Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Upper Street
Looking at the tra c fighting its way along Upper Street , it's hard to believe that
“merry Islington”, as it was known, was once a spa resort to which people would come
to drink the pure water and breathe the clean air. And walking along Upper Street (and
several of the surrounding streets), it's impossible not to be struck by one of the area's
quirky architectural features - the raised pavements which protected pedestrians from
splattered mud. Such precautions were especially necessary since Islington was used as a
convenient grazing halt for livestock en route to the local Royal Agricultural Hall or
nearby Smithfield.
Royal Agricultural Hall
The ugly modern glass frontage of the Business Design Centre hides the former Royal
Agricultural Hall , Islington's finest Victorian building, completed in 1862, and known
locally as the “Aggie”. As well as hosting agricultural and livestock exhibitions, it used
to host the World's Fair, the Grand Military Tournament, Cruft's Dog Show and such
marvels as Urbini's performing fleas. During World War II, however, it was requisitioned
by the government for use by the Post O ce, who remained in residence until 1971.
The interior is still magnificent - even if the exhibitions now held there are more prosaic
(think packaging conferences and careers fairs) - with the best exterior view from
Liverpool Road, where two large brick towers rise up either side of the roof, like a
Victorian train station.
Islington Green to Cross Street
Today, Islington has fewer green spaces than any other London borough - one of the
few being the minuscule Islington Green , just up from Angel tube. Twice a week (Wed
& Sat), the pavements to the east of the green are occupied by the antique stalls of the
Camden Passage market , although the antique shops in the market's narrow namesake
and the surrounding streets stay open all week.
Just north of the green stands St Mary's Church , originally built in the 1750s. Only the
steeple survived the Blitz, though the light, spacious 1950s interior is an interesting period
piece, with six fluted Egyptian-style columns framing the sanctuary. The churchyard opens
out into Dagmar Passage, where in 1961 a former temperance hall was converted into the
Little Angel Puppet Theatre (see p.441). The archway at the end of Dagmar Terrace brings
you out onto Cross Street , Islington's loveliest street, with eighteenth-century houses
sloping down to Essex Road and raised pavements on both sides.
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Union Chapel
North of Islington Town Hall , a handsome 1920s Neoclassical Portland-stone building,
set back from Upper Street, is the fancifully extravagant Union Chapel . Built in 1888,
at the height of the Congregationalists' popularity, it remains a church, but is now also
an innovative independent concert venue (see p.400). Its lugubrious, spacious, octagonal
interior is designed like a giant Gothic auditorium, with raked seating and galleries
capable of holding 1650 rapt worshippers (or concert goers) with the pulpit centre stage.
Highbury Fields
At the top of Upper Street lies the largest open space in the entire borough, the modestly
sized park of Highbury Fields , where over two hundred thousand people gathered in
1666 to escape (and watch) the Great Fire. Now overlooked on two sides by splendid
Georgian and Victorian terraces, and fringed with plane trees, it's one of Islington's
more elegant green spaces. A plaque on the park's public toilets commemorates the
country's first-ever gay rights demonstration (against police harassment) which took
place here in 1970. Of course Highbury is also world famous as the former home of
Arsenal football club, who now play at a modern sixty thousand-seat stadium, ten
minutes' walk away (see p.436).
 
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