Category: Refugee Week

  • Holloway Prison

    Holloway Prison

    Islington as a Place of Refuge – Tour Stop 7 Significance: Location of interned German Jewish ‘enemy aliens’ Holloway Prison operated from 1852-2016, exclusively holding female and young offenders from 1903. Thousands of women were imprisoned there over its history. The story of women behind bars has long held the…

  • Carlo Gatti’s Ice Well Plaque

    Carlo Gatti’s Ice Well Plaque

    Islington as a Place of Refuge – Tour Stop 3 Significance: Location of Swiss-Italian entrepreneur Gatti’s ice well Italians have been settling in London for centuries, with a great many settling in Islington. Carlo Gatti left his Swiss-Italian home town in 1847 to go on to become a successful entrepreneur…

  • Caledonian Park

    Caledonian Park

    Islington as a Place of Refuge – Tour Stop 1 Significance: Location of rally for Hungarian revolutionary Lajos Kossuth By 1848, a storm of discontent swept through European states, culminating in a series of republican revolts against monarchies. Beginning in Sicily, most of Europe tried, and failed, to implement a…

  • ANC Print Shop

    ANC Print Shop

    Islington as a Place of Refuge – Tour Stop 4 Significance: Where anti-apartheid material was produced Apartheid was official policy of institutional racism and segregation in South Africa between 1948 and 1994. It was a system designed to disempower black South Africans and ensure the white population remained in power.…

  • The Keskidee Centre

    The Keskidee Centre

    Islington as a Place of Refuge – Tour Stop 2 Significance: first dedicated arts centre in Britain for the Afro-Carribean community The Keskidee Centre was envisioned by Oscar Abrams, a Guyanese architect and cultural activist, in the 1970’s. A centre providing educational, social and cultural activities for a disadvantaged and primarily West…

  • Islington Refugee Services and Support

    Islington Refugee Services and Support

    Islington as a Place of Refuge – Tour Stop 8 Significance: Islington Refugee Services and Support Islington has long been a place where migrants and refugees have settled. The borough is central, accommodation has often been cheap and there is a history of tolerance – Finsbury was the first UK…

  • Paradise Park Children’s Centre

    Paradise Park Children’s Centre

    Islington as a Place of Refuge – Tour Stop 5 Significance: Location of Britain’s first female Somali Mayor’s Councillor Surgery Paradise Park Children’s Centre is an important stop in Islington’s refugee and migrant history for its links with a key member of Islington’s Somali Community, Councillor Rakhia Ismail. Since 2014,…

  • The Victoria

    The Victoria

    Islington as a Place of Refuge – Tour Stop 6 Significance: Pub hosting Irish music performances Over the past three centuries Islington became a new home for thousands of Irish economic migrants, who brought with them many cultural traditions and the melodic sounds of Irish music. In the 20th Century,…