Long ago – well, 10 years, to be precise – I made a discovery in a, to me, unknown corner of Islington. I was fascinated by what I found and wrote about it on my blog. (See A discovery.) As the weather today is sunny and mild, I decided for my solo walk [1] to revisit my discovery.

Baron Street – a sunny, mild day

The easiest way to reach it is along Islington High Street and Upper Street but I preferred to avoid the busy main roads.

White Conduit Street

I crossed Chapel Market into White Conduit Street and walked through Sainsbury’s car park into Tolpuddle Street.

The Culpepet Park pigeons

Entering Cloudesley Road, I visited my friends the pigeons of Culpeper Park. They were enjoying the warm weather, sunbathing, prospecting for food and (the males) performing courting displays to females.

Old Royal Agricultural Hall

I passed down Bachelor Street into Liverpool Road near the old Royal Agricultural Hall, rebadged as the Design Centre.

The Pig and Whistle

At the Pig and Whistle pub, I entered Theberton Street and soon turned left into…

Gibson Square

…Gibson Square. Like all “squares”, this one has a central garden.

Gibson Square garden

Once private to residents of the square, the garden ceased to be maintained and was taken over by the Council in the 1930s and is a fine example of its kind, a pleasant setting in which to sit or stroll on a fine day.

Milner Square garden

Adjacent to Gibson Square is Milner Square which also boasts a central garden. In fact, both squares were developed together as part of the Milner Gibson Estate in the 1830s, so we might consider them siblings.

Building in Milner Square garden

A feature of Milner Square garden is this curious building. It has no windows and no door, despite the false alcoves imitating these. There is no inscription, either, to help us determine its purpose. Perhaps I will discover its secret one of these days (or a helpful reader will tell me!).

The eastern side of the square

The buildings on the eastern side of the square at first sight form an impenetrable barrier to my destination which is somewhere behind them.

A door that isn’t a door

But wait! What might at a quick glance be mistaken for a door is not one at all but an opening to a passageway!

The Hole in the Wall

Officially called Almeida Passage, it is known locally, for obvious reasons, as the “Hole in the Wall”. The interior walls are painted grey in order, I suspect, to deter graffiti writers. The many patches of different shades of grey suggest remedial action when said graffitists still manage to leave their calling cards.

Battishill Street

In Almeida Street, the second turning on the left brings me into Battishill Street, approaching my goal. This street, incidentally, is named in honour of the musician and composer Jonathan Battishill (1738-1801).

Battishill Street Gardens

Here we find the Battishill Street Gardens, a rather unpretentious green space but pleasant nonetheless. At a quick glance, you might think that this is all there is to the gardens.

Curving path

You could easily mistake this path as one leading to another entrance. Happily, on the day I first came here I was curious and went to see where it led.

It brought me to a paved courtyard but my interest was immediately captured by what was on two of the walls. (The GIF may take a while to load.)

Musgrave Watson’s frieze

Unfortunately, the jerky display and poor lighting makes it difficult to see the details but the GIF at least gives an idea of the scale of the work. As an explanation, I reproduce the notice next to the sculpture:

Here are a few photos of parts of the frieze:

In retrospect, this was not the best day to photograph Musgrave Watson’s frieze because of the awkward angle of the low winter sun. The poor state of the frieze, dirty and overgrown, doesn’t improve the visibility either. It is in desperate need of some expert care and attention.

Whatever we may think of the Victorians and their imperial pretensions, works such as these impress with their energy and unbounded optimism and self-confidence. This is something we may well find ourselves envying in this present age of uncertainties. I find it sad that this work is left to languish and decay here, forgotten and uncared for.

Back through the Hole in the Wall

For my return journey, I retraced my steps back to the Hole in the Wall which, on this side, starts with an open section.

Holy Trinity Church, Cloudesley Square

This time, instead of following Liverpool Road, I cut through Cloudesley Square, where the Grade II* listed Holy Trinity Church is still undergoing refurbishment.

