Manor House, London
Encyclopedia
Manor House is a district of North London.

Location

Built up in the mid 19th century as part of an area called Brownswood Park, today, like other areas of London, it is a district without a formal town centre, but distant enough from other town centres that it has come to be recognised as an area in its own right. It is centred on Manor House tube station
Manor House tube station
Manor House tube station is a station on the Piccadilly line of the London Underground, on the boundary between Travelcard Zone 2 and Zone 3. It straddles the border between the London Boroughs of Hackney and Haringey, the postal address and three of the entrances being in the former, and one...

 on the Piccadilly line
Piccadilly Line
The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with...

, at the important crossroads of Seven Sisters Road
Seven Sisters Road
Seven Sisters Road is a road in north London, England which runs within the boroughs of Islington, Hackney and Haringey. It is an extension of Camden Road, running from Holloway Road at the Nags Head crossroads then on to another crossroads with Blackstock Road and Stroud Green Road...

 and Green Lanes
Green Lanes
Green Lanes, London, is a main road in North London and forms part of the A105. At approximately 7.5 miles from end to end, it is one of the longest streets in the capital....

. Most of the streets of the district lie within the London Borough of Hackney
London Borough of Hackney
The London Borough of Hackney is a London borough of North/North East London, and forms part of inner London. The local authority is Hackney London Borough Council....

. However, it is close to the border with the London Borough of Haringey
London Borough of Haringey
The London Borough of Haringey is a London borough, in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of three former boroughs. It shares borders with six other London boroughs...

 so some residents living within the Borough of Haringey would consider themselves to be living in Manor House.



Manor House's most notable features are the eponymous tube station and the eastern fringe of Finsbury Park, which lies in the London Borough of Haringey. There is a small shopping area, and the district includes some high-density housing, such as the Woodberry Down Estate.

The Manor House Pub

The pub is the source of both the name of the tube station and the area. The first pub on the site was built by Thomas Widdows c. 1810 as a roadside tavern next to the turnpike
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...

 on Green Lanes. The pub was within sight of the Hornsey Wood Tavern, which had been formed out of the old Copt Hall, the manor house of the Manor of Brownswood. It is likely its name was taken from this connection. Later in the century a tablet was placed on the pub with the following inscription:
However, nothing more is known of the incident. Towards the end of the century the building was remodelled and modernised. In 1930 the old tavern was demolished and the current building erected. Behind the new building, offices were built for London Transport
London Passenger Transport Board
The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport in London, UK, and its environs from 1933 to 1948...

. Although the latter building still exists, TfL
TFL
TFL may refer to:* Tasmanian Football League, an Australian rules football competition* Tensor fasciae latae muscle, a thigh/hip muscle* Transport for London, a public transport organisation in the London area* The Flaming Lips, an American rock band...

 no longer occupies it.

In later years the pub was the first employer of Richard Desmond
Richard Desmond
Richard Clive Desmond is an English publisher and businessman. He is the owner of Express Newspapers and founder in 1974 of Northern & Shell, which publishes various celebrity magazines, such as OK! and New!, and British national newspapers Daily Star and Daily Express...

, now the owner of the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...

 and Daily Star. The building also housed a nightclub that was popular among Goth
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...

s in the mid-1980s. The ground floor of the building is now occupied by a branch of Costcutter.

Early development

After the construction of the pub early in the 19th century, building continued on Green Lanes with the appearance in 1821 of a large house at the junction with Woodberry Down. Further north on Green Lanes, Northumberland House, a three-storeyed building with a pillared entrance, balustrade, and urns on its roof, had been built by 1824 just to the south of the New River. It was used as a private mental hospital until it was demolished in 1955; one of its most famous patients was Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot
Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot
Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot was an English governess and writer who became notable as the first wife of the American poet, T.S. Eliot . Her legacy, and the extent to which she influenced Eliot's work, has been the subject of much debate...

, first wife of the American poet T.S. Eliot, She lived at the hospital from 1938 until her death in 1947.

A thatched cottage, with Gothic windows, was constructed on the boundary with the borough of Tottenham by 1825. Woodberry Down Cottages, four detached houses on the south side of Woodberry Down, had been built by 1829. With the development of Finsbury Park almost a certainty, the land to the south and east of the present-day park was acquired by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners as ideal for building. The park was laid out between 1857 and 1869 and the adjacent land was sold to builders.

