ISLINGTON THROUGH THE CENTURIES
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Florence Street may not, in itself, have been around for very long, but there is a long history of humans living in Islington. Neolithic implements have been found, next to Roman pottery and coins. However, the two Roman gravestones discovered in the 18th and 19th centuries may well have been imports rather than proof of settlement.
After the Romans, the area continued to be inhabited by a variety of people. Soldiers were probably among the inhabitants, as the name Islington seems to derive from "Ishel," an old British word signifying "lower," and "dun," or "don," the usual term for a town or fortress. This suggests that the Islington of the Britons must have been along the east side of the Lower Street, known today as Essex Road.
By the time of the 1086 Domesday Book, a certain Dereman of London owned the land around here. We don't know for sure what he did with the land or even if he lived there, but it wasn't long before an impression can be gained of how Islington would have looked in that era. Fitzstephen, writing between 1170 and 1182, speaking of the north of London, says, "On the north are fields for pastures, and open meadows, very pleasant, into which the river waters do flow, and mills are turned about with a delightful noise. The arable lands are no hungry pieces of gravel ground, but like the rich fields of Asia, which bring plentiful corn, and fill the barns of the owners with a dainty crop of the fruits of Ceres." He goes on,"beyond them an immense forest extends itself, beautified with woods and groves, and full of the lairs and coverts of beasts and game, stags, bucks, boars, and wild bulls."
Dereman's land was subsequently taken over by Geoffrey de Mandeville, who became Earl of Essex under King Stephen, hence Lower Street and Lower Road also being known as and eventually renamed as Essex Road. His family in 1242 gave it as a charitable donation to the de Berners who, in turn, in the late 13th century gave some of it to the Prior and Canons of St Bartholomew in Smithfield. This led to the area being known as Canonbury, covered the area now bordered by Upper Street, Essex Road and St Paul's Road and including the space now occupied by Florence Street. The remaining bit became known as Barnsbury, which is a slight corruption of the de Berners name.
Initially the Canons did not seem to be greatly interested in this new gift but no doubt were delighted to receive the regular rental income from what were primarily dairy fields. But in 1509 William Bolton became Prior and decided to start building Canonbury Tower. This subsequently became the well-recognised Islington landmark, part of which still stands today.
When it came to the dissolution, Prior Fuller had to surrender Canonbury to the Crown and Henry VIII gave it to Thomas Cromwell, the Lord Privy Seal and favourite of the king. Cromwell is believed to have lived in Canonbury Tower for a few years. Following his execution, an annuity from the manor, worth £20 per annum, was bestowed on the ill-favoured Anne of Cleves. In 1547 it was granted by Edward VI to John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, from whom it passed to the ill-starred Duke of Northumberland, only a few months before his beheading. In 1570 Lord Wentworth, to whom Queen Mary had granted the manor, sold it to Sir John Spencer, "the rich Spencer" who figures so often in the civic history of Elizabeth's reign.
Sir John Spencer built a big house on Cross Street, where he was favoured by visits from Queen Elizabeth I. This house survived until 1850, having been noted by a number of writers as being a fine example of Tudor architecture. In the garden he put a small brick building in the garden which became known as Queen Elizabeth Lodge.
His daughter fell in love with and, according to tradition, was carried off hidden in a baker's basket by the first Earl of Northampton. So when Sir John died, the estate passed on to the Northampton family who owned it until they started to develop it for housing in the nineteenth century.
Back in the 16th century, Canonbury was still fields with the occasional hut here and there. The population of Islington as a whole was still small; by 1548 there were 440 communicants in the whole of Islington. At this time the village was known principally for its inns, which often harboured recusants and fugitives, and for fields which were used for illicit prayer meetings, counterfeiting coins, training militia, fighting duels, and archery and other sport.
As Upper Street was one of the main routes into London from the North, the monarchy came to Islington for various reasons. In 1465 Henry VI was arrested in Islington by Earl of Warwick, who removed his gilt spurs contemptuously, and hurried him to the Tower. Edward IV, on the occasion of his accession to the throne, was welcomed between Islington and Shoreditch by the Lord Mayor and aldermen of London, some of whom he knighted. In the same manner King Henry VII, on his return from the overthrow of Lambert Simnel, was met by the mayor, aldermen, sheriffs, and principal commoners, all on horseback in one livery, when he dubbed the mayor, Sir William Horn, knight, and between Islington and London knighted Alderman Sir John Percival.