Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Harringay Arena and Stadium 1947

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Comment by Raymond Coggin on September 24, 2015 at 23:43: I was a regular at the stadium in the 50's and 60's for the stock car racing on Saturday nights and as I got a bit older for the dogs around 1967. I learned to ice skate in the arena and saw the circus's there. The whole site was built of the former site of Williamson's Brick works which had been there since the late 18th century. Williamson's provided most of the bricks tiles and chimneys for a lot of the local housing and the Harringay Ladder was built from the clay excavated there.When I was young in the late 50's I remember a lot of the front garden walls on the ladder were made of the slag from the brick making process, but they're mostly gone now. Williamson Road leading into Sainsbury's now honours the name of the brickworks and it's owner. My uncle Gary Williamson is a great grandson of the owner, who is also remembered in Williamson Street off between Parkhurst Road and Camden Road, Holloway.

Comment by Raymond Coggin on September 24, 2015 at 23:48: The Moscow State Circus are based in a field near Chertsey, they are here permanently but the name Chertsey State Circus doesn't have the same ring to it.

Comment by Richard Woods on September 25, 2015 at 15:39: When the Moscow Circus first came here in 1956 I was 13 and we went - it was good and the trapeze was especially good I recall. BTW, Wikipedia tells us: "The name Moscow State Circus has long been used by troupes of Russian circus performers in the West. The first such tour was in 1956, when the Moscow State Circus amazed audiences in Paris and in London." Sop I would reckon the Chertsey incarnation is a bit more recent?

Comment by Hugh on September 25, 2015 at 15:46: Yes, the 1956 circus was the real McCoy.

Comment by John Shulver on November 14, 2021 at 22:40: What a great aerial pic that is Hugh. I went to a circus or two there and one or two Wild West Shows, would've been mid 50s I suppose. But what a terrible loss that site is to Harringay in my opinion, incorporating a wonderful sporting venue.

Comment by Geraldine on November 15, 2021 at 7:07: My mum took me to the circus more than once and I remember the Wild West show. It was quite normal to go into the local shops and see red Indians queuing up. A friend whose mother worked at the Arena managed to get a signed photograph of Tex Ritter.

Comment by Hugh on November 15, 2021 at 9:27: This might look familiar to you both then, John and Geraldine.

Comment by Geraldine on November 15, 2021 at 13:41: Thank's Hugh. That's the one. I must have been 10 years old. You can imagine the excitement at seeing in the flesh cowboys and indians we had only seen before at Saturday morning pictures at the Coliseum. I even remember Tex Ritter's horse was named White Flash. I named my bicycle after him!

Comment by Maureen Bamfield on November 10, 2023 at 12:44: Was it in the Stanhope garden entrance where all the lovely paintings were on the walls? Does anybody else remember these?

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