Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Meadow Orchard Project in Crouch End - It's previous use as Tennis Courts
We are currently researching the history of the Meadow Orchard Community Garden site and thought that this forum would be a great place to see if anyone has knowledge or better photos of the site from when it was previously used as tennis courts, prior to becoming derelict and later established as a community garden.
Meadow Orchard Project is a community Garden in Crouch End, a 1.5 acre site located behind Hornsey Medical Centre, 151, Park Road, N8 8JD. The site is located on Metropolitan Open Land, designated for recreational use, also consisting of the area of playing fields, Crouch End Cricket Fields.
From our limited research, mainly from the Scottish Map Archive. The site was home to two Tennis Clubs, Harefield Club to the west and Circle 23 to the West. Each had a small pavilion, there are some earth works, drain gulleys, all that now remains of those structures.
In the late 1980's or early 1990's the demand for Tennis was in decline and the number of courts was reduced. The land was sold to the NHS and along the boundary to the North; a number of Tennis Courts were removed and the cricket grounds extended into this area.
Aerial Photos dated 1944-1950 clearly show the tennis courts at each end of the site and a patchwork of allotment plots on what is now the Meadow. Digging on site reveals very little topsoil and a layer of clinker (The non-combustible remains from burning coal) used as a drainage medium until around the 1950's or so.
Scrolling the map reveals other local areas of allotment plots, Alexandra Park and the meadow area to the North of Shepherds hill allotments, presumably a part of the Dig for Victory Campaign.
In 2009 The victorian Cottage Hospital building was demolished to pave way for the current Medical Centre, the area of land behind the site was at that point derelict and in 2010 was made available for community use, to be managed as a Community Garden, which is when the community garden was founded, previously the Shepherds Cot Healing Garden and currently The Meadow Orchard Project.
Historical Maps show the use as open agricultural land, prior to tennis courts, the courts shown on maps and aerial photographs, but very little evidence of it's use in between the Aerial Photos and the early low resolution Aerial Photos with the introduction of Google Satellite View.
There are some local photos from the Victorian and Edwardian Period taken from Shepherds Hill of Alexandra palace and recognisable buildings in Park Road, from which it would be possible to triangulate and give an indication of what was on the meadow orchard site ack then.
There are clearly locals with first hand experience of the site, who will have played tennis on the site, walked past the site using the public footpath or attended Bishopswood School (now Highgate Wood School) to the south.
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=18.0&lat=51....
https://shepherdscottrust.org/about-the-trust/trust-history/
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh
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There's some loosely related history here.
In so far as photo go the RAF's 1947 set held be Heritage England are pretty good. You van buy digotal copies rfom them which are even clearer than those online. Here's a snippet of an online version showinvg your land. (Click to enlarge)
Here it is in 1960 (also RAF, same source):
The part of Hornsey is not my area of expertise. You might find that someone like Alan Nafzger or Maz Asa, archives volunteers at the HHS would be able to dig up some info for you. You caould also ask Brenda Griffith-Wiliams to put a rtaic le in the Society's newsletter to access another pool of local knowledge.
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Permalink Reply by Meadow Orchard Project
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Oh thank you so much Hugh! Those images are beautifully sharp, it's great to put a date on the aerial photos too. Interesting to see that the allotment plots to the south have gone by 1960, presumably around the time that the land was sold and Bishopswood School built.
Alan
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This is great, the images on historic england are even marked with the full date and the squadron / sortie of the aircraft that took them too! Taken, 13 September 1960 RAF 543 squadron Sortie 543/1059.
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/aer...http://www.543sqn.org.uk/
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I'll send you a spreadsheet of the HHS archives (I think there's a fuller version on-site). It shows quite a number of mentions of the Crouch End Playing fields, Including of a map. I see that Peter Barber, now president of HHS was evidently involved on a 1980s campaign to prevent the development of the fields. So there's clearly interest there.
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Permalink Reply by Lydia Walter
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I cannot share any photos but I can share limited experience of using one of the tennis clubs.
It was 1967/68 and every Saturday the club held tennis lessons for various abilities - from memory Secondary School aged pupils.One of the clubs had an indoor court and it was here I had lessons. The indoor court consisted of an ‘inflated’ indoor area; green in colour. Inside, about half way down, was the air source that maintained the inflation; extreme hair disruption when walking past. To enter one used two doors. The first door allowed you into a holding area where you were required to wait and ensure the outer door was fully closed. Once it was, the inner door could be opened and entry onto the courts was possible. I ‘think’ there were two courts each of which were busy with many pairs of students practicing hitting and receiving the ball. Being a novice and not very sporty, I was consigned to the far end of the courts and taught to use the side wall to individually send and receive my tennis ball. I clearly showed no promise as I did not advance from the far back left hand side! However, I clearly remember being taught to serve and in the 60s there was a male serve and a female serve!! Can you imagine? This was a 30 minute session on a weekend morning. Time spent with friends for very limited cost (probably about 2s 6p or 12 1/2 pence today). Great fun and fully enjoyed.
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That's fantastic! It really helps to build up a picture of the site through the years. I love finding out about the inflatable court!
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