[1] Starting outside St Leonard’s Hospital, Nuttall Street entrance, turn right and walk to the traffic lights where Nuttall Street meets Kingsland Road. Cross over Nuttall Street and head up Kingsland Road, passing a Mosque and the Passmore Edwards Library building on your right on the opposite side of the road.
(A) John Passmore Edwards (1823 –1911) was a British journalist, newspaper owner and philanthropist. The son of a carpenter, he was born in Cornwall. He championed the working classes and left a legacy of buildings behind. Over 14 years, 70 major buildings were established as a direct result of his bequests. These included hospitals, 11 drinking fountains, 32 marble busts, 24 libraries (of which this is one), schools, convalescence homes, art galleries and the Tavistock Place Passmore Edwards Settlement. He also strongly supported the WEA (Workers' Educational Association).
[2] Cross over the canal and immediately turn left down the short sloping path to the canal tow path along the Regents Canal. Continue in the same direction along the canal path past Kingsland Basin, taking care to avoid cyclists.
(B) Kingsland Basin, currently being redeveloped, was built in 1822 to store and transport building materials. In 1878 a warehouse was added to provide stables and a granary for the 1,200 horses owned by the North Metropolitan Tramways Company.
Pass under Whitmore Road Bridge, taking care as the arch is quite low and the path is narrow. Continue along the canal path until you reach the second bridge. Pass under this bridge and walk up the stone steps on your right and through a door onto Baring Street.
[3] Cross both Baring Street and Shepperton Road by the pedestrian crossings ahead of you then turn right and follow the main road round to the left where it becomes Southgate Road. Ignore the first entrance to Rosemary Gardens with the cobbled pathway and continue to the second set of gates past the bus stop.
(C) Rosemary Gardens was formerly the site of the 'Islington Vauxhall', the name given in 1836 to the popular pleasure gardens of the Rosemary Branch tavern which boasted a pond for summer boating and winter skating, ballooning, tightrope walking, pony racing and grand balls. The first Rosemary Branch Tavern existed in the mid 1600’s when the Levellers, a radical left wing political movement, used it as a meeting place. It is said that they wore sprigs of rosemary in their hats to identify themselves. This building burnt down and by 1783 a new one was built near the two famous windmills erected to power the white lead works in what became the gardens. The present building was built in the late 1800s with a minor music hall upstairs where Marie Lloyd performed.
Turn left into the gardens, follow the path ahead, keeping the all-weather football pitch on your left. Turn left along the end of the pitch and walk through the doorway in the brick wall. Go straight ahead and follow the path as it curves round to the left to come out on Shepperton Road next to a sign that gives a brief history of the gardens on one side and details of the ‘mini beasts’ to be found there on the other.
[4] Turn left and cross both Shepperton Road and Baring Street by the pedestrian crossings. Go back down the stairs to the canal and continue along the tow path with the canal on your left until you reach the next bridge. Walk up the stone steps just before the bridge. Turn left to cross over the canal on New North Road. Take the first left, Poole Street and then left again through the Gainsborough Studios gates into the courtyard to see the Hitchcock head.
(D) The giant Hitchcock head at Gainsborough Studios marks the place where Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980), one of the UK's most celebrated directors, began his film career. During his time at the Gainsborough Studios, Hitchcock made films such as Rope, The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps and The Lodger. As he became more famous, he moved to Hollywood in 1939 to make movies such as Psycho, Vertigo, The Birds and Dial M for Murder. The sculpture was created Anthony Donaldson and faces Hollywood. The original Gainsborough red brick building has been maintained and revived as a modern film studio.
Walk back out of the courtyard, cross Poole Street and enter Shoreditch Park opposite. Follow the path past a large boulder on the right and a playground on the left. Just before the pub and Bridport Place, turn left on a narrow path bordered with tiles and go along beside the fence until you approach a small hill on the left with a modern sculpture on it. Walk round this to exit the park on the corner of Mintern Street and Pitfield Street. Cross Pitfield Street and walk straight ahead along Ivy Street until you reach Hoxton Street.
[8] Turn left and walk up Hoxton Street past St Leonard Shoreditch to the large Hoxton Market sign that looms over the road.
(E) The St Leonard Offices for the Relief of the Poor look impressive but only the facade is original, the rest having been demolished and redeveloped in 1993. The original building was built in the 1860s as part of the expansion of the workhouse infirmary into a general hospital and health centre for the area. The earlier workhouse, built in 1777 on land known as the "Land of Promise" fronted onto Kingsland Road and included an infirmary and apothecary. In 1813, James Parkinson was appointed as parish surgeon, apothecary and man-midwife and greatly improved medical treatment and facilities. 1817 he published an "Essay on the Shaking Palsy" in which he described the condition we now call Parkinson's Disease.
Cross the road here and walk up Nuttall Street until you return to St Leonard’s Hospital.