Barnsbury

Barnsbury

Thornhill Square
Barnsbury
Barnsbury shown within Greater London
OS grid reference TQ305845
London borough
Ceremonial county Greater London
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town LONDON
Postcode district N1, N7
Dialling code 020
Police Metropolitan
Fire London
Ambulance London
EU Parliament London
UK Parliament
London Assembly
A map showing the Barnsbury ward of Islington Metropolitan Borough as it appeared in 1916.

Barnsbury is an area of north London in the London Borough of Islington, in the N1 postal district.

The name is a corruption of villa de Iseldon Berners (1274),[1] being so called after the Berners family: powerful medieval manorial lords who gained ownership of a large part of Islington after the Norman Conquest. The area of Barnsbury was predominantly rural until the early nineteenth century.

By the end of the 18th century, however, Barnsbury, like other parts of Islington, was being regarded as attractive part-rural suburbs by the comparatively wealthy people wanting to move out of the cramped City of London and industrial Clerkenwell. The area is close to the City, and had strong local trade in its position as the first staging post for travellers making the journey from London to the north, and with considerable agricultural traffic and cattle driving to the nearby Smithfield cattle market in the City.

Pentonville Prison (built 1842) is located within Barnsbury.

Nearest stations

Nearby areas

References

  1. Mills, D., Oxford Dictionary of London Place Names, (2000)
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