1.
Abney Park (band)
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Abney Park is a steampunk band based in Seattle that mixes elements of industrial dance, world music, and steampunk-influenced lyrics in their work. Their name comes from Abney Park Cemetery in London, formerly a goth band, Abney Park has transformed their look and sound and has been called the quintessential spokespeople of steampunk culture. Abney Park was formed by Robert Brown in 1997 and they released their first full-length album Abney Park in 1998, and in 1999 they released Return to the Fire. Their third album Cemetery Number 1 drew from their first two albums as well as introducing new songs. In the early years of Abney Park, the featured a gothic musical and visual style. Their songs The Change Cage, Black Day and No Life reached number one on the Industrial, Darkwave and Black Metal music charts, respectively. In 2005, the band released Taxidermy, which is a collection of new versions of songs from past albums, three live tracks and two covers. In 2006, the release of the album The Death of Tragedy marked the beginning of a change for the band. After this release, their line-up changed as well, with the departure of Traci Nemeth, Krysztof Nemeth and Robert Hazelton, replaced by Magdalene Veen, Jean-Paul Mayden, shortly thereafter, Jean-Paul departed the band to be replaced by Daniel Cederman. In early 2005, Abney Park transformed themselves from a largely goth industrial band into a steampunk band, as part of that transformation, Abney Park invented fictional identities of themselves. According to that story, the plane collided with a time-travelling dirigible called the Ophelia—said to have been created by a Dr. Leguminous Calgori —in a freak storm. The band commandeered the vessel, deciding to become airship pirates, much of their music since that time has been based around this fictional backstory. In the spring of 2008, Magdalene Veen left the band and was replaced by Finn Von Claret and that year, they released Lost Horizons, their first steampunk-themed album. Finn retired in the summer of 2009 to form Imaginary Daughter, Jody Ellen joined the band later that year and played her first show at Dragon*Con 2009. Also in 2009, the band released Æther Shanties, their tenth album, Nathaniel Johnstone hinted in March 2010 that they were working on songs for their next album, though no names were forthcoming. A recording of a performance of one of them can be found here. The End Of Days, their studio album, was released on October 15,2010. In late 2011, Nathaniel Johnstone left the band, to be replaced by Titus Munteanu, on April 11,2014, Jody Ellen said on her Facebook page that she left the band to carry on her solo career
2.
Abney Park Cemetery
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Abney Park cemetery is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries in London, England. In 1840 it became a garden cemetery, a semi-public park arboretum, and an educational institute. A total of 196,843 burials had taken place there up to the year 2000 and it is a Local Nature Reserve. The official address of Abney Park is Stoke Newington High Street, the main gate is at the junction of this street and Rectory Road, with a smaller gate on Stoke Newington Church Street. The park lies within the London Borough of Hackney, the cemetery is named after Sir Thomas Abney, who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1700–01. The manor of Stoke Newington belonged to him in the early 18th century and his house, built in 1676. Details of the Abney Park Cemetery Company can be found in the diaries of William Copeland Astbury, in 1840, Abney Park opened as a model garden cemetery, a pioneering non-denominational place of rest. Its approach was based on the Congregational churchs role in the London Missionary Society and it also drew on American burial ideas, specifically Mount Auburn in Massachusetts. The trustees would be appointed by the members, under the trust deed, the founders sought to preserve the park in perpetuity. The weakness of the lay in the detail however. In consequence, company income could not be held in trust for the park, from then onwards standardised park-like landscaping principles came to be applied at Abney Park, replacing much of the unique arboretum planting. Air pollution also took its toll, affecting the conifer walks, after the First World War, path infill began to be practised, a situation that became severe in the 1950s and was continued into the 1970s, when the commercial cemetery company went into liquidation. In 1978, apart from one building, the park passed to the local council as a burial ground. Abney Park was included on the Heritage at Risk Register in 2009, as one of Britains historic parks and gardens at risk from neglect and decay. Similarly, from time to time, some sections of boundary wall become too weak due to people climbing over them, and decay has set in. However these matters could be put right and the park is a place to visit, with a range of educational, training and cultural events. It is a designated Local Nature Reserve and Conservation Area, apart from the South Lodge extension on the forecourt, Abney Parks freehold is owned by the London Borough of Hackney. The park is situated near Stoke Newington High Street, London N16 and it occupies 12.53 hectares, which includes a nature reserve, a classroom, a visitors centre and a central chapel which is disused
3.
