Liberty Of Norton Folgate

Until being allegedly absorbed into the Borough of Stepney in 1900 Norton Folgate, was a small self governing enclave outside the administrative system. As in other liberties and immune places in London, the inhabitants of Norton Folgate were not always wholly law-abiding; a sanctuary for wenches, dissidents and non-conformers to the established order in Church and State.

Can the autonomous zone of Norton Folgate stop the city expansion? Victoria Huntley picks up the story in our local paper, the East London Advertiser…

Norton Folgate raises flag ready for ‘UDI’

16 May 2008 – By Victoria Huntley  (victoria.huntley@archant.co.uk)

THE tiny enclave around Norton Folgate looks set to raise its flag over London’s East End for a ‘Unilateral Declaration of Independence’ — in a row about bulldozing a popular bar. Developers are applying for planning permission to build a skyscraper and tear down the famous Light bar, housed in a converted 19th century electricity station which used to feet the Great Eastern Railway.

Campaigners fighting to keep the historic building are worried the local planning authority, Hackney Council, will give it the green signal. But now they have found the 200-yard long Norton Folgate ‘liberty’ linking Bishopsgate to Shoreditch may not have been scrapped when the Metropolitan boroughs were created in 1900.

That means it may be outside the authority’s planning jurisdiction — and could have the status of a self-contained district, they are hoping. It’s not just ‘bar’ talk. They reckon they’ve found documents in the Guildhall archives backing their case for ‘UDI.’

That would give Norton Folgate the right to determine its own planning applications and reject decisions made ‘over the border’ by Hackney Council. The campaigners argue they could use the ‘proof’ of Norton Folgate’s independence to mount a legal challenge.

Norton Folgate, once home to Huguenot silk weavers like neighbouring Spitalfields, was originally in the precinct of the Priory and Hospital of St Mary Spital. The land reverted to the Crown during Henry VIII’s Reformation in the 16th century. But a small extra-parochial ‘liberty’ retained its special status and came under the control of St Paul’s Cathedral.

The ‘liberty’ was thought to have been abolished in 1900, when the 28 London metropolitan boroughs including Shoreditch and neighbouring Stepney were set up. The three boundaries drawn up that year between Shoreditch, Stepney and the City of London all converge right in the middle of Norton Folgate, the same boundary today between the successor authorities of Hackney, Tower Hamlets and the City. But the documents at the City’s Guildhall Library apparently refute the belief that the Liberty of Norton Folgate was actually ever abolished.

IT’S NOT THE FIRST ‘UDI’

East Enders once before declared Rhodesia-style ‘UDI’ to make a point about town planning.

The rebellious population of the Isle of Dogs barricaded themselves in from the ‘mainland’ in 1970 in protest at lack of services from Tower Hamlets council, five years after Ian Smith’s colonial government declared ‘UDI’ in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

The saga of Norton Folgate is perhaps reminiscent of the 1949 Ealing comedy film Passport to Pimlico, starring Stanley Holloway and Betty Warren, where families in a turning behind Victoria railway station discovered an ancient treaty proving their patch of Pimlico is, in fact, part Burgundy in France and thus ‘foreign’ territory.

The Westminster Government attempts to regain control by setting up border controls and cutting off utility services to the rebellious enclave. The ‘Burgundians’ fight back, demanding passengers on the London Underground show passports on Circle Line trains passing through their ‘sovereign’ territory.

Similarly, Norton Folgate is close to Liverpool Street station and also sits on top of the Underground, above the Central Line towards Bethnal Green, commuters are warned.

• Passport to Norton Folgate? Hackney parish demands liberty by Jenny Engstrom, Evening Standard

• The Manor and Liberty of Norton Folgate - Survey Of London
• Wikipedia entry for Norton Folgate

More Madness

The Liberty of Norton Folgate is also the name of the upcoming album by the British ska band Madness. It will be their ninth studio album. The band have been working on the album for close to three years and it will be their first album of new material since 1999’s Wonderful. The preview video can be found on youtube here. Concerts are on the 24th, 25th, and 26th of June at the Hackney Empire.