Mike Day and Keith Donnelly will lead this walk. Places will be limited to 12 walkers.
Please contact Mike to book a place. You can do this by clicking on the blue text next to "Organiser" below. This will open up a new screen where you can type and send your message
| Event type: | Group event |
| Date: | 15th July 2025 |
| Group: | Exploring London |
| Organiser: |
GETTING THERE AND BACK
START: Highbury and Islington Tube Station (Victoria Line from Vauxhall)
FINISH: Angel Station (return to Waterloo via Bank and the City and Waterloo line)
We suggest that participants catch the first off-peak train from Staines, Ashford, etc, to Vauxhall, to connect with the Victoria Line to Highbury and Islington, where we shall start the walk at about 10.45am.
ROUTE AND REFRESHMENTS
Before the walk we stop for refreshment at ‘Pret’, just round the corner from the station.
We follow the course of the New River via gentrified Canonbury, to the heart of Islington at the Green. This is the place to stop for lunch since there are plenty of cafes as well as picnic opportunities around the green itself. After lunch the walk takes in Camden Passage, Sadlers Wells, home of the Royal Ballet and ENO and the original Angel at Islington, subsequently a Lyon’s Corner House!
INFORMATION
Islington since the 1950s has steadily gone through a process of gentrification and this walk explores one of the first areas of the borough to turn its bomb damaged and run down housing stock into the desirable residences attractive to the up and coming wealthy mainly young professionals - not only for the ridiculous property prices at the time, but also due to the close proximity of the area to the City of London as well as the Financial district at Canary Wharf. The old manor of Canonbury belonged to the Bishops of London in the Saxon era. The Normans took over both Canonbury and Barnsbury but in 1253 the land was gifted back to the Canons of St. Bartholomews Priory, Smithfield, and became known as Canons Burgh. The manorial land had rich pastures, and Islington became suppliers of dairy produce to the City of London. The village lay only 4 miles from the City and provided fresh air, spa waters and jolly carryings on to the city weary inhabitants who travelled out to Merry Islington for Medieval fun, whereas today’s fun loving inhabitants of gentrified Canonbury, jet off to far flung corners of the planet for 21stcentury R and R.
Running through the area is a “River” that is not a river and is certainly not a “New” one! Tudor London was desperate for fresh water, and one Lord Mayor at the time obtained 2 Acts of Parliament for a scheme designed to bring water from natural springs from Ware in Hertfordshire, 20 miles away as the crow flies, but because the channel had to have a gradual fall, it had to follow the 100 ft contour which meant the actual course would be 40 miles long. The project was delayed due to problems with land ownership until in 1609 a man called Hugh Myddleton – an MP, a Goldsmith, and a rich entrepreneur – took over the project and guaranteed that water would be running within 4 years. On 29th September 1613 just a few months past the promised time, water flowed into the Round Pond at New River Head. No wonder that Hugh Myddleton’s statue is in pride of place on Islington Green and that his name is remembered in the name of both a school and roads in the area.