Gillespie Park and Nature Reserve

This area of Highbury was formerly owned by the Great Northern Railways, who had built its track from Kings Cross to York in 1850. The site of Gillespie Park was laid out for coal depot sidings in 1878, to the east of which an ink factory was established by H. C. 'Inky' Stevens in 1892 that remained up until the 1960s, at which point the sidings also closed. A housing estate was built here in 1972 and in 1980, the idea for a park on the former sidings was put forward by interested local groups. Although some wished the area to be left to grow wild, Islington Council and others, mainly Gillespie Road residents, regarded this as a security risk. In 1981 the council secured a ten year lease from British Rail and the c.3-acre site was landscaped with some mounding and construction of a pond, although much of the original vegetation was undisturbed, and trees, shrubs and wildflower seeds were planted. An area to the north was supplied with topsoil (the whole area was covered with coal dust, fire ash and broken brick) and given over to local people as allotments.

Before the expiry of the lease, the future of the park was in jeopardy when, as a result of the government's drive for house-building, British Rail was pressurised to sell the land for housing, which the Leader of Islington Council also supported. A pressure group to keep the park open was set up and their successful campaign received national and local publicity. British Rail agreed the sale of the freehold to Islington Council for use as parkland on condition that agreement was reached on the siting of a building development providing homes on behalf of New Islington and Hackney, Islington and Shoreditch and Ujima Housing Associations. In return, half an acre was retained for allotment use and the park gained a two acre extension between the park and the railway line. The builders were also required to fund an extension of the Parkland Walk (q.v.), to run from Highgate to Finsbury Park to Gillespie Park. The extra area of the park supports a rich grassland habitat including Islington's only orchid, a common spotted orchid, which was discovered in 1991. A further area of the original coal depot was acquired by Arsenal Football Club in 1994 for a development and parking area, although this also supported rare species of grass and was a valuable wildlife habitat and corridor for birds, hedgehogs, butterflies and foxes who visit or live in Gillespie Park. 

One of the conditions of granting permission for the development of the park was the building of an Ecology Centre and in 1992 Urban Programme Funding was secured to enable this. The award-winning Ecology Centre was constructed to be as environmentally-friendly as possible and provides a teaching centre for schools and information centre for the general public and can be booked for events.

In c.2010 (to check) Friends of Gillespie Park was formed, its aims to protect and promote the park for the benefit of the local community, holding an annual Gillespie Festival featuring many multi-cultural events. By 2019 244 plant species, 94 bird species and 24 types of butterfly have been recorded here. Grasslands on the nearby sidings have been declared a Site of Metropolitan Importance by the London Ecology Unit. 

Since 2011 Gillespie Park has been protected with Fields in Trust as a Queen Elizabeth II Field. It won the London Conservation Area of the Year award in London in Bloom 2015 and the Green Flag Award in 2019.