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.

An agricultural village on the fringe of the City from medieval times, Islington had one specific function - to be a stop for cattle on their way to slaughter at Smithfield. “Finishing yards” abounded, where cattle would be fattened after being driven from Hertfordshire and beyond. With them came the establishment of dairies, drovers’ inns and brewing. Evidence of the drovers’ routes can be seen in Islington’s many raised pavements, built so that the residing upper classes would not soil their clothing from the muddy cattle runs.

Islington’s health spas and open fields held a natural attraction for the wealthy of London (still then a distinct entity) to spend time in the country, and evidence survives in street names such as “Bowling Green Lane”. Cricket was particularly popular, finding its home first at White Conduit Fields before relocating west to Marylebone, and finally to St John’s Wood.

At the end of the eighteenth century, Islington's development increased. By this time the High Street and some terraces were built as small parcels of land were built up piecemeal. A population explosion and housing boom followed the Napoleonic Wars, and neighbouring villages and estates spread inexorably towards each other. Trade and commerce grew with the opening of the Regent's Canal in 1820, linking the London docks with the rest of the country via the capital.

In the mid nineteenth century, with the advent of the railways, came Islington's industrial development and the corresponding social decline as wealthier residents moved out into the new suburbs. By the end of the century the aristocracy had moved out of Islington almost entirely, and many big houses fell into disrepair or were subdivided.

Post-war rebuilding and later gentrification improved both housing standards and the appearance of local streets. In recent years, though some significant social problems remain, Islington has once again become a desirable residential area.