Islington Green is a small triangle of open land at the convergence of

Upper Street Upper Street is the main street of the Islington district of inner north London, and carries the A1 road. It begins at the junction of the A1 and Liverpool Road, continuing on from Islington High Street which runs from the crossroads at Pe ...

and

Essex Road Essex Road is a main road in Islington, London. It is part of the A104 road (England), A104 and connects Islington High Street with Balls Pond Road via Essex Road railway station. Location The road is about long. It starts as continuation of I ...

(once called Lower Street) in the

London Borough of Islington The London Borough of Islington ( ) is a London borough, borough in North London, England. Forming part of Inner London, Islington has an estimated population of 215,667. It was formed in 1965, under the London Government Act 1963, by the amalg ...

. It roughly marks the northern boundary between the modern district of

Angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

and

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

proper. Historically it is not an old

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

like others in London (for example, Shacklewell Green), but a surviving patch of

common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

Newington Green Newington Green is an open space in North London between Islington and Hackney. It gives its name to the surrounding area, roughly bounded by Ball's Pond Road to the south, Petherton Road to the west, Green Lanes and Matthias Road to the north, ...

to the north, that was carved out of old manorial wasteland where local farmers and tenants had free

grazing rights Grazing rights is the right of a user to allow their livestock to feed (graze) in a given area. United States Grazing rights have never been codified in United States law, because such common-law rights derive from the English concept of the ...

. The original land was far more extensive but was largely built over in the 19th century. Since 2015 the site has been protected as a Centenary Field with Fields in Trust, part of the

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

commemorative programme protecting parks and green spaces in perpetuity. In 1885, Henry Vigar-Harries described Islington Green "where the young love to skip in buoyant glee when the summer sun gladdens the air" and how "within a mile and a half from this spot there are 1,030 public houses and beer shops". The green contains a memorial to the dead of both world wars as well as a statue of Sir Hugh Myddleton, designer of the New River that was so important to London's water supply from the 17th century onwards. The statue incorporates a fountain, which is no longer functioning. The New River itself once terminated about a kilometre to the south in

Finsbury Finsbury is a district of Central London, forming the southeastern part of the London Borough of Islington. It borders the City of London. The Manorialism, Manor of Finsbury is first recorded as ''Vinisbir'' (1231) and means "manor of a man c ...

, but the section that can be still walked in modern times, the New River Walk, ends just to the north of the green off

. The north side of the green also carries a plaque to the once-famous

Collins's Music Hall Collins's (sometimes written as Collins') was a music hall in Islington, north London. It opened in 1863, named after its original proprietor, the comedian, singer and impresario Sam Collins (music hall), Sam Collins. He died not long after the ha ...

, which burned down in 1958. A

Waterstones Waterstones Booksellers Limited, trading as Waterstones (formerly Waterstone's), is a British bookselling, book retailer based in London, England, owned by the American investment group Elliott Investment Management. It operates 311 shops, ma ...

bookshop now occupies the site.

Transport

Angel tube station An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

* Essex Road railway station

References

External links

{{commonscat-inline, Islington Green Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Islington Islington