Looking east towards at the mid nineteenth century housing terrace on the site of Turnpike Lane tube station. From left to right, they were Pleasant Cottage, Kent Lodge and Just peeking in on the right) Newent Villa. Behind the was Pleasant Grove, what later became Langham Road.

Looking earlier at the photo above, I wondered if Turnpike Lane had always been wide, or whether it had been widened to accommodate the tram/bus islands in the early 1930s.

I looked over 150 years of maps that take us back to more than 200 years ago. They show that the wide mouth dates from at least the start of the nineteenth century. Back then it was still referred to as part of Tottenham Lane. When the turnpike keeper's cottage was demolished in 1872, the site was subsumed completely into the roadway and the southern part of Turnpike Lane was angled further to the south, giving us today's shape.

The "bar" shown on the 1815 map was the turnpike bar that didn't get lifted until you'd paid your toll. 

The maps produced in the first half of the century show the Turnpike keeper's cottage. It and the turnpike bar were closed by the Metropolis Roads Act 1863 and ceased operation on 1st July 1872.  The road was transferred from the supervision of the Stamford Hill and Green Lanes Turnpike Trust to the Hornsey Local Board and the buildings were  demolished not long after. The photo below was taken just before demolition.

Turnpike keeper's house, Turnpike Lane, c 1875. I assume that this was taken from Green Lanes, looking west-north-west, with the door facing Green Lanes.