On the north lies Paddington Green, which is small in extent, but close to the large graveyard turned into a public garden. In the centre of the Green a statue to Mrs. Siddons, by Chevaliand, was erected in 1897, as she lived in the neighbourhood when Paddington was still rural. There is nothing beautiful about the asphalt paths between high iron railings surrounding the small space of grass and trees. Some of the other greens are more of the ordinary public garden type. Islington Green has been planted with trees, and outside the railings stands a statue of Sir Hugh Myddelton, who died in 1631, representing him holding a plan of the New River. Stepney was once a very large green, and has still 3.25 acres of garden cut up into four sections. Some quaint old houses, wood with tiled roofs, and good seventeenth century brick ones, still overlook the gardens. The gardens have been made exactly like every other, with a slightly serpentine path, a border running parallel in irregular curves not following the line of the path, and trees dotted about. One really fine, thick-stemmed laburnum shows how well that tree will do in smoke, and some curious old wooden water-pipes dug up in 1890, dating from 1570, are placed at intervals in the grass.