Stoke Newington
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Stoke Newington is an area occupying the north-west part of the London Borough of Hackney. The historic core on Church Street was the site of the hamlet of Stoke Newington which in turn gave its name to the Ancient Parish of Stoke Newington. Church Street retains the distinct London village character which led Nikolaus Pevsner to write that he found it hard to see the district as being in London at all, Stoke Newington is nicknamed Stokey by many residents. The modern London Borough of Hackney was formed by the merger of three former Metropolitan Boroughs, Hackney and the considerably smaller authorities of Stoke Newington and Shoreditch. These Metropolitan Boroughs had been in existence since 1899 but their names and boundaries were very closely based on much older ancient parishes dating back to the medieval period. As described the Metropolitan Borough largely adopted the Ancient Parishes boundaries, there were minor rationalisations but the major change to the area covered was the transfer of part of Hornsey. Stoke Newington northern and western boundaries have become the north-west borders of the modern London Borough, the eastern boundary was formed primarily by the A10 road where it goes by the name Stoke Newington High St and Stoke Newington Road, further south. -– Where that part of AP\MB of Hackney known as Dalston extends a short way over the A10 to meet Stoke Newington on a line along a road called ‘The Crossway’. The growth means that Stoke Newington is often associated with the N16 postcode, Stoke Newington is part of the Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency which has been represented by Labour MP Diane Abbott since 1987. For a small district, Stoke Newington is endowed with an amount of open space. It was designed, by William Chadwell Mylne, to look like a towering Scottish castle and it is now a nature reserve, a role that it was in many ways intended for, as it was set up as an arboretum. Abney Park became scheduled in 2009 as one of Britains historic parks and gardens at risk from neglect, finally, across the high street to the east is the fragmented Stoke Newington Common, which has had an extensive and diverse programme of tree planting. From the 16th century onwards, Stoke Newington has played a prominent role in assuring a supply to sustain Londons rapid growth. Hugh Myddletons New River runs through the area and still makes a contribution to Londons water and it used to terminate at the New River Head in Finsbury, but since 1946 its main flow has ended at Stoke Newington reservoirs. The river bank, the New River Path, can be walked for some distance to the north through Haringey and on to its source near Hertford, Stoke Newington East and West Reservoirs, to the north of Clissold Park, are quite substantial for urban facilities. Stoke Newington Reservoirs were constructed in 1833 to purify the New River water, the West Reservoir is now a leisure facility, offering sailing, canoeing and other water sports, plus Royal Yachting Association-approved sailing courses. On its western edge stands the former house, now set out as a visitor centre with a café. Besides the water facilities and the New River, Clissold Park contains two large ornamental lakes, a home to many water birds and a population of terrapins
4.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
5.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
6.
