[Illustration: SIR THOMAS FOWLER'S LODGE, ISLINGTON.]
Few parishes in the environs of London are so rich in architectural
antiquities as the "considerable village" of Islington. Canonbury-house,
of which a solitary tower remains, is said to have been the
country-residence of the Priors of St. Bartholomew, and to have been
_re_built early in the 16th century. Highbury belonged also to the
Priory. The existing relics are chiefly of the Elizabethan age. The
lodge, represented in the cut, belonged to an old mansion; the property
of the Fowler family, built in 1595, which appears on a ceiling. The
house fronts Cross-street, and the lodge is at the extremity of the
garden, and adjoins Canonbury Fields. It is most probable that this was
built as a summer-house by Sir Thomas Fowler, the younger, whose arms
are placed in the wall, with the date 1655. It has been absurdly called
Queen Elizabeth's Lodge, but with no other foundation than her majesty
having passed through it when on a visit to Sir Thomas Fowler.
The Fowlers appear to have been of some note. Sir Thomas Fowler, the
elder, who died in 1624, was one of the jury on Sir Walter Raleigh's
trial: his son, Sir Thomas, was created a baronet in 1628; the title
became extinct at his death. Some coats of arms were taken out of the
windows of the old mansion. Among these were the arms of Fowler and
Heron. Thomas Fowler, the first of the family who settled at Islington
married the daughter of Herne, or Heron, of that place.[5]
[5] See Harl. MSS., No. 1551.
The Pied Bull, near Islington Church, is stated to have been the
residence of Sir Walter Raleigh; though Oldys, in his _Life of Raleigh_,
says there is no proof of it; and John Shirley, of Islington, another of
Raleigh's biographers, records nothing of his living there. The
statement is, however, renewed in a Life of Sir Walter, published in
1740.
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