Place Name
Named in 1881 most likely after a corruption of Perwich, after former local estate owners. Indeed in 1664 the estate of Robert Perwich (died August 31, 1676), a local schoolmaster, was the largest of all in the Hackney area. Susanna Perwich, his daughter-in-law, became the subject of a book extolling the rights of women’s education. The book, The virgins pattern was published by John Batchiler in 1661, the year of her untimely death at the age of 25. The modest yellow brick terraces that make up Perch, April, and Seal streets, were built by John Grover between 1881 to 1886.
