London Borough of Islington

Etymology

Islington was originally named by the Saxons Giseldone (1005), then Gislandune (1062). The name means 'Gīsla's hill' from the Old English personal name Gīsla and dun 'hill', 'down'. The name then later mutated to Isledon, which remained in use well into the 17th century when the modern form arose. In medieval times, Islington was just one of many small manors in the area, along with Bernersbury, Neweton Berewe or Hey-bury, and Canonesbury (Barnsbury, Highbury and Canonbury – names first recorded in the 13th and 14th centuries). "Islington" came to be applied as the name for the parish covering these villages, which became the Metropolitan Borough of Islington in 1900. On the merger with Finsbury to form the modern borough, the Islington name was used for the whole borough.

History

The area of the modern borough had historically been part of the county of Middlesex. From 1856 the area was governed by the Metropolitan Board of Works, which was established to provide services across the metropolis of London. In 1889 the Metropolitan Board of Works' area was made the County of London. From 1856 until 1900 the lower tier of local government within the metropolis comprised various parish vestries and district boards. In 1900 the lower tier was reorganised into metropolitan boroughs, two of which were called Islington and Finsbury, the latter covering the combined area of the parishes of Clerkenwell, St Luke and St Sepulchre, and the extra-parochial areas of Charterhouse and Glasshouse Yard.

The modern borough was created in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963. It was a merger of the old Islington and Finsbury metropolitan boroughs.

Geography

The southern part of the borough, south of the A501 Pentonville Road and City Road, forms part of the central London congestion charging zone and the Ultra Low Emission Zone. A significant part of the southern section of the borough borders the City of London, with the area to the west bordering the London Borough of Camden. The central London area includes Farringdon and Old Street stations both in Zone 1.

Districts

Areas in the borough include:

• Angel
• Archway
• Barnsbury
• Canonbury
• Clerkenwell
• Farringdon
• Finsbury
• Finsbury Park (split between three boroughs. Other boroughs are London Borough of Haringey and London Borough of Hackney).
• Highbury
• Highgate (split between three boroughs. Other boroughs are London Borough of Haringey and London Borough of Camden).
• Holloway
• Islington
• Kings Cross
• Lower Holloway
• Mildmay
• Nag's Head
• Newington Green
• Old Street
• Pentonville
• St Luke's
• Tufnell Park
• Upper Holloway

Governance

Main article: Islington London Borough Council

The local authority is Islington Council, based at Islington Town Hall on Upper Street.

Greater London representation

Since 2000, for elections to the London Assembly, the borough forms part of the North East constituency.

UK Parliament

Islington is represented by two parliamentary constituencies. Islington North is represented by Jeremy Corbyn, elected in 2024 as an independent. He was formerly a member of the Labour Party, and was its leader and the Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition between 2015 and 2020. Islington South and Finsbury is represented by Emily Thornberry, former Shadow First Secretary of State and Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and current Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade of the Labour Party.

Economy

In the Victorian Age, some parts of Islington such as Clerkenwell were known for their poverty, which George Gissing describes in his naturalist novel, The Nether World (1889). Since this time, Islington has been a subject of gentrification and with the median house price rising rapidly since the 2020 pandemic. With new headquarters for Facebook and Google close to the edge of the borough, along with Lawyer offices Slaughter & May on the edge of the borough, near the City of London, the borough has seen a steady house prices, with median incomes rising significantly.

Inmarsat has its head office in the borough.

Major public and private bodies

Prisons

There is one prison in Islington, a men's prison, HM Prison Pentonville. Until it closed in 2016 there was also a women's prison HM Prison Holloway, which in the early 20th century was used to hold many suffragettes.

Transport

The Borough boasts a large transport network for rail, bus, cycles and road users.

London Underground

There are ten London Underground stations in the borough across London fare zones 1, 2 and 3. These stations are principally served by the Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines, although the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines also pass through the Borough:

• Angel
• Archway
• Arsenal
• Caledonian Road
• Farringdon **
• Finsbury Park **
• Highbury & Islington * *
• Holloway Road
• Old Street
• Tufnell Park

The Piccadilly line carries passengers to key London destinations, including the West End and Heathrow Airport. The Northern and Victoria lines also link the borough to the West End, whilst the Northern line (Bank branch) also passes through the City of London.