Old shops, now dwellings

This brought me out into Cloudesley Road where we find these two old shop fronts. They present an interesting example of history turning back in itself. The two properties would originally have been ordinary houses like those on either side until their owners decided to convert them into shops. Their retail lives now behind them, they have once again reverted to dwellings, albeit with their shopfronts still in place.

Scooter – are they following me?

As happened yesterday, I came upon a child’s scooter, left unattended in the street. I’m beginning to wonder whether I am being followed by the ghosts of abandoned scooters!

Tempted at Mercer’s

On reaching Chapel Market again, I found myself looking longingly at Mercer’s coffee shop. I don’t usually buy coffee when I am out on my own because that makes it a special treat to have coffee when I am with Tigger. As today’s walk was longer than usual, though, I felt I deserved a reward and allowed myself to be tempted!

Coffee in hand, I rushed home to drink it while still hot and to start writing up this post.

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[1] You may recall that at present Tigger goes in to work Wednesday to Friday.

Now you see her, now you don’t: that’s Ari’s motto!

Yesterday morning, Ari appeared in what I will for convenience call the NE (north-east) corner of the room but before we could photograph her, she descended rapidly behind the books on the top shelf nearby. She was invisible fir the rest of the day.

This morning she graced us with her presence, again in the NE corner.

Here’s a slightly enlarged version of the above:

I went for my walk, as described in my previous post, and, on my return looked for our peripatetic Ari. Not in the NE corner…

With my eyes, I followed the join between wall and ceiling, as this seems to constitute Ari’s running track. Yes! There she is, in the SE corner.

How long did it take her to come this far? Not long, probably, as she is a quick mover when she wants to be. I only regret I wasn’t there to see her moving.

She has remained perfectly still now for about four hours. When will she move again and where will she go?

See also Ari, the Spider

.

As previously mentioned, Tigger is at work Wednesday to Friday each week at present, meaning that on those days I have to motivate myself to go out – if I do go out. Yesterday was wet and miserable and I felt no guilt about staying at home. Today was supposed to be cloudy in the morning with rain later (dixit the Met Office), so I thought I had better make an effort to go for a morning stroll. Imagine my surprise, on leaving the house, to find the sun shining!

Sunshine in Claremont Square

This is a familiar view, I know, but I took it to show you that the sun was definitely shining, pace the Met Office.

(Yes, I know that “proper photographers” don’t shoot directly into the sun like this but since I gave up using a DSLR in July 2019, I have abandoned all pretence of being a “proper photographer” 🙂 )

Looking down Pentonville Road

I had an idea of where I wanted to go and made my way along Pentonville Road to reach it. The photo is looking down the hill towards King’s Cross and on the right is Cynthia Street. I had picked out this street because, though we have crossed the end of it many times, I had never walked along it.

What’s interesting about Cynthia Street? Nothing much really, except perhaps for one intriguing detail.

Cynthia Street

As you can see, it’s now a rather nondescript sort of street, lined with rather anonymous-looking residential blocks.

Scooter: dumped or parked?

Beside one of the apartment blocks was this child’s scooter. This was no sign (or sound) of a possible owner so perhaps it has been abandoned for anyone to “own”, a traditional way in this neighbourhood of disposing of serviceable but unwanted items that others might find useful.

Private park

On the corner of Cynthia Street with Donegal Street, I found a small park or garden, complete with children’s playground. I naturally looked for an entrance, hoping to take a stroll in its greenery, but was disappointed: there are two gates but access is by electronic keypad only. The park, it seems, is private to the residents of the building.

How do Councils go about naming the streets within their jurisdiction? In some cases, it is obvious: streets that bear the names of the great and good who are thought to deserve such a memorial. Many others, though, have names whose origin is not obvious. Cynthia Street is a case in point.

This area, as I previously mentioned, was developed in the 18th century by Henry Penton. This street was then called Ann Street, after the third Henry’s first wife. (There were several Henry Pentons.) In 1890, it was renamed Cynthia Street.

There are many possible reasons for renaming the street but which is the one that applies in this case and who was Cynthia?

Once again, British History Online provided an answer – well, of a sort. On this page, we read that “Its [original] name no doubt honoured Henry Penton III’s first wife; the present name refers to the subject of the painted ceiling in Hermes Hill House.”

