A lot is packed into this 54-acre park—mostly people. On a sunny day Clissold throngs with Stokenewingtonites; yummy mummies and three-wheeled buggies; gaggles of youths, with or without hoods; lads playing football; and assorted dog walkers. Visitors can see deer and goats in the animal enclosure, diamond doves and love birds in the aviary, and coots and moorhens in the nature ponds. Parents take little ones to the paddling pool (summer months only), toddlers group at the One O’clock Club or the well-equipped children’s playground. The park hosts the usual hodgepodge of circuses and steam fairs as well as the famous arts festival, StokeFest, in the summer. On grey days, chilly days, or in the early hours, peace can be found—in the rose garden perhaps, or underneath one of the ancient trees.
Phone: 0207 923 9797
Email: info@clissoldparkcafe.com
Website: www.hackneyvenues.com/clissold-house
Hours: Open daily.
Admission: FREE
Clissold Mansion, the Grade II listed building just visible from Stoke Newington Church Street, is home to a large, child-friendly cafe. Herbal tea drinkers jostle with dripping ice-cream cone lickers on the sun trap front veranda and circular lawn. The large inside rooms are best avoided if you find children’s chatter grating, but otherwise a lively spot to tuck into a plate of egg and chips. The building was constructed in the late 18th century on behalf of a Quaker family whose daughter was courted by a local reverend—Augustus Clissold. He wooed, then married her, and swiftly changed the name of the estate to Clissold Place. Where is Catherine Cookson when you need her? A hundred years later when the land was up for redevelopment, two influential campaigners persuaded the Metropolitan Board of Works to create a public space, and Clissold Park was born on 24 July 1889. Now run by the London Borough of Hackney, Clissold is kept in check by the Clissold Park User Group, who recently secured a multi-million pound lottery bid to spruce the place up a bit and return it to its former 19th century splendour.
Year round you can hear the yells of football players churning up mud, the whine of iPods as joggers run in ever decreasing circles, the thwack of cricket ball against cricket bat, and the crunch of misthrown Frisbees hitting the litter bins. There is a basketball court and 10 tennis courts (two kiddies’ sized) which are bookable by contacting the Park rangers (020 7254 4235) though they are impossible to get your hands on around Wimbledon—and they say TV doesn’t affect our behaviour.
But one of the delights of this park is the more unusual sport that takes place. On misty mornings you can watch cotton-clad figures practice tai chi, and on warm weekends you can nearly always spot a group of hotties from the London School of Capoeira circling around each other. Then there is the occasional father/daughter pair practising Taekwondo, or two dreadlocked crusties slinging up a line to get some tightrope practice in. Most recent addition to watchable sports in the park is run by ‘Pushy Mothers’—groups of mums exercising with buggies. The buggy, with child on board, is pushed hither and thither by the panting parent. It’s the ultimate in resistance training.
Hackney is one of the greenest inner-city boroughs and though relatively small, Clissold Park is still an important green, shady and watery spot for local wildlife, particularly waterfowl. The two nature ponds are named Beckmere and the Runtzmere in honour of the two principal founders (Beck and Runtz, in case you were wondering). The third pond in front of the cafe is more of a ‘canalette’ and actually used to be part of the New River built in the early 1600s to supply drinking water to London.
The animal enclosure with its fuzzy-nosed deer, fluffy rabbits and bearded mini-goats are popular with visitors who stand stuffing chips and handfuls of poisonous leaves from nearby bushes through the fence directly under the signs saying: ‘Please don’t feed the animals—it will make them ill.’
Note: the paddling pool is not a nature pond and though you still can’t let your dog in, hours spent gazing at its inhabitants are not looked on kindly.
By car: Don’t. There isn’t much in the way of parking. But if you really need to, from Newington Green head north along Green Lanes until you see a large green space with trees on your right. Or from the A10 turn left onto Stoke Newington Church St past all the cute shops and inviting pubs, until you get to the large church on your left. The park is on your right.
By tube: From Manor House, take exit 4 and walk south down Green Lanes for 10 minutes. The park is on your left.
By train: From Stoke Newington station, head south down the High St and turn right up Stoke Newington Church St, walk for 10 minutes until you see the park on your left just past Stoke Newington Town Hall.
By bus: The 341, 141, 73, 393, and 476 all stop at various entrances to the park
London Borough of Hackney www.hackney.gov.uk/clissold-park.htm
Clissold Park User Group www.clissoldpark.com