Ridge Road c1905

Comment by man-thinking on June 14, 2025 at 12:35

So many trees! Nice. Where did we then go wrong? 

Comment by Peter on June 25, 2025 at 20:11

Thanks for the picture: I was brought up in one of the houses on the north side of the road in this picture, so it brings back personal recollections!  I was there in the 1950s, not when this was taken, and I have no recall of trees in this part of Ridge Road: there were trees still standing on the short section on the curve on the road (visible at the back of the picture) between Denton and Mayfield Roads, but the rest of the road was treeless. MIght they have been cut down during one of the wars? wood for fuel?

Comment by John Leeming on June 27, 2025 at 9:47

There are still a few trees left.

Comment by Paul K on July 4, 2025 at 8:57

I’m a tree lover and have planted loads, but the planning of street tree planting one or two hundred years ago was not very forward thinking. If you look at old designs, for example of London squares, they show small sized London plane trees, similar to those in this photo, not the giants they have grown into 200 years later. The same applies in Haringey. Trees can outgrow their location and cause all manner of structural and other damage which those who planted them never foresaw. Sometimes they have to be felled and replaced. One has to take the long view and not just focus on the aesthetic and environmental benefit to ourselves of a mature tree which is in the wrong place because those who planted it didn’t plan for 100 years ahead. I shall never see most of my trees grow to their full size but others will. That’s why modern street planting uses trees which will not grow too big and cause problems and controversy in 50 or 100 years time.

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