Art On The Streets
Tottenham is – and has been for centuries – home to a great many creatives and crafts people. You need only walk along the streets to experience the buzz of some of this amazing range of artistic talent. Arriving in South Tottenham, you are greeted at street level near Seven Sisters Tube by the rotunda-like mural of Lackwena MacIver - ‘Together We Stand – Seven Sisters’ . An appropriate message for this area’s other connections with having a ‘speaker’s corner’.
Or just a little further down the road at South Tottenham Station you can see the display of new designs of the iconic London Transport roundels, produced by art students from local Gladesmore Community School. The roundels illustrate the values chosen and upheld by the local community. The artworks are the last pieces to complete the transformation of this reclaimed space at the station, now a floral and leafy oasis thanks to the hard graft and vision of two station staff and the Gardening Club from Gladesmore School. They worked clearing and planting the former wasteland between 2020 and 2023. Find out more about the Arriva Community Week 2023 project.
(South Tottenham Station. Photograph courtesy: Arriva)
There is a growing collection of murals on the streets all over Tottenham, and indeed the borough. Some street art has been here quite some time, with some around for decades, whilst others have disappeared completely (like Banksy’s at Tottenham Green) or painted over by later mural artists. One local muralist James Straffon has created a map of his own artwork that’s on show around Tottenham – you can go exploring on his Tottenham safari to appreciate his beautiful animals, plants and birds on homes in the area.
Our Streets: Hub of Anarchist and Anti-authoritarian Movement
The pavements around Seven Sisters Corner – where West Green Road meets the High Road and then Seven Sisters Road – have given a platform for speaking out and protest for well over 150 years. A place where people have shown community empowerment, been able to stand up to authorities, demonstrate and campaign -especially by radical community groups and grassroot networks. This corner has seen many stories with connections to individuals too: radical speakers such as R.M Fox learnt the ropes listening to other speakers here as well as speaking to crowds himself and anarcho-communist Albert Meltzer lived nearby.
With the Unwaged Centre at 72 West Green Road, just round the corner, it became, as Dave Morris describes, a ‘hub of the anarchist and anti-authoritarian movement in the borough’. There have been many local groups involved with it: ‘The Claimants Union, Haringey Short Life Users Group (collection of short life housing co-ops), Haringey Women’s Group and others. Alongside this there has of course been a long and strong tradition of squatting in homes and disused factories in Haringey from the ‘70s and ‘80s onwards.’
‘In the late 1980s local anarchists and friends formed the local Anti-Poll Tax group….. Although anarchist-influenced, these groups were broad based and made up of annoyed local residents and workers.’
In 1999 the Haringey Solidarity Group published a booklet called ‘The Poll Tax Rebellion in Haringey’, which describes the action taken and what sort of activities happened at this spot on the streets: ‘Street stalls were held regularly to promote awareness about the Poll Tax and to encourage people to refuse to register and to act in solidarity with other non-payers. The first street stalls in Seven Sisters featured the Pledge, the Street Reps form, a leaflet about the Poll Tax and someone dressed in a mask of Margaret Thatcher in the “stocks”, who people were invited to throw wet sponges at, for a 50p donation to the campaign. It proved very popular!’
(Penguins against the Poll Tax, at Haringey Magistrates Court in January 1991. Photograph courtesy: Haringey Solidarity Group (from the booklet ‘The Poll Tax Rebellion in Haringey’)).
Further resources
Anarchist Haringey: Brief radical history of a London borough - Freedom News
20 years of organised anarchist, and related, activity in Haringey
A collection of the Haringey Anti-Poll Tax and related pamphlets are held a Bruce Castle Museum and Archive
Cyclist, Cycle Designer and Manufacturer: Pat Hanlon (1915-1997)
Pat Hanlon was an exceptional woman working in the predominantly man's world of post-war bike racing and building. She established an international reputation designing, building and selling high end racing bikes from her shop ‘Pat Hanlon, Tottenham Lightweights’ in Tottenham High Road during the 1950s and 60s. Her shop was originally at number 175, subsequently moving to number 179. When she wasn’t building wheels for famous Tour De France riders, Pat herself was a successful road bike racer, competing in 90-mile rides and covering 15,000 miles a year on her bike. She would cycle to her parents’ house – which was in Somerset– incredibly completing the return journey in a weekend!
