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The Earliest Reference to Islington

by Richard Wallington

Ekwall’s Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names, and Mary Cosh’s History of Islington, agree that in the Anglo-Saxon period Islington was originally called Gisla’s Dun (‘Gisla’s Hill’, Gisla being an Anglo-Saxon personal name). They also both give as the earliest reference to it a charter from the year 1000 AD which refers to the Bishop of London being overlord of the settlement of Gislandun.
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Islington History

Oldest Building Islington High Street (ca 1800)

The London Borough of Islington of today was created in 1965, when the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Islington and Finsbury were united. Arguments at the time were volume, each staking a claim to be the senior of the two. Some claims are the stuff of legend: we will never know for certain whether Boudicca really did camp here before descending on the Romans at Battle Bridge. Of Roman activity there is no doubt, and evidence of later, Saxon settlement has been identified and documented.
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The Rose & Other Theatres

The Fortune Theatre
The Fortune Theatre
Any history of the early theatres, must include Shoreditch, Clerkenwell and to a lesser degree the South Bank of the River Thames. The buildings involved and the people that created them, were the start of a chain of events that led to the British theatre of today. The very roots of our drama, both in acting and writing, are to be found in these areas of old London within and outside the old City walls.
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