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Matthias Road, LONDON, N16 8NP

The green provided grazing for sheep and cattle for centuries until "In 1742 the green, previously 'a most rude wilderness with large old trees' was railed in... In 1761 Newington Green was a 'pleasant village' consisting of a 'handsome square' surrounded by generally well built houses, with a row of trees on each side and an extensive grass plat in the centre... Among the inhabitants was Daniel Defoe (c. 1660-1731), who was educated at Morton's academy and in 1684 married a girl from Newington Green, where in 1692 he tried to raise civet cats." The civet cats, of which he had 70, provided musk which was used to make perfume. This enterprise, like many more of Defoe's, failed and the civets cats were seized in lieu of arrears.

Grade II listed Unitarian chapel - description at this historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1235210.

On a warm Autumn day, Newington Green provides a relaxing environment for senior citizens to doze over their newspapers.

Newington Green itself is a pleasant relaxing open space in North London, ringed by fine mature plane trees on all sides. A small cafe is sometimes open.

Entrance to the green itself, on the north-west corner of Newington Green.

The Green has a long and interesting history: in the C16 Henry VIII frequented its dual attractions (hunting lodge at one end, concubines at the other), in the C17 it became a resort of dissenters and freethinkers, in the 1700s a non-conformist chapel was built and local residents included its renowned minister Rev. Richard Price, the literary lion Samuel Rogers and feminist pioneer Mary Wollstonecraft, in the next century the railway was built to the south. In WW2 an air raid shelter under the green was bombed and in the latter part of the C20 the area saw an influx of Turkish Cypriots.

This Unitarian chapel was founded in 1708 and is the oldest nonconformist place of worship still used in London. The banner on the right commemorates its most famous member, Mary Wollstonecraft, who, attracted by the dissenting community around the Green, came to live and briefly to run a school there, with her sisters and a friend, in the early 1780s.

This was the path running between Newington Green and Stoke Newington for those who wished to attend the latter's old village church. Easily overlooked, it now threads between shabby houses and back gardens but still retains a rustic character in its winding route.