Local resident Henry Jacobs remembers his joy at receiving a bike made by Pat Hanlon:
‘In 1959, not long after Pat had opened her shop, I persuaded my parents to order a bike hand built by Pat Hanlon from her shop in South Tottenham High Road. This was to be my Bar mitzvah present at the age of 13 years, and it is today my most treasured possession.’
(Henry Jacobs’ much treasured Pat Hanlon cycle. Image © Henry Jacobs. From the collections of Bruce Castle Museum and Archive).
Further resources
Read more appreciations about her inspiring life and work in the world of cycling
Pioneering Women in Local Politics
Alderman Mrs Jessie Lynch (1881-1960)
Jessie Lynch was one of the founding members of the South Tottenham Labour Party in 1919. Importantly, she also went on to set up a Women’s Section, separate from, but linked to, the party. Jessie Lynch was a local councillor on Tottenham Borough Council, becoming an alderman for Middlesex County Council representing Tottenham from 1934-37. In 1940, she was the Mayor’s consort – to her husband Alderman Albert J. Lynch (1873-1945). Together they played a crucial role in leading the community as part of the war effort, including showing Queen Mary on a Royal Visit around the recycling facilities in Tottenham as well as the nationally-important initiative where Tottenham pioneered the recycling of household food waste for pig swill – known as Tottenham Pudding.
Jessie was involved in the Tottenham Branch of the Women's Voluntary Service (WVS) during the Second World War which she helped to set up in 1938. It was involved in different initiatives in the area, including organising aluminium collections for the war effort at the Central Library in Tottenham in 1940, and raising money holding bric-a-brac sales.
(Alderman Jessie Lynch is seen here (front, right) itemising crockery, teapots and ceramics as part of the Women’s Voluntary Service emergency help and household collection to reallocate to bombed-out families in Tottenham in 1942. From the collections and © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive)
Councillor Vivienne ‘Viv’ Fenwick (1946-1990)
Local politician Viv Fenwick was the first Jewish female Mayor for Haringey (1984-85). She had been elected a councillor from 1981-86 for Hornsey Vale ward, and then 1986-1990 for South Tottenham. In her inaugural speech as the 35th Mayor of Haringey, her fellow councillor Sheila Peacock later noted:
‘I thought I was to be the first Jewish woman to be elected to the position of Mayor but on closer examination of my council diary I noticed that Dear Viv Fenwick beat me to it 14 years ago.’
(Councillor Viv Fenwick (right) when she was Mayor of Haringey, with fellow Councillor Iris Woodger, c.1984. From the collections and © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive)
Queer Spaces: The Flourishing Flower Pot Pub
The Flower Pot Pub in South Tottenham had a unique character and design, looking like an actual flowerpot on the outside and decorated with colourful vines and flowers inside the venue. Customers entered the pub via an elevated ramp which led to the top floor entrance. There were several bars throughout the pub on different levels - one upstairs where you walked in and a stairway inside that led downstairs to the ground floor bar.
The original Flower Pot Pub at 9 St Ann’s Road was pulled down to make way for this modern characterful version at number 19. Many people have happy memories of enjoying nights out at the pub, remembering in particular the great talent nights at the Flower Pot - when locals would take over the mic - along with the dancing and DJs.
(Photograph courtesy of Summerhill Road website: The old pubs of Tottenham)
In the late 1980s, through to The Flower Pot’s closure in the early 1990s, the Flower Pot was well known as a cheap venue to hire. It was used by the LGBTQ+ communities and other groups for weekly nights and events. They hosted a Black queer night on a midweek night as well as a variety of other club nights for a wide demographic of clubbers and music lovers.
