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1551

First Scheme

In 1551 officials decreed that the Crown was entitled to a share of the proceeds from the Stony Fields. The monarch’s share represented the proportion of the money spent on prayers for Richard Cloudesley’s soul – under King Edward VI, such practices were forbidden.

From 1551 the Crown took £2 13s 4d of the annual income.

© Alamy Stock Photo

1623

Innkeepers

In 1623 Cloudesley’s fields were leased to Richard Atkinson, an Innkeeper.

The land was described as ‘two closes of meadow and pasture commonly called Stony Fields’. The rental was £7 a year. Other Islington innkeepers leased the two fields during the 17th century.

This deed is the earliest surviving letting agreement for the land.

© National Portrait Gallery

1703

Cowkeepers

In 1703 the two fields were leased to Samuel Pullin, the first of a family of Islington cow-keepers who rented them throughout the 18th century. The Pullins used the fields as pasture, fattening and watering cows before taking them to Smithfield Market – a profitable business.

The rent in 1703 was £40 a year. The last of the Pullins to lease the land sold his lease in 1811, by which time the rent had risen to £84 a year.

© National Portrait Gallery

1811

Act of Parliament

In 1811 St Mary’s vestry secured a local Act of Parliament: “An Act to enable the trustees of certain lands called the Stone Fields, situate in the Parish of Saint Mary Islington… to grant Building Leases thereof.” Letting the land for building rather than pasture would be lucrative for the parish.

The new venture took time to arrange. This map of 1817 shows the two empty fields, west of the Back Road, just before house-building began.

© London Metropolitan Archives, City of London

1829

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church was consecrated in March 1829. The newly-built church stood in the middle of Cloudesley Square, the centrepiece of the new development. Cloudesley’s trustees had donated the land and also paid for a large stained-glass window depicting Cloudesley himself.

This was one of four new Church of England ‘district churches’ serving Islington’s fast-growing population.

1832

Act of Parliament

In 1832 the vestry of St Mary’s secured a local Act of Parliament ruling that the income from Cloudesley’s land should support the running costs of Islington’s Church of England churches. This followed a fierce local argument about whether local rate-payers should pay church rates.

The satirical playbill (left) is one of several pamphlets produced at the time to express different points of view.

© Museum of London

1835

The Stonefield Estate

In 1835 the last set of building leases were signed, completing ‘The Stonefield Estate’. The last street to be built was Cloudesley Street, running south from Cloudesley Square. Here, the houses reflected the 1830s taste for picturesque villas rather than tall terraces.

The map of 1831 shows the estate a few years before completion. At this time the name ‘Stonefield Street’ applied to both sections of the central street.

© London Metropolitan Archives, City of London

1840s

Churches

By the 1840s the beneficiaries of the Stonefield Estate’s income were Islington’s five Church of England churches: the parish church of St Mary’s, St John’s in Upper Holloway, St Paul’s at Ball’s Pond, St Mary Magdalene and Holy Trinity in Cloudesley Square, pictured here.

The money was used for general running costs such as tuning the organ, weeding the churchyard or buying new hymm books.

© London Metropolitan Archives, City of London

1873

Charity Scheme

In 1873 the charity began to operate through a Charity Commission scheme. The Commission had been created in 1852 to oversee ancient parish charities, such as Richard Cloudesley’s.

The 1873 scheme confirmed the provisions of 1832 which made Islington’s Church of England churches the main beneficiaries. Now, however, the churches’ share was limited to the first £1,000. Any future surplus would require new arrangements, approved by the Charity Commission.

© Historic England

1906

Convalescent Home

In 1906 Cloudesley’s trustees renewed their annual payments into a fund for building a convalescent home in Clacton-on-Sea.

The project was the Great Northern Hospital’s: the home was intended to help Islington patients recover after discharge. The Reckitt Convalescent Home opened in Clacton in 1909 with 30 beds.

© Heather A Johnson

1909

Richard Cloudesley School

In 1909 the Richard Cloudesley School opened in a corner of the Stonefield Estate. The new school was run by the London County Council which had compulsorily purchased 23,000 sq. ft. of land from Cloudesley to build it.

The school provided education for boys with special needs. It remained on the site until 2008 when the school, by now co-educational, moved to Whitecross Street.

© London Metropolitan Archives, City of London

1924

Youth Club

In 1924 Lady Jean Ward opened the Elizabeth Whitelaw Reid Youth Club in the former Holy Trinity School building in Cloudesley Street.

Lady Ward was the daughter of Elizabeth Whitelaw Reid, an American philanthropist whose chain of youth clubs already operated in the States. Her clubs were designed to provide engaging activities for children in inner cities.

© National Portrait Gallery

1931

Medical Charities

By the 1930s Cloudesley was supporting several hospitals and medical charities with regular grants.

In 1931 the beneficiaries included Islington Medical Mission, the Royal Free Hospital, Islington Dispensary, the North London Nursing Association and the Mackenzie Nurses Home.

© London Metropolitan Archives

1937

Property Sale

1937 marked a major milestone for the charity: the sale of most of its land.

The decision to sell three-quarters of the Stonefield Estate was prompted by the poor condition of some houses and the cost of complying with new housing legislation. The sale combined private sales to existing lessees (raising £60,000), and a 3-day public auction (raising £30,000).

1980

New Scheme

In 1980 a new Charity Commission scheme simplified and modernised Cloudesley’s work. The charity’s beneficiaries were defined as: churches ‘in the ancient parish of Islington’; and ‘persons who are sick, convalescent, disabled, handicapped or infirm’.

By this time the charity still owned around 100 properties, chiefly in Cloudesley Road. Assets also included financial investments and cash.

© Henry Grant Collection/Museum of London

2012

Renewal

From 2012 /13 Cloudesley underwent a root and branch reorganisation and in 2013 employed its first staff team. The charity reviewed all its activities in the light of changing needs in Islington, a borough with increasing extremes of wealth and deprivation.

Image – Key Changes – funded by Cloudesley

2017

500 years

In 2017/18, Cloudesley celebrated its 500th anniversary. An additional anniversary grant-making programme, a church service, a touring history exhibition and other events marked the contribution of one of Islington’s oldest charities to Islington’s past, present and future

Image – Culpeper Community Garden – funded by Cloudesley