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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Following an online spat in the Journal between a Crouch End 'wit' and residents east of the Borough, two unlikely allies in the form of Keith Flett, of Haringey Trades Council, and Justin Hinchcliffe, chairman of Tottenham Conservatives have produced a top ten of Tottenham delights:

1. Tottenham Marshes
2. Bruce Castle Museum & Park
3. All Hallows Church
4. The Bernie Grant Arts Centre
5. The Ferry Boat Inn
6. The Salisbury Hotel
7. Ward's Corner
8. Tottenham Cemetery and Lake
9. Tottenham Green Conservation Area
10. San Marco's restaurant

Tags for Forum Posts: Tottenham

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the salisbury might fall in south tottenham? i know a lot of residents round there who put south tottenham in their address. not sure if thats correct though.
I'm sure it was in South Tottenham pre-65 (denoting its borough location), but it has always been and still is in Harringay (Town).
I was a little surprised myself when I read the list to see our very own Salisbury claimed for Tottenham. I guess that's why I picked it up and posted it.
(Also, perhaps, knowing that that it would provoke that bloke who gets the same mad gleam in his eye about what is and is not Harringay, that that batty old woman who is always banging on about litter gets in hers:) )
@Hugh, Wait a minute.. it's not quite that simple. I think Harringay (Green Lanes & eastwards) was definitely considered to be Tottenham. Yes the area was known as Harringay, but that was more of an area name, similar to 'Bruce Grove' which encompassed the area around the street 'Bruce Grove'. The same with 'White Hart Lane'... but I do have some evidence packed away somewhere that in 1958 we did use 'Warwick Gardens, Harringay N4' as our postal address.
The usage of 'Tottenham' didn't just disappear overnight on 1 April 1965. But over the forty years since then, it appears to have lost its importance, with 'Haringey' taking its place. I would imagine only because of that typical 'British' disease called snobbyness (see this forum) and also because of property prices..
It does make me chuckle sometimes, it's a bit like that famous 1960s class sketch with Ronnie Corbett.. You look 'UP' to Crouch End & Muswell Hill, but look 'DOWN' on Tottenham (although of course, there ARE some members here, who do exactly the opposite). I have always liked Tottenham & Harringay, exactly because of their 'down to earth' appearance.. As an outsider I can't see much difference between the two. Know wot I mean..
My guess is that the snobbery issue is at the heart of it. Only in this case it's reverse snobbery. The recent diatribe in Tottenham's freesheet, First Tottenham, seemed to suggest this very strongly. In that article there was a very strong sense of ridiculing Harringaeites as pretentious snobs for saying they lived in Harringay and not Tottenham.

Any road up, area names are not fixed; an area's what people call it. The next man's Tottenham is my Harringay, someone else's Hornsey, another's "near Finsbury Park" or "Green Lanes Area" or even "Just by Crouch End". So what I guess.

The main reason I even bother to commment is that I have been told by a senior Council cabinet member that they are seeking to change the area's name because it's too confusingly simillar to Haringey. I think that's wrong for reasons I've explained elsewhere. I think it's important to build a strong sense of place and if you can't share an agreed name, that becomes much more difficult. So I take every opportunity to assert Harringay's identity.

(Interesting to hear about your postal address. I have countless examples of residential streets and commenrcial addresses using "Harringay N4, N8 and N15" over the last 100 years. I have honestly never seen people use Tottenham in the roads I class as Harringay.)
I have countless examples of residential streets and commenrcial addresses using "Harringay N4, N8 and N15" over the last 100 years. I have honestly never seen people use Tottenham in the roads I class as Harringay.)

That's true, but I think that is only 'postal history' (on paper).

If you'd have asked those people where they lived, the majority on Hornsey territory would definitely have said 'HORNSEY' and in the Gardens 'TOTTENHAM'. With only a few saying 'HARRINGAY'
Maybe Steve. Who knows.
:o) peace be among us...
Indeed! After all, wars start over territorial arguments. Of course we won't be calling it South Ossetia. :)
Surely the answer to confusion is not to change the name but constant repetition of the spelling of the neighbourhood. Most people get it, once its explained, and correct signage will help reinforce. It may not work for everyone but then why should we always worry about the few that can't be bothered to learn the difference, after all there are people who don't appear to know what a bin is for, but we don't propose to do away with bins because a few idle people can't be bothered to use them.
Like the idle or ignorant 'Have Your Say' team in the current 'Haringey People'. See their quote (p.24) from Dorothy Murphy, long time resident of 'Haringey Ladder'.

Btw, glad to see most of my favourite Haringey people starring once again.
Write to the letters page to complain...oh that's right they don't have one, silly me.

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