Tottenham’s Newest Park

Hartington Park

Hartington Park opened in 1978 on the site of demolished terraces, including Hartington Road from which the park gets its name. The houses on the site were deliberately demolished, although its appearance made some local residents (including local historian Chris Protz) assume at first that the area had been a casualty of bombing during World War 2. It took many years for Hartington Park to be created and local groups and newspapers – in particular the NET (North East Tottenham) produced by Tottenham Community Project – were pivotal in ensuring its completion. 

(From the front page of NET (North East Tottenham), printed May 1975. From the collections at Bruce Castle Museum and Archive).

The insertion of this new park in a busy, densely populated area gave North Tottenham residents some much needed green space. Thanks to continued efforts, especially the establishment of the Friends of Hartington Park and Carbuncle Passage, the green oasis remains a valuable community asset. 

In 2023, as part of a wider community culture initiative in Haringey, artist, local resident and Friend of Hartington Park Rachel Gornall created ‘The Hartington chairs’. They are beautiful pieces that explore the importance of community, shared spaces and nature as a vital resource and glue to bring local people together. The Hartington Chairs are used as story chairs to collect the reminiscences of residents who remember the streets, houses and businesses that preceded the park and the memories and experiences of those who have grown with the park and for whom that park has connected them as a community.

(The Hartington Chairs basking in the sunlight in Hartington Park, 2023. Image courtesy of Rachel Gornall.)

One such memory is shared by Henry Jacobs, who recalls the bakery that used to exist in what is now Hartington Park: 

‘It was Grays the baker on the corner of Hartington Road. My next door neighbour in Sherringham Avenue used to work there and it was our family’s local baker. I am still in touch with her daughter. I can remember the smell of the bread, the look of the crusty tops and the warmth of the wall. I had a twice weekly errand for an elderly lady in my road to get her bread from the shop.’

Others remember as youngsters warming their back on the wall of the bakers, heated up by the baking ovens inside – what a lovely, warming memory.

Further information

You can follow on Friends of Hartington Park and Carbuncle Passage on Facebook, Instagram and X.