Tag: Local History
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Hollywood by the Canal: A brief history of Islington and Gainsborough Studios
One hundred years ago, in November 1920, Islington film studios trade-screened its first movie, The Great Day. While the film was not a critical success, it marked the beginning of a distinguished 30-year production run. For those three decades Islington Studios, and then as Gainsborough Studios, produced some of Britain’s…
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Engineering Islington Tunnel
The Islington Tunnel, arguably the main architectural and engineering feature of the Regent’s Canal, was designed and engineered by James Morgan. Morgan was born on 9 March 1774 in Wales and was employed in his early 20’s as an assistant to the famous Regency architect John Nash. In 1806 Nash…
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The Icy Past of Regent’s Canal
Prior to refrigeration, ice from the Regent’s Canal was integral to Islington’s businesses for food preservation, particularly to meat, fish and dairy merchants. Ice also played and important role in hospitals where it was in use to relieve inflammation. It was a difficult product to gather and store in the…
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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.…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
Friends of Islington Museum 