Islington Green is a small triangle of open land at the convergence of Upper Street and Essex Road (once called Lower Street) in the London Borough of Islington

London Borough of Islington

The London Borough of Islington is a London borough in Inner London. It was formed in 1965 by merging the former metropolitan boroughs of Islington and Finsbury. The borough contains two Westminster parliamentary constituencies, Islington North and Islington South & Finsbury...

. It roughly marks the northern boundary between the modern district of the Angel

The Angel, Islington

Angel is a district of London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...

 and Islington

Islington

Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...

 proper.

Historically it is not an old village green like others in London (for example, Shacklewell

Shacklewell

Shacklewell is a district within the London Borough of Hackney, roughly North-east of modern-day Dalston, .-History:...

 Green), but a surviving patch of common land

Common land

Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...

 like Newington Green

Newington Green

Newington Green is an open space in north London which straddles the border between Islington and Hackney. It gives its name to the surrounding area, roughly bounded by Ball's Pond Road to the south, Petherton Road to the west, the southern section of Stoke Newington with Green Lanes-Matthias Road...

 to the north, that was carved out of old manorial wasteland where local farmers and tenants had free grazing rights

Grazing rights

Grazing rights is a legal term referring to the right of a user to allow their livestock to feed in a given area.- United States :...

. The original land was far more extensive, but was largely built over in the 19th century.

The green contains a memorial to the dead of both world wars as well as a statue of Sir Hugh Myddleton

Hugh Myddleton

Sir Hugh Myddelton , 1st Baronet was a Welsh goldsmith, clothmaker, banker, entrepreneur, mine-owner and self-taught engineer...

, designer of the New River

New River (England)

The New River is an artificial waterway in England, opened in 1613 to supply London with fresh drinking water taken from the River Lea and from Amwell Springs , and other springs and wells along its course....

 that was so important to London's water supply from the 17th century onwards. The statue incorporates a fountain, which is no longer functioning. The New River itself once terminated about a kilometre to the south in Finsbury

Finsbury

Finsbury is a district of central London, England. It lies immediately north of the City of London and Clerkenwell, west of Shoreditch, and south of Islington and City Road. It is in the south of the London Borough of Islington. The Finsbury Estate is in the western part of the district...

, but the section that can be still walked in modern times, the New River Walk, ends just to the north of the green off Essex Road. The north side of the green also carries a plaque to the once-famous Collins's Music Hall, which burned down in 1958. A Waterstone's bookshop now occupies the site.