The Gentleman Highwayman of Hornsey Road - Harringay online2024-03-29T11:03:25Zhttps://harringayonline.com/forum/topics/the-gentleman-highwayman-of-hornsey-road?groupUrl=historyofharringay&commentId=844301%3AComment%3A1493563&groupId=844301%3AGroup%3A10&feed=yes&xn_auth=noLittle is known for sure but…tag:harringayonline.com,2022-06-10:844301:Comment:14938932022-06-10T08:33:39.267ZKen Stevenshttps://harringayonline.com/profile/KenStevens
<p>Little is known for sure but here's a Normandy website's version</p>
<p><a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.normandythenandnow.com/duvall-the-dandy-highwayman-from-domfront/" target="_blank">https://www.normandythenandnow.com/duvall-the-dandy-highwayman-from...</a></p>
<p>Little is known for sure but here's a Normandy website's version</p>
<p><a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.normandythenandnow.com/duvall-the-dandy-highwayman-from-domfront/" target="_blank">https://www.normandythenandnow.com/duvall-the-dandy-highwayman-from...</a></p> Once again, full of admiratio…tag:harringayonline.com,2022-06-10:844301:Comment:14938842022-06-10T07:37:59.081ZJennifer Bhttps://harringayonline.com/profile/JenniferBlain
<p>Once again, full of admiration for your tenacious digging and for your clear writing.</p>
<p>My head is spinning but can we be absolutely sure that Claude Duval (= Frenchification of Devil) wasn't the highwayman's, 'stage name' in the same way that Bob Dylan is the stage name for <span>Robert Allen Zimmerman?</span></p>
<p><span>It would be a wonderfully romantic name for someone who is living outside the law to adopt. Could even have been given to him in France by the Royalists he mingled…</span></p>
<p>Once again, full of admiration for your tenacious digging and for your clear writing.</p>
<p>My head is spinning but can we be absolutely sure that Claude Duval (= Frenchification of Devil) wasn't the highwayman's, 'stage name' in the same way that Bob Dylan is the stage name for <span>Robert Allen Zimmerman?</span></p>
<p><span>It would be a wonderfully romantic name for someone who is living outside the law to adopt. Could even have been given to him in France by the Royalists he mingled with. Just a thought.</span></p> Fascinating story Hugh. The m…tag:harringayonline.com,2022-06-10:844301:Comment:14937092022-06-10T02:22:24.300ZDick Harrishttps://harringayonline.com/profile/DickHarris
<p>Fascinating story Hugh. The morph of the name into devil doesn't seem so odd. Especially as the Flemish word duvel means devil.</p>
<p>Fascinating story Hugh. The morph of the name into devil doesn't seem so odd. Especially as the Flemish word duvel means devil.</p> My, you are tenacious, Hugh!…tag:harringayonline.com,2022-06-08:844301:Comment:14936642022-06-08T10:45:59.242ZKen Stevenshttps://harringayonline.com/profile/KenStevens
<p>My, you are tenacious, Hugh!</p>
<p></p>
<p>My ancient book* mentions use of Devil as being common for ancient sites or roads, inc Devil's Causeway for a stretch of Roman road. Other senses include boundary markings, such as Devil's Dyke or Ditch.</p>
<p>* "English Place Names" Kenneth Cameron 1961</p>
<p>This website shows usage of Devil in relation to boundary:</p>
<p> …</p>
<p>My, you are tenacious, Hugh!</p>
<p></p>
<p>My ancient book* mentions use of Devil as being common for ancient sites or roads, inc Devil's Causeway for a stretch of Roman road. Other senses include boundary markings, such as Devil's Dyke or Ditch.</p>
<p>* "English Place Names" Kenneth Cameron 1961</p>
<p>This website shows usage of Devil in relation to boundary:</p>
<p> <a rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://sites.google.com/site/charlesfaireyhistorian/publications/the-devil-stones-of-acton" target="_blank">https://sites.google.com/site/charlesfaireyhistorian/publications/t...</a></p>
<p></p>
<p>And now The Stevens Theory, devised unencumbered by any knowledge or learning and unsupported by any facts or evidence:</p>
<p>The Lower Place was a euphemism for Hell and so jokingly became known as the Devil's House/Lane.</p>
<p>Later on, Claude Duvall became notorious when living there and "Devil's" evolved to "Duvall's" in common parlance.</p>
<p>QED</p> The Hornsey Historical Societ…tag:harringayonline.com,2022-06-07:844301:Comment:14935632022-06-07T22:19:12.784ZHughhttps://harringayonline.com/profile/hjuk
