Place Name
Descriptive as the road arcs around Highbury Fields. Highbury comes from two Old English words hëah meaning high and burh meaning manor or Middle English heghe and bury. It was so-called to differentiate it from nearby Canonbury and Barnsbury, which are both on lower ground. It is thought that at one time Highbury was part of Stoke Newington and its earliest mentions make reference to it as Newington Barrow, the second part coming from the local lord Thomas de Barewe sometime around 1271 (also Neweton Barrewe in 1274 and Newton Barre in 1294). It was named as Heybury sometime around 1375 and later Heyghbury in 1407 taking the name Highbury in 1535. This road was first named in the rate books as early as 1796.
