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Islington' was known by the ale-swilling Anglo-Saxons as 'Gislandune' (meaning
'Gisla's hill') and is recorded in the Domesday book as Iseldone, when it's
land in the forest of Middlesex was held by the canons of St. Pauls. It's earliest
church is mentioned in 1317.
By the mid-16th century, the hilltop village of 'merry Islington' was noted
for it's handsome mansions, gardens, orchards, good dairy farms and pure water
from it's springs (rather like it is today). The area was a natural stopping
place for royalty travelling to and from the capital. Later (and not so merrily),
being outside the city, the area was a refuge during plague outbreaks and after
the Great Fire.
From Jacobean times, 'The Angel' was known as the nearest staging post to London.
It was a coaching inn 'opposite some large elms' on the busy Great North Road
where the traffic included herds of cattle being driven to the market at Smithfield.
'The Angel' was especially useful to night travellers, when the unlit fields,
on the outskirts of the city, were dangerous. The inn was rebuilt in 1819 and
again in 1899 (when it's dome became a noted landmark), was a Lyons tea house
in the 1960s and today.....it is a CO-OP bank.
By the late-eighteenth century, Islington was still little more than a cluster
of houses grouped around the village (Islington) green, with the smaller, distant
hamlets of Holloway and Canonbury nearby. The lower reaches ran into tea gardens
and spas (notably at Sadlers Wells, since 1683) and it rivalled Clerkenwell
(I kid you not) as a recreational resort for Londoners. However, Pentonville
Road was now patrolled at night, by mounted escorts, to protect homeward-bound
revellers from entertainments such as 'a learned pig' (recorded in 1783). The
spas, also, were claimed to cure 'dropsy, jaundice, scurvy, greensickness and
other distempers not to be mentioned'.
Still, Islington was a good place to be (Arsenal football club had not yet
been founded). As a London character in a novel of this time states "....give
me fresh air, and Islington!". William Blake mentions "the fields from Islington
to Marylebone". Goldsmith records the area as 'a pretty, neat town, mostly built
of brick, with a church and bells. It has a small pond in the midst though at
present much neglected.'
Even in the 19th century, when Dickens wants to banish a character from the
action of one of his novels, he exiles him to distant Islington. However, by
the end of the century, improved transport 'decreased' the distance to London
and made development inevitable although, still, the people who lived here generally
confined their lives to the district .
Midsummer - period of summer solstice, about 21 June ~madness, extreme folly,
supposedly due to midsummer moon and heat.
Yes, midsummer madness is upon us and, as usual, there is only one way to combat
it. Let us (Ra)ise our glasses to the life-giving, super soaraway Sun.
Up the Essex Road, now, to the next watering-hole. The road was once noted
for it’s fine mansions and ancient inns, one of which was: We cross over the road to: Left into Cross Street now, past the site of an old asylum (demolished
1845) and to the hip, the happening And, as the sun drew down to west, We climbed the toilsome Angel crest,
And saw, of landskip sights the best, The inn that beamed nearby. It’s almost over, at the top of Upper Street we reach.. That’s it! We have celebrated Apollo pulling his chariot across the sky
and now, as the nights draw in, perhaps we can understand the lines:
Glowing with answers in the aromatic dark, We walk, so wise, Aidan Laverty. June 1996
Angel:
A grand Victorian tavern is the scene for the kick-off. Ornate mirrors and
windows provide a suitable setting for quiet contemplation of your Theakstons
or Youngers ale. If we’re lucky, we may bask outside and soak up the UVA &
B.
This trendy spot was the site for a famous inn which was demolished in 1829.
Today’s building still contains a 16th-century plaster ceiling and fireplace
from the original which are much appreciated by the locals. Boddingtons &
Directors ales (served in 20th-century straight pint glasses) and draught
Budvar and Hoegaarden help create a lively atmosphere. Table football may
be attempted by the energetic and those with Euro-96 fever (not me guv).
A sun-trap beer garden is the main attraction of this pub for solstice devotees;
glasses of Boddingtons, Flowers, Old Speckled Hen and the ubiquitous (for
Islington) draught Hoegaarden should be sampled and raised in a toast to the
sun’s orange rays. A couple of guest beers were also on when I visited (as
a guest).
Another modern-style pub with 6X, Pedigree, Flowers and Hoegaarden on tap.
The wine list is also worth checking out. Of more interest to some may be
the bottles of ‘Desperados’ tequila beer weighing in at a hefty 5.9% (lightweight
to Diamond White drinkers). Go on! Give it a go! I’ll see you later.
We’re in Upper Street and are wending our merry way to Highbury Corner.
On the way, we stop at...
Famous in the late-70s, when it played host to gigs by all the emerging punk/new
wave bands. The Stranglers, X-Ray Spex and, er... Dire (boredom) Straits all
played here along with many others who are commemorated by plaques along the
pub’s walls. Today, draught IPA and Abbot make you want to spit with excitement.
Formerly the Cock Tavern, where football fans used to meet to discuss the
latest boring events at nearby Highbury. The pub has undergone extensive revision
and looks the better for it. Again, a lively bar with a good, loud jukebox
and a young clientele. The beers are brewed on the premises and are the refreshing,
fruity Bibis Best, Flamin’ Ada and Taylor made (in increasing order of strength).
Unless you are taking the tube, that is.
