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7 [1911
the Lower Street (now Essex Road) and Upper Street, There were also
" hamlets " at Lower Holloway and Upper Holloway, In those days (1735)
there were only fields between Canonbury Tower and what is now the Upper
Street, and through them a footpath led from midway down Cross Street to
Canonbury House, Then Islington began to broaden, and houses quickly
began to raise their heads between the Lower Road (now Essex Road) and
Upper Street and to the north of that street, Thence extension was
made into Highbury, and Highbury Place and Highbury Terrace appear,

Thus in a little over one hundred years the number of houses in the parish
increased six-fold, In 1811 the 2,656 houses in Is'ington covered only a small
poition of the parish, which was three miles two furlongs in length, from northwest
to south-east; two miles one furlong in breadth trom east to west;
and ten miles in circumference, It contained an area of 3,032 acres three
roods, of which in 1805-6 (according to the terrier and survey then taken by
order of the vestry) about 2,700 were meadow and pasture, and the remainder
housesi, yards, gardens, and wastes,

After 1811 the population grew with great rapidity as already shown, so
that to-day there are none left of those 2,700 acres, which were meadow and
pasture land in 1805, to be built upon, Stone, bricks, and mortar have replaced
those pleasant fields, and instead of the cattle that grazed on them, and the
frequent pleasure seekers, swarming thither from the city, who roved over them,
to spend a few happy hours in the fields, or to partake of the " milk and new
* This was the number in 1793,