United Kingdom-The first farm workers Trade Union.

The Caledonian Market was the biggest abattoir and live cattle market in London until the late fifties. It was also the center of the Jewsish Kosher slaughter for the south of England.

There could ne no better site for the plaque recognising the farm workers from the village of Tolpuddle, which lies between Bridport and Dorchester in Dorset.

Southern Housing Group unveils plaque to commemorate Tolpuddle Martyrs anniversary

Southern Housing Group, currently undertaking the regeneration of the Market Estate and Caledonian Park, has funded an Islington Historical Plaque to mark the 175-year anniversary of the great march in support of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, which started on the site of the park.

The 1834 march through London to Kennington Common was the start of a campaign to persuade the government to return the Tolpuddle Martyrs who had been transported to Australia for seven years for swearing oaths as members of a trade specific Friendly Society. The campaign was eventually successful and the Martyrs repatriated.

Although Trade Unions became legal bodies after 1824, a court invoked an obscure law from 1797 prohibiting people from swearing oaths to each other. Six farmer workers from Tolpuddle in Dorset who faced having their weekly wage cut from ten shillings (50p) to six shillings (30p) were arrested, found guilty and transported to Australia.

The new plaque will be affixed to the historic clocktower in Caledonian Park which has been preserved from the former Caledonian Cattle Market. It will match a similar plaque on the right hand buttress which notes the site of Copenhagen Fields on which the old market was built.

Southern Housing Group’s Project Director Stephen Ross commented: "Regeneration is more than bricks and mortar. The area is teeming with history and it is valuable for the community and visitors to the area to gain an awareness of the past".

In addition to funding the plaque, Southern Housing Group is supporting local schools by the provision of packs for teachers to explain the story of the Martyrs.

Southern Housing Group is half way through imaginative plans to transform the area including working with the Caledonian Park Users Group to upgrade the parkland.

The redevelopment of the 1960s housing estate is well underway. Half the residents have now transferred into their brand new homes and the remainder will transfer by the end of the year, which is well within the five year target set when the residents were balloted in 2004.

On completion of the whole regeneration project in 2012, over 400 new mixed tenure homes will have been constructed, providing opportunities for affordable rent, shared ownership and outright purchase.