A tube station and former football stadium in north
Highbury, south of Finsbury Park. The football club, of course, is far from obscure but parts of its history are not widely
known. In 1913 St John’s College of Divinity leased its sports ground at Highbury to Woolwich Arsenal football club,
which had been founded in 1886 as the works team of the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich. Tottenham Hotspur and Orient football clubs (the latter then playing at Clapton) objected to the relocation but were overruled.
The club’s achievements were modest until Yorkshireman
Herbert Chapman took over as manager in 1925. A strict disciplinarian and canny businessman, Chapman guided Arsenal to FA
Cup victory in 1930 and then to three league championships. To honour the club’s successes, Gillespie Road station was
renamed Arsenal in 1932. Highbury stadium was erected during the following few years, to the design of Archibald Leitch, who
was responsible for most of the great British stadia of the interwar era.
St John’s College was demolished after a fire
in 1946 and the institution subsequently relocated to Northwood before settling in Bramcote, Nottinghamshire in 1969. St John’s
has a website that makes absolutely no mention of the secular detail that north London’s premier football club owes its Islington
existence to the college.
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| Arsenal fans leaving Highbury stadium for the last time |
Arsenal played their last competitive game at Highbury on
7th May 2006, beating Wigan Athletic 4-2. Since the 2006/7 season, Arsenal have played at the newly built Emirates Stadium
at Ashburton Grove in nearby Drayton Park (see image below). Highbury’s art deco east and west stands have been converted
into apartments, while the former pitch has become a commemorative area and community garden.
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