The Victorian period is renowned for being the age of the
railway. The first railway stations to open in the borough
were in 1850, one at Hackney and one in Dalston, called Kingsland
Station. Both of these Victorian stations have closed since.
The railway meant people could live further away from where
they worked so people began to live in Stoke Newington,
which before its railway was built in 1872 was a village
surrounded by fields.
In the 1870’s another form of transport appeared,
which we do not see on the streets at all anymore, the horse
drawn tram. You can still see them in the London
Transport Museum in Covent Garden. The trams were very
noisy as the horses had iron shoes and most roads were hard.
They had to pave the streets around schools and churches
with wood so people could hear themselves think!
There was an enormous granary to keep all the food for
the 1,200 horses that pulled the trams for the North Metropolitan
Tram Company. It is still standing, its near the canal on
Kingsland Road and is called Quebec Wharf. It has been converted
into flats. The horses were kept in big stables at night.
The stables had many floors and the horse would walk up
ramps to their box. There was a stable for the tram company
on Kingsland Road. It is still standing too and is also
being converted into flats.
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