By
the Regency period Islington, formerly a "country town of
pleasing fields and meadows", was distinct from London in name
only since a continuation of buildings on either side of the connecting
road provided an absolute union with the city. Islington was, in the
early nineteenth century, chiefly composed of the houses of retired
people and other people connected with London itself; one of its attractive
features was the "salubrity of its air" and the relaxing walks
in nearby countryside (Georgians sometimes referred to Islington as
"the London Hospital"). The village consisted of several handsome
terraces and detached rows of houses.
The
most notable house was Canonbury.
