Islington Parks And Open Spaces
The London Borough of Islington is short of large parks and open spaces, given its status in recent decades as a desirable place of residence. In fact, Islington has the lowest ratio of open space to built-up areas of any London borough. The largest continuous open space in the borough, at 11.75 hectares (29 acres), is Highbury Fields.
Islington has access to large open spaces in neighbouring London boroughs. The Islington district of Finsbury Park is next to the southern end of Finsbury Park, in Haringey. The "Green Route" of the Regent's Canal tow path provides access to Regent's Park to the west – in Camden; and Victoria Park to the east – in Tower Hamlets. Many other open spaces such as Clissold Park in Hackney are situated on the borders of the borough. Islington also contains many well-kept public squares and greens, such as Canonbury Square and Thornhill Square.
Because of the perceived open space deficit, many small community gardens grew up in Islington from the 1970s on. Created and maintained by local residents on sites made derelict by the Blitz and redevelopment, not all have survived, but one notable remaining example, open to the public, is Culpeper Community Garden, near the Angel.
Read more about Islington Parks And Open Spaces: Principal Open Spaces, Others
Famous quotes containing the words islington, parks, open and/or spaces:
“There was a youthe, and a well-loved youthe,
And he was a squires son:
He loved the bayliffes daughter deare,
That lived in Islington.”
—Unknown. The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington (l. 1–4)
“Perhaps our own woods and fields,—in the best wooded towns, where we need not quarrel about the huckleberries,—with the primitive swamps scattered here and there in their midst, but not prevailing over them, are the perfection of parks and groves, gardens, arbors, paths, vistas, and landscapes. They are the natural consequence of what art and refinement we as a people have.... Or, I would rather say, such were our groves twenty years ago.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I have passed down the river before sunrise on a summer morning, between fields of lilies still shut in sleep; and when, at length, the flakes of sunlight from over the bank fell on the surface of the water, whole fields of white blossoms seemed to flash open before me, as I floated along, like the unfolding of a banner, so sensible is this flower to the influence of the sun’s rays.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We should read history as little critically as we consider the landscape, and be more interested by the atmospheric tints and various lights and shades which the intervening spaces create than by its groundwork and composition.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)