Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Warwick Gardens Prefabs.. We lived at no.69 until it was demolished in 1960.  This and other maps can be viewed side by side on the National Library of Scotland's site:

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this link before, so here it is http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/sidebyside.cfm#zoom=18&lat=51.57...

Tags for Forum Posts: Comparison maps, Prefabs, Warwick Gardens

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Also of interest is Hornseywood Lane through what is now Finsbury Park, surveyed just before it was acquired by the L.C.C. in 1869, showing quite a bit of building development..Here: http://maps.nls.uk/view/102345952

I think they spelled Harringay (House) wrong:

You can also see in the previous image that the course of the so-called New River used to follow the contour around Harringay House, rather than tunnel under what is now Hewitt Road. The following side-by-side maps seem to show snapshots of the initial stages of both house-building and tunneling (i.e. some houses at the top of the rungs had been built before the tunnel was completed):

In 2013 I did an overlay of the old estate plan over a Google satellite view which shows exactly where the river used to run. Note also how much the railway line has grown since the mid-noneteenth century.

Did Haringey House pre-date the new River then? Is that why the river curves around it? Or was that just due to the hilly nature of the area?

The The River is 403.... surely not?

Stephen, that's a question which so blindingly warrants the asking, but it's never even crossed my mind. Bloody well asked! Harringay House (it was pretty much always spelt this way except on that one map) was built in 1792. The New River was built between 1609 and 1613. I can see no logic for making a loop in the river when it was first constructed. However, there is scant evidence for an earlier house on the site  - see note 6 in the second of my Harringay History pieces for Wikipedia. So I can only assume that Edward Gray paid for the river to be diverted to create an attractive feature for his house. Gray was fabulously wealthy and the cost such a project would have been small change for him.

No doubt, even in the years after 1792 (Act of Brit-Irish Union 1800), there'd always have been a few dozen Irish navvies hanging around the Old Hornsey Wood Tavern or the new Queen's Head, on the lookout for "a bit of a shtart" on any project worthy of their digging prowess. And, no doubt too, Edward Gray would have been glad to give the work to any Irish ganger ('gangmaster') willing to undercut the going rate locally. [from my forthcoming Local History as Pure Speculation .] 

Quite the very best sort of local history, that!

I'm not sure about diverting - wouldn't the original river have just followed the contour of the land:

I would not be surprised if a hill fort had been here (at the time of Haering's Hege?) although it sounds like there is no other evidence. Where is Tony Robinson when we need him? Or maybe we could ask National Grid to keep an eye out next time they dig up the road?

[screenshot from http://en-gb.topographic-map.com/]

Seems like I was too hasty. This snippet for Carey's 1785, shows the river looping to the other side of Green Lanes. It was built with many loops so as to better spread its bounty. At one point it looped across Hornsey High Street many times.

And here a snippet of Rocque's 1754, showing no crossing of Green Lanes but a pre-Harringay House loop and no suggestion of an existing house for Gray to demolish. 

And, yes there is no evidence of any hill fort. 

Anyone have an idea what Marker's Bar was? Certainly not a place to drink and have fun. I guess it's similar to Potter's Bar..?? And can it still be seen in Finsbury Park?

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