Isaac Watts
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Isaac Watts was an English Christian minister, hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular writer, his work was part of evangelization. He was recognized as the Father of English Hymnody, credited with some 750 hymns, many of his hymns remain in use today and have been translated into numerous languages. Born in Southampton, England, in 1674, Watts was brought up in the home of a committed religious Nonconformist, his father, at King Edward VI School, Watts had a classical education, learning Latin, Greek and Hebrew. From an early age, Watts displayed a propensity for rhyme and he went to the Dissenting Academy at Stoke Newington in 1690. Much of the remainder of his life centred around that village, following his education, Watts was called as pastor of a large independent chapel in London, where he helped train preachers, despite his poor health. Taking work as a tutor, Watts lived with the Nonconformist Hartopp family at Fleetwood House. Through them he became acquainted with their neighbours, Sir Thomas Abney. Invited for a week to Hertfordshire, Watts eventually lived for a total of 36 years in the Abney household, most of the time at Abney House, their second residence. On the death of Sir Thomas Abney in 1722, the widow Lady Mary and her last unmarried daughter, Elizabeth and she invited Watts to continue with their household. He lived at Abney Hall until his death in 1748, Watts particularly enjoyed the grounds at Abney Park, which Lady Mary planted with two elm walks leading down to an island heronry in the Hackney Brook. Watts often sought inspiration there for the books and hymns he wrote. Watts died in Stoke Newington in 1748, and was buried in Bunhill Fields and he left an extensive legacy of hymns, treatises, educational works and essays. His work was influential amongst Nonconformist independents and religious revivalists of the 18th century, such as Philip Doddridge, Sacred music scholar Stephen Marini describes the ways in which Watts contributed to English hymnody. Notably, Watts led by including new poetry for original songs of Christian experience to be used in worship, the older tradition was based on the poetry of the Bible, notably the Psalms. Watts introduction of extra-Biblical poetry opened up a new era of Protestant hymnody as other poets followed in his path, Watts also introduced a new way of rendering the Psalms in verse for church services. The Psalms were originally written in Biblical Hebrew within Judaism, in early Christendom, they were affirmed in the Biblical canon as part of the Old Testament. Watts proposed that the translations of the Psalms as sung by Protestant Christians should give them a specifically Christian perspective
7.
Manor house
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A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The term is loosely applied to various country houses, frequently dating from the late medieval era. They were sometimes fortified, but this was intended more for show than for defence. Manor houses existed in most European countries where feudalism existed, where they were known as castles, palaces. Many buildings, such as schools, are named Manor, the reason behind this is because the building was or is close to a manor house. The lord of the manor may have several properties within a county or, for example in the case of a feudal baron, spread across a kingdom. A large and suitable building was required within the manor for such purpose, generally in the form of a hall. This also gave the opportunity for the manor house to be cleaned, especially important in the days of the cess-pit. Thus such non-resident lords needed to appoint a steward or seneschal to act as their deputy in such matters, the day-to-day administration was carried out by a resident official in authority at each manor, who in England was called a bailiff, or reeve. Although not typically built with strong fortifications as were castles, many manor-houses were fortified and they were often enclosed within walls or ditches which often also included agricultural buildings. The primary feature of the house was its great hall. A late 16th-century transformation produced many of the smaller Renaissance châteaux of France, the Tudor period of stability in England saw the building of the first of the unfortified great houses, for example Sutton Place in Surrey, circa 1521. During the second half of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and under her successor King James I the first mansions designed by architects not by mere masons or builders, began to make their appearance. Such houses as Burghley House, Longleat House, and Hatfield House are among the best known of this period, nearly every large mediaeval manor house had its own deer-park adjoining, emparked by royal licence, which served primarily as a store of food in the form of venison. Within these licensed parks deer could not be hunted by royalty and this gave them more privacy and space. Court was a suffix which came into use in the 16th century, the obvious origin of the suffix would appear to be that the building was the location where the manorial courts were held. True castles, when not royal castles, were generally the residences of feudal barons, the manor on which the castle was situated was termed the caput of the barony, thus every true ancient defensive castle was also the manor house of its own manor. The suffix -Park came into use in the 18th and 19th centuries, the usage is often a modern catch-all suffix for an old house on an estate, true manor or not
8.
