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 Newington Green in about 1900 Detail: islington library and cultural services
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Green with more than its share of radicalism
An extraordinary village with a history to be proud of, is author Alex Allardyce’s view of Newington Green, writesPeter Gruner
HENRY VIII is believed to have kept a number of mistresses in Newington Green and it was home to some of Britain’s most important and influential writers and thinkers.
A wealth of fascinating detail about the area is included in a new book, The Village that Changed the World, published this week.
The area’s cast of characters includes Robinson Crusoe author Daniel Defoe (1660-1731), son of a local butcher and regarded as the father of the English novel.
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-97), an early feminist writer, ran a school there and was the mother of Mary Shelley who wrote arguably the first horror story, Frankenstein.
But most significantly, Newington Green was home and a base for radical reformer Richard Price (1723-91) a charismatic nonconformist minister whose preachings went on to inspire the founders of the American revolution.
His church, built in 1708, is today the oldest nonconformist hall still in use in England.
The 60-page book comes with many old photographs of the area and is produced by architect Alex Allardyce, chairman of the Newington Green Action Group.
In his introduction Mr Allardyce pays tribute to former Islington Labour councillor Pat Haynes, who produced most of the research, which was used in a book he wrote called The History of Newington Green, published in 2001.
Other notables from the area include James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) a renowned Victorian missionary whose organisation sent 800 Christian teachers to China.
In 1876 the centre of Newington Green was fenced off and landscaped by the Metropolitan Water Board.
The area was planted with London plane trees which are still flourishing on the green.
It suffered badly in the Second World War. Twenty-two people at a wedding party were killed following a direct hit by a bomb on a house in Poets Road.
Today the area is home to writer and poet Alison Fell.
Poet and stand-up artist John Hegley was born in the area and still lives nearby.
The Green still maintains its radical element.
The Unitarian Church stopped all weddings this year because of the ban on gays being able to marry in church. And Newington Green was the first area in Islington to ban plastic bags.
n A more detailed feature article about the book will appear in a later edition of this newspaper.
* The Village that Changed the World: A History of Newington Green London N16, Newington Green Action Group, £5.99.
Available at local shops including Belle Epoque Patisserie next door to the Unitarian church in Newington Green, and at Waterstones and Borders. bookstores at the Angel. |
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