Parkland
In the early 18th century Abney Park was laid out by the first Lady of the Manor of Stoke Newington, Lady Mary Abney, who inherited the estate from her brother and who moved here several years after the death of her husband, Sir Thomas Abney. She was helped in the task of landscaping the grounds into an English garden or park by the learned Dr Isaac Watts, and by the neighbouring Hartopp family of Fleetwood House, who leased the eastern part of the park to Lady Mary.
These landscape improvements included the planting of the Great Elm Walk and Little Elm Walk that established shady walks down to the island heronry of the Hackney Brook at the bottom of the park. Both Wych Elm and English Elm were planted. At the neighbouring Fleetwood House, one of the early UK plantings of a Cedar of Lebanon tree had already taken place, adjacent to an ornamental pond. This tree survived into the 1920s and is illustrated in many engravings.
Other trees planted at an early date at Abney Park (either in the portion leased by Fleetwood House, or that attached solely to Abney House) included American Larch and Tulip Trees from the New World, where Stoke Newington's nonconformists had strong connections.
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