<p>The Hornsey Historical Society asked me to give them a version of the article for publication in their annual Bulletin magazine. In preparing that I did further research on the Duval/Devil’s Lane issue and I think that I pretty much got to the bottom of it. Below are the relevant parts of my HHS version of the article:</p>
<p></p>
<p>So, the matter of whether <em>Devil’s Lane</em> is a corruption of <em>Duval’s Lane</em> or vice-versa hangs on the verifiability of the 1611 survey. One might…</p>
<p>The Hornsey Historical Society asked me to give them a version of the article for publication in their annual Bulletin magazine. In preparing that I did further research on the Duval/Devil’s Lane issue and I think that I pretty much got to the bottom of it. Below are the relevant parts of my HHS version of the article:</p>
<p></p>
<p>So, the matter of whether <em>Devil’s Lane</em> is a corruption of <em>Duval’s Lane</em> or vice-versa hangs on the verifiability of the 1611 survey. One might think that I would just go with the version proposed by the published nineteenth century historians. I would, but I've found previously that Victorian historians weren't always the careful guardians of verifiable historical facts; and what one respectable historian erroneously stated as fact could get copied many times and gain an authority it didn't deserve.</p>
<p style="font-weight: 400;">Now, I've no reason to think that John Nelson, or the rather better known Lysons, weren't, either of them, fine historians. But, call me an old sceptic, I wanted to see a copy of the 1611 survey for myself before being certain of the accuracy of what these historians wrote. </p>
<p>The Victoria County History seemed to think that the survey is now lost.<a name="_ednref1"></a><span>[i]</span> So that set me a challenge! Nonetheless, with a bit of persistence, and after poring over ancient texts in the British Library and other archives, I was able to track down the original hand-written 1611 survey. Apparently, there used to be a plan along with the text description<a name="_ednref2"></a><span>[ii]</span>. But that does appear to have gone missing……unless you know differently!</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10546458279?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10546458279?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><em>Extract from Survey of Highbury / Newington Barrowe Manor by Richard Langley Esquire, Steward, and Rocke Church Esquire, Commissioners of Henry, Prince of Wales, 1611. It was written in secretary hand, now almost indecipherable to the untrained eye. Document ref ACC/2844/023 photographed at London Metropolitan Archives (LMA). Image by permission of LMA.</em></span></p>
<p></p>
<p>In its original secretary-hand, the survey is impenetrable to most of us. But, once deciphered by an expert<a name="_ednref3"></a><span>[iii]</span>, we can see that the survey does confirm that the name <em>Devil’s Lane</em> was in use at least as early as 1611. This means that it did indeed precede <em>Duval’s Lane</em>.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>He holdeth one messuage or Cottage with an orchard, garden yarde butted west upon Tollington greene lying north upon same ([ie Tollington] lane, south upon a Tenant of Henry Ironmonger, Freehold called the Devills house, conteyninge ;1 rod 30 perches [value] £2.</em></p>
<p><em>..thes 2 filds are butted on the East side of Tollington lane & on a house & land to the same cauled the Devills house on the north. The house knowe called the Devils house but in auncient wrytings called & knowen by the name of the lower place in Tollington being an olde house is inclosed with a moat & a little orchard place within the same having an olde barne neer unto the same adioning, is also freehold lande of this manor held in Free forrage without paying any rent for the same, & is knowe in the occupation of Henry Ironmonger or his assignees & the same is butted upon Tollington Lane aforesaid upon the East & the 2 London Fields on the South….<a name="_ednref4"></a>[iv]</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>We can confirm then that <em>Duval’s Lane</em> was a purposeful or accidental corruption of Devil’s Lane. That puts that controversy to bed for me. But, of course, it still leaves the question as to why the road came to be referred to as <em>Devil’s Lane</em> instead of <em>Tallington Lane</em> in the first place.</p>
