HACKNEY, a north-eastern metropolitan borough of Lon don, England, hounded W. by Stoke Newington and Islington, and S. by Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Poplar, and extending N. and E. to the boundary of the county of London. Pop. (1931), 215,380. In the 13th century the name appears as Hackenaye or Hacquenye, but the derivation is doubtful. Roman and other re mains have been found in Hackney marshes. The bishop of London was lord of the manor from 1290 to 155o, when it was granted to Thomas, Lord Wentworth. In 1697 it came into the hands of the Tyssen family. Extensive property in the parish also belonged to the priory of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem at Clerkenwell. From the 16th to the early 19th century there were many fine residences in Hackney. The neighbourhood had at one time an evil reputation as the haunt of highwaymen. It is a poor and populous district. The borough includes the districts of Clapton in the north, Homerton in the east, and Dalston and part of Kingsland in the west. On the east lies the valley of the Lea, which flows in several branches, and is bordered, immediately outside the borough, by the reservoirs of the East London water works. In these low lands lie the Hackney Marshes (338 acres), and the borough also contains part of Victoria park and the Hackney Commons. The only historic building is the tower of the ancient parish church of St. Augustine, with the chapel of the Rowe family. The parliamentary borough of Hackney comprises north, central arid south divisions, each returning one member.