One of my favourite moments in the exhibition — and one of the joys of seeing all twelve maps side by side this month — is getting to notice small patches of extraordinary change.
This detail shows the children’s playground (the small yellow L-shaped block) just to the east of Millfileds Park.
Across the Clapton maps from 1896, 1915 and 1939, this one piece of land shifts again and again.
In 1896, the site still carries traces of its earlier life as a fireworks manufactory. Soon after, it became the home of Clapton Orient, who played here from 1896 until 1930. Then the ground was reshaped for greyhound racing, with Clapton Stadium opening as a dog track in 1928.
Fireworks. Football. Greyhounds. Housing. Playground. So much urban history folded into one ordinary-looking corner of Hackney.
On the contemporary layer, the purple blocks show the Millfields Estate housing, with the substation buildings around them. The little yellow L is the playground — a quiet marker of how radically this place has changed.
Part of #ThisPlaceThen — twelve new limited-edition maps of Hackney available now, bringing the borough’s past and present into the same frame.
On display at Printhouse Gallery, Bootstrap, Dalston, throughout May for Hackney History Festival.
#ThisPlaceThen #MapEditions #HackneyHistory #LowerClapton #Clapton #MillfieldsPark #MillfieldsEstate #ChatsworthRoad #HackneyMaps #LondonHistory #UrbanHistory #HistoricMaps #OrdnanceSurvey #LeytonOrient #ClaptonOrient #GreyhoundRacing #ThenAndNow #EastLondonHistory
#ThisPlaceThen is a map series covering the whole of Hackney, on display @bootstrapcharity in Dalston right now. Find out more about the places you thought you knew. The exhibition is open until the end of the month, will be staying open late this Thursday 21st May till 9 pm.
Hackney, 1873. Limited Edition fine art prints. #ThisPlaceThen on display in Dalston right now.
A brand new map print of Homerton, Victoria Park, Hackney Wick, Hackney Central, Mare Steet and more – caught between open edges, long roads, institutions, railways and the growing city. This map holds two times at once: the neighbourhood you know today in colour, overprinted onto the older routes, gardens, fields, railways and institutions beneath it.
Look closely, and Homerton from 1873 reveals itself in black ink, underneath the colourful urban grain of today.
Printed in 12 inks superbly on Innova Décor Smooth Art 210gsm by @panopusprinting and framed for the Dalston exhibition by @wearefrmd .
Available as a limited edition print from Map Editions. Once they are gone, they are gone! (map-editions.com)
For people who live in Hackney, grew up there, moved away, moved back, love the parks, know the back routes, or still feel attached to it.
Come and see the prints being exhibited during #HackneyHistoryFestival for the month of May at the Printhouse Gallery, Bootstrap, 18–22 Ashwin Street, E8 3DL. Mon–Fri 9am–5pm. Or by appointment.
#MapEditions #Homerton #E9 #Hackney #EastLondon #LondonHistory #HistoricalMaps #MapPrint #Cartography #ArtPrint #WallArt #LocalHistory
Thursday 21st May, Printhouse Gallery will be open late, with map-maker Charlie Peel to talk about and answer any questions on the new "This Place Then" series of Hackney maps. 5pm-9pm. Hope you can make it. 18 Ashwin Street, E8 3DL. Drop me a note and let me know if you are coming.
Great start to the @hackneyhistoryfest at The Print House Gallery & Dalston Curve Garden.
This Place Then Exhibition by @mapeditions followed by an introduction to the festival and speakers for the upcoming programme.
Follow @hackneyhistoryfest to join in on the walks, talks & tours
📹 @mediorite
)Stoke Newington, 1870. Limited Edition fine art print. #ThisPlaceThen
A brand new map print of Stoke Newington at a moment when London was still gathering around it. This map holds two times at once: the neighbourhood you know today in colour, overprinted onto the older villages, brick fields, roads and institutions beneath it.
Look closely, and the old Stoke Newington from 1870 reveals itself in black ink, underneath the colourful urban grain of today.
Printed in 12 inks superbly on Innova Décor Smooth Art 210gsm by @panopusprinting and framed for the Dalston exhibition by @wearefrmd .
Available as a limited edition print from Map Editions. Once they are gone, they are gone! (map-editions.com)
For people who live in Stoke Newington, grew up there, moved away, moved back, or still feel attached to it.
Come and see the prints being exhibited during #HackneyHistoryFestival for the month of May at the Printhouse Gallery, Bootstrap, 18-22 Ashwin Street, E8 3DL. Mon-Fri 9am-5pm. Or by appointment.
#MapEditions #StokeNewington #Stokey #N16 #Hackney #EastLondon #LondonHistory #HistoricalMaps #MapPrint #Cartography #ArtPrint #WallArt #LocalHistory
Twelve new maps of Hackney are now on display at Bootstrap.
