Exhibition: Industrial Islington

An exhibition from the research of Community Historian Carolyn Clark and her team of volunteers.

The Regent’s Canal in Islington has been a source of livelihoods, recreation and relaxation for two hundred years. Much has changed over that time on the canal’s banks, but the waterway is a constant, influencing the places it runs through and providing a familiar landmark.

The Young Actors Theatre Islington, with support from the National Lottery’s Heritage Fund and London Canal Museum, traced the canal’s heritage in 2019. Led by community historian, Carolyn Clark, and a group of volunteers, they gathered stories, photos and information about the Islington reach. Many locals such as Fred Rooke still call it the Cut: ‘I keep saying canal but it’s not a word we used when we was kids, we only knew it as the cut. Nobody ever said shall we go down the canal, it was shall we go down the cut.’ Ernie Philips explained: ‘they cut the ground, that’s why they call it the cut.’

The rich history of the Islington stretch of the canal is revealed in this exhibition, including some of its industrial past and the memories of people who worked and lived by it.