Editing Finsbury (section)

==Origins and administration==
===Soke of Cripplegate===
The Soke of Cripplegate was a landholding outside [[Cripplegate]] and [[Aldersgate]]. Bordered (in part at least) by the [[River Walbrook|Walbrook]] to the east, it covered the areas subsequently known as [[Aldersgate|Aldersgate Without]] and the parish of [[St Giles-without-Cripplegate]] (which included [[Cripplegate Without]], the part of [[Coleman Street Ward]] north of the wall and the Manor of Finsbury).
[[File:City of London Ward Map, 1870.svg|thumb| Origin of Finsbury: The Soke included [[Aldersgate|Aldersgate Without]], [[Cripplegate|Cripplegate Without]], the parts of [[Coleman Street Ward]] north of the Wall and a much larger area, in the modern [[London Borough of Islington]], that would become the Manor of Finsbury.]]
The Soke was granted to [[St. Martin's Le Grand]] by [[William I of England|William the Conqueror]] in 1068, in exchange for prayers for the souls of his parents.<ref>London Encyclopaedia, Weinreb and Hibbert, 1983</ref> It is thought the estate may be much older dating back to the establishment of the Diocese of London in the 7th century.<ref>London, its origin and early development, William Page 1923, p129-30</ref>
[[File:Empress Mathilda.png|thumb|The Empress Matilda wished to develop a northern suburb.]]

The churches of [[St Botolph's, Aldersgate|St Botolph without Aldersgate]] and [[St Giles-without-Cripplegate]] appear to have been built in the early decades of the twelfth century (possibly under the aegis of [[Maud of Scotland|Matilda of Blessed Memory]]<ref>London 800-1216, Brooke and Keir, p144-146. Matildas devotion to St Giles is described and links to the process by which the several St Botolphs dedications appeared in London</ref>) and there was very little, if any, development north of the wall before that time. [[St. Martin's Le Grand|St Martins]] rights to the Soke were confirmed by the [[Empress Matilda]] (daughter of [[Maud of Scotland|Matilda of Blessed Memory]]) around 1140. St Martins was permitted to enclose land there to prevent rubbish dumping in the area, but it is thought the Empress' principle intention was to promote planned development of a northern suburb.<ref>Archaeological Excavations at Moor House, Jeremy Haslam p48</ref>

The development of streets such as Redcross Street, Whitecross Street, Grub Street, Fore Street, Moor Lane, Chiswell Street and others were subsequently recorded.

===Manor and parishes===
It is not entirely clear how the territory and rights of the Soke evolved into the subsequent administrative and ecclesiastical units.

The area covered by the Soke was served by two parishes; the little parish of [[St Botolph's, Aldersgate|St Botolph without Aldersgate]] served the extramural City Ward of [[Aldersgate|Aldersgate Without]], while the parish of [[St Giles-without-Cripplegate]] served the extramural City Ward of [[Cripplegate|Cripplegate Without]] and the Manor (estate) of Finsbury.<ref>Records of St Giles without Cripplegate, Chapter 6 see https://archive.org/stream/recordsstgilesc01dentgoog/recordsstgilesc01dentgoog_djvu.txt</ref> In the 17th century, Little and Lower Moorfields, previously in the Manor of Finsbury and Parish of St Giles, was transferred to the [[Coleman Street Ward]] of the City of London (and also to the parish of [[St Stephen Coleman Street]] for religious purposes). This meant that Coleman Street Ward also possessed an extramural area.<ref>The development of Moorfields [London], the historical background’, in Reclaiming the Marsh: Archaeological excavations at Moor House, City of London, 1998-2004 (ed. J Butler), PCA Monograph 6 (London)</ref><ref>Stow, writing in 1603 describes the boundaries of Cripplegate and Coleman Street Wards and the area is in neither at that time. The Ogilby and Morgan Map of 1676 shows the Little and Lower Moorfields as part of Coleman Street Ward</ref>

[[File:Map 1682 Bethlem in Moorfields.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Detail from London Map by William Morgan (1682), showing siting of new Bethlem Hospital (1676) built in Moorfields, North London|Lower Moorfields, [[north London]] in 1676, including the re-sited [[Bethlem Royal Hospital|Bethlem Hospita]]l. London's Wall and the [[Moorgate]] are clearly shown, and some of the administrative boundaries can also be discerned.]]

