LETTER CONSERVING CANONBURY FOR 42 YEARS WS NEW RIVER 400TH AnnIVERSarY ISSUE NE SPRING 13 NEW RIVer CeleBrateS ITS 400TH Anniversary By DAVid Ireland AND JacK LAMBert The epitaph to Sir Hugh Myddelton reads “He brought fresh water to London”, and on Sunday 29 September 2013, the New River, the aqueduct he inspired, celebrates its 400th anniversary. The opening ceremony, on Michaelmas Day, 29 September 1613, involved a trio of (more or less) Myddeltons - Sir Hugh, his elder brother Thomas - elected that day Lord Mayor of London - and unconnected playwright Thomas Middleton. Man-on- the-spot Anthony Munday described a ceremony involving 60 of the workmen, “wearing greene Monmouth caps”, witnessing fresh water (from the Chadwell and Amwell springs near Hertford) flowing for the first time into the Round Pond in Islington, and all because “long have we laboured, long desir’d and pray’d, for this great work’s perfection”. Sir Hugh Myddelton ‘s Glory © National Portrait Gallery Sir Hugh was undoubtedly the driving signed off the company accounts. Sir Hugh force behind the New River, a role he faced a great deal of opposition along the officially assumed on 28 March 1609, way - including an attempt to repeal the WHAT’S InsiDE but the originator, and designer of the authorising Act of Parliament - which he Page 2 route, was Edmund Colthurst, a soldier, overcame by making King James I a half- philanthropist and entrepreneur. Sir Hugh shareholder, by the helpful dissolution of Behind a Canonbury blue plaque was varyingly a goldsmith, jeweller, to Parliament between 1611 and 1614, and Banksy comes to Canonbury both Queen Elizabeth I and King James by a good dose of hyperbole (the work Page 3 I, banker, lead and silver miner (his mines was “likelie to prove profittable unto using aqueducts), and Welsh MP for 25 thowsands but hurtful to none”, while his Underground passages years. cost-benefit analysis rather over-egged Message from the Chairman the employment impact - “1700 men” had While we don’t have a day-to-day record worked on the project when the highest Pages 4 of his involvement, Sir Hugh cultivated weekly total never topped 100). Doors to the past friends in the right places, laid off the financial risks, negotiated with landowners, To mark the 400th anniversary in Page 5 handed out gratuities to key workers, and September, the Canonbury Society is Why I love Canonbury planning a sponsored walk along the New Myddleton Arms River Path to raise funds for WaterAid, New River IN A NUTSHell: which seeks to provide safe water for the Page 6 Running from New Gauge, Hertford, to world’s poorest communities. Details Literary quotes New River Head, Islington; originally will appear on our website (www. Planning highlights 42 miles long, gradually reduced to 27 canonburysociety.org.uk). We aim to round miles via the removal of loops; water off our walk at an appropriate pub. All Page 7 flowing under gravity, total drop only members welcome. Get involved with local charities 18ft, or under 5in per mile, under 226 bridges; cost at opening: £11,053. To bring the story full circle, Greenspace Page 8 The greatest engineering feat since in March 2013 installed a new pump Local gardens open for charity the days of the Romans, and over a system in the Douglas Road section, which Annual general meeting century before the UK’s first true canal, can run for longer, needs less maintenance Summer garden party the New River still carries up to 48m and makes less noise. Greenspace also A tribute to Fiona Steevens gallons of water into London. plans to commemorate the anniversary in September. PAGE 1 www.canonburysociety.org.uk The Canonbury Society - CONSERVING CANONBURY FOR 42 YEARS PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER NEW RIVER 400TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE BeHind A CanonBUry BLUE PLAQUE By ZW BateS How many have moved house while their on 52 Canonbury Park South noting that For much of the project Stahl and partner (conveniently or otherwise) is Louis MacNeice lived there from 1947 MacNeice would have been working side away on business? to 1952. It describes him as a poet. The by side in the poet’s study in Canonbury Times’ obituary in 1963 described him as Park, going through Stahl’s literal Moving into 52 Canonbury Park South a poet’s poet, “who avoided the wilfully translation and adapting and recasting in 1947 that was the prospect in front of ‘difficult’ and esoteric.” it into English poetry that reflected the Hedli MacNeice. Her husband, the poet verse forms, as well as the sense, of the Louis MacNeice, who worked for the BBC, Nearly 50 years on from his death in original. spent August to October 1947 in India as September 1963, the contestants on a power was being transferred, gathering January 2013 edition of ‘University When the MacNeices moved from material for six, one-hour documentaries. Challenge’ had never heard of Louis Canonbury in 1952 it was to a house that Hedli, along with his son Dan, 13, and MacNeice, causing Clive James to write overlooked Regent’s Park, five minutes’ their daughter Bimba, 4, was left in post- an article in The Daily Telegraph. The walk from the BBC. war London to arrange moving house. MacNeice poem that Clive James singled There is an English Heritage blue plaque out in his article was ‘The Sunlight on Louis MacNeice was born in Carrickfergus, the Garden’. Other personal favourites near Belfast in 1907. He went to school of mine are ‘Snow,’ ‘Entirely,’ ‘Soap Suds’ in Sherborne and Marlborough. He and ‘Star-Gazer.’ read Classics at Merton College, Oxford (taking a First in Mods and Greats) and, After he moved into Canonbury, before working for the BBC, he taught MacNeice’s Collected Poems 1925- classics at Birmingham University and 1948 were published. Perhaps the most had a lectureship at Bedford College, substantial work that MacNeice did while London. He was awarded a CBE in 1958. living in Canonbury was a translation In 1963, while in Yorkshire to record in 1949 of Goethe’s Faust. This was sound effects in a cave, he caught a cold commissioned to mark the 200th which became pneumonia, from which he anniversary of Goethe’s birth. The BBC died. approached W.H. Auden. His German was good, but he declined the work. The author is planning a book about travelling MacNeice accepted the project on the in the footsteps of Louis MacNeice (provisional basis that, to compensate for his lack of title ‘Sunlight on the garden: travelling with the German, he would work with his friend poems of Louis MacNeice’) to be published in Ernest Stahl. 2014 under the pen name of ZW Bates. BanKSY coMES to CanonBUry By ROSEMary BroWN Unlike its illustrious counterparts in Banksy’s sardonic artworks of political and in Canonbury didn’t last long before it was nearby Shoreditch, the relatively pristine social commentary emblazon walls, streets ‘buffed’ (street talk for painted over). walls of Canonbury tend to be bereft of and bridges in cities around the world. street art. That is until last summer when With his art selling for six figure prices, Although Canonbury is now street art-less world-renowned street artist Banksy many aim to protect this elusive artist’s (as we went to press), aficionados don’t turned a trailing vine on Canonbury outdoor creations by covering them with have to go far for a viewing. The remains Square into erotic art. Perspex. Not so here. Banksy’s creativity of one of Banksy’s iconic works -- three children raising a Tesco plastic bag on a flag pole -- are still visible on the side wall of Savemain Pharmacy on Essex Road. Hailed as the ‘female Banksy’, Islington- based street artist Bambi decorates a wall on Pickering Street with three works -- the most striking depicts Queen Elizabeth II as the “Queen of Diamonds.” A few steps from Highbury Corner on Digswell Street, a futuristic Statue of Liberty adorns the blue walls of the Hair Machine beauty salon by street artist Pegasus. Islington’s best street art radiates out from Old Street underground station. You can discover it with London Street Art tours on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. www.streetartlondon.co.uk/tours Creativity in Canonbury by internationally celebrated street artist Banksy. [email protected]. PAGE 2 www.canonburysociety.org.uk The Canonbury Society - CONSERVING CANONBURY FOR 42 YEARS PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER NEW RIVER 400TH AnnIVERSarY ISSUE Secret TUnnel TaleS: “ALL SorTS OF RUMours AS To SubTerranean Passages” By DAVID Ireland MeSSAGE FroM: THE CHairMan 2013 PHilip WalKer As memories of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the Olympics and the Paralympics fade, it is salutary to reflect on the spirit of volunteering which played such a vital role in their success. In this issue, we feature four of our Canonbury charities offering opportunities to volunteer, namely Urban Hope, The Rose Bowl, Islington Giving and the newly-launched Here to. All are seeking financial donations, but donations of time and expertise are equally welcome. We may all be getting older, but we collectively have an enormous From where secret passages do (or don’t) lead… wealth of experience and expertise, and imparting just a fraction of this in a directed way, possibly as a mentor to a One subject guaranteed to draw snorts New River under a house in Alwyne-road, young person, can be mutually rewarding. of derision from local historians of but is there blocked up” If you’re interested in volunteering, do old was the suggestion of secret get in contact with the local charity of underground passages leading out from Our Man, now clearly having worked up your choice.