Seven Sisters Road - looking east towards Manor House 1961

Comment by Richard Albert Watson yesterday

As a kid of 13 I used to get the 629 from from the stop round the corner from Hedge Lane on Green Lanes to go to Manor House and then a bus to Hackney where I went to Joseph Priestly Secondary Technical school in Chatham Place.   I would get off the bus at the big church and walk through the graveyard and come out near the school.  At that time the graves were being dug up and the stones moved to the walls to make an open park space.  A couple of us got into trouble for taking a skull and some bones into school for a laugh.  Looking back it was amazing that the workmen would leave remains exposed when they finished for the day.  

Comment by StephenBln 5 hours ago

Thanks for the memory Richard. It's amazing how the trolleybuses made such a big impression on all us 'kids'. Today is actually 65 years to the day today that the 629 ran for the last time. The photo above taken on the last, wet evening.  The photo below shows the frog at Manor House in the opposite direction, where buses towards Finsbury Park & Newington Green diverged.  

Comment by Richard Albert Watson 3 hours ago

Thanks for the reply Stephen.  If I remember rightly the Junction of Hedge Lane, Green Lanes and Bourne Hill was a turning place where I used to watch the bus conductor or driver switch the points with a long pole.   Your photo of the bus and Manor House Staton in the background bring back a few memories of queuing up in the morning rush hour for the bus to Hackney.  I was often shoved out of the way by adults who thought they had more right to get on the bus than a kid going to school.  This meant being late and punished accordingly.  I had to get my dad to write a note explaining the reason why my late arrival at times was due to the actions of my fellow travellers.  Richard.

Comment by StephenBln 2 hours ago

Yes, Manor House was very busy and the 653 Trolleybuses (later 253 buses) to hAckney & Aldgate were exceptionally busy - In fact, conductors on this route received a 'route bonusÄ when working it. Due to the large number of so-called short riders. Much higher than on other services. More short riders - more tickets issued. So many coppers were collected that some conductors used a small sack to carry them rather than weigh down their pockets. The first photo, also on the last day of the 629. The other two illustrate the situation at the Hedge Lane turnaround. 

Comment by Richard Albert Watson 1 hour ago

Stephen you made my day.  I could not remember the 653 number, thanks for that.  in 1948 when I was 8 we moved from Eaton Park Rd to the new Farndale Ave. council estate that was being built so I would get off the bus and walk home down Hedge Lane. We had great fun as kids playing on a building site and getting up to mischief.  If memory serves I remember that the flats on the right side of the junction looking diagonally from the top of Hedge Lane had not been built at that time.  I think it was waste ground or allotments with a small wall surrounding it which I fell off into a bed of stinging nettles.  Also my brother who was 18months older decided to run away from home and camp out over night.  Mum an dad weren't too bothered as they knew he would come home for breakfast which he did. Happy days.

Ps. what date were your photos?

Comment by StephenBln 1 hour ago

All photos in this posting are from 1960 & 1961.

Manor House going south: Summer 1960.

The last day photos: 25th. April 1961.

The two Hedge Lane photos are from July 1961. The 641 trolleybuses outlived the 629 from April to November 1961. In fact, a Routemaster bus on the 629 replacement 269 bus route to Enfield can be seen in the last photo. 

Comment by Richard Albert Watson 53 minutes ago

Thanks again Steven, it is people like your good self who took an interest in the pictorial documenting of things like this that keep recent history alive.  I left London in 1965.   I google earthed the junction  and noticed that the only established businesses remaining are the dental practice and Sewards the funeral directors.  I went to school with his son.  Being council estate kids we used to make your bog standard trolley cart from a plank of wood and old pram axles nailed together The Seward lads dad put us to shame by making him one from pine in the shape of a small coffin with a cab and proper steering wheel.  No contest. 

Comment by StephenBln 12 minutes ago

Thank you, but they are not my photos. I was 7 in 1961. Nevertheless, I knew and remember the area like this. 

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