Research Fact Sheet

I have tried to condensed the information I have found from the books I took from the library as well as the information on the Haringey Borough website & the Parkland Walk website into the main historical facts. All of the books and websites used will be listed at the bottom.

I found it so difficult to cut down as everything i read interested me. i have split the information into 3 sections- Alexandra Palace history, The  Great Northern Railway History and finally the Parkland walk information.

Haringey was a part of Middlesex little populated in the early 19^th century that was used purely for farmland. Its name is taken from the old English ‘Haring’ meaning grey wood and the suffix ‘Haeg’ which means enclosure. ‘Haringeie’ & ‘Haringesheye’ are both used in thirteenth century documents. When local government in the metropolitan area was recognised in 1965, Haringey was formed into a North London Borough from the formerly independent villages of Muswell Hill, Hornsey, Highgate and Wood Green (11 ½ square miles). Wood Green derives its name from its origins as an agricultural village, with a green, located below a forest hill. The small community earned its living from farming until the second half of the nineteenth century when the arrival of the railway (1859) promoted urban development. Wood Green outgrew its village beginnings in 1888. It now functions as an important regional retail centre for the Borough of Haringey and is also home to the Alexandra Palace.

Alexandra Palace is set in its Park, at the top of a hill visible for miles. It’s a unique surviving example of the Victorian passion for large buildings. It was initially intended to rival the Crystal Palace of South London as an exhibition centre. The name was chosen as a tribute to Princess Alexandra. It stands on what was 400 acres of Tottenham Wood Farm, stretching between the Middlesex villages of Muswell Hill, Wood Green and Hornsey. This Alexandra Palace aimed to attract thousands to a ‘People’s Palace’, providing musical performances, dog shows, horticultural competitions & horse racing.

The first Peoples Palace was designed in 1858 which would be situated on a great railway & easily accessible by road. Building commenced in 1865. Whilst the Palace was being built a racecourse opened in the park in 1868 on flat land. The racecourse was to provide useful income for the palace when it opened in 1873. In the first week over 120,000 people had visited, most via railway but 16 days later the Palace caught fire and burnt to the ground. It was rebuilt as soon as possible- this time designed by John Johnson. The new building was re-opened 1875 with 21,000 people present, most traveling by rail.

During the First World War, in 1914 the complex was converted into a transit camp for refugees from Belgium, fleeing their country from German invasion. 38,000 passed through before March 1915 when their use of the Palace ended. It was then used as an internment camp, servants were housed in the Palace, and the park was not reopened until 1920.

In 1935 the trustees rented a section of the building to the BBC which built the worlds first regular high definition public television transmitter on the site, the first programme (There’s Looking At You, a variety show) was broadcast on 26 August 1936 & regular transmission began.

Alexandra Palace still survives today as one of Londons larges venues for music concerts, exhibitions, theatrical plays and ice skating. It now has skateboarding facilities, a childs playground and the old boating lake is still in existence.

The Great Northern Railway (GNR) had begun operation in 1850, with trains running from the newly built Kings Cross Station. The first stations then out of London were Hornsey and Colney Hatch. In 1859 a new station was opened between them called Wood Green.

Jones (architect) had the idea of building a railway line that terminated right into the Palace itself. Land was purchased in 1867 but financial difficulties made for slow construction and the line was opened 1873.  From then on travelers by steam train to the palace could make their way from Kings Cross via Finsbury Park- Most visitors bought a one-shilling return fare from Kings Cross which included admission. ‘’The new line of railway from Kings Cross to Alexandra Palace is the most convenient, giving access to it by a station platform directly beneath the main entrance of the Palace’’ (Rails To The Peoples Palace, P9). Wood Green station on the GNR was on the edge of the farmlands and a steep uphill climb faced those who made their way from the station to the Palace. The influence of the railway could be seen in the population figures. Hornsey grew from 19,380 to 44,523 whilst the growth at Muswell Hill went from 1,500 people to 5,833 when the railway arrived and nearly doubled to 11,335 in the next ten years. The railway was quite successful in the 1870’s, but the new decade saw decline, by 1910 there were 61 trains each way daily on the branch. Not all ran right the way through to the Palace terminus. The Palace continued to decline, closing for considerable time in the 1880s. In 1881 the GNR had provided a new station at Stroud Green (between Finsbury Park & Hornsey), in 1902 Cranley Gardens was opened (between Muswell Hill and Highgate).

By 1938 the old methods of transport were replaced with the new petrol busses. This seriously affected the income of the steam railway to the Palace. After the war the decision was made to abandon the project to electrify the railway, the steam train continued to run but the local bus service from Finsbury Park offered a more favorable way to travel. The line was eventually terminated in 1954, Muswell Hill goods yard closed in 1956 and a few others a year later due to poor condition of the bridges, the last running train was 1970, by 1971 the track between Finsbury Park & Highgate had been taken up and the tunnel mouth at Highgate sealed, much of the land had become derelict until the route became part of Haringey’s Parkland Walk. The trackway itself was in poor condition and required extensive re-surfacing. By 1984, it had achieved remarkable transformation, new access pathways and steps were constructed. An information centre had been set up in the original station house at Stroud Green and the Parkland walk itself was officially opened.

The Parkland Walk is an urban jungle filled with the old disused dark tunnels, bridges and graffiti with overhanging exotic plants & weeds, you can still see 'ghost' stations along the path, the walk is very long and thin with patches of green space on either side. It provides piece and tranquillity to its local users. It’s London's longest Local Nature Reserve and it is probably the only place in Haringey where ‘orchids rub shoulders with dandelions and ivy clambers up fig trees’.

The ‘Friends of the Parkland Walk’ are a group of volunteers committed to protecting the Parkland Walk. From the start, their work has been directed at maintaining & enhancing the diversity of the natural habitats that have developed since the closure of the railway. The grassy embankments and cuttings which characterised the working railway had been kept by regular maintenance. The walk presents a mosaic of different habitats varying from the original open grassland, through taller herbaceous and exotic plants. More than 300 different kinds of flower have now been recorded. They range from the commonplace to the exotic. Many of the introduced plants have escaped from the surrounding gardens which colour the embankment in the summer years. 21 species of butterfly have been recorded. More than 60 species of birds have been recorded, and over half of these are thought to nest there. A number of them are woodland species and now include all 3 types of British Woodpecker. Owls are regularly heard and occasionally seen. Hedgehogs benefit from the proximity, foxes are tolerated and welcomed.

In the 1980s the walk was under increasing threat from the department of transport which proposed the construction of a 6-lane motorway, this met fierce opposition from the council and local people. A campaign was created to ’save the walk’ by the ‘FPW’ who won 1989- the council later declared the walk as a nature reserve. The Parkland walk has won a number of awards in recent years including the prestigious inner city improvement trophy, presented by the London tourist board in 1990. One of the judges commented that ‘The walk is just the sort of rural development that is desperately needed in urban areas’.

The Walk is used mainly by locals but during the summer period it gets extremely packed with tourists that have heard about it. It is very popular with the runners, cyclists and dog walkers but is also visited by people that just want to take a short break from the city. When I was young my parents used to take me and my brother for long family walks with a picnic in the long grass.

LONDON: A HISTORICAL COMPANION- Kenneth Panton

Palace On The Hill, A History of Alexandra Palace & Park- Ken Gay
Rails to The People's Palace & The Parkland Walk- Reg Davies
London's lost railways- John Minnis

http://www.parkland-walk.org.uk/

http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/community_and_leisure/greenspaces/parks_and_open_spaces_parks_facilities/parklandwalk.htm

Bruce Castle Museum