This Place Then is a new exhibition of large-format maps that align present-day Hackney with historic Ordnance Survey mapping from around 100 years ago. Lower Clapton, Stoke Newington, Dalston, Shoreditch, Homerton and more are shown across time — revealing how streets, buildings and open space have changed, and what remains beneath the surface of the city today.
The exhibition also includes laser-cut historic maps and wider London mapping work by Map Editions.
📍 Bootstrap Charity, 18–22 Ashwin Street, Dalston
🕘 Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm
🎟 Free entry
Part of Hackney History Festival
#HackneyHistoryFestival #Hackney #Dalston #Shoreditch #Homerton #StokeNewington #LowerClapton #LondonMaps #HistoricMaps #Cartography #MapDesign #MapArt #LondonHistory #ThisPlaceThen #MapEditions
Overprinting is a historic printing technique where new information is printed directly over an existing map, allowing multiple layers to be read together at once. Rather than replacing what came before, the older map remains visible beneath the surface.
For This Place Then, contemporary Hackney has been carefully overprinted in colour onto black-and-white Ordnance Survey maps from around 100 years ago. Parks, buildings, playgrounds, pubs and railways from today sit directly over the earlier city, creating a map that can be read across time.
The result is somewhere between cartography, printmaking and archaeology — a way of seeing how the city has changed, and what still remains underneath.
See the series at the This Place Then exhibition as part of Hackney History Festival.
📍 Bootstrap Charity, 18–22 Ashwin Street
🕘 Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm
🎟 Free
#ThisPlaceThen #HackneyHistoryFestival #HackneyHistory #MapDesign #Cartography #LondonMaps #HistoricMaps #Hackney #Dalston #Shoreditch #StokeNewington #Homerton #LowerClapton #Printmaking #GraphicDesign #MapArt #LondonHistory #Overprinting #OrdnanceSurvey #MapEditions
Brand new historical map prints of Hackney — now on show.
Come and see the first Map Editions exhibition at The Printhouse Gallery, 18–22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, E8 3DL — next to @cafeotodalston .
The exhibition features 12 new prints of Stoke Newington, Dalston, Homerton, Shoreditch and Lower Clapton between 1870 and 1936.
Each map holds two times in one frame: the neighbourhood you know today, and the older London beneath it.
They’re large, detailed and made to be seen up close — beautifully printed by @panopusprinting and framed by @wearefrmd .
📍 The Printhouse Gallery
18–22 Ashwin Street
Dalston, E8 3DL
Next to @cafeotodalston
🗓 Open Monday to Friday
⏰ 9am–5pm
With thanks to @bootstrapcharity .
Come and visit. Prints available to buy. Message me if interested in a Sunday opening mid-May.
#MapEditions #Hackney #Dalston #EastLondon #LondonHistory #HistoricalMaps #MapPrint #Cartography #ArtPrint #LocalHistory #StokeNewington #Homerton #Shoreditch #LowerClapton #CafeOTO #AshwinStreet
Please come and see my first public exhibition @bootstrapcharity - you will find 12 large format maps up on the wall, each one an old detailed ordnance survey black-and-white scan, coloured with today’s landscape on top. They reveal two times at once in the same frame. Before we draw the rest of London, we can’t wait to hear what people think of Hackney as our place of departure.
All the maps are for sale, each one a limited-edition giclee fine art print, in an edition of 25.
Come and see them up close and personal, or find out more online. Map-editions.com #ThisPlaceThen
A new exhibition of twelve detailed maps of Hackney will launch on Friday 1 May 2026, marking both the public exhibition opening of “Hackney: This Place Then” and the launch night of Hackney History Festival 2026.
Created by map-maker Charlie Peel under the imprint Map-Editions, This Place Then is a new series of limited-edition maps that place contemporary Hackney neighbourhoods alongside the extraordinary detail of historic 25-inch Ordnance Survey mapping. For the first time in print, the maps bring the borough’s past and present together in a single image: streets, buildings, yards, railways, gardens, factories, churches, schools, public houses and lost fragments of the urban landscape layered with the city as it is today.
A centrepiece of the exhibition will be a large wall of tiled maps, joined together to create a striking snapshot of Hackney in 1916. At approximately 2 metres high and 2 metres wide, the installation will allow visitors to read the borough at an unusually immersive scale - exploring the Hackney of just over a century ago with the Hackney of today.
The launch event will include cold drinks, bold maps and short upbeat talks from festival speakers, including Charlie Peel, David Williams of Bootstrap, and Janet Chapman, Chair of The Hackney Society. Tickets are £3, including a first drink and snacks, with a paid bar after that.
Hackney History Festival Launch / This Place Then Exhibtion
Friday 1 May 2026, 6-8pm
Bootstrap, 18 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London E8 3DL
Tickets in link in bio
The free exhibition continues throughout May, Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm
