Borough in London, England
Islington
Islington gave Monopoly its Angel square, Arsenal its home and New Labour its nickname, and it once fed London with milk, cattle and water.
Key information
- County
- Greater London
- Nation
- England
- Population
- About 216,000 (2021 Census)
- Area
- About 14.9 square kilometres
- Known for
- The Angel, Upper Street, Sadler's Wells, Camden Passage, Arsenal and the 'Islington set'
- What locals are called
- Islingtonians
- Famous people
- George Orwell, Joe Orton, Joseph Grimaldi, Tony Blair
- Football clubs
- Arsenal
About Islington
The Monopoly square that outlived the coaching inn
The Angel, Islington is a light-blue square on the London Monopoly board, which is how millions of people who have never visited know the name. The Angel was a coaching inn on the road north out of the City, and travellers arriving after the city gates had closed would stop there for the night. The inn is long gone, but its name stuck to the junction, the Tube station and the whole neighbourhood around it. The Tube station has a claim of its own. Its 1990s rebuild gave it one of the longest escalators on the Underground, a ride of around 60 metres that feels like descending into a mine shaft. The name Islington itself comes from Old English, usually explained as the hill of a man called Gisla. It was a village on the edge of London long before London swallowed it.
The village that fed, watered and entertained the capital
Before the terraces went up, Islington was countryside. Dairy farms supplied the city with milk, and cattle rested in its fields on the way to Smithfield. In 1855 the huge Metropolitan Cattle Market opened at Copenhagen Fields, and its clock tower still stands in Caledonian Park, long after the market closed in 1963. Water came this way too. In 1613 Hugh Myddelton's New River, a channel cut all the way from Hertfordshire, delivered fresh water to a reservoir at New River Head, and a statue of him stands on Islington Green. People came to Islington for fun as well. Sadler's Wells began in 1683 when Richard Sadler opened a music house beside a spring believed to have healing powers. It is now one of the world's leading dance venues. Nearby, the White Conduit Club played cricket in the fields, a forerunner of the club that became the MCC.
Orwell, Orton and the Islington set
Islington has always attracted writers who were short of money. George Orwell lived at Canonbury Square from 1944 to 1947. He had already written Animal Farm at Mortimer Crescent in 1943–44, and it was in Canonbury that he went on to begin Nineteen Eighty-Four. Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell shared a tiny flat in Noel Road, where Halliwell killed Orton in 1967. Then came the Georgian townhouses, bought up and done up by a new generation of professionals. In the 1990s Tony Blair, who lived in the area, and his circle gave the place a political nickname: the 'Islington set'. The story goes that Blair and Gordon Brown agreed their famous leadership understanding at Granita, a restaurant on Upper Street, in 1994. The borough's pupils had a moment in pop history, too. Children from Islington Green School sang on Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick in the Wall' in 1979.
Arsenal, Highbury and the stadium that became flats
Islington is football country. Arsenal, founded in Woolwich in 1886, moved to Highbury in 1913 and stayed for 93 years. The old stadium's marble halls and Art Deco East Stand are still there, now converted into homes, and the old pitch is a communal garden. In 2006 the club moved a short walk away to the Emirates Stadium at Ashburton Grove. Match days still send crowds streaming along Holloway Road and Drayton Park. Beyond the Premier League, Highbury Fields and the borough's small green spaces host five-a-side games, running clubs and park cricket through the summer.
Upper Street, Chapel Market and the pleasure of eating out
Upper Street is one of London's great restaurant streets, a long run of pubs, theatres, bistros and curry houses that stretches from the Angel to Highbury Corner. It is also home to the Almeida Theatre, which has launched several plays that went on to the West End and Broadway. Chapel Market is the everyday counterpart. This street market has sold fruit, veg and fish for generations, and locals still do their weekly shop there. Camden Passage, a pedestrian lane of antique stalls and small shops, fills with dealers on market days. The old Royal Agricultural Hall, once a venue for cattle shows, is now the Business Design Centre.
Prisons, clowns and the other side of the borough
Islington has a grittier side. Pentonville Prison opened in 1842 and has been part of the Caledonian Road skyline ever since. Holloway Prison, once the largest women's prison in western Europe, closed in 2016. The borough was also home to Joseph Grimaldi, the Regency stage performer who invented the modern clown, white face and all. He is buried here, and the churchyard is now Joseph Grimaldi Park. The Regent's Canal passes under the borough through the Islington Tunnel, which is nearly a kilometre long. There is no towpath inside it, so walkers have to leave the canal and follow a street-level route between the two portals while boats pass underneath.