile-kilns, dye-houses, and coalwharfs,
affording employment, to a considerable portion
of the inhabitants. The parish is within the jurisdiction-
of a court of requests held at Whitechapel, for the
recovery of debts under 40s.
Haggerston was constituted a distinct parish in
1830. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and
diocese of London, and in the patronage of the Archdeacon
of London, The church, dedicated to St. Mary,
and erected in 1827, at an expense of £15,000, by a
grant from the parliamentary commissioners, is a spaqious
structure, blending the early and decorated styles
of English architecture, with a lofty square embattled
tower of singular design, destitute of relief in the lower
part, and profusely ornamented in the upper with
crocketed pinnacles, with which a smaller tower rising
from the centre is connected by flying buttresses; at thp
western extremities of the aisles are octagonal turrets,
with domed roofs surrounded by crocketed pinnacles
rising from the angles; the interior, which is neatly arranged,
contains one thousand nine hundred and sixty
sittings, of which one thousand are free. There are
places of worship for Independents and Wesleyan Methodists.
Sunday schools in connexion with the established
-church and -the dissenting congregations are
supported by subscription, and an infant school is about
to be established. Six almshouses, for six poor members
of the Company of Goldsmiths, were founded in
1705, in Goldsmith-place, in this parish, by Mr. Richard
Morrell, who endowed them with an estate for their perpetual
maintenance. Fourteen almshouses, with a chapel
in the centre, were erected in Kingsland-road, in 1713,
by Sir Robert Geffery, Knt, for poor members of the
Company of Ironmongers. On the south side of the
Ironmongers almshouses are twelve others founded by
Mr. S. Harwar, citizen and draper of London, of which six
are for poor freemen of the Drapers Company, and six
for poor persons of the parish. To the north of the
Ironmongers almshouses are twelve for poor freemen
of the Company of Frame-work knitters and their
widows, founded by Thomas Bourne, Esq., who gave
£1000 for their erection,, and £2000 for their endowment,
towhich additions have been made by subsequent
benefactions.