HIGHBURY & ISLINGTON Victoria Line
Beautiful eighteenth century terraces, a watchman’s hut, a river walk 
Highbury and Islington Tube station is not a distinguished building. For the more interesting 1904 original look across the road as you emerge. Cross over at the lights to Highbury Place to get to Highbury Fields. Plenty to do here – a centre with swimming pool, an adventure playground with scarey tall slide, park land and tennis courts all surrounded by elegant Georgian and Victorian terraces. Famous residents include the painter Walter Sickert and Joseph Chamberlain. At the south end of the Fields, nearest the Tube, there is an unusual Boer War memorial in the shape of an Art Nouveau angel flanked somewhat incongruously by a pair of cannons. Unless you particularly feel like pottering about here it is probably not worth going right to the end, as the park is quite large and there is lots to explore in the other direction.
Return to the Tube station and walk away from Highbury Fields, keeping to the Tube side of the road with trees opposite. When you come to the traffic lights just before the imposing High Victorian Union Chapel, cross into Compton Terrace, an early nineteenth century street with arched windows facing a public garden. In Canonbury Lane go left to reach the beautiful Canonbury Square. Begun in 1807, it suffered bomb damage in WW2 and was not fully restored until the 1950’s, but is now considered to be one of the most perfect ‘squares’ in London – though geometrically speaking it’s a rectangle.
The southwest side has a raised pavement. It dates from the 1820’s and has some exceptionally graceful windows, while on the north-west side the windows are unusually tall and angular. Canonbury Road cuts across the square, and at the intersection you will find Northampton Lodge, a handsome brick villa now the Estorick Museum of Modern Italian Art (entrance fee) . One of the two large gardens in the centre of Canonbury Square has formal flower beds, the other boasts a tiny vineyard, following the refurbishment of this area by Loire Valley Wines in 2006.
The name Canonbury comes from the Manor of Canonbury which belonged to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. At the end of the square you will see Canonbury House. The tower was part of the original Canonbury House, an early sixteenth century manor built on a courtyard plan.
The southern part of the manor was demolished 1770-80 and replaced by the present villas at Nos. 1-5 Canonbury Place (No. 1) faces the square and has tall Ionic pilasters – a most handsome building.
To get to the villas, cross over the eastern end of the square and go down a narrow, shady turning. (There is a history of Canonbury House attached to an ancient wall here.) Looking to the left you have another view of the tower. Return to Canonbury Place and wander round the corner for a closer look.
Go back past Canonbury Hous
e and continue down Alwyne Villas. Look out for the brick tower at No.4a. Bearing the date 1526, it was originally part of the walled garden of Canonbury Manor. Walk down as far as Alwyne Road and turn left into this shady street lined with glorious houses. At the corner of Alwyne Place you will see a pink stuccoed summer house attached to a villa.This is the counterpart to the one at Alwyne Villas. Go a little way up Alwyne Place where the smaller houses have cheerful plaster-work in the shape of fruit and leaves. (The different 'Alwynes' can make finding your way round here a real pain - best to print out the map from the link below!)
To continue the trail, return to Alwyne Road and proceed left towards Willow Bridge Road where you will find a paved area and some railings. On the left a gate leads to the New River Park. Although only a narrow strip, this park is some interest. Opened in 1954, it follows the line of the New River, an artificial water course created in 1613 to bring fresh water to Islington from the River Lee in Hertfordshire. It only takes about ten minutes to walk to the northern end of the river, but unless you are ready for a peaceful wander and perhaps a rest on one of the benches, you may want to return to the bridge after a brief exploration of the northern section. We shall go to the southern part of this delightful little park in a moment.
In the meantime, something completely different - a glass house! Not a ‘greenhouse’ as in gardening, but a real dwelling constructed in glass. (Jan Kaplicky and Amanda Levete for Future Systems 1993-4). Cross the bridge and walk left past the majestic Marquess pub down Douglas Road. Sandwiched into the gap between the pub and terraced houses is the intriguing glass structure – more spectacular than practical, one would have thought. Pop round the back down Canonbury Grove to see the somewhat daunting rear elevation – sheets of plate glass bolted together. Not exactly cosy. Go back to the bridge, noting the pretty terraces of Canonbury Grove (1820’s) as it follows the line of the river. Enter the park again and walk towards Canonbury Road. You might wonder what a circular brick building resembling a giant pork pie is doing perched on the bank. In the days when the New River was an important source for clean water, a guard occupied this watch house to ensure that nobody swam or fished in the channel. They were also there to prevent people from throwing dead dogs and other undesirable objects into the precious clean water, or stealing the stopcocks and other fittings.
When you reach the end of the park, turn right to get back to Highbury & Islington Tube station or go left for the much closer Essex Road overground station (rather creepy, as so little used during the day. This has trains which will take you (one stop) back to Highbury & Islington Tube.
Please note that this is one of the stations that serves the Emirates Stadium for the Arsenal Football Club, so you might wish to check on the fixture list before travelling.
Photos: Canonbury Square, watchman's hut, New River Park
Highbury Fields
Estorick Museum, Canonbury House, Canonbury tower
Canonbury Place
Towers of old Canonbury Manor
Glass House, Marquess pub.
MAP
Highbury is just one walk from the many to be found at London Tube Rambles. There are architectural gems, beautiful country views, historic places and whacky buildings to be found, even in the most unpromising areas covered by the Greater London Underground stations. Usually the places listed are within a mile of the Tube - often only five minutes walk away. If you reached this as an individual page via a search engine, you might like to go to www.londontuberambles.co.uk to see the other destinations explored . You'll be amazed at what's out there!
© DR2009