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WOOD GREEN HIGH ROAD The 1000-year-old high street
THE LONG ROAD Wood Green High Road is part of Green Lanes, which is one of the oldest roads in London. 1,000 years ago London was surrounded by forest, and Wood Green was one of several small clearings or ‘greens’ that were joined together by Green Lanes that ran from the city, through Newington Green, Wood Green and Palmers Green and out into Hertfordshire. At that time, most of Haringey would have been owned by the lord of the manor of Tottenham, who lived at Bruce Castle. But there were a few small privately owned farms whose names survive in the streets and parks around Wood Green: Downehills, Broade Waters, Bowes and Ducketts. By the 17th century, the farm at Woodreddings near Bounds Green Road had been replaced by Nightingale Hall, one of several large houses and villas being built in Wood Green. According to local historian Albert Pinching, “Wood Green became a rural retreat for prosperous people. City gentlemen, merchants and traders liked to live there because of the fresh air, easy access to London and to get away from all the pollution.” By 1800, around the junction of the High Road and Lordship Lane, were several houses, a blacksmith and two pubs, the Three Jolly Butchers and the Nag’s Head. At the other end of the High Road was a row of large villas built in the 1860s between St Ann’s Road and Shopping City, and another pub, The Queen’s Head. After 1,000 years, Wood Green’s population was still just 100. But after Wood Green railway station opened in 1859, the population rocketed to nearly 10,000 in just 20 years. “Most of the grand houses and beautiful buildings had to be knocked down to make way” says Albert. Wood Green High Road was starting to take shape.
DID YOU KNOW... In 1284 Laurence Duket, the owner of Ducketts Farm, was wounded in a duel and sought sanctuary in St Mary-leBow Church (home to the famous Bow bells). He was found and hanged from one of the windows.
DID YOU KNOW... The highwayman Dick Turpin, on his horse Black Bess, jumped the spiketopped gate at Turnpike Lane to escape a posse led by the chief constable of Westminster.
DID YOU KNOW... Green Lanes was ‘turnpiked’ in 1765: gates were built to stop people using the road until they paid a toll. The toll gate was built at... Turnpike Lane.
THE GREAT ESTATE As more people moved to Wood Green, grand estates like Chitts Hill and Nightingale Hall were sold off and turned into the Victorian version of housing estates - streets of terraced houses. In 1883, on what used to be Ducketts Farm, the Artisans and Labourers General Dwellings Company began building Wood Green’s largest and most ambitious estate, Noel Park, one of the very first social housing schemes. “At the time Noel Park was quite spectacular,” says historian Albert Pinching. “The rent was cheap and the houses were very well built with running water and inside toilets, which was quite a luxury for the working classes who often lived in sub-standard accommodation. During the housing boom a number of people tried to cash in by building sub-standard housing that fell down after a few years, but the houses in Noel Park have survived well.” When it was finished in 1927, the estate contained more than 2000 houses in five classes ranging from large four bedroom houses to smaller ‘two up, two downs’. All houses had fireplaces, running water and a toilet in the garden, and some were connected to gas and electricity, but only the first class houses had toilets upstairs. 18-year-old Kieran has lived in Noel Park his whole life. “My house was a fifth class house, which would have been the most basic ‘two up, two down’. It would have had an outside toilet when it was built, and the living room would have been two rooms with the kitchen at the back and a parlour at the front. Since then the wall has been knocked down and an extension built for the kitchen and an indoor bathroom. It’s a nice place to live with friendly neighbours who talk to each other and children playing out together. There’s a lot of respect there.”
DID YOU KNOW... In 1880 Barratt & Co. opened a sweet factory (now The Chocolate Factory arts centre) near the High Road, and for 100 years Wood Green smelled of sweets like Liquorice Allsorts, Jelly Babies, Sherbert Fountains, Black Jacks, Sweet Bananas, Milk Teeth, Murray Mints and Refreshers. Perhaps that’s why so many people wanted to live nearby.
DID YOU KNOW... There used to be a railway between Wood Green and Tottenham. The Palace Gates branch line was built in 1878 and is one of the reasons Wood Green grew so quickly - it let residents travel to work in the docks and factories of east London.
DID YOU KNOW... The man-made New River that runs through Wood Green was built in 1613. It brought fresh water 38 miles from Hertfordshire to the city of London, where 10 years earlier 30,000 people had died from a ‘plague’ blamed on a lack of clean water.
APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION By the end of the 1930s Wood Green High Street was thriving. The development of Noel Park included the Cheapside row of shops on the High Road, and the Wood Green Empire theatre. There were seven cinemas in Wood Green - the Gaumont Palace seated over 2500 people in one screen (the current Cineworld seats only 2250 on all 12 screens together). The façade of the Empire remains, but the huge auditorium made way for what is now the Morrisons supermarket. The Gaumont Palace and the Premier Electric became bingo halls, and later churches. The Cinematograph and the Electric Coliseum became furniture stores, and the Imperial a discount carpet store. Others were lucky enough to be demolished. Another beautiful building, the Wood Green Public Library, was built in 1907. “In 1973 Haringey council decided they needed more office space,” says Albert, “so they demolished this landmark and built offices. A new library was built further down the road and it’s not a patch on the old one. I don’t know what they were thinking.” Probably the same thing they were thinking when they demolished two mid-19th century Tudor style almshouses to build the Civic Centre and a telecomms switching centre. But every part of Wood Green High Road was built over something else. The ancient forest around London was cut down to make farmland, the farms were replaced by grand country estates, and then the halls and fine houses were knocked down to build housing estates. In the 1970s Shopping City was built over the dismantled Palace Gates branch line, which had cut the High Road in half. When it was opened by the Queen in 1981, Shopping City brought the Wood Green and Turnpike Lane together, creating the High Road as it is today. The Cinematograph was finally demolished in 1999 and replaced by the Hollywood Green complex, and the High Road hasn’t changed much since. It won’t last long.
DID YOU KNOW... In 1918, world famous magician Chung Ling Soo was shot dead on the stage of Wood Green Empire when his famous bullet catch trick went badly wrong.
DID YOU KNOW... Despite being the owner of the 19th century’s largest and most profitable company, the Carnegie Steel Company, Andrew Carnegie claimed “No idol is more debasing than the worship of money”. After selling his business for the equivalent of 120 billion in 2007 US dollars, he devoted the rest of his life to giving away his fortune, paying for over 2,800 libraries across the world. One of the was the old Wood Green Public Library.
This booklet was produced by young people at Exposure, Haringey’s award-winning youth media charity, with help from BTCV and Bruce Castle Museum (Haringey Libraries, Archives & Museum Service). It was paid for by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Produced by
020 8883 0260
Samantha Harding
Sabrina Codardo
Nick May
Kieran O’Connor
Flame Goldsworthy
Astley Cover
Alex Gould
The following young people took part in this project: