COMMONS & OPEN SPACES 189 
(over 40 acres) on the north, and Hackney Marshes 
(337 acres) on the east. These were Lammas Lands, and 
the marshes were used for grazing until within the last 
few years, when the rights were bought up and the land 
finally thrown open to the public in 1894. The river 
Lea skirts the marsh, and used not unfrequently to 
flood, doing considerable damage. The London County 
Council have made four cuts across the bends of the 
river, forming islands. The water now can more easily 
flow in a wet season, and the periodical inundations no 
longer occur. The planting of these islands has not 
been carried out at all satisfactorily. An utter want 
of appreciation of the habits of plants or the localities 
suited to them has been shown. A stiff row of the 
large saxifrage, S. cordifolia , charming in a rock garden 
or mixed border, has been put round the water’s 
edge, and behind it, berberis, laurels, and a few flower¬ 
ing bushes suited to a villa garden shrubbery. The 
opportunity for a really pleasing effect has thus been 
missed, and money wasted. A few willows and alders, 
with groups of iris and common yellow flags, and free 
growing willow herb, and purple loosestrife, would soon, 
for much less expense, have made the islands worthy of 
a visit from an artist. Instead, an eyesore to every 
tasteful gardener and lover of nature has been produced. 
The beauty of the marsh has always been appreciated by 
the dwellers in Hackney and Clapton. The view over 
the fertile fields from the high land was one of the attrac¬ 
tions since the time when Pepys wrote, “ I every day 
grow more and more in love with ” Hackney. 
Hackney Downs now form a large open area for 
recreation, but they were fruitful fields sixty years ago. 
An engraving, from a drawing by W. Walker, dated 
