Tottenham is believed to have been named after Tota, a farmer, whose hamlet was mentioned in the Domesday Book; hence Tota's hamlet became Tottenham. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as Toteham.[1]
Early history
Dorset Map of Tottenham in 1619 (South shown at the top of the map)
There has been a settlement at Tottenham for over a thousand years. It grew up along the old Roman road, Ermine Street (some of which is part of the present A10 road), and between High Cross and Tottenham Hale, the present Monument Way.
When the Domesday Book was compiled in 1086, about 70 families lived within the area of the manor, mostly labourers working for the Lord of the Manor. A humorous poem entitled the Tournament of Tottenham, written around 1400, describes a mock-battle between peasants vying for the reeve's daughter.
The River Lea (or Lee) was the eastern boundary between the Municipal Boroughs of Tottenham and Walthamstow. It is the ancient boundary between Middlesex and Essex and also formed the western boundary of the Viking controlled Danelaw. Today it is the boundary between the London Boroughs of Haringey and Waltham Forest. A major tributary of the Lea, the River Moselle, also crosses the borough from west to east, and often caused serious flooding until it was mostly covered in the 19th century.
From the Tudor period onwards, Tottenham became a popular recreation and leisure destination for wealthy Londoners. Henry VIII is known to have visited Bruce Castle and also hunted in Tottenham Wood. A rural Tottenham also featured in Izaak Walton's book The Compleat Angler, published in 1653.[2] The area became noted for its large Quaker population[3] and its schools (including Rowland Hill's at Bruce Castle.[4]) Tottenham remained a semi-rural and upper middle class area until the 1870s.
Modern era
In late 1870, the Great Eastern Railway introduced special workman's trains and fares on its newly opened Enfield and Walthamstow branch lines. Tottenham's low-lying fields and market gardens were then rapidly transformed into cheap housing for the lower middle and working classes, who were able to commute cheaply to inner London. The workman's fare policy stimulated the relatively early development of the area into a London suburb.
An incident occurred on 23 January 1909, which was at the time known as the Tottenham Outrage.[5] Two armed robbers of Russian extraction held up the wages clerk of a rubber works in Chesnut Road. They made their getaway via Tottenham Marshes and fled across the Lea. On the opposite bank of the river they hijacked a Walthamstow Corporation tramcar, hotly pursued by the police on another tram. The hijacked tram was stopped but the robbers continued their flight on foot. After firing their weapons and killing two people, Ralph Joscelyne, aged 10, and PC William Tyler, they were eventually cornered by the police and shot themselves rather than be captured. Fourteen other people were wounded during the chase. The incident later became the subject of a silent film.[6]
During the Second World War Tottenham also became a target of the German air offensive against Britain. Bombs fell within the borough (Elmar Road) during the first air raid on London on 24 August 1940. The borough also received V-1 (four incidents) and V-2 hits, the last of which occurred on 15 March 1945. Wartime shortages led to the creation of Tottenham Pudding, a mixture of household waste food which was converted into feeding stuffs for pigs and poultry. The "pudding" was named by Queen Mary on a visit to Tottenham Refuse Works. Production continued into the post-war period, its demise coinciding with the merging of the borough into the new London Borough of Haringey.
In 1985, the Broadwater Farmhousing estate in Tottenham was the scene of rioting between the police and local youths following the death of Cynthia Jarrett, a resident of the estate who died of heart failure after four policemen burst into her home. The response of the members of the black community in Tottenham and surrounding areas culminated in a riot beginning on Tottenham High Road and ending in the local Broadwater Farm Estate. One police officer, Keith Blakelock, was killed; 58 policemen and 24 other people were injured in the fighting. Two of the policemen were injured by gunshots during the riot, the first time that firearms had been used in that type of confrontation.
The Mecca Dance Hall was demolished in 2004 to make way for local housing.
Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway – Opened 21 July 1868. South Tottenham was opened in 1871, two other stations on this line within Tottenham were opened later. Harringay Park (Green Lanes) opened in 1880 and St Ann's Road opened in 1882 closing after service on 8 August 1942.
Palace Gates Line – Opened within Tottenham on 1 January 1878 with stations at Seven Sisters and West Green. Passenger services ceased in 1963 with the line finally closing on 7 February 1965.
The southern limit of Tottenham is the junction of St. Ann's Road with Tottenham High Road, which after becomes Stamford Hill. The district of Stamford Hill borders Tottenham, marking also the border of the London Borough of Hackney. To the southwest, Tottenham borders Manor House and Harringay, briefly meeting the London Borough of Islington.
West
Although the N15 postcode area extends to Green Lanes, the western border of Tottenham is better defined as Black Boy Lane, West Green Road and Downhills Way. The neighbouring districts are Harringay, Hornsey, Wood Green and Noel Park.
