Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Cavendish Road Cow Houses
I'm sure that most of you who are local will have at some point walked, cycled or driven up Cavendish Road and noticed the cow heads that adorn the houses on a good part of the northern side of the road.
Digging around after coming across an early Edwardian photo of the shop at the bottom of the road, I've got hold of a the end of a thread that might uncover a bit more about the heads.
The corner shop, no 429, along with the one next door were built by Pryor Brother Builders, run by Thomas and Alfred. They gave their address as Harold House, Cavendish Road. At the top of 431 Green Lanes is a pair of cow heads. Given this link along with their business address in Cavendish Road, it might be a reasonable to assume that it was the Pryors who built the Cavendish cow houses.
Sadly, I can't find any trace of the Pryor brothers other than a record of their dissolving their building partnership in 1891. I think this would have been directly after they'd completed their Harringay building work.
London Gazette April 1891
So I may have a 'who' made the cow houses, but I wonder if there's any 'why'. Did the Pryors simply see the cow decorations at their building supplies store and take a fancy to them? Or is there some reason they chose them, I wonder.
And whilst you're at it, any idea where Harold House was? Was it, I wonder, behind the shops or was one of the cow houses styled as Harold House?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by PeterPiper on
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Perhaps they sold dairy products...
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Permalink Reply by Lesley Ramm on
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Or a butcher?
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Builder, Butcher or candlestick maker.....maybe.
429 was the Harringay Granary from when if first opened in the mid 1890s.
431 was originally "coffee rooms". A lease was taken out from Thomas Pryor by Robert Hubble (of 267, Seven Sisters Road), in January 1892.
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Permalink Reply by kotkas on
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Interesting - well spotted! I would ascribe it to convenience - just saw it and used it...
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Permalink Reply by Geraldine B on
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i too have wondered about these unusual plaster cows and love them. Are they unique i.e. no where else in London/England? Was there a dairy in Haringey - anyone know? There was i think in Crouch End.
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No dairy that I’m aware of. All the land to the west of Green Lanes was part of Harringay House. There wasn’t really much development at all till after the house and it’s lands were sold.
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Good link. That was Woollvens Butcher, by the way.
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Permalink Reply by Martin Malcolm on
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I put a cows of Cavendish Road image out on the Speaking Stones twitter feed today @StonesSpeaking and I got this photo, all the way from Seattle...
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And a little more?
Perhaps our cows' inspiration? The Temple of Vesta in Tivoli...
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/cast-of-par...
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I'm still thinking about those cows! And I wonder if anyone else has made the connection with the old dairy building at 127 Hanley Road? Wikipedia's entry on Stroud Green mentions Friern Manor Dairy which is pretty close to Cavendish. And has some cow cousins...
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