Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
New River 400th Birthday Party: Planning Meeting Tuesday 8PM
The New River is 400 years old next year and I've been digging around a bit over the past few weeks trying to find out what's planned / could be planned by way of celebration.
I've spoken with the press office at Thames Water and they're vaguely certain that something will probably happen. More definite is a local initiative funded by the Manor House PACT.
Their project outline says the following:
PACT will use this occasion to run a Festival, to celebrate the New River. The local section forms part of the Capital Ring walk and this will be an opportunity to raise awareness of the potential of this area for walking. is bidding for funding from the Heritage Lottery for an oral history project about the history of New River to celebrate the anniversary. They aim to use their findings to stimulate new interest in the New River. There are also plans to create a walkway along part of the New River.
Tomorrow night there is a meeting co-ordinated by PACT partner Transition Finsbury Park to start planning the New River Festival. It will be in The Brownswood at 8pm.
I'm keen to use the opportunity of the 400th anniversary to see if we could do a couple of other things locally. To make a start, I'm still trying to get hold of someone in Thames Water. My thoughts at this stage are to investigate if we could the focus on the river next year to:
- get rid of the fencing that borders the river through Finsbury Park - never understood why it's there since the river is barrier free everywhere else.
- find a way of providing better access to the river through the Ladder without disadvantaging those living along its banks? It seems such a shame to keep this great local amenity gated off.
- Anything else?
These elements would be beyond the scope of the PACT funds, but that doesn't mean we can't investigate what's possible.
Tags for Forum Posts: new river, new river festival, thames water
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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As you know, Eddie, water is endlessly recycled in and around the planet as well as in and through humans. So Heracleitus was both right and wrong. And looking at the map his own remains seem to have been recycled as part of Turkey. Though we may all have an atom or two which once belonged to him.
With beer I'm told the technical term is Redemption Ale.
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In theory you can't drink the same Efes twice, either, Eddie.
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Permalink Reply by Protheroe O'Shea on
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On Lothair Road South we have very wide area of riverbank. Perfect location to hold a summer party.
Re suggestions on what to do with the river. I would like to have a pedestrian bridge joining Lothair North and South.
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Permalink Reply by ant on
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The Lothair Road South riverbank does look like a nice spot for summer party and from the map thats now up on the manor house PACT site its even within their area so they might help with it.
As you say it would be great to open up to the public the bridge between North and South, and even better, if Thames Water could then open the entire section of the riverbank from Lothair Road South to Endymion Road as a new community garden type thing.
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Permalink Reply by Bulent Ozlem on
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Hello all,
I live on mattison road and live next to the river south side. I think a festival would be great! But I have to admit that i am not keen on opening the ladder to the general public. For obvious reasons, I dont want strangers looking at me while I am sitting in my living room and also I am worried of security and drug use and anti social behaviour. This is London at the end of the day, and altought a lot of people will have nice thoughts about of opening the ladder, the bad sides needs to weighed in, especially for residents living close to the river. Sorry for being a party popper!
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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That's understood, Bulent, which is what I was referring to when I wrote "find a way of providing better access to the river through the Ladder without disadvantaging those living along its banks". Would be nice if we could find something that worked for all - but it may not be possible.
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thanks for the update Hugh, miss that section
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I think the section by Umfrevile, Lothair, an Endymoin Rd's might work because of the way the houses are laid out its only going by a few gardens which wouldn't be overlooked by people on the path. You can see that on streetview here, and here, and here.
Unfortunately it turns out that the train tracks get in the way of a route all the way to Finsbury Park. I'd hoped that the river path went under the tracks but looking out the back of Railway Fields just now i see the tracks are right at ground level so the only way past is in the water.
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Permalink Reply by Charlotte on
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Does anyone know why there is so little water in the river. I have never seen is as low as it is now by Hampden Road. I think the Swans can walk on the river bed....
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Permalink Reply by Richard McKeever on
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I think it may be because of the major works that were carried out on the Victorian Brick Tunnel between Bowes Park and Alexandra Palace Station - the New River was dammed for a few weeks to allow tonnes of sludge and debris to be removed from the 154 tear old tunnel - its probably taking a little while to recover downstream.
The fascinating story of this civil engineering project was told in a blog post on the Bowes and Bounds website
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Thanks for that link, Richard. Caroline Simpson's blog and the additional information is interesting indeed. Quite a lot of admiration expressed for those "wonderful Victorians" - engineers & brickies. More poignant: "We know nothing about the men who originally built the tunnel." Those 70+ in 1857-58 must have included quite a few anonymous navvies. Ten years after the Great Famine, some of them may have been named McKeever, Murphy, even Finnegan. It's the Bazalgettes get into the history books, I suppose.
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Very True OAE - one of the many "hidden histories" being lived out at the time Thomas Carlyle was writing "The history of the world is but the biography of great men"
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