The Church of St Mary the Virgin is the historic parish church of Islington, in the Church of England Diocese of London. The present parish is a compact area centered on Upper Street between Angel and Highbury Corner, bounded to the west by Liverpool Road, and to the east by Essex Road/Canonbury Road.
The first recorded church building was erected in the twelfth century and was replaced in the fifteenth century.
Before his consecration as Bishop of St David's in 1509, Edward Vaughan served as vicar.
Robert Browne, who authored the founding principles of Congregationalism, served as Lecturer at St Mary's until around 1578.
John Webster the Elizabethan dramatist, married his heavily pregnant 17 year-old second wife, Sara Peniall, at St Mary's in Lent 1606, by special licence.
William Cave became vicar in 1662, at the age of twenty-five, and held the office until 1689. He was subsequently buried at the church, having died in Isleworth in 1713.
On 24 July 1738, the Vicar of St Mary's, George Stonehouse, invited Charles Wesley to "take charge of his parish, under him, as his Curate." He did not, however, possess any licence to do so from the Bishop of London. Wesley's journal lists many occasions on which he preached, and his regular praying at the church.
Wesley's preaching proved unpopular for some and within a year he and George Whitefield were expelled from the pulpit at St Mary's. On 27 April 1739 he noted, "At Islington vestry the Churchwardens forbad my preaching: demanded my local licence. I said nothing but that "I heard them." Scions was very abusive; bidding me shake off the dust of my feet, &c.; and said, "You have all the spirit of the devil," mentioning Mr. Whitefield, Stonehouse, and me by name." From this point on Wesley joined his brother John and George Whitefield in field-preaching. Following a series of meetings with the Bishop of London, he decided to leave the city and to join his brother in Bristol during August 1739.
A new church building was consecrated on 26 May 1754, designed by Lancelot Dowbiggin.
In 1759, Philip Quaque, son of the Fante king Birempong Cudjo, was baptised at St Mary's, having attended the church with his brother for four years. He was the first black African to be ordained priest in the Church of England and returned to Ghana to minister as a missionary.
The Revd Daniel Wilson (1778-1858), served as vicar from 1824 until 1832, when he became Bishop of Calcutta. In 1831 he was one of the founders of the Lord's Day Observance Society. The Islington Clerical Conference, founded by Daniel Wilson, ran from 1827-1983 and was held at St Mary's. Wilson's son, also Daniel, served as vicar of the church for fifty-four years, during which time many new parishes were created as the population of Islington soared.