Peace, one and all…
Although I now live in South Wales, I was born and raised in the East End of London, Hackney to be exact. I grew up on Clapton Park Estate, in Lower Clapton (very close to Hackney Marshes). Hackney has a reputation for being rough and Lower Clapton is often described as ‘Murder Mile’ (see ‘They Call It Murder Mile’). It is certainly an inner-city area, with high levels of poverty and other such things. But, it was (and still is, in a way) my home. The people of Hackney, as with people everywhere, are a mixture of good and bad, selfless and selfish, happy and sad. Hackney is an amazingly diverse borough. As a child, I grew amongst people from virtually every corner and culture of the world. In many ways, this openess to diversity was what gave me my openess towards different faiths, which eventually led me to Islam.
At any rate, here are some pictures of my original homeland.
The Round Chapel Church, Powerscroft Road
Clapton Pond
Clapton Pond again, where the old Routemaster buses used to stop
The tower blocks of my old estate (now long gone)
Hackney Marshes
(famed for having the highest concentration of football pitches in the world)
Suleymaniye Masjid
(a very beautiful Turkish mosque)
‘Murder Mile’
Ma’as salama,
Abdur Rahman
Abdur Rahman's Corner 
Fascinating photos. What was your Lower Clapton estate called? I see it was by the canal.
Peace Ben,
Welcome to my online home. Thank you for your kind words. I found these photos online. My estate was Clapton Park Estate. I used to live on Overbury Street (5 mins. from Hackney Marshes).
I found my way to your photo blog. Great stuff. Is it OK to use some of them here?
Best wishes
Abdur Rahman
Yes, of course – by all means use whatever you find. There’s now a link to the photos I have on Flickr, which has a fair few Clapton Park images.
Ben
Hi Ben,
Great. Thank you very much. I took a look at your flickr photos. I saw your Clapton Park Estate photos.
Abdur Rahman
I went to hackney downs school and I was sad to see how it became known as one of London’s worst schools i have nothing bad to say about my time there (74-79) i loved my day’s there and i had a great education and held me in good stead for the adult life to come after leaving
Long live hunter house.