Hornsey Brewery circa 1910

Comment by Gerry N on January 11, 2016 at 12:45

PS Allotments certainly would have been part of the wartime food efforts. The Bedford Road embankment is now covered completely by trees, but it is a surprisingly large area either side of the rail footbridge.  The above photo clearly shows allotments, therefore my guess at a 1914-18 date.

Comment by Stephen Holliday on January 11, 2016 at 16:06

There were certainly allotments to be seen taking the path from Uplands Road up to the corner now occupied by Chettle Court.  I used this path many times in 1960 on my way to take photographs of trains with my shiny new camera. I assumed that they dated from the Second World War as were the ones on part of Duckett's Common.  I don't remember a stream but then my mind was on other things.

Comment by Stephen Holliday on January 11, 2016 at 16:30

According to all the OS maps (the latest I have is 1935) there were two wagon turntables from the GNR (LNER) sidings which would have enabled the coal wagons to be turned through 90 degrees and moved across to the gasworks. As well as coal going in there would presumably have been coke going out.  Before 1957, when I believe gas production stopped, (the gasholders remaining in use) it was possible to buy half-hundredweight sacks of coke. I remember going with my father on several occasions to collect some.  To do this you had to have a hand-cart of some description (hatchbacks had not been invented!). You would often meet other people with their carts of varying sophistication.  The usual form of construction was a wooden crate running on axles and wheels salvaged from an old push-chair A pair of wooden shafts completed the ensemble. My father was not a very practical man (our "workshop" consisted of a hammer with a loose head, a blunt saw, a pair of pliers with a wobbly joint, a bent screwdriver and a gimlet) but we managed to get up and down Turnpike Lane without a wheel coming off - most of the time!

Comment by S Williams on January 11, 2016 at 17:03

Thanks Stephen and Gerry.  So there was a path alongside the railway?    It would explain the random plum trees.

Comment by Hugh on January 11, 2016 at 18:16

Stonebridge Brook, which rose in Crouch End and flowed eastwards through Harringay to the River Lea passed close to Uplands. The river, although culverted from 1885 fonwards, still flows underground.

Dick Harris gave a very good description of its course on HoL some years back:

The brook rises in Crouch End near the old town hall and flows eastwards.  The original course of the brook ran more or less along Weston Park.  Between Inderwick Road and Uplands Road it ran behind the gardens on the north side of Weston Park, ie along the edge of the school grounds.  It passed under Uplands Road near number 99 and then under Cranford Way on the industrial estate, under the railway viaduct (that is also hidden from view) and then under the New River passing beneath the ventilation tower that stands at the back of the motor workshop facing Effingham Road.  It then meandered about a block north behind the houses on the east side of Wightman Road and turned east again along Fairfax Road.  It turned south near the passage and from Effingham to Allison ran parallel to Green Lanes before passing under it where the housing terrace ends and the commercial strip begins (near Selale).  From there it crossed nine streets (Harringay, Glenwood, Avondale, Woodlands Park, Brampton, Ritches, Rowley, Etherley and Black Boy) before passing the NW corner of Chestnuts Park and continuing on Eastwards eventually flowing into the River Lea. 

Comment by S Williams on January 11, 2016 at 18:40

Very good.  It begins to fit together.  Thanks everyone! 

Comment by John D on January 11, 2016 at 18:47

Aha !! So the tower behind the garage was for ventilation of the culverted Stonebridge brook ?

That seems to settle the long-running discussion of what it was for. Although that means the culvert must have been constructed in the 17th century when the New River was dug.

Thanks to Dick Harris for that

Comment by Hugh on January 11, 2016 at 19:13

I think I'm right in saying that when it was first built the New River was carried across Stonebridge Brook in a lead lined wooden acqueduct. Later this was replaced by a stone arched bridge. The expansion of the Ferme Park Sidings led to the river being culverted.

Comment by John D on January 11, 2016 at 22:02

Thanks Hugh. That sounds more convincing.

Comment by John D on January 12, 2016 at 12:24

I've checked with a 1914 OS map and I'm pretty sure that the building with the brewery sign is in fact the brewery. The picture seems to have been taken with a pretty long lens with a 20 deg field of view, giving a marked foreshortening effect.

The track coming in from the right leads to ( from ? ) the Ferme Park sidings.

I think all the foreground buildings disappeared with the remodelling of the Turnpike Lane junction and Clarendon Road. 

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