Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Braddock's record of a changing Turnpike Lane, 1899 - 1906
Turn of the century Hornsey photographer photographer, Alfred Braddock, moved to the area in about 1890. He started off living in Alexandra Road, off Turnpike Lane and later lived at 120 Turnpike Lane for a few years. His photos provide one of the rare collections of early photos of the area.
One of the most evocative locations he captured was Turnpike Lane's west end, between Wightman Road and the Great Northern Line, all of which was part of the Harringay House Estate during Edward Gray's stewardship. Then, first the land to the north of the road was sold after Gray's death, followed by the land to the south which was quickly developed when the estate was finally sold off in the 1880s. Nothing that was built on this stretch at the end of the last century survives today.
We start with an 1899 image of workmen at the railway tunnel.
Fig. 1: Braddock's photo of workmen at the Turnpike Lane railway bridge. Given the date. I assume this was related to the widening of the bridge (see newspaper cutting below) which almost doubled the width of the bridge to the east of the existing one. The buildings in the background, further east on Turnpike Lane, are also in the next photo.The most distant house was 122 Turnpike Lane. This was next door to Braddock's home for a few years from about 1910. The house was demolished in the middle of the century, when Hornsey Park Road was aligned with Wightman Road.
Fig. 2: Holloway Press, 9 June 1899.
Some years ago, I published Braddock's photo of the location taken in 1905, which I think best captures late Victorian Turnpike Lane best.
Fig. 3: Braddock's photo of Turnpike Lane, west end, marked by him as 1905. Shortly after this photo, the buildings which seem to be the main subject of the photo were demolished, (See caption for Braddock's 1906 photo below).
Just out of the photo on the left, was the nursery that Gray's gardener George Press started after his former employer died. Closer to the junction is Salmon's artists supply shop. On the right you can just see the Unwin Arms on the corner of Haringey Grove.
Fig, 4: Unwin Arms and Turnpike Lane (Not identified as a Braddock).
Fig. 5: Corner of Turnpike Lane and Hornsey Park Road, c1904. Salmons artists' supply shop is just out of the picture to the left (Not identified as a Braddock). This is one of the buildings demolished in 1905/06 for the widening of the road to accommodate tramways.
Below is a 1906 Braddock photo that I've only recently found. This shows a similar view to the 1905 one, after most of the buildings on the north side of the road had been demolished to allow this ivreasingly bust tram route to be widended.
Fig. 6: Braddock's 1906 photo of Turnpike Lane, west end. The buildmgs on nortth side of the road between Clarendon Road and Hornsey Park Road had just recently been demolished to allow for the widening of the Tramways.(Hornsey Journal, May 4 1906, p2).
Apparently, I have something of an obsession with this location. I've also written pieces on Prospect Place and Goulding Court.
Tags for Forum Posts: turnpike lane
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Marcus on
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The Stanley Parkes & Brown photo is excellent and another part of the missing picture. The triangle of garden is clearly shown on the 1863-68 OS before Hornsey Park was built but we wouldn't have guessed it looked like this. Sadly, before the new road scheme, it had become like this, from the early 1950s film about Hornsey
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Yes, that's the one. I wonder what triggered the decline and wholesale replanning. It must have been so depressing for all those who knew this corner as a vibrant, mixed area. From the gas works and brewery, through Prospect Place to the quirky end of Turnpike Lane, a whole community was erased.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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It was all down to traffic. First, Turnpike Lane had to be widened for the trams, then Wightman Road had to be changed for motor traffic.
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That explains some of the damage done but that whole junction is dreadful, a single lane road (Hornsey Park) widens to three but oncoming traffic from Wightman means there is never enough time for the right hand lane to turn, Wightman similarly widens from one to three lanes. Town planning gone mad - and that has nothing to do with the Trams coming down Turnpike Lane which is effectively still a one lane road...
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No, the changes to Wightman had nothing to do with trams. As I said, it was for motor traffic. Original plan for Saul. A Wood Green bypass running to the east of Green Lanes and the Wightman route was ‘improved’ for access for Wood Green Shopping City. The two roots were supposed to complement one another, but In the end in the Wood Green bypass never got built so the Wightman/Hornsey Park route became the Wood Green bypass by default.
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Permalink Reply by Richard Woods on
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Shopping City? Surely not...?
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For the Wightman changes, yes, absolutely. (Not for the Turnpike Lane ones c 1905). Some years back, Stephen Hartley kindly shared the plans of the Haringey Central Area Scheme from the 1960s to the 1980s.
The first shows the Wood Green bypass.
The second the Wightmabn/Turnpike junctkon 'remodelling'.
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Clearly very lively in Victorian and Edwardian times "modern" urban planning has rendered that whole area a desert...
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Brilliant images which I had not see before. Thank you so much.
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