Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch

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**Shoreditch**
County of London

Status:	Metropolitan borough
Admin. HQ:	Old Street
Created:	1900
Abolished:	1965

Successor:	London Borough of Hackney

The Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch was a metropolitan borough of the County of London between 1900 and 1965, when it was merged with the Metropolitan Borough of Stoke Newington and the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney to form the London Borough of Hackney.

The borough was made up of three main districts: Shoreditch, Hoxton and Haggerston.

1 Boundaries
2 Town Hall
3 Area and population
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Boundaries

The borough comprised the area of the ancient parish of Shoreditch (St Leonard's) plus part of the ancient liberty of Norton Folgate to the south [1] The parish vestry had taken on local administration from the 17th century onwards.

[edit] Town Hall

The impressive façade of Shoreditch Town Hall, now housing small businesses (Sept 2005)

The administrative headquarters of the borough were in Old Street. The original vestry hall of 1866 became the town hall, which was extended and enlarged in 1902 and 1938. The building is embellished with symbolic statuary alluding to the borough motto.

An individual coat of arms was never granted to the Metropolitan Borough; they adopted the arms of the second lord of the manor of Shoreditch, John de Northampton. The moto More light, More Power commemorates the Vestry of St Leonard Shoreditch Electric Light Station^[1]. It was built in 1895 and burned rubbish, to provide both power and steam, to heat the public baths. The building is now home to The Circus Space.

[edit] Area and population

The area of the borough in 1901 was 658 acres (approximately 2.66 km²). The populations recorded in National Censuses were:

Population	34,766	43,930	52,966	68,564	83,432	109,257	129,364	127,164	126,591	124,009	118,668
Year^[2]	1801	1811	1821	1831	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891	1901

Population	111,390	104,248	104,248	^[4]	44,871	40,455
Year ^[3]	1911	1921	1931	1941	1951	1961

After amalgamation, to form the modern London Borough of Hackney, the area became 19.06 km² - approximately 4,710 acres; in 2005, this had a population of 207,700^[5]

[edit] External links

Detail of the town hall facade. Note that the imposing figure representing Progress carries an axe to clear the way to the future. Probably not an image that would be used in more eco-conscious times (September 2005).

Shoreditch Town Hall Trust

[edit] References

^ R. Crosley, London's coats of arms and the stories they tell (Robert Scott, London, 1928)
^ Statistical Abstract for London, 1901 (Vol. IV)
^ Shoreditch MetB: Census Tables at Vision of Britain accessed on 14 Dec 2006
^ The census was suspended for World War II
^ 2005 estimate