The Tour of Islington, a Seven-Mile Pentonville Prison
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t 5pm, except Sundays and Wednesdays. Wednesdays. and Sundays except 5pm, o Islington Museum is open every day 10am day every open is Museum Islington Welcome to the W w ww.islington.gov.uk/heritage T 020 7527 2837 7527 020 Tour of Islington 2 45 St John St, EC1V 4NB EC1V St, John St 45 I slington Museum and Local History Centre History Local and Museum slington Welcome to the Tour of Islington, a seven-mile Pentonville Prison heritage, visit: heritage, route around the centre of Islington that uses Pentonville Prison was built in 1842. It is a good For more information about Islington’s about information more For safe cycling routes and has fascinating facts example of Victorian prison architecture about the borough. employing the “separation system”, which meant that each prisoner was unable to have Highbury Fields communication with his fellow inmates. The five Highbury Fields is the largest green space in halls of the prison radiate from one central place Islington. For centuries Highbury had been a rural so that wardens could view all corridors from area. With building encroaching on the area in the one location. The prison allowed for 520 solitary 19th century local inhabitants sought to have a cells. Pentonville Prison became the model for w ww.islington.gov.uk/Transport/Cycling park created. The 28 acre area was bought by the British prisons; a further 54 were built to the parking and cycle schemes, go to go schemes, cycle and parking Vestry and the Metropolitan Board of Works for same design over six years. the London Cycle Hire Scheme, cycle Scheme, Hire Cycle London the £60,000, and opened in 1885. t ycle maps of Islington, bike repairs, bike Islington, of maps ycle his, c his, Thornhill Square the borough. For more information about information more For borough. the Highbury Clock Tower George Thornhill developed his estate in t everyone who lives, works or studies in studies or works lives, who everyone o This clock tower was erected in celebration of Islington in the first half of the 19th century. Islington Council offers free cycle training cycle free offers Council Islington Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee (60 years on Work on Thornhill Square began in 1847. In p leasant and safe. and leasant the throne) in 1897. As its inscription explains, 1906 two houses in the square were major arterial roads and are much more much are and roads arterial major it was paid for by a local resident, Mr Alfred demolished to make space for the new West streets. These routes are as direct as the as direct as are routes These streets. Hutchinson. It was restored to its original red Library. In 1946 the gardens were donated to b orough, mostly using less busy residential busy less using mostly orough, and gold colours in 1997. the public. The gardens contain a native Black There are many cycle routes across the across routes cycle many are There Poplar, a tree that is threatened by extinction. Highbury Barn Historically these trees were used widely for d oor-to-door! oor-to-door! Highbury Barn started as a tea garden around their timber until they were superseded by the fastest way to reach your destination your reach to way fastest the 1740. However, its popularity was its downfall faster growing species. j ams and parking difficulties - it is often is it - difficulties parking and ams with tensions running high among local residents Cycling also helps you to avoid the traffic the avoid to you helps also Cycling and in 1871 the dancing licence for the barn Barnard Park great way to reduce your transport costs. transport your reduce to way great was refused. Some put this down to a risqué Barnard Park was developed in the 1960s on an Cycling is great for your health and a and health your for great is Cycling group of performers, others to a riotous party area of Barnsbury that suffered widespread of students. Either way, the only reminder of devastation during World War II. The main bombing this estate’s past is in the name of the area and of the area took place on 4 October 1940; many a set of pillars on the right hand side of the road lives were lost. The park area betrays its past as you cycle down Highbury Park. through curiously terminated streets leading onto the park. In 2009 a radar survey in the park Aubert Park revealed the ghostly remains of the Victorian Alexander Aubert (1730-1805) was a terraces that still lie just below the surface. businessman and astronomer. He moved his observatory from near Greenwich to Highbury College Cross House in 1788. This was said to be one of the This street is a fine example of the work of finest observatories in Britain containing a Thomas Cubitt, a 19th century architect, builder Seven miles telescope designed by James Short; this was and entrepreneur. He developed College Cross in known as “Short’s Dumpy”. In 1797 Aubert set the 1830s on land that used to be the botanic up a volunteer corps, the Loyal Islington gardens of the Church Missionary College which Volunteers, to protect Islington in the case of a occupied the area from 1787, hence the street Napoleonic invasion. name. Highbury Stadium Canonbury Tower The site was once the College of Divinity which Canonbury Tower dates from the 16th century leased the sports fields to Woolwich Arsenal when it was the country retreat of the Prior of St. Football Club when they crossed over the river Bartholomew. Henry VIII gave the property to Sir in 1913. They shortened their name to Arsenal Thomas Cromwell. Sir John Spencer lived in the Football Club and changed their kit to burgundy tower during Elizabeth I's reign and then later Sir and white. The team played on this site until its Francis Bacon is thought to have held masonic move to the new Emirates Stadium in 2007. meetings in the tower. Visible are the old West (1932) and East (1936) stands which are both listed and have The New River been developed into flats, with the old pitch By 1600 the main source of London’s drinking Learn safe cycling routes and area as a communal garden. water, the Thames and its tributaries, had become heavily polluted. In response Sir Hugh Myddelton fascinating facts about Islington Gillespie Park brought spring water to London from If you get off your bike at Quill Street you can Hertfordshire: he created a twenty-mile waterway enter Gillespie Park. Walk on the path through that dropped at just five inches per mile in order the park until you come to the Ecology Centre. to get to the New River Head in Finsbury by Leased from the British Rail’s coal and goods gravity alone. This picturesque section of the New yard in 1981, the park is the base for Islington River is part of the original open waterway, but is Council's Nature Conservation Team. The team of purely ornamental nature. manages the borough’s local nature reserves and run events and a volunteer and education Estorick Collection programme. The Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art is a museum based in a restored Georgian house on Highbury Fields – Highbury – Finsbury Park – Freightliners Farm Canonbury Square. It is the country’s only Arsenal – Barnsbury – Canonbury – Highbury Fields Freightliners Farm is an urban farm providing the gallery devoted to modern Italian art. The opportunity for local individuals and groups to collection is known for its Futurist works, and learn about the environment, animal care, figurative art and sculpture dating from 1890 to horticulture and sustainable practices. Its the 1950s. This is the last stop on the cycle purpose is to provide an educational and route, so stop off and have a visit, or follow the recreational recourse for the community. instructions to get back to Highbury Fields. d R rs te is S n e v e S Q u e F e in n B s ’s la b D d c u r d R k ry oo s sw to P n d c a ow R k rk Br ld R R e d d fi er m o S d ll R nse Mo H i g h b u r y Rd P le a a d r s d k r ewoo e Con iv treet R H S Seven miles ighbury Fields H Early 1900s ig h b u r y H i ll k Par H n i yto g Dra h Highbur b u 1971 r y Clock T y G ow r er o v e r Ave veno Gros d H R s o ra l e d lo c a a Highbury Barn e w l M ac a l 1775 Pl y a R W d R o Rd m ’s y aul r a t P u n S b W W C n o S a a e n y n k s a r t L o a t b i n C e S o v b P id u e u r r r B n r W e p y o B R r il R o l d d id o l w R g e d y Pentonville PrisonC r bu R 1840s a on d l n e Ca e d lac o St P n on U i d g p a tin n Hun p e R r d S t t bury S Barns New Riv About 1800er H e m i n g B f a o r r n d s b R u d r y R Co d pe nh ag en St Canonbury Tower About 1800.