<p>Devill’s (double ‘l’), I did wonder, if the name was a corruption of the Norman conquest heritage name, Deville. There’s no reason that it might not be. However, when I started looking around, I found at least half a dozen roads still today officially known as Devil’s Lane. They include Devil’s Lanes in,</p>
<ul>
<li>Westleton, East Anglia</li>
<li>Egham, Surrey</li>
<li>Longsdon, Stoke on Trent</li>
<li>Steeton, West Yorkshire</li>
<li>Charfield, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucs</li>
<li>Saxmundham, Suffolk</li>
</ul>
<p>There are also mentions in the records of more roads that were previously called Devil’s Lane as recently as the<span> </span> late nineteenth and even mid-twentieth century, that seem to have been renamed. They include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Denne Park, Horsham</li>
<li>Hornchurch, Essex</li>
<li>Maidenhead, Berkshire</li>
<li>Evesham, Worcestershire</li>
</ul>
<p>These may be just the tip of the iceberg, but were enough to suggest that my initial thoughts about a Deville connection look most unlikely. No, there’s something else going on here.</p>
<p>Searching for a common origin, I think found a number of references, albeit not authoritative ones, to the Devil’s Lane name as having indicated a boundary of various sorts. These suggest that <em>Devil’s Strip</em> or <em>Devil’s Lane</em> might refer either to ‘a no man's land between private and public property’ or the ‘narrow area between two parallel fences’<a name="_ednref5"></a><span>[v]</span></p>
<p>There also seem to be quite a number of references to the name being used by early settlers in North America.</p>
<blockquote>When Europeans settled within the early South, they quarrelled over many things – but few imbroglios were so fierce as battles over land. Landowners might wrangle bitterly over boundaries with neighbors and disputed areas became known as “the devil's lane. Violence or even bloodshed might befall those who ventured on to contested terrain.<a name="_ednref6"></a>[vi] </blockquote>
<p>We might reasonably assume that the English language carried across the Atlantic Ocean was at this time almost identical to the language used in the motherland. So, we might reasonably conclude that the name had the same meaning both in seventeenth century England and North America.</p>
<p>The idea that the name <em>Devil’s Lane</em> might have referred to some sort of boundary fits quite nicely with the early history of <em>Tallingdon Lane</em>.</p>
<blockquote>Tolentone in the Domesday Survey, at which time it was held of the king by one Rannulf, and the manorial rights were valued at 40s.per annum. Tolentone , or Tallington-lane, afterwards called Duval's-lane, and now Hornsey-road, partly divides this manor from that of St. John of Jerusalem.<a name="_ednref7"></a>[vii]</blockquote>
<p>Lysons also referred to this boundary (Fig.10 in original article).</p>
<p>With regards to the transition from Devil to Duval, I have wondered if the change may have been brought about by status-conscious Georgian Hornsey-roaders who didn’t relish living near to a road with a rather sinister Devilish connection. The number of Devil’s Lanes I found which had lost their original name, suggests that there may have been a rather widespread desire to shed the satanic link.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>Notes</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><a name="_edn1"></a>[i] A P Baggs, Diane K Bolton and Patricia E C Croot, 'Islington: Economic history', in <em>A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 8, Islington and Stoke Newington Parishes</em>, ed. T F T Baker and C R Elrington (London, 1985), pp. 69-76. <em>British History Online</em><a href="http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol8/pp69-76">http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol8/pp69-76</a> [accessed 8 July 2021].