Residents can stretch their legs while learning about Islington’s history, such as local suffragettes and medieval revolts, with the free “health and history” walks scheme.
At 11am on the last Friday of every month, participants can “stroll at a gentle pace and appreciate some of Islington’s finest green spaces, while hearing about the borough’s fascinating local history”, council magazine IslingtonLife explains.
Run in partnership by Islington Borough Council and Islington Guided Walks (the official mayoral guides to the borough), the scheme, which aims to explore each of Islington’s many parks one at a time, is back after a successful first run at the end of 2023.
The next walk will focus on Newington Green (N16 9PS) in Highbury on Good Friday, 29 March, with walkers meeting by the statue of Mary Wollstonecraft, a writer and women’s rights advocate, considered one of the founders of feminism. She ran a girls’ boarding school in Newington Green, near the site of the statue .
Participants will “discover an historic area with connections to writer, philosopher and women’s rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft and writer Daniel Defoe”, IslingtonLife continues.
Over the next few months, walks will take place in Thornhill Square and Barnsbury Wood on 26 April; New River Walk on 31 May; and St James’ Church Gardens and St John’s Garden on 28 June.
Later in the year, participants can admire Rosemary Gardens on 26 July; Elthorne Park and Hillside Park on 30 August; Joseph Grimaldi Park on 27 September; Duncan Terrace Gardens, Colbrooke Row and Regent’s Canal on 25 October; Caledonian Park on 29 November; and Whittington Park on 20 December.
Islington guide Oonagh Gay, the lead for the scheme from Islington Guided Walks, said: “These series of walks offer residents a chance to get out and mix with people while learning something new about their borough. They are enjoyable and friendly, discovering Islington’s green spaces.”
Other walks planned for the year ahead will explore a range of aspects of the borough’s past, including local suffragettes, medieval revolts, historic sculptures, and the story of fifteenth-century London mayor Dick Whittington, who gives his name to Whittington Park.
A poster will be displayed in the relevant park a week before the walk, with details of where to meet. Walks usually last around ninety minutes.
All Islington Guided Walks guides have undergone a “rigorous” year of training, the group’s site explains, acquiring “an in-depth knowledge of the history of the borough, along with the skills needed to guide a range of groups”.
You can find details about the dates and locations of other walks for the rest of the year here. You can register for your free place here.
News reporter for Islington Now and freelancer across other outlets. ENO Responder 23/24. Ex-Editor-in-Chief at The Tab Cambridge.