Nick Collin: A volunteer’s tale

Nick Collin talking about his research to other volunteers

I’m afraid I quickly found myself researching topics that were only indirectly related to the burials in the crypt.

I started by researching the previous residents of my own house, 16 Cloudesley Square, opposite the church. This proved quite easy, using records at the Islington Local History Centre which supported the volunteers throughout the project. I’ve documented the results on the Cloudesley Association website, here: A House Through Time

The story of No. 16 illustrates the changing fortunes of the Cloudesley Estate over the past 200 years. At first, the house was occupied predominantly by middle-class professionals or artisans, usually with a servant or two. For example, I’m fairly confident that the famous Victorian balloonist Henry Coxwell lived here with his mother in the 1840s. 

Starting in the 1880s, however, the area started going rapidly downhill. By 1911 multi-occupancy was the norm and we find No. 16 housing 15 individuals from 4 families, one per floor!

The area remained run-down for much of the twentieth century although the residents seemed to have established a tightly-knit, relatively happy, working-class community.  Then of course in the 1970s and 1980s gentrification started and people like me moved in!

Researching my house prompted me to find out about several other interesting local historical topics which I’ve documented here:

• Islington Workhouses: One of the residents of No. 16 was born at the St Johns Road workhouse just north of Cloudesley Square.

• 19th Century Timeline: I created a timeline of the 19th century to understand the context of our research – it turns out there were major epidemics in London throughout the 1830s.

• The London Fever Hospital: In response to these epidemics, the London Fever Hospital was built just across Liverpool Road in 1848, much to the dismay of Cloudesley residents!

More than anything else, the research project has taught me the joy of serendipity – you never know what’s going to turn up!