</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><a name="_edn2"></a>[ii] The plan is mentioned in numerous texts, including, The History and Topography of the Parish of Saint Mary, Islington, in the County of Middlesex, Samuel Lewis, 1842 and The History, Topography, and Antiquities of the Parish of St. Mary Islington, in the County of Middlesex John Nelson (of Islington), 1811. Nelson wrote, “The survey and plan of this manor before mentioned, with the report of the surveyors, & c.is now in the possession of Joseph Eade, Esq. the present lord. It is inscribed "The Plot of the Manor of Newington Barrowe, parcel of the possessions of the High and Mighty Prince Henry, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornewall, and Earle of Chester, &c taken in July, 1611, ‘by Rocke Churche’."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><a name="_edn3"></a>[iii] I am very grateful to the Hornsey Historical Society’s Peter Barber for coming to my aid and masterfully deciphering the text, of which I could read only a very few words.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><a name="_edn4"></a>[iv] Survey of Highbury / Newington Barrowe Manor by Richard Langley Esquire, Steward, and Rocke Church Esquire, Commissioners of Henry, Prince of Wales, 1611, London Metropolitan Archives, CC/2844/0238.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><a name="_edn5"></a>[v] <a href="http://www.wordsense.eu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.wordsense.eu</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><a name="_edn6"></a>[vi] The Devil's Lane: Sex and Race in the Early South, Catherine Clinton and Michele Gillespie, Oxford University Press, 1997</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><a name="_edn7"></a>[vii] The History and Topography in the Parish of Saint Mary Islington, The County of Middlesex, Samuel Lewis Jun, London 1842, J H Jackson.</span></p>
<p></p> That threw me as well Christi…tag:harringayonline.com,2021-07-13:844301:Comment:14376922021-07-13T16:33:06.667ZJohn Shulverhttps://harringayonline.com/profile/John_Shulver
<p>That threw me as well Christina. I associated Jack Straw's Castle with Hampstead. Well researched to you.</p>
<p>That threw me as well Christina. I associated Jack Straw's Castle with Hampstead. Well researched to you.</p> Well spotted! Thanks for reve…tag:harringayonline.com,2021-07-09:844301:Comment:14368182021-07-09T18:37:04.346ZHughhttps://harringayonline.com/profile/hjuk
<p>Well spotted! Thanks for revealing who Jack Straw was. The name is very familiar from the Hampstead pub of the same name. As with Duval's Lane, I'd never given it sufficient thought before.</p>
<p>Well spotted! Thanks for revealing who Jack Straw was. The name is very familiar from the Hampstead pub of the same name. As with Duval's Lane, I'd never given it sufficient thought before.</p> Fascinating. I had to immedia…tag:harringayonline.com,2021-07-09:844301:Comment:14370912021-07-09T18:24:41.828ZChristina Davishttps://harringayonline.com/profile/ChristinaDavis
<p>Fascinating. I had to immediately research why there was a Jack Straw's Castle at Highbury marked on the 1735 Islington map and found this: </p>
<p><span>"The fine manor house built by Prior Robert Hales, Grand Prior of St John’s, Clerkenwell, Knight Hospitaller and Lord Treasurer of England, called Highbury Barn Manor House was destroyed during the Peasants Revolt in 1381 by a mob led by Jack Straw and Wat Tyler; the derelict site became known as Jack Straw’s Castle."</span></p>
<p>Fascinating. I had to immediately research why there was a Jack Straw's Castle at Highbury marked on the 1735 Islington map and found this: </p>
<p><span>"The fine manor house built by Prior Robert Hales, Grand Prior of St John’s, Clerkenwell, Knight Hospitaller and Lord Treasurer of England, called Highbury Barn Manor House was destroyed during the Peasants Revolt in 1381 by a mob led by Jack Straw and Wat Tyler; the derelict site became known as Jack Straw’s Castle."</span></p> Very interesting and well res…tag:harringayonline.com,2021-07-09:844301:Comment:14369192021-07-09T10:02:14.752ZJeffhttps://harringayonline.com/profile/Jeff400
<p>Very interesting and well researched, thank you.</p>
<p>Very interesting and well researched, thank you.</p> Wonderful, interesting narrat…tag:harringayonline.com,2021-07-09:844301:Comment:14369482021-07-09T06:42:01.375ZKen Stevenshttps://harringayonline.com/profile/KenStevens
<p>Wonderful, interesting narrative, thank you!</p>
<p>Wonderful, interesting narrative, thank you!</p>