A curving Georgian high street of independent shops gives way to Victorian terraces and Abney Park's overgrown Victorian cemetery.
What Stoke Newington looks like
curves along its length rather than running straight, and its two and three storey buildings turned to brick from the early eighteenth century onward. Shopfronts were cut into the older houses from the 1830s, most heavily at the eastern end. Independent shops and cafes still occupy those ground floors.
rises above the street with a 250 foot steeple, its Gothic Revival tower and nave built between 1858 and 1890. The rectory beside it is a gabled brick building with stone window surrounds and tall chimneys.
South of the high street, terraced brick houses date from the 1870s, fifty three of them built on in 1875 and 1876. On , cream rendered semi-detached villas have sash windows and porticoed front doors, a different scale from the plain brick terraces closer to the church. A corner building on still has its pub sign frame mounted above a cream painted ground floor, now converted to housing.
Headstones lean under heavy tree cover throughout , reached through an Egyptian Revival gateway on the High Street. Dense woodland has grown up between the stones, with ivy climbing many of the leaning headstones and fallen branches left where they lie.
, an Art Deco former clothing factory on Stoke Newington Road, is now a vintage clothing shop as the road runs the shops south toward Dalston. The factory's interior stood in for a Cuban cigar factory in Die Another Day.
Shot in Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington Library's reading room became the opening set for This Beautiful Fantastic. Abney Park Cemetery played itself for the BBC's Mr Loverman, filmed among the graves and along Church Street.
Mr Loverman
Abney Park Cemetery. The BBC series shot among the graves and continued on to Stoke Newington Church Street.
This Beautiful Fantastic, 2016
Played the film's library, London, present day
The library's reading room, behind the building's red brick Victorian facade, was dressed as the setting where the film's librarian works. Filming took place there over a weekend in August 2015.
Mr Loverman, 2024
Played the cemetery, London, playing itself, present day
The BBC series filmed among the graves here, continuing on to Stoke Newington Church Street. Filming closed nearby bus stops and restricted parking on the surrounding streets for the shoot.
What Stoke Newington can double for
Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York
Green-Wood's older Victorian sections of the cemetery are just as densely wooded and overgrown, with the same kind of ivy-covered, leaning headstones under heavy tree cover that Abney Park has. Both cemeteries were laid out as landscaped Victorian arboretums with winding paths rather than a grid. Green-Wood's paths are wider and its mausoleums more elaborate, so a tight, low frame on smaller leaning stones under trees holds the match better than a wide shot toward its grand monuments. Try searching overgrown Victorian cemetery headstones now.
Ranelagh in Dublin, Ireland
Ranelagh's own village high street is lined with the same two and three storey Georgian and Victorian buildings, shopfronts cut into them, that Church Street has. Both are curving, human scaled high streets rather than a straight Victorian parade. Irish shopfront signage and colours would need dressing out, and Dublin's granite kerbs and different streetlamp fittings show up in wide shots. Try searching Georgian high street shopfronts now.
The terraced brick housing on the streets south of Church Street dates from the 1870s, the same decade as Park Slope's own rowhouse blocks. Both went up as speculative housing at the same scale. Park Slope's brownstone stoops and ornate cornices read differently from Stoke Newington's flatter brick fronts, so a tight frame on a plain terrace holds the match better than a full block. Try searching 1870s terraced brick housing now.
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