Restoring the Tolpuddle Martyrs mural on Copenhagen Street

UPDATED, 2/10/24

The renowned Tolpuddle Martyrs mural at the entrance to Edwards Square on Copenhagen Street has been repaired and renovated after several years of deterioration. The mural is painted on the gable wall of the former Mitre public house which closed in 2010 and was redeveloped as housing. The building’s owner has recently undertaken structural repairs to the building prior to selling. Following these latest works, the owner has voluntarily had the mural professionally repainted and restored.

The mural commemorates the huge gathering in 1834 which protested against the “transportation” to Australia of six agricultural workers who were arrested and convicted for forming a trade union. The demonstration was held on Copenhagen Fields, the area stretching north from present-day Kings Cross towards what is nowadays Caledonian Park which later housed the 19th century Metropolitan Cattle Market.

The vast crowd of protesters then marched to Kennington Common via the Houses of Parliament. Popular fury had been aroused by the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ cause and there were many further protests and petitions across the country. In the following year, the Government yielded, the men were pardoned and returned home. This was the birth of the (legal) trade union movement in Britain.

To mark the 150th anniversary of the Copenhagen Fields demonstration, the national TUC and Islington trade unionists commissioned the mural near the site of the demonstration. One of Britain’s top public mural artists, Dave Bangs, undertook the work. More about Dave Bangs – who had lived in our neighbourhood for 25 years – is here.

By the mid 1990s, the mural had been covered-over by an advertising hoarding erected by the Mitre pub’s owner, one of the big brewery chains of the time. The former Edwards Square had become derelict in the years following slum clearance in 1963 and a failed plan to build a secondary school on the site. Local campaigners, led by one of Cally’s finest activists, Lisa Pontecorvo, secured funding from the Kings Cross SRB project to create a new public park, today known as Edwards Square and to restore the Tolpuddle Martyrs mural. Very sadly, Lisa lost her life in a road accident in 2008 (an obituary is here) and the mural was enhanced with an additional panel to commemorate her.

The Mitre closed in 2010 and the building became residential. During the conversion works, a part of the mural was damaged and in recent years the artwork has become badly weathered and degraded. Recently it has attracted some graffiti so it is in need of a further restoration.

On the initiative of Islington trades union council and a group of Labour Councillors, the Heritage of London Trust agreed to part fund the mural’s restoration. Some of that money may now be used to further protect the renewed mural from future weathering, flaking, biological degradation and graffiti. The Council’s parks team will also remove plant growth and position barriers to discourage any further graffiti.

Cllr Paul Convery says: “As ward Councillors we treasure this heritage asset in our neighbourhood and were dismayed by its deterioration and damage over recent years. We were very grateful that the Islington trades union council pushed for its repair and restoration and were pleased to have the support of several colleagues notably councillors Mick Gilgunn, Gary Heather, Ruth Hayes and Tricia Clarke in this endeavour. We are Labour councillors and trade unionists so we are naturally proud of our labour movement history. And we also fondly remember the determination of our much missed comrade, Lisa Pontecorvo, who was so instrumental in saving the mural 25 years ago and securing its setting within the Edwards Square park. We are also going to thank the building’s owner for self-funding the restoration work, news of which came as a very pleasant surprise!“