Museum charts borough's history

The museum houses period costumes and old pictures

A new museum recounts the story of how a sheep-driving village evolved into a bustling north London borough.

The £1.2m Islington museum tells the tale of how Iseldune village evolved through the centuries and faced two world wars.

Its permanent exhibition will display a bust of Lenin, who lived in the area, and residents accounts of what it was like to live through the wars.

The museum on St John Street received £918,000 from Heritage Lottery Fund.

'Everyday people'

A bust of Vladimir Lenin, the architect and the first head of the former Soviet Union, who lived and worked in Clerkenwell, has been given a permanent place in the museum.

His bust, which was first at the Russian Embassy and later at Finsbury Town Hall but was removed after being repeatedly targeted by vandals, will be among the permanent exhibits at the museum.

Also on display will be book covers that were stolen and defaced by playwright Joe Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell from the borough's libraries. The duo were jailed in 1962 for the offence.

And visitors will be able to read accounts of how residents survived the two world wars and the Blitz and hear the experiences of the first Caribbean immigrants who came to live in the borough in the 1950s.

Councillor Ruth Polling said: "Islington's history is some of the most exciting in London.

"And it isn't just about the rich and powerful - it shows clearly how everyday people lived and worked in the streets we know today."