In memory of those from Cromwell Road who gave their lives for freedom and honour in the Great War 1914-18.
{followed by a list of 21 names not in any particular order, but giving the regiment. See Subjects commemorated.}
Geograph has a photo, "taken 7 years ago" (i.e. 2015) which shows the memorial in much better condition than now, 2022, and surrounded with flowerbeds of red, white and blue primroses. Without this photo we would not have been able to correctly transcribe the list of names and regiments. Being laid into the ground places the inscription totally at the mercy of rain, and within a few more years it will be illegible.
Imperial War Museum War Memorials register has the list of names but seems unaware that the regiment of each name is given on the memorial. There we learn that the memorial was installed here in 1994 but there are no clues about where it was before that. It was surely erected on a building in Cromwell Road shortly after the end of WW1 and salvaged when the road was demolished c. 1957-71. We can make no suggestion about which building it was on since maps show no buildings in that street other than Victorian housing.
Site: Cromwell Road WW1 memorial (1 memorial)
N19, Holloway Road, Whittington Park
This 1895 map shows that between Wedmore Street and Wedmore Gardens there were 4 streets including Cromwell Road. The Hunt House of lost streets informs that Cromwell Road, N19 became Ireton Road but we are not sure when. A 1957 map shows the street layout unchanged, although the flats between Wedmore Street and Rupert Street have arrived. The London Bomb Damage map at Layers of London shows that Cromwell Road itself was not badly bombed though neighbouring roads to the south and north-west were. Our physical A-Z of 1990-2 shows the streets largely gone and the park in place, but with a rather smaller footprint than now. Stubs of the streets adjoining Holloway Road are shown and the Irton Road stub is where the entrance to the park is now, lined up on the main footpath.
The Whittington Park Community Association have this to say: "In the early 70s, local residents formed the Whittington Park Action Group to oppose houses being demolished to make way for the expansion of Whittington Park. From this group, Whittington Park Community Association was established as a charity on 19 September, 1972."
Islington History has some useful information at the entry for Ireton Road: "IRETON ROAD: From c.1860-1937/8 CROMWELL ROAD. Named after Henry Ireton (1611-51), Parliamentarian General, who married Oliver Cromwell's daughter Bridget. Last in the 1971 register of electors, when only no.32 remained."
So in summary: Cromwell Street was built c.1860, renamed as Ireton Street 1937/8, demolished between 1957 and 1971, and built over by Whittington Park.
