Highbury Fields

Highbury Fields is an open space in Highbury, in the London Borough of Islington, England. At 29 acres, it is the largest open space in the borough.

It extends north from Highbury Corner almost as far as Highbury Barn. Besides parkland, Highbury Fields contains recreational facilities including tennis courts and [http://www.aquaterra.org/Islington/highbury/ Highbury Pool] , which reopened after refurbishment in January 2007.

Georgian and Victorian Terraces

The elegant houses surrounding the Fields are good examples of Georgian and Victorian town houses and are highly desirable residences. These terraces lie on three roads: Highbury Place, Highbury Crescent, and Highbury Terrace.

John Dawes bought much of the demesne and began the residential development of Highbury. He granted leases in 1774-9 for 39 houses on Highbury Place. These were designed and built by John Spiller, a speculative builder of Southwark. The terrace was completed in 1777. Famous residents include: ['Islington: Growth: Highbury', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 8: Islington and Stoke Newington parishes (1985), pp. 37-41. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=1175 British History] Date accessed: 15 May 2007.] [Museum of London Postcodes Project, [http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/postcodes/places/N5.html N5] ]
* 1. Walter Sickert, the Impressionist painter, lived here and ran a rather unsuccessful school for artists at from 1927-31.
* 22. This became the home of Charles, the character played by Hugh Grant in Four weddings and a funeral.
* 25. John Wesley stayed here.
* 25. Joseph Chamberlain lived here from 1845-54.
* 39. John Spiller moved in when the terrace was completed in 1777.
* ??. Abraham Newland, chief cashier of the Bank of England, never slept out of it for 25 years. His house on Highbury Place was for daytime use only. ['Highbury, Upper Holloway and King's Cross', Old and New London: Volume 2 (1878), pp. 273-79. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=45097 British History] . Date accessed: 15 May 2007.]

The next major development around what was to become Highbury Fields was the construction of Highbury Terrace. The central part of the terrace dates to 1789. By 1794 nos. 1-16 had been built. ['Islington: Growth: Highbury', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 8: Islington and Stoke Newington parishes (1985), pp. 37-41. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=1175 British History] Date accessed: 15 May 2007.]

Highbury Crescent was begun in 1844, when land was laid out for it by James Wagstaff and James Goodbody. Nos. 19-25 were let to Goodbody in 1846. The houses were pairs of large Italianate villas, with rich and varied decorations in stucco. ['Islington: Growth: Highbury', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 8: Islington and Stoke Newington parishes (1985), pp. 37-41. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=1175 British History] Date accessed: 15 May 2007.]

War memorial

The south end of the fields also features a rather unusual war memorial for an Inner London district (right). Dating from 1906, its triumphant imperialism—complete with victory wreath, cannons and the captured standards of defeated enemies—commemorates Islington residents who fell in the Boer War. (This sort of extravaganza went quite out of fashion after World War I, when sombre, dignified memorials to the dead, such as that at Hackney Wick, were erected all over Britain.) But to be fair, the memorial is centred on a figure that many consider a fine example of art nouveau.

Nearest station

* Highbury and Islington station

References