During the 1860s, Thomas John Angell, who appears to have been a speculator rather than a builder, built Finsbury Park Villas. This was a terrace of at least twelve houses, which, starting with the Finsbury Park Tavern, ran northward along Green Lanes from its junction with the new Woodberry Grove.

At around the same time building spread eastward along the north side of Seven Sisters Road, built by Angell and a London builder Thomas Oldis. From 1868 to 1870 large detached houses with gardens running down to the New River were built at the east end of Seven Sisters Road. In 1867 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) were leased on the southern side of the eastern end of the road, for the building of four detached or nine 'substantial' houses; three detached houses were built by 1871. An architect, William Reddall of Finsbury, was one of those who leased the houses. Woodberry Down was laid out in 1868, when it was extended eastward from Lordship Road, and villas were built on the south side in the late 1860s. The area was the northern section of a district called Brownswood Park (named after Brownswood Manor) and was regarded as a particularly select suburb.

However, with the increasing suburbanisation of the area, mainly for the middle and lower middle classes, many of the original families had moved out by 1895 and others were being replaced by poorer people in 1913. Social decline continued, until in 1954 the district was inhabited mainly by students, foreigners, and the working class, with most houses containing four or five families and all in decay.

Twentieth Century redevelopment

From 1949 through to the 1970s much of the area was redeveloped, the old houses being demolished and replaced with large council developments. One such development was Woodberry Down, a large council estate built shortly after the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 by the LCC
London County Council
London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...

 to alleviate chronic housing shortages.

The estate is currently subject to a phased redevelopment that will see modern flats built on the site. It is among the largest urban regeneration projects in the UK, led by Genesis Housing Association
Genesis Housing Association
Genesis Housing Association, known until May 2011 as Genesis Housing Group Ltd, is one of the largest housing associations in London. It was formed through the amalgamation of PCHA, Pathmeads and Springboard housing associations.- Background :...

, Berkeley Homes and Hackney Council. The first phase of the development produced 117 homes let by Genesis on social rents, and won the top prize for social housing at the Daily Telegraph British Homes Awards 2011.


Education

For details of education in Manor House, London see the London Boroughs of Hackney and Haringey articles.

Nearby places

  • Harringay
    Harringay
    Harringay is a residential area of North London, part of the London Borough of Haringey, United Kingdom. It is centred on the section of Green Lanes running between the northern boundary of Finsbury Park up to the southern boundary of Duckett's Common, not far from Turnpike Lane.-Location:The...

  • Finsbury Park
    Finsbury Park, London
    Finsbury Park is an area in north London, England which grew up around an important railway interchange at the junction of the London Boroughs of Islington, Haringey and Hackney...

  • Seven Sisters
    Seven Sisters, London
    Seven Sisters is an area of North London in the United Kingdom and part of the London Borough of Haringey. It is located at the east end of Seven Sisters Road, which runs from Tottenham High Road to join the A1 in Holloway.-Etymology:...

  • Stamford Hill
    Stamford Hill
    Stamford Hill is a place in the north of the London Borough of Hackney, England, near the border with Haringey. It is home to Europe's largest Hasidic Jewish and Adeni Jewish community.Stamford Hill is NNE of Charing Cross.-History:...

  • Stoke Newington
    Stoke Newington
    Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area . Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too...


Nearest railway stations

  • Manor House tube station
    Manor House tube station
    Manor House tube station is a station on the Piccadilly line of the London Underground, on the boundary between Travelcard Zone 2 and Zone 3. It straddles the border between the London Boroughs of Hackney and Haringey, the postal address and three of the entrances being in the former, and one...

  • Harringay, Green Lanes station
    Harringay Green Lanes railway station
    Harringay Green Lanes railway station is a railway station in Harringay, North London. It is on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line between and .-Service:...

  • Finsbury Park station
    Finsbury Park station
    Finsbury Park Station is a busy transport interchange in North London. The interchange consists of an interconnected National Rail station, London Underground station and two bus stations. The main entrances are by the eastern bus station on Station Place...

  • Seven Sisters station
    Seven Sisters station
    Seven Sisters station is a National Rail and London Underground Victoria Line station in the Seven Sisters area of the London Borough of Haringey, north London.The station is in Travelcard Zone 3....


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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