Part 5

The large house covered with ivy which has quite recently been pulled down, was at one time the Manor House of Pembrokes, and called The Parsonage, or Rectory House. I remember when it was called the Moated House. It was built in 1636, and was surrounded by a moat, over which was a drawbridge. In 1797 Henry Piper Sperling, Esq., purchased the Mansion House of Pembrokes, with forty-nine acres of land adjoining, and the whole of the great or rectorial tithes. Soon after he had the moat filled up. The staircase of this house was very fine. There used to be a cheerful air of activity about the old Rectory Farm, with its well-stocked farmyard, and the ducks and the geese swimming on the pond. The pretty little plantation by the side of the road, which a little farther on branched right and left, the road to the right leading to Clay Hill. At the second bend of the lane, on the left stood a pretty, long, low house, with a creeper-covered verandah; this was called Turner’s Farm; the yard and outbuildings of this adjoined those belonging to River House. The New River Company owned the next farm, and here the road ended in a beautiful cornfield, across which was a footpath leading to Tile Kiln-lane. There used to be plenty of water in the river, but it has been gradually getting less and less. There was an echo in one of the fields leading to Beet-lane, White Hart-lane; it was so quiet all round this spot we often amused ourselves with raising it. A little farther on came Snakes-lane, leading to Lordship-lane, and Wolves-lane, leading to Tile Kiln-lane. These lanes were all very lonely, and a practical joker created a scare by roaming round in the evening. He was covered with a white sheet, and walked on high stilts; he was called Spring-heel Jack, but who he was or where he came from was never discovered; everyone was glad when he got tired of this form of amusement. I knew one old inhabitant who was one evening walking along Lordship-lane with his daughters when they saw a white object in the distance. The girls immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was Spring-heel Jack, and were so terrified they screamed so loudly that they were heard in Wood Green; but it was a false alarm, it was someone carrying home a basket of washing. Speaking of the loneliness of the few houses in this lane, Mr. Thomas Fox, who lived there, made it a practice to go into the garden and fire off a gun every evening before retiring to rest in order to let people know he could defend himself against burglars.

MISCELLANEOUS.

In the year 1878 Tottenham High-road was flooded from Bruce Grove to White Hart-lane. One of the sons of Mr. Gripper, of the Bell Brewery, had a boat, and rowed up and down, taking passengers at 6d. each, the money being given to the Tottenham Hospital. The Tottenham Hospital and Deaconesses’ Institution was started by Dr. Laseron in 1868. He worked indefatigably on its behalf, and people were so willing to help him that those who were unable to give money gave their jewellery. It was recognised that a hospital was much needed; the present building shows how this need has gone on increasing.

TRAVELLING

was not such an easy matter when my mother was a child, and people did not expect to take the yearly holiday which is now considered a necessity. Places which now can be reached in a few hours’ time were then quite a long journey, and one had to travel either by post-chaise or stagecoach, which was pleasant for the outside passengers on a fine summer day, but anything but comfortable if the weather was cold or wet. It was very cheerful to hear the guard sounding his horn. For those who could not afford these conveyances there was the waggon—a very slow mode of travelling, this. It was a huge, clumsy-looking vehicle, drawn by four horses, the waggoner walking by the side and occasionally sitting on the shafts for some distance; at night carrying a horn lanthorn. These waggons were used for moving goods from place to place, and were very roomy. I knew a lady who, when she was a child, travelled in this way, under the care of a maid, from Lincolnshire to Tottenham. My earliest recollection of travelling is of going to the sea-side in a post-chaise; two horses were sent on the day before we started. We went either to Margate or Worthing, and left home at four o’clock in the morning. We travelled all day, changing horses halfway, arriving at our destination that evening. For those who liked the water there was a boat called “The Margate Hoy.” Sometimes we varied our holiday and took apartments at a farmhouse at Finchley, which was then beautiful country. On those occasions we went in my father’s phæton. It was a very pretty drive all the way from Tottenham.

My mother remembered a public conveyance called a Shillibeer; this took its name from the inventor. Later on this was transformed into the Omnibus, and there was a number of these conveyances on the road, running to London and back every hour, the terminus being the “Flower Pot,” Bishopsgate-street. Occasionally one was confronted with the alternative of either walking home or waiting an hour. For instance, when the May meetings were held, to which the “Friends” flocked in large numbers, there was keen competition for a seat; no woman would have thought of going outside. I remember once seeing a respectable-looking country woman, taking her midday meal in the omnibus on her road to London. She evidently thought she was making a long journey, for opening her basket she placed a small cloth on her knees; she then produced a packet of bread and butter, a little parcel of salt, and, putting an egg in a cup, calmly ate her lunch. On another occasion a well-known rather eccentric character, having purchased some peas, shelled them in the omnibus to save time on his return home.

Tottenham lost its rural character when the railroads were made. The first of these was the Great Eastern main line, the Hale and Park Stations being then opened. Park Station being some distance from the main road Mr. Hall started a service of omnibusses from “The Horse and Groom” at Edmonton to this station. The next was the Midland, and lastly the Great Eastern suburban line to Enfield. When this was started the terminus was Bishopsgate-street.

Omnibusses were succeeded by horse trams, these again by steam trams, having a particularly clumsy appearance, and in a short time horse trams re-appeared, only to be again altered to electric trams.

It may not be generally known that once every year there used to be an official perambulation of the parish; this was called “beating the bounds,” and was regarded as an important occasion to mark the boundaries of the parish. Of course nothing was allowed to be an obstacle; where necessary the beaters went through hedges and ditches, and even through ponds, and at various places one of the boys who accompanied the procession was well bumped against a wall to impress the boundary on his mind, so that in after years he could testify from personal knowledge if any doubt arose.

The first local paper in Tottenham was called “Paul Pry”; it was so personal in its remarks, and so much mischief was made by it, that its life was a brief one. On the outside was the illustration of a man, with an umbrella under his arm, and the words, “I have just stepped in; I hope I don’t intrude.”

The “Weekly Herald” was started in 1861. It had a lot of subsidiary titles, besides that of the North Middlesex Advertiser which it still bears, but they have since been discarded. It was started by Mr. E. Cowing under the management of Mr. Crusha, who took it over in July, 1864.

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[Picture: Decorative graphic]

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TOTTENHAM: Crusha & Son, Typ., 821, High Road.