T H E
R AGE F O R
BUILDING
D uring the 19th century Islington was
transformed from green fields to streets.
Its population swelled from 15,000 in 1810
to 300,000 in 1900.
The demand for homes gave opportunities
for architects to create new streets, squares
and buildings and for financiers to invest.
Cloudesley Square was developed on the
Stony Fields estate in the 1820s and its
houses built by the carpenter John Emmett,
who lived at several different addresses in
the square.
T.T. Barrow, Survey of the ‘Stone Field’ site, later to become the
Cloudesley Estate and site of Holy Trinity Church, 1825 copy of an
earlier survey of c.1800. Image: Islington Local History Centre
In 1830 George Legg designed Trinity School
on the corner of the Square and Cloudesley
Street. By 1835, 240 infants were enrolled at
Trinity School and 263 in the Sunday school.
Improved transport links, including the
horse-drawn omnibus, allowed people to live
in the clean air of the Islington suburbs away
from their places of work. Henry Buckler,
William Hubbard and Joseph Sharpe were
typical of local residents who commuted to
the City of London.
‘The 14 Acres Stonefield’
showing Barnsbury brick
fields with the Liverpool Road
workhouse in the background.
c.1800
Image: Islington Local
History Centre
1 Cloudesley Square, which was home to John
Emmett’s widow and his architect son during the
1850s, 1961. Image: London Metropolitan Archives