Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington.

Clerkenwell is home to City University and the Royal Mail's Mount Pleasant sorting office.

[5] In the Middle Ages, the London Parish clerks performed annual mystery plays there, based on biblical themes.

The Monastic Order of the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem had its English headquarters at the Priory of Clerkenwell.

Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries the Charterhouse became a private mansion and one owner, Thomas Sutton, subsequently left it with an endowment as a school and almshouse.

Black Mary’s Hole was a locality and small rural settlement in a low-lying area on the eastern, Clerkenwell side of the valley of the River Fleet.

[7] Over the years the New River Head complex expanded with the addition of further reservoirs and pumping stations, driven by windmill, horse gin and, eventually, steam engine.

The site is now largely in residential use, including both converted buildings and newly built apartment blocks.

It takes its name from the family of Bishop William Lloyd who inherited the land from his godmother Flower Backhouse, Countess of Clarendon, a shareholder in the New River company.

In Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2, Falstaff complains about Justice Shallow boasting of "the wildness of his youth, and the feats he has done about Turnbull Street".

[12] The Clerkenwell Bridewell, a prison and correctional institute for prostitutes and vagrants, was known for savage punishment and endemic sexual corruption.

The House of Detention was demolished in 1890 but the extensive vaults and cells beneath, now known as the Clerkenwell Catacombs, remained.

It gained an especial reputation for the making of clocks, marine chronometers and watches, which activity once employed many people from around the area.

[citation needed] The Kodak United Company opened a factory and storefront at 41–43 Clerkenwell and took advantage of the surplus of unemployed Jewelers and Watch makers to build their Stereoscopic and Folding Pocket Cameras that they produced and repaired.

The location also allowed them easy access to the chemicals required for their Bromide based papers and negatives.

Hockley-in-the-Hole was an area of Clerkenwell Green where bull-baiting, bear-baiting and similar activities occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries.

[17] In 1902, Vladimir Lenin moved the publication of the Iskra (Spark) to the British Social Democratic Federation at 37a Clerkenwell Green, and issues 22 to 38 were indeed edited there.

At that time Vladimir Lenin resided on Percy Circus, less than half a mile north of Clerkenwell Green.

In the 1920s and 1930s, 37a Clerkenwell Green was a venue for Communist Party meetings, and the Marx Memorial Library was founded on the same site in 1933.

Clerkenwell's tradition of left-leaning publication continued until late 2008 with The Guardian and The Observer having their headquarters on Farringdon Road, a short walk from the Green.

[19] Clerkenwell St James was an ancient parish in the Finsbury division of the Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex.

A reform of local government in 1900 abolished the Clerkenwell Vestry and the parish became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury.

Finsbury became part of the London Borough of Islington in 1965 and the old town hall lay empty and deteriorating for many years.

After the Second World War Clerkenwell suffered from industrial decline and many of the premises occupied by the engineering, printing publishing and meat and food trades (the last mostly around Smithfield) fell empty.

Modernist architect and Russian émigré Berthold Lubetkin's listed Spa Green Estate, constructed 1943–1950, has recently been restored.

[25] The Italian Procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Sagra takes place each July in the streets surrounding the church.

A small number of Italian businesses remain from the nineteenth century including organ builders Chiappa Ltd, and food outlets such as the deli Terroni of Clerkenwell and Gazzano's.

The Metropolitan line terminates at Aldgate to the east, and to the west, trains carry passengers to Wembley Park, Uxbridge, and stations in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

[28][29] Moorgate is also nearby, with Great Northern services linking the area directly to North London and Hertfordshire destinations.

Bus and cycle lanes are also provided on Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell Road and Percival Street.