You can climb Hackney’s medieval clock tower

In the heart of Hackney is a medieval clock tower that is occasionally open to the public to climb onto the roof and get pretty decent views over East London.

A church has stood here since at least 1275, probably built by the Knights Templar, who dedicated it to their patron saint Augustine. After the fall of the Templars, the church passed to the Knights Hospitaler and was later confiscated by King Henry VIII.

Although the church was rededicated to St. John, the tower is still named after St. Augustine.

Hackney remained a small village until the 18th century when it began to grow, and by the end of the century the church was too small to accommodate the growing population. the old church was torn down, only the tower remained.

The tower was supposed to be demolished too, but the contractor decided it was too cumbersome and no one complained. And so it has remained an isolated legacy of Hackney modernization through the centuries to modern times, and is now occasionally open to the public to climb onto the roof.

Medieval clock towers were not designed to be climbed that often, and certainly not by the public, so access is usually via a very narrow spiral staircase which can be difficult at times.

The main entrance room has a door-sized gap in the upper wall, presumably where there used to be a floor, and now offers a view of the people climbing the stone stairs to the roof.

Going up and down a narrow flight of stairs means listening to everyone else on the stairs, shouting “come up / down” and hoping you won’t meet anyone coming the other way as one of you will have to withdraw. This generally works, although there’s always someone who just falls headfirst on the stairs without thinking, only to come back a moment later, embarrassed.

Luckily there are three floors on the way up / down to break up the journey and let people pass you by.

The first level has lots of display boards that explain lots of interesting details about the history of Hackney and the church and make for a nice break on the way up.

There’s a clock on the second floor – and what a clock. It is believed to be around 400 years old and date to the 1580s. Hand-wound over the centuries, an engine has only recently been added.

Up another floor to an empty room with a single bell hanging from a frame, and this was originally the Bell Hall with a little more bells than there are today.

In the meantime the stairs are getting frighteningly narrow and so are the steps, but we continue up and at the very top is a small door through which one can somehow crawl through and finally climb onto the roof. Take a little breath, and maybe hold onto the handrail by the edges for a while while your legs stop wobbling. There is quite a bit of graffiti on the lead roof and also on a small wooden staircase in a room below, although, as far as known, there are no names worth mentioning in the doodles.

But finally the reward for the climb, because the clock tower offers impressive views over the treetops over a large part of East London. Over there is the church bell tower that replaced it. Over there is the City of London. Look out at the streets below or wait a while for the London Overground train to go to Stratford.

This is not a great view of a great city, but much more intimate and closer, but also a part of London that is so seldom seen from this height. This unusual perspective and challenging climb, and oh, you still have to go back down, make a 30-40 minute visit very worthwhile.

The clock tower reopened last month and this year it will be open again on Sunday, November 28th from 2pm to 4.30pm and then, starting next year, will resume its monthly openings on the last Sunday of the month.

Entry is free, but leave a cash donation in the box.