From mid-12th century the Manor of Finsbury was owned by St Paul's cathedral and managed as a [[Prebendary]] Manor to provide a prebend (a stipend of money or goods) to support an ecclesiastic person such as a [[canon (priest)|canon]], or an institution. For a long time the prebendary income went to [[Holywell Priory]] in nearby [[Shoreditch]], so the estate became known as the ''Prebend of Halliwell and Finsbury'',<ref>'Religious Houses: Houses of Augustinian canonesses', in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 1, Physique, Archaeology, Domesday, Ecclesiastical Organization, the Jews, Religious Houses, Education of Working Classes To 1870, Private Education From Sixteenth Century, ed. J S Cockburn, H P F King and K G T McDonnell (London, 1969), pp. 170-182. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol1/pp170-182 [accessed 13 August 2020].</ref> though the Priory itself did not lie adjacent to the prebendary manor or form part of it.

The prebendary manor of Finsbury was, from 1315,<ref>Remembrancia, compiled by W.H. and H.C. Overall p274</ref> leased by the [[Lord Mayor of London]], so that after that the formal title of the Mayors has been ''Mayor of London and Lord of Finsbury''.<ref>Online dictionary of heraldry https://www.heraldryclipart.com/dictionary/dm.html</ref> The mayoral manor house, ''Finsbury Court'', lay on the junction of [[Chiswell Street]] and Finsbury Pavement.

[[File:Ward Coleman Street plaque London.jpg|thumb| The parts of [[Coleman Street Ward]] north of the Wall, were part of the Manor of Finsbury.]]
In this way the part of St Giles parish, ''Cripplegate Without'', that was part of the city was also known as ''The Freedom'' and governed by the Mayor as a part of, or a dependency of the city. The remaining part, ''The Manor of Finsbury'', was also known as ''The Lordship'', where the Mayor's position was that of a lessee, albeit with the title ''Lord of the Manor of Finsbury''.

Other accounts suggest the Manor passed to the Lord Mayors later, being made over their use by [[Richard II of England|Richard II]], in gratitude for the killing of [[Wat Tyler]] by Mayor [[William Walworth]] at Smithfield in 1381.

In 1733, the growth of the local population, led to the part of St Giles-without-Cripplegate outside the city, the area which had been the Manor of Finsbury, being made an independent parish, known as ''St Luke's'', after the parish church.

===Latter administration and representation===
The parts of the parish of St Giles outside of the city (originally the Manor of Finsbury, later organised as the Parish of St Luke) were part of the [[Hundred (county division)|Hundred]] of [[Ossulstone]] in [[Middlesex]]. By the 17th century, population growth made this unit inefficient, so it was sub-divided with the area north of the walls becoming part of a new [[Finsbury division|Finsbury Division]] which handled the responsibilities previously managed by the Hundred. Parish-level institutions continued to manage the [[English Poor Law|Poor Law]] and ecclesiastical matters.

In 1832 the [[Finsbury (UK Parliament constituency)|parliamentary borough of Finsbury]] was created to represent the area in parliament. This area loosely approximated to the [[Finsbury division]], but also included parts of west London. In 1857 [[Finsbury Park]] was opened some three miles north, for the enjoyment of the residents of this parliamentary borough.<ref name=mills/>

[[File:Finsbury Met. B Ward Map 1952.svg|thumb|left|The wards of the Metropolitan Borough preserved the boundary between Finsbury (St Luke's) and Clerkenwell. Finsbury comprised the five eastern wards.]]
The [[Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury]] in the County of London was created in 1900, covering the area of Finsbury (also known as St Luke's) and Clerkenwell, with [[Finsbury Town Hall]] located on [[Rosebery Avenue]], Clerkenwell. In 1938, Dr. [[Chuni Lal Katial]] was elected mayor of Finsbury, making him the first Asian mayor in the United Kingdom.

The [[Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury#Coat of arms|Borough's coat of arms]] included an embattled chief (top of the shield) representing the London Wall, a Barbican representing the three northern gates (Aldersgate, Cripplegate and Moorgate) and a Winged Bull, the heraldic symbol of St Luke.<ref>Civic heraldry website http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/lcc.html</ref>

In 1965 the area merged with [[Islington]] to form the new [[London Borough of Islington]], though [[Finsbury Circus]] remains part of the [[City of London]].