{{Short description|Square in Islington, London, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date= September 2022}} {{Use British English|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox street | name = Tibberton Square | image = Tibberton Square (193502039).jpg | caption = | postal_code = {{postcode|N|1}} | coordinates = {{coords|51.5394393062037|-0.09546074633199633| display=inline,title}} | map_type = United Kingdom London Islington | construction_start_date =1823 | completion_date =1828 }} '''Tibberton Square''' is a small garden square in Islington, North London. It is bounded on two sides by terraces of Georgian houses which are Grade II listed buildings. Thomas Wontner, a wealthy hat manufacturer, built the square on his own garden between 1823 and 1828.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baggs |first1=A. P. |last2=Bolton |first2=Diane K. |last3=Croot |first3=Patricia E. C. |editor1-last=Baker |editor1-first=T. F. T. |editor2-last=Elrington |editor2-first=C. R. |title=A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 8, Islington and Stoke Newington Parishes |pp=20–24 |date=1985 |location=London |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol8/pp20-24 |access-date=20 September 2025 |chapter=Islington: Growth, South-east Islington}}</ref>
==History== Thomas Wontner (1747–1831) came from Herefordshire with his wife and brother, and was apprenticed in the hat trade, in which he was successful. With his watchmaker brother John, he moved from their Minories factories to Islington. He established a business near Essex Road, employing up to 50 men to sort skins, especially beaver and seal, for making gentlemen's hats. Thomas went on to become Master of the Worshipful Company of Feltmakers.<ref name="Cosh2005">{{cite book |last=Cosh |first=Mary |author-link=Mary Cosh |title=A History of Islington |date=2005 |publisher=Historical Publications Ltd |location=London |pp=229–230 |isbn=0-948667-97-4}}</ref> Wontner built himself a villa nearby with a large front garden, and moved there in 1808. After his wife died in 1823, he built a row of houses on part of his garden, named after his wife's home village of Tibberton in Worcestershire, where they first met. This was the start of the square, which eventually comprised two east-west terraces and two larger houses at the narrower north-western end. The fourth side was never built.<ref name="Cosh1993">{{cite book |last=Cosh |first=Mary |author-link=Mary Cosh |title=The Squares of Islington: Part II - Islington Parish |pp=146–149|publisher=Islington Archaeology & History Society |location=London |year=1993|isbn=0-9507532-6-2}}</ref> The Wontner residence was at no. 16.<ref name="Willats">{{cite book |last=Willats |first=Eric A. | title=Islington: Streets with a Story|publisher=Islington Local History Education Trust |location=London | year=1986|isbn=0-9511871-04 }}</ref>
Charles Booth’s poverty map of {{circa|1890}} shows most Tibberton Square households as "Mixed. Some comfortable others poor."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Booth |first1=Charles |title=Inquiry into Life and Labour in London: Maps Descriptive of London Poverty |url=https://booth.lse.ac.uk/ |website=Charles Booth's London |publisher=London School of Economics |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref>
In 1894, the west side of the square including the Wontner villa and the larger houses was razed to build Greenman Street Baths, necessary under the Public Baths and Wash-Houses Act 1846, which required that these be provided for the community. The rest of the square was sold in 1896.<ref name="Cosh1993" />
Subsequently the houses went down in the world, and came into multiple occupation. During the Second World War the ornamental railings and wrought-iron gates at the south-east end were removed for scrap. By 1970 only three houses were in single-family occupation, 46 households had no bath, and 28 had no water supply. The square was acquired by the London Borough of Islington and restored: some houses were converted into flats laterally, the square was pedestrianised, and new railings were installed. The completed conversion was one of nine in the London area highly commended in a 1980 Department of the Environment competition.<ref name="Cosh1993" /> Greenman Street Baths (known locally as "Tibs")<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Kathy |title=A Mind of My Own |date=2025 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=London |isbn=978-1-3985-4814-5 |page=26}}</ref> were demolished in 1984,<ref>{{cite web |title=Essex Road Baths, Islington Greenman Street, N1 |url=https://spacestudios.org.uk/buildings/essex-road-baths/ |website=SPACE |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref> and Wontner Close was built on part of the site in 1987.<ref name="Cosh1993" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://booth.lse.ac.uk/ ''Charles Booth's London'' website] * [https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101292566-numbers-1-to-12-consecutive-and-attached-railings-st-peters-ward British Listed Buildings Entry for 1-12 Tibberton Square] * [https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101195768-numbers-18-to-29-consecutive-and-attached-railings-st-peters-ward British Listed Buildings Entry for 18-29 Tibberton Square]
* Historic England list of nationally protected historic buildings: ** [https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1292566?section=official-list-entry Official list entry 1292566, Numbers 1 to 12 (consecutive) and attached railings, 1-12, Tibberton Square] ** [https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1195768?section=official-list-entry Official list entry 1195768, Numbers 18 to 29 (consecutive) and attached railings, Tibberton Square]
Category:Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Islington Category:Squares in the London Borough of Islington