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Tottenham in Middlesex County England History and GeographyTOTTENHAM, a parish in the hundred of EDMONTON, county of MIDDLESEX, 5 miles (N. by E.) from London, comprising High-Cross, Lower, Middle, and Wood-Green wards, and containing 5812 inhabitants. This place, written in Domesday-book Toteham, and now frequently called Tottenham High Cross, is a genteel village, consisting chiefly of one long street, formed by houses irregularly arranged, on the line of road from London to Cambridge: it is lighted with gas, and well supplied with water from several fountains produced by boring; and the immediate vicinity is adorned with numerous handsome villas. Near Tottenham Green, a cross has stood-for many years: the present structure, superseding the original one of wood, is an octangular brick column, erected, in 1600, by Dean Wood: it was repaired, covered with cement, and decorated with various architectural embellishments, in 1809, for which purpose a subscription, amounting to nearly £300, was raised by the inhabitants. At the entrance of Page Green, on the east side of the high road, is a remarkable circular clump of elm trees, called 'the Seven Sisters;' in the centre was formerly a walnut tree, which, according to tradition, never increased in size, though it continued annually to bear leaves: these trees appear to have been at their full growth in 1631, but no authentic account of their being planted is extant. Within a short distance from the high road is Bruce Castle, a mansion rebuilt, in the seventeenth century, on the site of an ancient castellated edifice, erected in the reign of Henry VIII., and honoured, in the year 1516, with the presence of that monarch, who came hither to meet his sister, Margaret, Queen of Scots; in 1578, Elizabeth also honoured it with her presence. The original castle was the residence and property of Robert de Bruce, father of Robert, King of Scotland; the present building has been converted into a school for young gentlemen: a detached brick tower, which covers a deep well, is the only vestige of the ancient edifice. In the parish is a well, of which the water is similar in its properties to that at Cheltenham; also a spring, called Lady's Well, of reputed efficacy for disorders in the eyes; it is said that this water never freezes. Here are extensive flour and oil mills: the former have been established time immemorially; also a pottery for coarse brown ware, and a brewery: a large silk manufactory is unoccupied. The navigable river Lea passes through the parish. Tottenham is within the jurisdiction of a court of requests held at Enfield, for the recovery of debts under 40s. The regulation of the parish is vested in two churchwardens, four overseers, and a constable, who is also the sexton, assisted by two surveyors and an engineer. The living is a vicarage, in the jurisdiction of the Commissary of London, concurrently with the Consistorial Court of the Bishop of London, rated in the king's books at £14, and in the patronage of the Dcan and Chapter of St. Paul's, London. The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, stands about a quarter of a mile west of the high road, and is in the later style of English architecture, with a square embattled and ivy-mantled tower: on the summit was formerly a lofty wooden cross (whence, according to some, the adjunct to the name of the village), which was destroyed during the civil war: on the south side of the church is a large brick porch, erected prior to 1500; and over it a room, called 'a church house,' for the transaction of parochial business, afterwards appropriated as a residence for a poor pensioner, and now used for a Sunday school. At the east end of the north aisle is a vestry of circular form, surmounted by a dome, erected, in 1696, by Lord Henry Coleraine, and repaired in 1790; underneath this is the family vault: the eastern window, divided into eight compartments, and containing representations of the Evangelists and some of the Prophets, in fine old painted glass, was given to the parish, in 1807, by the late John Eardley Wilmot, Esq.: the font is curious and of great antiquity: many ancient monuments adorn the interior, of which one in white marble, to the memory of the family of Sir Robert Barkham, is worthy of especial notice. This church was repaired, in 1816, at an expense of £3000. A new church has been recently erected on Tottenham Green, in the later style of English architecture, with turrets at each angle, and pinnacles over the aisles: it contains eight hundred and one sittings, of which three hundred and eighty-six are free; his Majesty's Commissioners for building new churches granted £4893. 11. 6., the remainder of the expense having been defrayed by subscription. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, and Roman Catholics. The grammar school, founded by means of a bequest from Nicholas Reynardson, alderman of London, in 1685, was endowed in the following year, by Sarah, Duchess Dowager of Somerset, with £250 for enlarging the buildings, and £1100 for the purpose of extending the benefits of the institution to all children of such inhabitants of the parish as were not possessed of real property to the amount of £20 per annum; several small bequests have been made since that period: the master is paid according to the number of children, has a good residence, and is allowed to take twelve private scholars: there are now eighty boys on the foundation. The Blue school, instituted in 1735, in which are thirty-six poor girls; and the Green school, established in 1792, in which are forty, are supported by voluntary contributions; all the children are clothed and educated. Lancasterian schools for children of both sexes are similarly supported. Almshouses for four poor men and four poor women were founded and endowed with a small rent-charge by Balthasar Sanches, a Spaniard, about 1600, first pastry-cook to Philip of Spain, with whom he came over to this country, and was the first who exercised that trade in London. An almshouse for six poor men and six poor women, with a small chapel in the centre, was founded and endowed with £2000 by Nicholas Reynardson, Esq., in 1685; some valuable augmentations have been made to the funds, and, in 1828, the buildings were repaired at an expense of £450, defrayed by voluntary contributions. Some almshouses, near the church, are occupied by poor women, placed there by the parishioners. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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