Category Archives: /Isl-Finsbury

Above: The church building seen from Old Street. The pillar on top of the church tower is an unusual feature. The story of parish churches in Clerkenwell (which is part of Finsbury) is a complex one. Although St James, Clerkenwell … Continue reading →

Above: The entrance to the new station looks rather underused. All this will change once the Crossrail trains are running and serving the new platforms. When the railways were built, from 1836 onwards, London became the terminus for all of … Continue reading →

Above: The main entrance to the underground station, on the north side of Cowcross Street. The station was opened on 10 January 1863 as the terminus of the Metropolitan Railway – the world’s first underground railway line. The original station … Continue reading →

Above: Looking north at Clerkenwell Close with the Crown Tavern on the corner. The pub stands on the corner of Clerkenwell Green and Clerkenwell Close. It is numbered 43 Clerkenwell Green. The small shop beside it, at 44, was once … Continue reading →

Above: Looking north at the church from Clerkenwell Green The above picture shows the present church, standing in Clerkenwell Close. If you had stood in the same position in the early 1500s, you would have seen a similar view. Across … Continue reading →

Above: The nunnery shown on the Agas map (c1561). A large wall is shown surrounding the land, with the Clerken Well seen in the SW corner with a large stone basin collecting the water. The nunnery church, with its stone … Continue reading →

Above: Looking down on the well-head which has a wooden frame across the top allowing it to be covered over for safety purposes. Water can still be drawn from the well and it is still drinkable. There were several wells … Continue reading →

Above: Finsbury Court shown on the Agas map (c1561). The building known as Finsbury Court was the manor farm of Finsbury Manor. At the time of the Agas map (c1561), there were three large adjacent fields – Finsbury Field (also … Continue reading →

Above: A small part of the Agas map (c1561), showing Finsbury. A good idea of how the district of Finsbury looked in Tudor times can be gained from the relevant part of the Agas map (c1561). The bird’s-eye-view map shows … Continue reading →