The ‘My Barnsbury’ team are documenting residents’ recollections of the area

MONKEYS on Chapel Market and an elephant on Liverpool Road sound more like chil­dren’s stories than historical facts – but these are real memories of Islington’s past, unearthed by a project documenting residents’ recollections of the area.

Created by a team at St Andrew’s church in Thornhill Square, the “My Barnsbury” history project has a double purpose: to gather people’s memories of their neighbourhood while raising money for the urgent restoration of the church.

Through sessions with the Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants, Barnsbury Housing Association, Cally Traders’ Association and the church’s congregation and school, volun­teers are inter­viewing Barns­bury residents of all ages about what the area means to them.

Clare Mason, one of the project’s organisers, said: “Chapel Market has come up a lot. There are stories of people who have grown up playing on bomb sites or watched Barnard Park change over the years.

“The feeling from people is that they are incredibly proud to be associated with Islington. They have very emotional memories about landmarks and characters and it feels like a big privilege to be able to document that.”

Once they have finished gathering people’s memories, Ms Mason and her team will work with a local artist to create an exhibition.

A St Andrew’s church warden, Lis Howell, said: “Barnsbury doesn’t really have a focal point, it’s a diverse and diffuse area. There are very different experiences, if you lived on Bemerton Estate, say, than on one of the squares.

“But it’s a very distinct place – it’s not Canonbury, it’s not the Cally or King’s Cross – it’s Barnsbury. It’s really vibrant, it’s definitely special. Barns­bury is changing – if we don’t grasp it now, we may lose it altogether.”

The monkeys on Chapel Market came from a pet shop on Cally Road that many pensioners remembered from the 1950s, while the elephant on Liverpool Road was a visitor from the circus.

One man, a lamppost cleaner in the 1970s, remembered running away from an enormous spider that dangled out when he opened the light one day. Another young foot­baller recalled playing the beautiful game in Thornhill Square with a team of lads who had all failed to make their school teams – only for them to go on to win a Highbury league together two years later.

“There’s a real sense of community once you get people going,” Ms Mason added. “There is a coherence to it that is very Islington.”

There is one more open session where residents can come to share their memories of the area: Wednesday, January 22, 10-11.30am at the Jean Stokes Community Centre.