The Flower Pot had its distinctive entrance removed at one point when it briefly became an Irish pub known as The Emerald Bar.
Although no longer there, the now redeveloped site of the Flower Pot Pub is still remembered by the naming of the small road close by - Flower Pot Close.
Further resources
Musical History In The Making: Reid’s Piano Factory
Haringey has an exceptionally long and rich heritage and stories related to pianos, both in the making and also the playing of the instrument. In the past, the area has had a number of distinguished pianoforte factories and workshops. Extraordinarily, it can also boast as being the place where the largest grand piano in the world was made! You can see it on a small film, being played in 1935 by Billy Mayerl, a very popular BBC and variety star at the time. But that is another story about piano manufacturer Chas. H. Challen & Son Ltd at the Omega Works in Hermitage Road N4 - read more about the firm and the making of that piano.
Today, Haringey has the very last piano factory operating in London. It is in South Tottenham. The specialist firm of J. Reid Pianos has had its factory at 184 St Ann’s Road, Tottenham N15 since 1928. It has remained in the same family for generations. You may have seen the distinctive signage on its premises, prominently displayed across the unlikely terraced row of houses in St Ann's Road (as seen in the photograph). Find out more about J. Reid Pianos and its history.
(From the collections of Bruce Castle Museum and Archive)
One local person - now in her mid-80s - remembers Reid's before it had that sign. She lived for many years nearby without even realising there was a piano firm there. One day a large lorry drew up close to her as she was walking along and the driver asked 'Piano, where piano maker?’ She hadn't a clue what he was talking about since there was no visible sign in the street (at that time). Between the two of them they worked out the instructions and discovered Reid's. They were amazed to find a ‘magical’ factory that seemed to appear from nowhere, hidden behind the walls of what appeared to be just an ordinary house. Once inside, they were in a 'garage' full of pianos and crafts people working on them! It was a great surprise - a real hidden and working history.
Reid’s is the last of its kind in London - and it is in Tottenham.
The Extraordinary Story of ‘The Bride-In-A-Box’
‘The bride flew off, packed in case.’
So begins a newspaper article covering one of South Tottenham’s most unique stories. The Bride-In-A-Box was Yvonne Abbinett (1923-2011), the daughter of a fishmonger. Born in 1923 in St Ann's Road, she later lived in Pembroke Road. She attended Earlsmead School off Broad Lane, not far from where her grandfather William Benson, a dairyman, lived. Evacuated from London as a young teen at the start of World War 2, Yvonne came back to London on a scholarship to train as a teacher at Whitelands College. Helping schoolchildren flee London's air raids, she took up a teaching position in Yorkshire. There she met a Texan 1st Lieutenant in the US Army Air Corps, Jean Glen Goppert.
The young Yvonne and Jean married at St Ann’s Church in Tottenham in May 1945, with their reception at The Royal on the High Road afterwards. From then on Yvonne's life was to change forever. Thanks to local historian Oona Kelly, Yvonne’s story of hope, protest and adventures in WW2 as well as how she became known as the GI Bride-In-A-Box is becoming better known in this country.
Further resources
You can also find out how Yvonne and other young women were treated by the media in WW2 in this newsclip
Yvonne’s story is also told in the book ‘They Also Served: Women’s Stories From the World War II Era’ by Jeannie Sutton Lambright
Travelling Family: The Berrimans
One story from South Tottenham is from St Ann’s Road and South Grove. The 1861 Census reveals the entry for the Berriman family. They were originally residing in Hanger Lane (now St Ann’s Road) in Tottenham and described as living in a ‘Van on Wheels’.
