Hackney marsh (337 acres where Lammas rights were still exercised, was excluded from the M.B.W.'s scheme in 1872. The possibility that the owners might unite to convert it into building land led the district board to seek its purchase by the L.C.C. in 1889, when further agitation

was caused by the manorial drivers' ban on football by boys from the Eton mission. After the Board of Agriculture had drafted a Scheme in 1890 the owners negotiated to sell their rights to the L.C.C. for £75,000, the district board contributing £15,000 and private subscribers

£10,000. The marsh was open to the public from 1893, when transferred under the London Open Spaces Act, and formally dedicated in 1894. Flood prevention works by the L.C.C. included four cuts across bends in the Lea, the old channels being retained to form islands; a bathing pool

was created by the northernmost cut. West of Lee Conservancy Road 37½ a. taken in 1915 for the National Projectile factory were to be retained by the government in 1922 but later were cleared for Mabley Green recreation ground. Kingsmead estate was built on 20½ a. exchanged with

the L.C.C. in 1937. Thereafter it separated Hackney Marsh recreation ground (later Daubeney Fields) from Mabley Green ground to the south.