Demography and crime
Ethnic composition
Tottenham has a multicultural population, with many ethnic groups inhabiting the area. It contains one of the largest and most significant populations of African-Caribbean people. These were among the earliest immigrant groups to settle in the area, starting the UK's Windrush era. Soon afterwards West African communities – notably the many Ghanaians – began to migrate into the area. Between 1980 and the present day there has been a slow immigration of Colombians, Congolese, Albanian, Kurdish, Turkish-Cypriot, Turkish, Somali, Irish, Portuguese, and Zimbabweans populations.[citation needed] South Tottenham is reported to be the most ethnically-diverse area in Europe, with up to 300 languages being spoken by its residents.[12]
According to David Lammy MP, Tottenham has the highest unemployment rate in London and the 8th highest in the United Kingdom, and it has some of the highest poverty rates within the country.[13] There have also been major tensions between the African-Caribbean community and the police since (and before) the 1985 Broadwater Farm riot.
Organised crime
Tottenham has been one of the main hotspots for gangs and gun crime in the United Kingdom during the past three decades. This followed the rise of gangs and drug wars throughout the area, notably those involving the Tottenham Mandem gang and various gangs from Hackney and all of the areas surrounding Tottenham, and the emergence of an organised crime ring known as the Turkish Mafia was said to have controlled more than 90% of the UK's heroin market.[14][15]
Riots
The Broadwater Farm riot occurred around the Broadwater Farm area on 6 October 1985 following the death of Cynthia Jarrett in a police search of her home. The tension between local black youth and the largely white Metropolitan Police had been high due to a combination of local issues and the aftermath of riots in Brixton which had occurred in the previous week. The riots resulted in the death of a police officer.[16]
The former Bruce Grove Post Office was destroyed during the 2011 Tottenham riots
The 2011 Tottenham riots were a series of riots carried out by protesters in Tottenham, London. Attacks were carried out on two police cars, a bus, a Post Office and several local shops from 8:00 pm onwards on 6 August 2011. Riot police vans attended the scene of disturbances on Tottenham High Road. Later in the evening the riot spread, with an Aldi supermarket and a branch of Allied Carpets also destroyed by fire, and widespread looting in nearby Wood Green shopping centre and the retail park at Tottenham Hale. Several flats above shops on Tottenham High Road collapsed due to the fires. 26 shared ownership flats in the Union Point development above the Carpetright store – built in the landmark Cooperative department store building – were also completely destroyed by fire. The triggering event was when a group of over one hundred local Tottenham residents set out to undertake a protest march against the killing of Mark Duggan, who was shot by police officers assigned to Operation Trident earlier in the week. The circumstances surrounding Duggan's death were not entirely clear at the time of the riot. On 17 August 2011 the Prince of Wales and his wife Duchess of Cornwall visited an emergency centre to meet victims of the riots.[17]
Landmarks
Bruce Castle, the old Tottenham manor house, now a museum. (November 2005)
All Hallows Church – This is the oldest surviving building in the borough, and dates back to Norman times. For more than 700 years it was the original parish church for Tottenham. Presented in 1802 with a bell from the Quebec Garrison which was captured from the French in the 1759 Battle of Quebec, Canada. Adjacent to the church is
Tottenham Cemetery – A large cemetery, which makes up part of an open access area of land and habitat, along with Bruce Castle Park and All Hallows Churchyard.[18]
Bruce Castle, Lordship Lane – Grade 1 listed, it was Tottenham's manor house, and dates from the 16th century, with alterations by subsequent occupants. It was given the name 'Bruce Castle' during the 17th century by the 2nd Lord Coleraine, who was Lord of the Manor at the time. He named it after 'Robert the Bruce', whose family had been Lord of the Manor during the medieval period. The building was purchased by the Hill family who ran a progressive school there. Sir Rowland Hill was its first headmaster and he was living here when he as Postmaster General introduced the Uniform Penny Post in 1840.[20] Now a local history museum, it holds the archives of the London Borough of Haringey.
Centre-piece of Northumberland Row. (May 2013). Northumberland Row, erected circa 1740 (?), on the site of the former Smithson seat, previously that of the Hynningham family. Gate piers possibly from Bruce Castle. The wrought iron gate bears the mongramme HS for one of the two Hugh Smithsons, both Tottenham landowners and sometime MPs for Middlesex.
Clyde Circus conservation area
Edmanson’s Close previously known as the Almshouses of the Drapers' Company. They were built in 1870 and were established out of the generosity of three 17th century benefactors, Sir John Jolles, John Pemel and John Edmanson.
High Cross – Erected sometime between 1600–1609 on the site of an earlier Christian cross, although there is some speculation that the first structure on the site was a Roman beacon or marker, situated on a low summit on Ermine Street. Tottenham High Cross is often mistakenly thought to be an Eleanor cross.
St Ignatius' Church and College – Built between 1894 and 1902, with two towers in the style of a 12th-century German cathedral. Situated at the foot of Stamford Hill, this Catholic church dominates the area.
Tower Gardens Estate previously known as the LCC White Hart Lane Estate. Construction of this "out of county" LCC cottage housing estate began in 1904. The style of the housing is said to be inspired by houses in Ghent, Belgium. The estate was the home of Harry Champion (Great Cambridge Road), a well known music hall star and performer of the song "I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am".
