HACKNEY, a parish of Middlesex, on the north-east side of London, containing no less than 12 hamlets. At the bottom of Hackney-Marsh, through which the river Lea runs, between Old Ford and the Wyck, there have been discovered the remains of a great stone causeway, which, by the Roman coins, &c. found there, was no doubt one of the famous highways made by the Romans. The church here is of a very ancient foundation, so old as Edward II. That part next London is called Mare-street; the middle Church-street; and the north part Clapton; Dorleston and Shakewell are on the west, and Hummerton, which leads to the Marsh, on the east. Here are three meeting-houses and several boarding-schools, besides the free-school in the church-yard, a charity-school, and 17 almshouses. It was from this place that the coaches let to the people in London first received their name; for in the 17th century, many people having gone on visits to see their friends at Hackney, it occasioned them often to hire horses or carriages, so that in time it became a common name for such horses, coaches, and chairs, as were let to the people of London; and the name has now become general. Population 16,771.