There’s no grass on the green, but May Day marches start here, and there is rich history associated with the Peasants revolt in the 14th century, Lollards in the 16th, Chartists in the 19th, and communists in the 20th.
Related information sheets and Layers of London records
Clerkenwell Green, with the church of St James in the background, presents an image of the quintessential London'village'(Ill. 92). But though it is widely thought of as the natural and historic centre of Clerkenwell, its origins are not those of a typical English village green. It was not the nucleus of early development, which took the form of ribbons of building extending from Smithfield and Cow Cross, up St John Street and into the Fleet valley along Turnmill Street. On the contrary, the Green seems to have come into separate being in the twelfth century as a sort of buffer between the two new monastic houses whose layout still informs the local street pattern: the Knights Hospitallers' priory of St John, to the south; the Augustinian nunnery of St Mary to the north. It is not known when Clerkenwell Green was first so called, but the name was in established use by the 1580s.(fn. 1)
From Clerkenwell 101
53 Clerkenwell Green has long been associated with radicalism - from the Peasants’ Revolt in the 14th century, the Lollards in the 16th century, the Chartists in the 19th century to the communists’ in the early 20th century. The world’s first May Day march was held here in 1890, and May Day rallies still start from here, with a full gathering of unions and left-wing political parties and organisations.
Articles on Clerkenwell and Clerkenwell Green history
Clerkenwell Green Preservation Society
360 views of the Green
Islington Council improvement plans for the Green