New River History

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Permalink Reply by 2rnzj8bkd5iqm on August 21, 2012 at 14:34

Ahh...the days of Hornsey, London rural idyll. 

"Few villages near London have retained so rural a character down to quite recent times as that of Hornsey; this may perhaps be accounted for by the fact that both the high north road and the thoroughfare leading to Cambridge leave the place untouched. "The surrounding country," writes the author of the "Beauties of England and Wales," "is rendered attractive by soft ranges of hills; and the New River, which winds in a tortuous progress through the parish, is at many points a desirable auxiliary of the picturesque." Hone, in the second volume of his "Every-day Book," gives an engraving of "The New River at Hornsey," the spot represented being the garden of the "Three Compasses" inn. "But," says Mr. Thorne, in his "Environs of London," "the New River would now be sought for there in vain; its course was diverted, and this portion filled up with the vestigia of a London cemetery."

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45247

 

I had a great deal of fun reading this definitely out of copyright publication:

The history, topography, and antiquities of Highgate, in the county of Middlesex : with notes on the surrounding neighbourhood of Hornsey, Crouch End, Muswell Hill, etc. (1888), available to download in all manner of formats including Kindle here: http://archive.org/details/historytopograph00llovuoft

It includes a picture of a rather familiar looking scene:

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