Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Local Parties dismiss voters' sense of place
Those of you who've been reading the posts on the site for a while will know that I hold strong views about our sense of place in Harringay..........well in any place really. Our sense of history's part of that, our sense of community is a part and our name is part.
Back in April 2008, Nilgun Canver offered the following:
Today Justin Hinchcliffe, Chair of the Tottenham Tories joined in on Twitter with a tweet apparently ridiculing a voter's wish to have her place of residence recognised as Harringay:
What is it with our politicians. Don't they get it. Many of us simply don't wish to have our area chopped up and repackaged to suit their notions of political entities or boundaries. We have the right to choose - not you.
Are there any other representatives from the local blues and reds who'd care to share their views on this issue? And what of the local Liberals. We've heard nothing from you on this. We'd welcome hearing what you think.
Let me leave the last word to Thomas Burke, writing in 1921:
(See my posting in the history group for more on Burke)
Back in April 2008, Nilgun Canver offered the following:
We've discussed and we have agreed to call the area Harringay Green Lanes and Too much emphasis on Harringay confuses everyone with the borough Haringey and I’m afraid it refers to the Harringay ward and excludes the Gardens and other target areas.
Today Justin Hinchcliffe, Chair of the Tottenham Tories joined in on Twitter with a tweet apparently ridiculing a voter's wish to have her place of residence recognised as Harringay:
What is it with our politicians. Don't they get it. Many of us simply don't wish to have our area chopped up and repackaged to suit their notions of political entities or boundaries. We have the right to choose - not you.
Are there any other representatives from the local blues and reds who'd care to share their views on this issue? And what of the local Liberals. We've heard nothing from you on this. We'd welcome hearing what you think.
Let me leave the last word to Thomas Burke, writing in 1921:
But do you think the inhabitants of those villas will rank themselves with those of Tottenham or Hornsey? Not likely. They are of Harringay. The guide-book was right: it is a suburb with a distinct individuality of its own.
Proud of its lineage, proud of its appearance in thirteenth-century records, it declines to surrender its identity to those who claim lordship over it. Before Tottenham and Hornsey were, Harringay was so often mentioned in ancient documents as to receive the honour of being spelt in six different ways - sure proof of importance. Indeed, the name Hornsey came into currency only through a corruption of Haringhea and Haringey; and it is therefore fit that the stout fellows of Harringay should defend the style and identity of their venerable village from the encroachments of that modern upstart Hornsey.
(See my posting in the history group for more on Burke)
Tags for Forum Posts: harringay name
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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You're joking ain't you John. They only want your vote not your aspirations. They'll smile sweetly at anything you say ....
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Permalink Reply by Carolyn Baker on
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You have what will be in the libdem manifesto John, and matt .. the point of local engagement is to hold 'politicians' to account - so if a pledge is made (opportunisticly or otherwise) then you have to keep us to it!
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Permalink Reply by Harringay Birder on
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This is all very engaging but for me the point is, no-one I speak to at work (in town) - or anywhere else for that matter - has ever heard of the area of Harringay. They've not heard of Green Lanes either. I often say "near Wood Green" when asked where I cycle in from and they still look bemused (these are fairly intelligent people, on the whole!)
But as an avid Gooner I have my own little name for the area. When my wife and I meet people and she tells them we live in "south Tottenham", I instantly correct her: "not south Tottenham - north Arsenal!"
I think that's all that needs to be said! :)
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Paulie, I really feel you and your friends need a Harringay Re-Orientation Course urgently. Not just on recycling! And you have heard that your beloved Gooners have moved around twice or three times? So Arsenal's a bit of a moveable feast. Try 'North-Emirates' on the next ignoramus you meet.
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Paulie's right. People outside our little area often have never heard of Wood Green let alone Harringay or Hornsey. Near 'Finsbury Park', 'Crouch End' ... 'Muswell Hill'? ..... Sad but true.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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And who's fault is that? Hugh has found mountains of evidence for this being called Harringay before Haringey existed.
Those &%$£&'s took our name and now want us to stop using it.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Yes but why are you so surprised by this?
We not talking London wide recognition(yet). I am hard pressed sometimes to know where people mean if they mention areas in the south or west unless they locate it near a well known landmark.
We just want recognition by our would be politicians of the name and distinctiveness of our area and not to lump us into a big vague area called Tottenham or tack us on as a satellite of Hornsey.
In point of fact until recently we wouldn't have had to explain our location by reference to parks or famous places where actors live. This area did once have world wide recognition, not because of a bunch of houses in a ward called Harringay but because of an internationally known arena and stadium situated next to the Gardens and called Harringay.
We're not asking for something new, we want something back
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But we can't get it back - Haringey stole it for good!
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If I had my way, I would abolish Haringey and create the boroughs of Tottenham and Highgate. Money given to one would not end up in the other.
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Different spelling, different place. Don't see why we have to disappear because they named a borough Haringey.
The people of Camden Town in the borough of Camden don't seem to be subject to the same browbeating about it all being too confusing.
btw mention you live in Harringay to anyone 55+ in Tottenham proper and they don't get confused, they get a little glint in their eye as they remember all the good times they used to have round here.
Once upon a time Harringay was synonomous with entertainment and fun, some of it not always of the legal variety even back then.
@johnm there is a 'natural' boundary after all
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Old Age, I know just where Harringay is - the point is, just about no-one outside this area does, so calling it Harringay in conversations with others does not in any way help us to explain where we live! By the way, Arsenal has been where it is - save for a move of about eight hundred yards - since 1913. Oh, and most people have some idea where Arsenal is - probably because there's a tube (latterly) named after it!
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There are two stations called Harringay.
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