Dalston

Area in the eastern borough of Hackney in London, England, lying southwest of Hackney Downs and centred on the ancient (originally Roman) thoroughfare of Kingsland Road, which cuts straight through the borough of Hackney. Like much of Hackney, Dalston is largely residential, and characterized by a vibrant, eclectic, and multicultural environment.

Until the mid-19th century, Dalston was still largely rural, but around the 1830s the principal landowners of the area began selling plots of land to developers, gradually creating the Victorian suburb that is still evident today. Places of interest include the award-winning New Bradbury Centre (1999), a community-based business centre that incorporates a jazz bar and was designed by Hawkins Brown Architects; the Art Deco Rio Cinema (1910); several examples of experimental postwar public housing, such as the award-winning Somerford Estate (1946–49); and Dalston's impressive St Mark's Church (1870), the largest parish church in London. The area has many contrasts – from the bustle of Ridley Road Market to the leafy tranquillity of Albion Square, a picturesque Italianate development dating from 1846–49.

The name Dalston is Anglo-Saxon in origin and derived from Deorlafs's farm (‘tun’) on the banks of the Hackney Brook; by 1300, it had become a hamlet known as Derleston.