Hermes Hill is now indicated only by a the short Hermes Street and, as far as I know, Hermes Hill House no longer exists. Unless more information comes to light, we are left wondering who the Cynthia was that was represented on the famous painted ceiling and, later, in the name of this street.

Joseph Grimaldi Park

I walked down Donegal Street (originally called Henry Street after Henry Penton and renamed at a date and for reasons unknown to me) and came to Rodney Street and Joseph Grimaldi Park, both of which I described recently (see A grave, a garden and a canal.

Rodney Street

I took a photo looking along Rodney Street although it is not a very interesting street apart from bordering Joseph’s park and grave and leading to the relatively picturesque entrance/exit of the Islington Canal Tunnel (see the above mentioned post).

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School

I returned along Donegal Street where we find the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School. I noticed a certain amount of activity here, perhaps in anticipation of the imminent, if controversial, reopening of schools.

Penton Street

At the end of Donegal Street is the more familiar territory of Penton Street (no need to explain where its name comes from!).

The Lord Wolseley

In White Lion Street, I came upon the sad vision of what appears to be a dead pub. This Victorian establishment, originally called The Lord Wolseley and later rebadged the Craft Beer Co, seems in a parlous state, pending either demolition or redevelopment. We came here a couple of times for their Sunday vegetarian roast but will apparently not do so again. What fate awaits it?

Godson Street

Connecting White Lion Street with Chapel Market is this short street called Godson Street. It was created, I believe, in the later 1880s by clearing away buildings previously on the site and was named after forebears of the Penton family. Bollards along the centre are intended to make it pedestrian-only but as you can “drive” through it on Google Maps Street View, I conclude that one of Google’s vehicles must have traversed it.

Need the toilet?

The streets of London are not really paved with gold but in them you find practically everything else, often free, if only you know where to look! Even sanitary ware!

Stalls in Chapel Market

I took my last photo in Chapel Market where there were a few shops and stalls open. I think stallholders in particular must be hanging on grimly and hoping that with the Covid vaccination programme progressing well, we can look forward to an end to lockdown and a return to some sort of normality in the foreseeable future. That, I am sure, is a hope shared by all of us.

After spending the day with us on her last visit (see Spider Ari still with us), Ari had disappeared again completely by the next day.

Then today, just as she was leaving en route for the office, Tigger spotted something in a corner of the room. Ari was back!

Ari disappearing

Having seen Tigger to the door, I just had time to snatch this photo of Ari as she disappeared behind a shelf of books. There was no time to find a way to illuminate the scene (we don’t use flash because Ari seems not to like it). To compensate, I have lightened the photo to some extent.

This is the same place where I saw Ari disappear after a previous visit, leading me to suspect that this is where she stays when not visible to us. I could take a look, of course, but will not do so because I think that would disturb Ari and provoke her to move elsewhere.

See also Ari, the Spider.

Barnsbury is the district immediately to the north of where we live but still “local” enough to include in our exercise outings. The name comes from the Berners family, who held the manor there in medieval times.

The weather today was mild (12°C) and our walk quite long. Here are just a few of the scenes that caught my attention along the way.

Cautious squirrel
Photo by Tigger

Our first encounter was with this small neighbour. Some of the houses in Pentonville Road have front gardens in which are large mature trees which provide ideal homes for squirrels. Not only that but the dustbins act as takeaway food outlets for them, thanks to the wasteful habits of humans. This squirrel was raiding a bin when we arrived and, to be on the safe side, took to the tree as we approached. When we stopped to watch, he too adopted a wait-and-see attitude, hanging upside down on the tree trunk. We continued on our way and left him to his food shopping.

Penton Street

We turned into Penton Street, which takes its name from Henry Penton who developed the area later called Pentonville from open country in the 18th century. Older black cab drivers will remember attending the office here where they were tested on “The Knowledge”.

