walk/tour
Outside Canonbury Overground Station, Wallace Road, N1 2PG
This walking tour will follow the course one of the earliest public infrastructure projects in London, the 400 year old New River aqueduct. Explore a history of innovative public housing developments in one of the most densely populated parts on London and end at New River Head, a striking example of public utility architecture now being repurposed for arts and culture.
Canonbury
236, 30
The walk ends at New River Head (EC1R 4TY) Nearest tube Angel (10 min walk), buses 19, 38, 341 (Roseberry Avenue) and 153 (St John Street)
Walking tour
12:00–14:30
How to book
Please create a free visitor account to book your festival tickets.
Challenging the common assumption that public/private infrastructure projects are a recent invention, we will follow the southernmost section of the New River, a 400 year old aqueduct built to bring fresh drinking water to the City of London.
The tour goes through the heart of Islington, one of the most densely populated and rapidly developed parts of Victorian London. We will pass through contrasting private developments of 19th century villas, as well as a timeline of public housing, from early examples of housing trust dwellings, through Islington Council’s first public housing, and later landmark developments from the 1940s through to the 1970s.
We will end the walk at New River Head, a fine collection of public utilities buildings built for the Metropolitan Water Board, now being partially redeveloped to house the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration.
This tour is led by a participant of Open City’s Golden Key Academy – a course training up insightful and engaging guides dedicated to explaining London and bringing its many stories to life. It is part of a wider collection of tour events created by Golden Key Academy guides for the Open House Festival celebrating their conclusion of the eight month course.
Further information on the Golden Key Academy can be found here https://open-city.org.uk/golden-key-academy
Drop in / Family activity
community/cultural, concert/performance space, religious, online
A Grade I and II* treasure that’s home to an inclusive church, an award winning venue, a unique organ and The Margins Project for those in crisis in London. Family Organ Building Workshops are generously supported by the Institute of Physics.
James Cubitt, 1877
