Description
St Paul's Shrubbery is a small park entirely overlooked by the backs of houses on land owned by the Marquess of Northampton and leased to the New Crown public house, owned by the Cannon Brewery Co. Ltd. Part of the site was originally laid out as tennis courts and let out to a club; in 1928 the gardens were provided for the use of tenants of the houses overlooking the site, who paid an annual charge of £1.
Practical Information
| Site location | entrances from St Paul's Road, Northampton Park |
|---|---|
| Postcode | N1 |
| What3Words | ///silk.pose.every |
| Type of Site | Public Park |
| Borough | Islington |
| Open to Public | Yes |
| Opening Times | 8am - dusk |
| Facilities | Children's playground, sandpit, tarmac ball court with football goals and basketball hoops |
| Public Transport | Rail/London Overground/Tube (Victoria): Highbury & Islington then bus. London Overground: Canonbury. Bus: 30, 277, 73, 341, 38, 56, 476. |
| Research Updated | 1 June 2017 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
The lease stipulated that the garden was to be 'maintained as a pleasure garden or recreation ground' and was due to expire in 2011. The gardens today are publicly accessible and contain areas of shrubbery and grass with numerous trees including mature horse chestnut, false acacia, lime, cherry and sycamore. In 1990 there was controversy over the threatened felling of a large horse chestnut with protestors chaining themselves to the tree; the court decision saved the tree by stipulating pruning rather than felling. Recreational facilities until recently included a sunken football pitch.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ325849 |
|---|---|
| Size in hectares | 0.45 |
| Site Ownership | LB Islington |
| Site Management | Greenspace; Friends of St Paul's Shrubbery |
| Dates | C19th |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | Islington |
| In Conservation Area | Yes |
| Conservation Area Name | CA |
| Tree Preservation Order | No |
| Nature Conservation Area | Yes - Local Importance |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | No |
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
The Marquess Estate was built in 1966-76, the first large estate constructed by the new Islington Borough Council, Designed as a dense urban village and built in the vernacular style, it provided residents with small domestic gardens, larger shared gardens and greens, landscaped footpaths, and incorporated a number of older trees. However it came to be regarded as over-complex and soon became difficult to police, as a result of which re-structuring began in the late 1970s, with major refurbishment from the late 1990s, its name changing to New River Green. As part of the most recent regeneration project, a new public park named St Paul's Park was created, with a formal garden facing St Paul's Road, as well asa football pitch, wildlife garden and informal play spaces.
The garden was the centre of an irregular circle of villas, which were built by 1863 on the Marquess of Northampton's Canonbury Estate. Originally named Canonbury Park Square, it was renamed Alwyne Square in 1879. The central garden was described in 1928 as having a low wall with iron railings, planted with grass, bushes and trees. Following bomb damage in WWII, the square was rebuilt in 1954 by the developers Western Ground Rents, designed by their surveyor Nash, and now consists of small blocks of flats, and rows of terraced houses. Only one of the original houses remains. The garden contains grass, with some mature horse chestnut trees, and is surrounded by modern railings.
Newington Green was the centre of the old hamlet on the edge of Stoke Newington and Islington, and the area attracted wealthy residents in the C16th / early C17th. The village green had been enclosed to form a square in 1742 and from C18th illustrations it appears to have been a simple grassed area surrounded by palings. By the early C19th paths crossed the Green. In 1874 it was acquired by Islington Borough Council and the layout became more elaborate, with benches installed and a picturesque central kiosk, later shaded by trees. The garden was re-landscaped in 2004/5 with a Greenspace Rangers' office, new seating, lighting and bicycle stands as well as road improvements to the surrounding streets. A sculpture by artist Maggi Hambling commemorating Mary Wollstonecraft, who had run a school nearby in the 1780s, was installed in November 2020 following a 10-year fund-raising campaign.
