[1] The name is pronounced variously; notably /də ˈbiːvər/ (də BEE-vər) and /di ˈboʊvwɑːr/ (dee BOH-vwar), with the former giving rise to its traditional cockney nickname Beavertown.

Most of its development was carried out as part of a plan for new town to attract prosperous residents, though it includes a range of housing types and other land uses.

The special character of the neighbourhood has been retained and is recognised by the designation of the De Beauvoir[3] and Kingsland Road[4] Conservation Areas which include many listed and other notable buildings.

However, work stopped in 1823 when Rhodes was found to have obtained his lease unfairly and after a court case spanning over 20 years the land reverted to the de Beauvoir family in 1834.

Occupied in the 1840s by the newly emerging middle classes, the estate was almost wholly residential except around Kingsland Basin and the south-west corner where a factory was leased from 1823.

[7] In 1907, the Fifth Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was held at the Brotherhood Church on the east side of Southgate Road.

In the late 1960s a larger area west of the canal basin, which contained many small factories, made way for the De Beauvoir Estate.

In the 1970s the Greater London Council installed experimental design measures in De Beauvoir Town to reduce through vehicle traffic and make streets safer for children's play.

[citation needed] He stood at three Public Inquiries as an expert witness and led and organised a successful community campaign to oppose the demolition of six hundred houses.

The Club brought together the area's established working class residents and the new middle class arrivals, a model which Jude, with her strong social conscience, was anxious to repeat in other poor London districts, though most of the schemes foundered due to bureaucracy, political correctness and a lack of funding.

[19] The first Alternative Miss World was held on 25 March 1972 in the studio of Andrew Logan in Downham Road, which was a converted jigsaw factory.

The Gaspard the Fox series of children's books, by local author Zeb Soanes are set in and around De Beauvoir.

James Mayhew's illustrations feature numerous local landmarks including De Beauvoir Square and the Regent's Canal.