We see our shadows…

In the religious calendar, today is the Feast of Candelmas which is known in the US as Groundhog Day. Both in Europe and the US, a popular tradition has it that fine weather today indicates several more weeks of winter weather whereas cloudy weather indicates an early arrival of spring. If Punxutawney Phil, the groundhog, can see his shadow as clearly as we can then both we and the US can expect more winter weather before spring returns!

Young Actor’s Theatre

We passed the Young Actors’ Theatre, which was locked up tight though I did spot some notices affixed to the railings.

“Drop off Here”

These notices, entitled “Drop off Here”, also read “Please line up against the railings behind you”. Ignoring the fact that the railings would be in front of anyone reading the notice, not behind them, I assume this dates from sometime before lockdown when auditions were being held and crowds of aspiring young stars were expected. Did they come; and were some selected? I do not know.

“Front Garden”

I was amused by this “front garden”. Why the inverted commas? Well, because behind the railings is the “area” or open space of the basement. So how does the tree manage to hang in mid-air so as to appear at street level?

Mystery solved

As the above photo shows, the tree is planted in a tub down in the basement and has a long, branchless trunk stretching up to street level. The poor thing is perhaps weakened by this abnormal development and a cord has been attached to support it.

Abandoned office chair

It seems that it is not only in our neighbourhood that people put out unwanted items in the street. Here is an office chair, apparently still robust if somewhat grubby. Let’s hope it finds a new owner before the weather causes further damage.

Thornhill Gardens

We stepped into Thornhill Gardens to take a look and enjoy the pleasant surroundings.

Fine old trees

The garden contains some fine old trees, such as these. (You know how fond of trees I am 🙂 )

There were promising signs of spring…

…such as these flowers and …

…these, shyly lurking in the background.

Bird feeder

I was glad to see this bird feeder and another one that I haven’t photographed. The park seems to be run be a group called Friends of Thornhill Gardens and they obviously care for wild life. The reward is the active bird population in and around the garden.

One of the parakeets
Photo by Tigger

Along with the more traditional local birds were a flock of parakeets, active and vociferous as they usually are. Parakeets are now so numerous that we might as well regard them as “native” British birds. I, for one, are fond of them.

Stately villa

We both admired this rather stately villa with a substantial tree in front of it.

The Albion

During lockdown pubs are closed, of course, but this one seems more than simply closed for the duration: it is boarded up, which suggests a change of fortune. Called The Albion, it has existed from at least the early Victorian era but may not do so for much longer, if appearances are anything to go by. What has fate in store for it?

The Draper’s Arms

In contrast, this mid-Victorian pub, called The Draper’s Arms, seems merely to be “resting” and awaiting the end of lockdown to reopen.

In recent decades, even before the downturn in trade caused by the pandemic, many pubs, which hitherto had no difficulty making a living, found themselves struggling, and quite a few have closed, either to be demolished or to continue in a new form, perhaps as restaurants or residential buildings.

The Rainbow

Barnsbury Road came to a sudden end and, with a shock of surprise, I realised where we were: the appearance of The Rainbow meant that we had arrived at Liverpool Road. Tigger knew exactly where we were, of course, but then, I don’t enjoy the navigational skills of her “Inner pigeon”! All we had to do was follow Liverpool Road down to “our” branch of Sainsbury’s and thence to home, albeit making a certain important call on the way.

Mysterious alleyway

There were still a few intriguing sights to take in on our way, such as this mysterious alleyway (probably not at all mysterious if you live here!) and…

Giant spiky plant

…this gigantic spiky plant in a front garden. (I’m sure it has a name but I do not know what it is – mea culpa.)

One of the neighbours

We met one of the neighbours but he made it clear that he was far too busy to waste time talking to us.

The Angelic

When we came to the Angelic (yes, another pub 🙂 ), on the corner opposite Sainsbury’s, we were once more on our home turf.

White Conduit Street

A few more steps took us through Sainsbury’s car park and into White Conduit Street. And what is on the corner of White Conduit Street? Why, yes, of course, Mercer’s coffee shop, destination of that important call I mentioned.

I remembered both to put on my face mask and to present our loyalty card (who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? 🙂 ). Then, coffee in hand, we hurried home, thus completing our Barnsbury ramble for today.