Memories of wartime in Harringay

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Hugh on October 5, 2008 at 23:14

A nice addition to Flower's wartime blog post.

Permalink Reply by StephenBln on October 5, 2008 at 23:43

I read these three articles a while back and some of the points made in them still puzzle me.

In the one, the writer mentions the V1 going over Warwick Gardens (at the St Anns Rd end) and then going on to land on the petrol station at the arena.
My own father told me once about the V1 over West Green Road/Willow Walk which landed on Falkland Road and my parents also told about the many occasions they were seen over St Anns Rd, where they lived at the time (directly opposite the Police Station).
My point is, they always seem to have been flying East to West, although they were generally fired off from bases in the Pas de Calais in Northern France. This surely would have meant that they would have appeared over Harringay/Tottenham from the South East and not from the east. Reports from the time that I have read mention that appeared as very 'robotic' instruments and it often seemed as if the were on a 'conveyor belt' always flying dead straight ahead.
I suppose they must have somehow been buffeted by the winds, once their engines cut out and then glide back southwards? But it still is a puzzle to me.

I do remember the Ever Ready factory after the war, so it wasn't completely destroyed, nor were the first couple of houses on the 'odd' side of Warwick Gardens destroyed, but they have since disappeared.

In the 1950s there were three ex bomb sites on Warwick Gardens all with prefabs on them. All three now have blocks of flats on them.

The terrace of houses on Warwick Gardens on the even side (between St Anns Rd and Chesterfield Gardens) obviously all lost their frontages in the V1 incident, because they had noticeably more modern windows and bays on them.

To summarise: There was one V1 incident on Warwick Gardens causing serious damage to Ever Ready & the even numbers houses on Warwick. And then there were the three bomb sites on Warwick Gardens from earlier in the war (ca. 1940/41).

Permalink Reply by Simon T on October 6, 2008 at 2:23

Stephen, where was the factory, on Warwick gardens itself or behind the houses before u get to the hospital? Were there once houses at the start of the odd side there is now an 80's development (which i used to live in)then Legat court an older 60's block before you reach houses on that side. I wondered why the houses at the start of the even side were different i had assumed they were just built in the 30's or 50's

Permalink Reply by StephenBln on October 6, 2008 at 8:08

The Ever Ready Factory was on the corner of St Anns Rd & Warwick Gardens.

It lay back, but fronted onto St Anns Rd. It was surrounded by quite a high brick wall (for my childs eyes), but there was an opening into St Anns Rd, where an elecricity substation could be seen.
That is the link between Ever Ready and the building's original use as a Substation and offices? of the Northmet Electricity Company. This company was allied with the North Metropolitan Tramways, which was responsible for and ran trams within the County of Middlesex, until the formation of LT in 1933.

Even in the 1950s/1960s there were still a couple of enamel signs on the brickwork that recollected the buildings original owners, as well as being similar to the underground roundel.

I think the Northmet lasted until after the War when it was nationalised by the first post-war labour government, becoming part of Eastern Electricity

Permalink Reply by John D on October 6, 2008 at 8:50

I think V1s were launched initially from Peenemunde on the German Baltic coast which would correspond to east.

Permalink Reply by Steffen on October 6, 2008 at 9:48

Peenemünde was Development and Test site only. Initially V1s were fired from launching sites especially errected for this purpose in Northern France, the first V1 to hit London on the 13th June 1944 until the last V1 launched from french occupied soil on the 1st Sep 1944. Later towards the end of war rockets were launched also from planes.

Permalink Reply by StephenBln on October 6, 2008 at 10:05

That's right.. Once France had been occupied in 1944, V2s continued to be fired from Belgium and Holland. But the V1s whose launching ramps in France had been overrun stopped coming..

For enthusiasts of Archictecture, Peenemünde was a very interesting but sinister place. It even had its own local railway using trains of similar stock to the Berliner Suburban system, albeit with AC rather than DC systems.. after the war they were transfered back to Berlin and one has been preserved.

Permalink Reply by Liz on October 6, 2008 at 15:38

Interesting discussion.

There's lots of interesting snippets all over the site about wartime Harringay, am wondering whether we should use the HOL wiki to help us collate it.