Place:


Highbury  Middlesex

 

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Highbury like this:

HIGHBURY, a metropolitan suburb and a chapelry in Islington parish, Middlesex. The suburb stands on the New river and on the North London railway, 3 miles N of St. Paul's; and has a station with telegraph on the railway, and a post office‡ under Holloway, London N. The post office is in Hamilton terrace; and pillar boxes are in Highbury crescent and Highbury park. ...


Communication is maintained every five minutes, by omnibus, with the City and the West End, and every quarter of an hour with the City by railway. The suburb was originally a hamlet, and took its name from a small Roman camp, on a site nearly opposite Highbury Barn tavern. The manor belonged to the priors of St. John, Clerkenwell, who had a moated house, called Little St. John's wood, on the site of the camp; passed to Thomas Cromwell, the Crown, the Apsleys, and others; and belongs now to the Colebrooks. Much injury was done here, in 1381, by Jack Straw, one of Wat Tyler's followers. Most of what formerly was open ground is now edificed; and part is occupied by very handsome ranges of buildings, two of the chief of which are Highbury terrace and Highburycrescent. A theological college for Congregational students was built, in 1826, at a cost of £22, 000; became a training school of the Church of England, and is now a divinity college of that church. Christ church was built in 1848, at a cost of £6, 000; St. Saviour's in 1866; St. Augustine's in 1869, at a cost of £10, 000; and all three are cruciform. A United Presbyterian church was built in 1863, at a cost of about £6, 500. The chapelry was constituted in 1849. Pop. in 1861, 3, 229. Houses, 447. There are three livings, Christchurch, St. Saviour, and St. Augustine, the first a vicarage, the others p. curacies, in the diocese of London. Value of C., £600; of St. S., £300; of St. A., £1, 000. Patrons of and St. A., Trustees; of St. S., the Rev. W. D. Morrice.

Highbury through time

Highbury is now part of Islington district. Click here for graphs and data of how Islington has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Highbury itself, go to Units and Statistics.

How to reference this page:

GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Highbury, in Islington and Middlesex | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.

URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/20306

Date accessed: 28th March 2024


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