Old Church of St Mary

The Old Church of St Mary stands in Stoke Newington, a quiet corner of the London Borough of Hackney. Built around a medieval south porch and nave, it was largely remodelled in the 16th century with brick walls and a new chancel, chapel and vestry. The church still holds tombs of local figures like John Dudley and Thomas Sutton, while its cemetery contains graves of reformers James Stephen and Anna Barbauld. The building witnessed Parliamentarian strength in the 17th century, electing its own rector and supporting Puritan preachers through the Civil War and Restoration. Later clergy included Sidrach Simpson, criticised for renting pews and neglecting repairs, and Augustus Clissold in the 18th century. After bomb damage in 1940, it was swiftly restored and later adapted by Charles Marriott Oldrid Scott. Inside, visitors find the original 16th-century brickwork alongside later additions such as a north aisle and raised walls. The church’s windows, once donated by Jonathan Eade, were lost in the Blitz but the surviving fabric includes fittings from the 18th and 19th centuries. The tower bells, cast at Whitechapel, still ring above the quiet Stoke Newington streets.