Through The Lens

The Hollywood Filmmaker and the Jesuits… Alfred Hitchcock and St Ignatius Church

This procession of Jesuit priests from St Ignatius Church, High Road N15 happened in 1913. The church school of St Ignatius (tucked behind in St Ann’s Road next door to the architecturally imposing Catholic church facing the High Road) still had one its most famous former students amongst its number that year ... could he possibly have been in that procession?

(Procession from St Ignatius, Tottenham/ Stamford Hill in 1913. From the collections and © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive) 

Alfred Hitchcock, the British Hollywood film director, attended St Ignatius College when it was still based in South Tottenham/ Stamford Hill from 1910-1913. It is said that the Spanish-style tall twin towers of St Ignatius Church - a familiar and everyday sight from his schooldays - inspired his cinematic architectural vision of the building used in the film 'Vertigo' of 1958. 

(View of St Ignatius Church with its twin towers dominating the skyline over Tottenham High Road, c.1905. From the collections and © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive) 

As one of the greatest storytellers on film, Hitchcock’s Catholicism and education at a Jesuit school provided him with a range of themes to explore that complemented his psychoanalytic sources of inspiration. Find out more about his influences. 

Looking back to his time at school Hitchcock said: "All that I know about suspense and fear I owe to the Jesuits… and sitting outside the Headmaster’s office. “ Read more about his memories at the Jesuit school in Tottenham.

Some other prominent students of St Ignatius College – often from Irish families – include: 

John Heenan (1905 – 1975), who went on to become Archbishop of Westminster.

Reginald Dunne (1898 – 1922), likely a contemporary of Hitchcock, who went on to become a teacher, and was a member of the IRA. Dunne was hanged for his role in the assassination of Field Marshall Sir Henry Wilson, who had been the chief of the Imperial General Staff during the First World War. 

Brian Hanrahan (1949 – 2010) who was one of the most well-known BBC news correspondents bringing us some of the top news stories, had grown up in Tottenham. His family came from Ireland during the 1930s, settling at 436 West Green Road where Brian had attended Belmont Junior School before going to St Ignatius.

Taken in Tottenham - The First Ever Aerial Photograph in Britain, by Cecil Shadbolt (1859 – 1892), Pioneering Photographer and Balloonist

With a pioneering photographer as a father, it is hardly surprising that Cecil Shadbolt would follow in George Shadbolt’s (1817-1901) footsteps and take up photography. But unlike his father, Cecil did not keep his feet on the ground. Growing up in Crouch End, Cecil would have likely seen the daring feats of balloonists in the skies at nearby Alexandra Palace. In May 1882, Cecil made his first balloon ascent at Alexandra Palace. He had adapted his camera to experiment with taking photographs from a balloon at height to take aerial views of the changing landscape of an ever-growing London as it sprawled into the once rural suburbs – the landscape of his childhood. 

Flying by balloon from Ally Pally to Ilford on 29th May 1882 in the late afternoon, Cecil started to take a series of aerial photographs that day. The first one (shown here) is believed to be the world’s oldest surviving vertical aerial photograph. It was taken from 2,000 feet above Stonebridge Road and the Seven Sisters Curve in the Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway. It is also the earliest surviving aerial photograph taken in the British Isles.

(The earliest surviving aerial photograph taken in the British Isles, by balloon over Tottenham, showing Stonebridge Road and the Seven Sisters Curve in the Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway in 1892. Images: © Historic England).

The story of the discovery of this image taken by Cecil Shadbolt is quite remarkable. Along with 75 other glass lantern slides by him - dating between 1882-1892 – it was found at a car boot sale. The whole collection was later bought by Historic England at an auction in 2015. You can read all about it and see the digitised Cecil Shadbolt Collection online.

Such was Cecil’s fascination with ballooning, he even documented the history of ballooning through lantern slide lectures by ‘magic lantern’. It included the miraculous story of pioneering aeronaut and balloonist Henry Coxall - a dentist by profession – who lived in Tottenham, firstly in Albert Place off the High Road, and then at Moselle House. In 1862, Coxall had miraculously broken the altitude record in a balloon flight to the atmosphere with meteorologist Dr James Glaisher, to conduct scientific observations. Find out more about their extraordinary story. 

Tragically Cecil died at the age of 33 in a balloon accident in 1892. In the last ten years of his life, he had created an astonishing collection of aerial images and a lasting legacy for us today. You can read more about his life and the collection on the Historic England blog. 

Further resources

Bruce Castle Museum and Archive holds the largest collection of original photographs by George Shadbolt FRSA, the father of Cecil Shadbolt, in this country. He took some of the earliest photographs of London during the 1850s-60s, showing the quiet rural landscapes of Highgate, Hornsey and Tottenham. 

Cutting-edge Tech in Tottenham

Some of the cutting-edge technology that Cecil Shadbolt needed to take his aerial photographs may well have been produced just a stone’s throw away at Cornwall Road, N15. Founded in 1864 and still running today, R.W. Munro and Company are a world leading manufacturer and distributor of precision instrumentation – within their remarkable repertoire are gadgets used for early aerial photography! 

(From the collections and © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive). 

From 1905-1938, R.W. Munro and Company traded from premises just off St Ann’s Road at 103-149 Cornwall Road, N15. Munro was (and remains) renowned for its mathematical, optical, meteorological and banking equipment. The instruments produced by the firm had an incredible impact on our understanding of the environment around us and have been used all over the world; a Dines Pressure Anemometer to measure wind speed (of which Munro was the sole manufacturer) even accompanied Captain Scott on his 1906 expedition to Antarctica!

Bruce Castle Museum and Archive holds the extensive and fascinating archive collection of R.W. Munro Ltd.

Further resources

R W Munro Ltd as part of the Science Museum Group Collection