Stoke Newington Church Street
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Stoke Newington Church Street is a road in north London of the borough of Hackney. The road links Green Lanes in the west to Stoke Newington High Street, various parts of the street have had different names in the past. On the south side and starting in the west at Green Lanes, the next section, occupying almost all of the street from Clissold Crescent to Clissold Road, was known as Paradise Row. A large part of this is occupied today by Kennaway Estate, Garland House is on the site of The Willows, Paradise House had a long association with the Quaker community, being the birthplace of Samuel Hoare Jr and later occupied by William Allen. One of its final incarnations before demolition was as Paradise House School, continuing east from Paradise Row to Clissold Road, the next property was Glebe Place. This is now occupied by Gaskin House, Manton House, Thoresby House and Lloyd House, the current Spensley Walk was previously Park Crescent. The section from Albion Road to Woodlea Road was Sisters Place and beyond Defoe Road were Abney Place, Clissold Park marks one end of Church Street. Near to it, at the junction with Albion Road, is the town hall and assembly hall of the old Borough of Stoke Newington. Abney Park Cemetery, set up as a non-conformist cemetery and arboretum in 1840 on the site of parkland of the same name and now run as a nature reserve, has an entrance on the street. This is next to the station, which was built on the site of Fleetwood House and Abney House, where Newington Academy for Girls. It commissioned the worlds first school bus, which ran from Church Street to Gracechurch Street meeting house in the City, there are two churches on the street, both known as Saint Mary’s. The first was built in 1563 and was rebuilt in the 19th century. The second church is the impressive mid-Victorian Saint Marys New Church with its 250-foot steeple and this church, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, was built in 1858, and its first vicar was Thomas Jackson. There are a number of licensed venues serving alcohol and hosting live music, for entertainment Ryan’s Bar and the Auld Shillelagh have live music licences. The Daniel Defoe pub offers a range in real ales and has a passable beer garden. The Rose and Crown is a Grade II listed pub built in 1930-32, for dining, the two Rasa restaurants offer Kerala cuisine, Il Bacio and Il Bacio Express specialise in Italian cuisine. Other popular places include the Spence bakers for a range of breads. In addition to houses and restaurants, the street is also home to a wide range of independent shops and boutiques offering unusual craft items, jewellery
9.
Nonconformist
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In English church history, a nonconformist was a Protestant Christian who did not conform to the governance and usages of the established Church of England. Broad use of the term was precipitated after the Restoration of the British monarchy in 1660, by the late 19th-century the term specifically included the Reformed Christians, plus the Baptists and Methodists. The English Dissenters such as the Puritans who violated the Act of Uniformity 1559 — typically by practising radical, sometimes separatist, in England and Wales in the late 19th century the new terms free churchman and Free Church started to replace dissenter or Nonconformist. One influential nonconformist minister is Matthew Henry, who beginning in 1710 published his multi-volume Commentary that is still used, issac Watts is an equally recognized nonconformist minister whose hymns are still sung by Christians worldwide. The Act of Uniformity of 1662 required churchmen to use all rites and ceremonies as prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer. Consequently, nearly 2,000 clergymen were ejected from the church for refusing to comply with the provisions of the act. The Great Ejection created an abiding public consciousness of non-conformity, thereafter, a Nonconformist was any English subject belonging to a non-Anglican church or a non-Christian religion. More broadly, any person who advocated religious liberty was typically called out as Nonconformist, culturally, in England and Wales, discrimination against Nonconformists endured even longer. Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Calvinists, other reformed groups, following the act, other groups, including Methodists, Unitarians, Quakers, Plymouth Brethren, and the English Moravians were officially labelled as Nonconformists as they became established. A religious census in 1851 revealed Nonconformist comprised about half that of the people who attended services on Sundays. In the larger manufacturing areas, Nonconformists clearly outnumbered members of the Church of England, in Wales in 1850, Nonconformist chapel attendance significantly outnumbered Anglican church attendance. Historians distinguish two categories of Dissenters, or Nonconformists, in addition to the evangelicals or Low Church element in the Church of England, Old Dissenters, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, included Baptists, Congregationalists, Quakers, Unitarians, and Presbyterians outside Scotland. New Dissenters emerged in the 18th century and were mainly Methodists, the Nonconformist Conscience was their moral sensibility which they tried to implement in British politics. The Nonconformist conscience of the Old group emphasized religious freedom and equality, pursuit of justice, and opposition to discrimination, compulsion, the New Dissenters stressed personal morality issues, including sexuality, temperance, family values, and Sabbath-keeping. Both factions were active, but until mid-19th century the Old group supported mostly Whigs and Liberals in politics. In the late 19th the New Dissenters mostly switched to the Liberal Party, the result was a merging of the two groups, strengthening their great weight as a political pressure group. The joined together on new issues especially regarding schools and temperance, by 1914 the linkage was weakening and by the 1920s it was virtually dead. Dissenters demanded removal of political and civil disabilities that applied to them, the Anglican establishment strongly resisted until 1828
