St Augustine's Tower, Hackney

St. Augustine's Tower Hackney
Northwest view of the tower, the only part of the original church remaining and Hackney's oldest building.
Location	London Borough of Hackney
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
History
Founded	1275 (first mentioned)
Founder(s)	Knights of St John
Architecture
Closed	1789
Demolished	1798 (church)
Administration
Diocese	London
Parish	Hackney

St Augustine's Tower stands in St John's Church Gardens, in central Hackney, in the London Borough of Hackney, just off the southern end of the Narrow Way (formerly Church Street). It is all that remains of the early 16th-century parish church of Hackney of St Augustine, which replaced the 13th-century medieval church founded by the Knights of St John. The Tower comprises four stages beneath a restored parapet with diagonal buttressing. A fine working 16th-century turret clock has remained on the third floor of the Tower since at least 1608. The Tower and contents are Grade I listed.

The Tower is seen as a symbol for Hackney, and is represented in the coat of arms of the London Borough of Hackney. During the First World War, it appeared on the cap-badge of the 10th (Hackney) Battalions of the London Regiment, together with the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney motto Justitia Turris Nostra, Latin for Justice is our tower.^[1]