Angel Islington

Islington is the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is now an inner-city district in North London, but historically it was a predominantly rural area centred on houses and inns along Upper Street. The name is now also often applied to the areas of the borough close to Upper Street such as Barnsbury and Canonbury, developed in the Georgian era.

Islington constitutes two main areas. The most familiar is approximately the area bounded by Liverpool Road to the west and Essex Road to the southeast. The district's northernmost point is at Highbury and Islington station. The main high street, Upper Street, runs roughly north-south through this. However, it should be noted that the historic district of Canonbury is an exception here and should not be included. In addition, the area around Chapel Market, which once would have been considered part of Pentonville is more usually considered to be part of Islington or the Angel these days.

Less well-known but larger in area than the shopping and entertainment district round Upper Street is the area bounded by Essex Road, New North Road, the Regent's Canal, Shepherdess Walk and City Road. This part of the borough includes the period houses of the Arlington Conservation Area (centering around Arlington Square and surrounding streets) and it's here Islington meets Hoxton and De Beauvoir Town in Hackney. South of the City Road is the Finsbury district of St Luke's.

Finally adding more complexity, in modern times it has become customary to refer to a large area round Angel tube station as a district in its own right, The Angel, Islington. The northern part of this area (from the Liverpool Road junction northwards) is also in the district of Islington, while the southern half is in Finsbury.

Islington was originally named by the Saxons Giseldone (1005), then Gislandune (1062). The name means 'Gīsla's hill' from the Old English personal name Gīsla and dun 'hill', 'down'. The name then later mutated to Isledon, which remained in use well into the 17th century when the modern form arose. In medieval times, Islington was just one of many small manors hereabouts, along with Bernersbury, Neweton Berewe or Hey-bury, and Canonesbury (Barnsbury, Highbury and Canonbury - names first recorded in the 13th and 14th centuries).

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the availability of water made Islington a place for growing vegetables to feed London. The manor became a popular resort for Londoners, due to this rural aspect and many public houses were founded to serve the needs of both visitors and travellers on the turnpike. By 1716, there were 56 ale-house keepers in Upper Street, also offering pleasure and tea gardens, and activities such as archery, skittle alleys and bowling. By the 18th century music and dancing were offered, together with billiards, firework displays and balloon ascents. The King's Head Tavern, now a Victorian building, with a theatre, has remained on the same site, opposite the parish church, since 1543. The founder of the theatre, Dan Crawford, who died in 2005, disagreed with the introduction of decimal coinage. For twenty-plus years after decimalisation (on 15 February 1971), the bar continued to show prices and charge for drinks in pre-decimalisation currency. By the 19th century, many music halls and theatres were established around Islington Green. One such was Collins' Music Hall, the remains of which is now incorporated into a bookshop. It stood on the site of the Landsdowne Tavern, where the landlord had built an entertainment room for customers who wanted to sing (and later for professional entertainers). It was founded in 1862 by Samuel Thomas Collins Vagg, by 1897 this had become a 1,800 seat theatre with 10 bars. This theatre suffered damage in a fire in 1958, and has not reopened. Between 92 and 162 acts were put on each evening and performers who started there included Marie Lloyd, George Robey, Harry Lauder, Harry Tate, George Formby, Vesta Tilley, Tommy Trinder, Gracie Fields, Tommy Handley, and Norman Wisdom.

The Islington Literary and Scientific Society was established in 1833 and first met in Mr. Edgeworth's academy, on Upper Street. Its object was to spread knowledge through lectures, discussions, and experiments, politics and theology being forbidden. A building was erected in 1837 in Wellington (later Almeida) Street, designed by Roumieu and Gough in a stuccoed Grecian style. It included a library, with 3,300 volumes in 1839, reading room, museum, laboratory, and lecture theatre seating 500. The subscription was 2 guineas a year. The library was sold off in 1872 and the building sold or leased in 1874 to the Wellington Club, which occupied it until 1886. In 1885 the hall was used for concerts, balls, and public meetings. The Salvation Army bought the building in 1890, renamed it the Wellington Castle barracks, and remained there until 1955. The building became a factory and showroom for Beck's British Carnival Novelties for a few years from 1956 then remained empty until in 1978 a campaign began to turn it into a theatre. A public appeal was launched in 1981 and a festival of avant-garde theatre and music was held there and at other Islington venues in 1982, and the successful Almeida Theatre founded.