Just beyond the borough's boundaries are King's Cross St Pancras (in the London Borough of Camden) and Moorgate (in the City).

London Overground

There are also several London Overground stations in the borough, all but one of which are in London fare zone 2:

• Caledonian Road & Barnsbury
• Canonbury
• Crouch Hill
• Highbury & Islington * *
• Upper Holloway

National Rail

There are several other National Rail stations in Islington, which offer direct services to destinations across London, East Anglia and South East England:

• Drayton Park
• Essex Road
• Farringdon
• Finsbury Park * *
• Highbury & Islington **
• Old Street ** **

Farringdon and Finsbury Park are served by Thameslink services, with some trains travelling direct to Gatwick Airport, as well as destinations including Cambridge, Peterborough, Brighton and Sevenoaks. Other stations, including Finsbury Park, are served by Great Northern trains which normally operate between Moorgate and Welwyn Garden City or Stevenage via Hertford North. The Elizabeth line calls at Farringdon.

Moorgate lies just to the south of the borough, in the City of London, whilst King's Cross lies to the borough's immediate west, with destinations including Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Inverness.

Travel to work

In March 2011, the main forms of transport that residents used to travel to work were: underground, metro, light rail, tram, 19.4% of all residents aged 16–74; bus, minibus or coach, 10.3%; on foot, 10.3%; bicycle, 6.2%; driving a car or van, 6.0%; train, 3.7%; work mainly at or from home, 3.6%.

Attractions and institutions

• Almeida Theatre
• Angel Central shopping centre (formerly the Islington N1 Centre), containing:
  • O2 Academy Islington
  • Vue cinema
• Artillery Ground
• Pleasance Islington theatre
• Courtyard Theatre
• Emirates Stadium (and the former Arsenal Stadium at Highbury)
• The Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art in Canonbury Square
• Freightliners City Farm
• Hen and Chickens Theatre
• Islington Arts Factory, in Parkhurst Road
• Islington Public Libraries
• Islington Local History Centre, located at Finsbury Library
• Islington Museum, located at Finsbury Library
• John Salt, cocktail bar on Upper Street
• The King's Head Theatre
• Little Angel Theatre a puppet theatre and producer of the Suspense Puppetry Festival of London
• London Canal Museum, located in New Wharf Road, King's Cross
• London Charterhouse
• London Screen Academy, on Highbury Grove – specialist film/TV sixth form academy
• Odeon Cinema, located on Holloway Road
• Peter Benenson House, headquarters of Amnesty International
• Sadler's Wells Theatre
• St John's Gate, Clerkenwell (Islington's badge for London2012)
• The Screen On The Green, a single screen cinema on Upper Street
• Union Chapel
• Wesley's Chapel

Demographics

|1801 |65721 |1811 |83679 |1821 |108333 |1831 |137271 |1841 |162717 |1851 |214090 |1861 |266010 |1871 |317930 |1881 |369850 |1891 |397799 |1901 |405301 |1911 |412944 |1921 |401054 |1931 |389513 |1941 |324143 |1951 |269743 |1961 |232258 |1971 |200022 |1981 |157512 |1991 |173384 |2001 |175787 |2011 |206125 |2021 |216590 In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough had a total population of 65,721. This rose steadily throughout the 19th century, as the district became built up; exceeding 200,000 in the middle of the century. When the railways arrived the rate of population growth increased—reaching nearly 400,000 by the turn of the century; with the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury particularly suffering deprivation, poverty and severe overcrowding. The increase in population peaked before World War I, falling slowly in the aftermath until World War II began an exodus from London towards the new towns under the Abercrombie Plan for London (1944). The decline in population reversed in the 1980s, but it remains below its 1951 level.

According to the 2001 census Islington had a population of 175,797. It was 75% White, including 5% White Irish, 6% Black African, 5% Black Caribbean and 2% Bangladeshi. Thirty-two per cent of the borough's residents were owner–occupiers.

According to the 2011 census, Islington has the highest population density of local authorities in England and Wales—13,875 people per square kilometre.

Islington has the second highest proportion of Irish people in the country, behind London Borough of Brent.

A 2017 study by Trust for London and the New Policy Institute found that a third of Islington residents lived in poverty. This is above the London average of 27%. It also found that 14% of local employees were in jobs which pay below the London Living Wage – the fourth lowest figure of any London borough.