(Extract of 1861 Census for the Berriman family living in a ‘Van on Wheels’ in Hanger Lane (now St Ann’s Road). Courtesy: From the collections and © The National Archive)
The Berrimans were known at one time as a travelling family. Joseph Berriman junior, listed in the Census as the son in the household, was known as the ‘Father of Barnet Fair’, until he died in 1930. Joseph senior, his father, built the family’s house at 2 South Grove from where they ran a business as a cab proprietor. In this listing of 1861, Joseph and Eliza had six children ranging from 1 - 15 years. Joseph senior’s job is down as a licensed hawker. Only the youngest son was born in Tottenham, with the other birthplaces indicating the family moved around a lot - Bethnal Green, Stepney, Reading, Wanstead. Could this ‘Van on Wheels’ indicate they were travellers or was it temporary accommodation whilst the house at South Grove was being built by Joseph senior?
By the 1871 Census, Joseph senior and Eliza are listed as neighbours to the Vicar of St Ann’s Church at The Parsonage, 1 South Grove. There are two households living at number 2 South Grove: Joseph junior and his family, who was, by this time, listed as a cab proprietor. Then is listed Joseph senior and the rest of the family. He is described as 'Traveller with cabs, vans etc to Fairs and Races’. Likewise, his daughter Jane and several others of the older children are also listed as a ‘Traveller’. The family also had a servant and a coachman (there must have been two houses to accommodate all these people).
The house at 2 South Grove remained in the family until 1977 when the descendant of Joseph Berriman senior – James Berriman - died. James Berriman was the oldest and longest serving bus driver at Tottenham garage. During the Second World War he taught 40 Wrens how to drive three-ton trucks (see the link here). He is also said to have achieved some fame after he retired from the buses in Tottenham. James was in the movies! He drove the bus across Europe for the popular Cliff Richard film ‘Summer Holiday’ which was a big hit in 1963.
Ghostly Storyteller: Charlotte Riddell (1832-1906)
Did you know that some of the spookiest Victorian ghost stories were dreamt up by a Tottenham resident?
Charlotte Riddell (1832-1906) was the author of 56 books, novels and short stories. She was also part-owner and editor of St. James's Magazine, a prominent London literary journal in the 1860s. Born in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, Charlotte moved to London in the 1850s. She lived with her husband at St John's Lodge in St Ann's Road from 1868-1873. Although praised by her contemporaries, especially critic James L. Campbell - '“next to Le Fanu, Riddell is the best writer of supernatural tales in the Victorian era” - Charlotte Riddell today is not widely known. She was a prolific writer. Most of her notable works were collections of short ghost stories. She tapped into the Victorian Gothic Revival and fascination with the supernatural.
(Portrait of Charlotte Riddell, 1875 From the collections and © National Portrait Gallery)
In March 2010 a Haringey Historical Green Plaque was erected to honour the life and work of Charlotte Riddell. Her home of St John's Lodge no longer survives, so the plaque was placed where it once stood, on the site of the East Gate Lodge, St Ann's Hospital, St Ann's Road, N15. Another building in Haringey also remembers her name at Riddell Court, in Campsbourne Road, N8.
Before the NHS: Dr Ernest Goffe (1867 – 1953)
Long before the National Health Service was introduced in 1948, there were a significant number of Black nurses and doctors who were working in hospitals during the 19th and early 20th centuries in the UK. For us today their names remain unknown or their stories lay untold.
From the mid-19th century onwards, students travelled to the UK from the Caribbean and Sierra Leone to study medicine. Many went on to practice in hospitals or as GPs. Amongst them was Ernest Goffe who arrived in 1889 from Jamaica. On qualifying, Dr Goffe worked as a GP before moving to the North Eastern Fever Hospital (later St. Ann’s Hospital) in Tottenham. From local directories he is listed as living on site.
During the First World War he treated many wounded soldiers at that hospital. He went on to have a remarkable career. You can read more here on Haringey BHH365, which includes links to his obituary, as well as more about Dr Ernest Goffe’s life. You can find other stories about black history in Haringey.
Location
South Tottenham Stories
High Road
Tottenham
N15 6UJ
United Kingdom