This image makes the area look quite industrial. In fact the two nearest chimneys are related to pubic services. The large one to the right is attached to the Hornsey Electricity Works just to the west of Hornsey Station. It was 200 feet tall. The one to the left was part of Hornsey Borough Council's dust destructor - essentially where all the household waste was burned.
Just to the left of the electricity generator chimney, you can see the huge form of Harringay Arena - only recently completed when this photo was taken. To its left you can see the rather more discreet stadium. If you move your eye slightly in front of the Arena, you can make out the line of houses on Wightman Road. Coming forward a little more, about half way between the two chimneys, you can make out Hornsey Church Tower.
Of the cluster of chimneys toward the left, one would have probably been part of the Hornsey Pumping Station and one perhaps part of the New River Water Works behind the Great Northern Tavern.
In the middle ground at the bottom of the slope, just where it gets flat, you get a hint of the old racecourse.
It's not the clearest of photos, but all the details are visible if you use the 'View Full Size' link below
Tags (All lower case. Use " " for multiple word tags): hornsey gasholder
Albums: Historical Images of Alexandra Palace & Park, Historical Images of Harringay from 1885 - 1918 | 2 of 3 (F)
The farthest chimney looks like Barratts on Eade rd or could it be on St Ann's Hospital site? Its great trying to ID familiar landmarks and all that's missing - Shopping City, gas risers, the flats on the ridgeway and broadwater farm estate to name a few.
I'm not sure which chimney you mean when you say the 'farthest chimney'. (If you mean the white coloured one, that's the Hornsey Electricity Works).
I think Maynards would have been somewhere behind the Arena.
The gas holders are just out of this picture to the left.
Yes I meant Maynards not Barratts - that on the far right.
Do you know when gas holders appeared?
Every single one of those chimneys was emitting vast quantities of smoke. And it was happening all over the country then. By the time of the Great Smogs of the early 50s (which nearly killed my mother and did kill my Gran) the light was beginning to dawn. Interesting of course that the dust destructor was what we might call an incinerator today and they are controvesial still, even if they generate power as most do.
Easy to romanticise the past. Thanks for the reminder of the realities of the time, Richard.
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