39% of the borough's residents identified as Christian, 12.8% Muslim, 1.7% Jewish and 42.7% had no religion. Christians and Muslims live throughout the borough, while the Jewish population is most concentrated in the north of the borough in the Hillrise and Junction wards (bordering Highgate and Crouch End).

Ethnicity

The following table shows the ethnic group of respondents in the 2001, 2011 and 2021 censuses in Islington.

Religion

The following shows the religious identity of residents residing in Islington according to the 2001, 2011 and the 2021 censuses.

Education

Universities

The London Borough of Islington is home to two higher education institutions:

• City St George's, University of London at Northampton Square, formerly The City University, founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute; and
• London Metropolitan University, North Campus on the Holloway Road, formed from the merger of the University of North London and London Guildhall University in 2002; the University of North London was founded on this site in 1896 as the Northern Polytechnic Institute

Moorfields Eye Hospital is a major centre for postgraduate training of ophthalmologists, orthoptists, optometrists, and nurses.

Further Education

The borough also currently contains three colleges of further education:

• London Screen Academy; (a sixth form academy set up by Working Title Films to train young people in behind the camera skills)
• City and Islington College
• Westminster Kingsway College (while major improvement works are carried out at King's Cross)

There are two performing arts colleges. The Urdang Academy and the Musical Theatre Academy are both based in Islington.

Schools

Main article: List of schools in Islington

The borough currently maintains 47 primary schools, 10 secondary schools, three special schools and five Pupil Referral Units. In 2000, Cambridge Education Associates, a private firm, took over the management of the Islington's state schools from the local education authority but the education service returned to the Council in 2011.

Media

The Islington Gazette is a local newspaper.

Freedom of the Borough

Main article: List of recipients of the Freedom of the Borough of Islington

The Freedom of the Borough of Islington is awarded to people the Islington Council recognizes have "made an outstanding contribution to the community." It is the highest honor the Council can bestow.

References

References

1. "London Government Act 1963".
2. (1985). "'Islington: Growth', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 8: Islington and Stoke Newington parishes".
3. [[Metropolis Management Act 1855]] (18 & 19 Vict. c. 120)
4. "Finsbury CP through time: Census tables with data for the Parish-level Unit, A Vision of Britain through Time". GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth.
5. [[London Government Act 1899]] (62 & 63 Vict. c. 14)
6. Youngs, Frederic. (1979). "Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England". [[Royal Historical Society]].
7. "Islington Town Hall". Islington Council.
8. "[http://www.inmarsat.com/privacy-policy/ Privacy Policy]." Inmarsat. Retrieved on 26 March 2014. "99 City Road London EC1Y 1AX United Kingdom"
9. "2011 Census: QS701EW Method of travel to work, local authorities in England and Wales". Office for National Statistics.
10. http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_table_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_TPop&u_id=10142635&c_id=10001043&add=N
11. "2011 Census – Population and Household Estimates for England and Wales, March 2011".
12. "UK Government Web Archive".
13. "Poverty and Inequality Data For Islington – Trust For London".
14. "Population by Religion, Borough".
15. "Ethnic minorities in Britain".
16. (1996). "Ethnicity in the 1991 census: Vol 3 – Social geography and ethnicity in Britain, geographical spread, spatial concentration and internal migration". London : HMSO.
17. (1996). "Ethnicity in the 1991 census: Vol 3 - Social geography and ethnicity in Britain, geographical spread, spatial concentration and internal migration". London : HMSO.
18. "1991 census – theme tables". NOMIS.
19. "KS006 – Ethnic group". NOMIS.
20. "Ethnic Group by measures". NOMIS.
21. "Ethnic group – Office for National Statistics".
22. "KS007 – Religion – Nomis – 2001".
23. "KS209EW (Religion) – Nomis – 2011".
24. (29 Nov 2022). "Religion – 2021 census".
25. "BBC News | EDUCATION | Islington schools: is privatisation working?".
26. "Private firm Cambridge Education Authority loses contract to run Islington schools {{!".
27. Taylor, Emma. "[https://democracy.islington.gov.uk/mgCommitteeDetails.aspx?ID=134 Council]". ''Islington Council''. Retrieved 13 August 2025.