The next large house, with garden in front, was occupied by the father of the Rev. G. H. Thompson, and afterwards by various tenants, the last of whom was Mr. Marsden. After he vacated it was unlet for a long while, and during that time my dear husband used a room for a work room, in which he made a model of a design for Westminster Bridge. It was very beautiful, all in small pieces of brass. When finished he had a glass case made, and presented it to Mr. Hawksley, civil engineer, Great George-street, Westminster, who was a great friend of his, and for whom he went to the Island of Barbadoes, West Indies, as there was a great scarcity of water, and stayed until he found a sufficient supply, to the entire satisfaction of Mr. Hawksley and the inhabitants of Barbadoes. He also made a model of the “Streets of London,” and a “Floating Battery,” both of which he presented to the Royal United Service Institution, Whitehall-yard, and they were afterwards removed to South Kensington Museum. These models are well worth seeing.
The Congregational Chapel was erected on this site about the year 1867.
At the back of this Chapel there was, and still is, a very old house with gabled roof, originally the “Old Ship Inn,” a very noted place when the stage coaches were on the road. It was afterwards used as a Boys’ School, kept by Mr. James Holmes, and called Tottenham Green Academy. It was the property of Mr. Benjamin Godfrey Windus, who left it to his daughter, the wife of the Rev. Peter De Putron. Then came three houses, which lay back, with a long piece of waste land in front, planted with a row of trees, which gave them a very pretty appearance. One of these houses had a very large cupboard, like a small room, in the back bedroom, which was built into the next house, where Dr. Babbington’s sister lived, and here there was a very beautiful ceiling. This house is still there, but in ruins.
HIGH CROSS.
The shops here are about the same, only modernised, and lowered. There used to be a butcher’s, baker’s, stationer’s (which was then the post office), poulterer’s, carpenter’s, tailor’s, Rose and Crown Inn, chandler’s shop, hairdresser’s, fruiterer’s, and grocer’s, at the corner. The post office was afterwards on the Green, and then removed to the stationer’s, where it is now.
High Cross-lane, now called High Cross-road, was a very different place to what it is now. As the word lane indicates, it was a very quiet place. On the south side there were a good many old cottages, looking more in keeping with their surroundings then they do at the present day. Then came two detached houses, followed by fields till one came to the old cottages at the commencement of The Hale. On the north side, near the High-road, there were stables, and out-buildings jutting out, which made the roadway just there very narrow. From these sheds there was a continuation of fields almost to the end of the lane.
THE HALE.
Here, on one side, stood some very old cottages, with long gardens in front, and the White Hart Inn. On the other side was the Pound, standing on the waste land opposite “The White Cottage,” and next came the old farmhouse, and land, in the occupation of Mr. Willan, the proprietor of the West End omnibus. This was afterwards Ware’s Nursery Grounds (he was son-in-law to Mr. Willan). It is now covered with factories. Then there were fields down to the River Lea.
GREAT EASTERN RAILWAY.
This main Eastern Counties lines was the first railway in Tottenham. Soon after it was opened there was a bad accident at the Hale Station; we had no hospital then, so the injured passengers were taken in by various residents. The railway carriages were none too comfortable, the third-class being all open. This was a very busy station, so much cattle coming here for the London market.