The history of Highbury and Islington & its location

13 june 1739

Islington 1640

Highbury and Islington name came to be used for the district extending roughly southward from the parish boundary to Highbury Corner and westward from the New River to Drayton Park, but before the 18th century the only settlement was at the Hospitallers' manor house and grange, recorded in 1338. Residential growth began in the 1770s when John Dawes, who had bought much of the demesne and former woods, (fn. 1) granted leases in 1774-9 for the 39 houses of Highbury Place, built by John Spiller, a speculative builder of Southwark, under an agreement of 1773.
Arsenal Stadium has been the home ground of Arsenal Football Club since 1913. It is located in Highbury, London giving rise to its popular name Highbury. The original Arsenal Stadium was built in 1913, when Woolwich Arsenal moved from their home in Plumstead, south-east London to Highbury, leasing the recreation fields of a local divinity college. Designed by renowned stadium architect Archibald Leitch, it featured a single stand on the eastern side, and the other three sides given banked terracing. However, no significant portion of Leitch's original stadium remains today, following a series of bold redevelopments during the 1930s.