Independent archives

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It is hard to believe that Haringey was once covered by The Forest of Middlesex, which stretched from Brent to Waltham Forest.

Against the current: work on a diversion of the Moselle Brook, which was referred to as Haringey's river', near Lordship Lane, Wood Green, in 1906

Back in the 13th Century, the clearing of the forest exposed many of the borough's streams, which flowed down from the heights of Highgate and Muswell Hill, through what is now the borough of Haringey, and on towards the River Lea.

Today most of the streams are hidden from view and only brought to our attention by flooding and dampness. A new book launched last week by the Hornsey Historical Society explores the original routes of many of these hidden streams.

The book, by Albert Pinching and David Dell, is based on walks along routes devised by the late David Harrison.

It contains information from local historians, maps dating back to 1619, illustrations of watercolour paintings depicting views from the past, and present-day photographs that detail where these streams once flowed.

By the mid-19th Century, increasing urban development meant that streams began to disappear underground into culverts.

One such water feature that now lies hidden underground is the source of the Muswell Stream the Mus Well', which gave rise to the area of Muswell Hill.

The well, now capped and located beneath 40 Muswell Road, was proclaimed as having special curative powers by a papal edict in the 12th Century, following an alleged cure of a Scottish king, Malcolm the Maiden.

Two of Haringey's watercourses, Bounds Green Brook and Muswell Stream, are tributaries of the larger Pymmes Brook, which is a major tributary to the River Lea.

Probably the best known of Haringey's natural streams, Moselle Brook, which has been referred to as Hornsey's river', once flowed the distance of 10km across the centre of the borough. The channels created by the Moselle can be seen in Queen's Wood.

The book also contains memories of the late local historian Fred Fisk, who recalled paddling in the Moselle as a boy, hunting for water-rats.

Despite the book's descriptive accounts, reading its pages brings with it a tinge of sadness. Many of these once pretty freshwater streams are now little more than common sewers'.

The authors hope that the book will raise awareness of Haringey's watercourses and contribute to their appreciation and preservation.

u Haringey's Hidden Streams Revealed can be purchased from the Hornsey Historical Society at The Old Schoolhouse, in Tottenham Lane, Hornsey.

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According to the Environment Agency, Enfield is particularly vulnerable to flooding from its four watercourses - the River Lea, Salmons Brook, Turkey Brook and Pymmes Brook - which all react rapidly to heavy rainfall.

Dairy fined over leak

MD Foods dairy in Edmonton has been fined £5,000 for polluting Pymmes Brook with milk effluent.

The discharge from the dairy on the Oakthorpe Estate turned the water white and could be seen a mile upstream.

At Enfield Magistrates Court on March 11 the company admitted causing pollution under the Water Resources Act 1991.

The court heard how milk effluent leaking from the firm's pipes discharged into the brook after a pump failed.

The company was also ordered to pay £1,000 in court costs.

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The source of the pollution is thought to be a pipe owned by Thames Water which usually discharges storm water into the lake.


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Householders in Ecclesbourne Gardens, whose homes back on to Pymmes Brook, claim that rats are coming up from the stream and invading gardens and homes.


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Officers are now appealing for help in finding the owner of the items, which were discovered in Pymmes Brook by a resident.

The pieces include a number of necklaces, including a thick gold neck chain and a silver necklace with a large octagonal pendant studded with a green stone.

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Seventy years ago the most devastating plane crash in the country at the time struck in Edmonton. The incident, on September 4, 1938, left 12 people dead and 15 others injured. Then 14, Joyce escaped because she was visiting her grandmother. An RAF Audax two-seater plane, manned by a lone 19-year-old trainee pilot, crashed and burst into flames over their house, taking off the roof. 

The pilot, SR Morris, was aiming for Pymmes Park, but found he was struggling to keep the plane above the roofs of nearby houses. He was unable to reach the park in time and crashed into houses in Dunholme Road, Edmonton, taking the roof off the house at number 28, where the Saunders family were having Sunday lunch.

As fire raged and the plane lay in tatters across the road, people rushed to try to save those who had been hurt. Brothers Edward, 20, and James Letch, 22, were both awarded the OBE posthumously after trying to unstrap the pilot from his cockpit. The fuel tank exploded and all three died from their injuries.

Members of the Callaghan family in number 30 also died. And seven-year-old Jimmy Tant, who was playing outside in adjoining Dunholme Lane, was reportedly sitting on a gate frozen in shock and was decapitated by part of the plane. His three-year-old sister Jean escaped.

A History of the County of Middlesex:

In 894 the Danes sailed 20 miles up the Lea (fn. 11) but during the Middle Ages the marshy river banks restricted navigation. Edmonton marsh formed a band about ½ mile wide, bordered and crossed by innumerable watercourses. (fn. 12) An Act of 1571 (fn. 13) authorized the City of London to make the Lea navigable as far as Ware (Herts.). The New Cut, as it was called, was used for barges, mostly transporting grain from Hertfordshire to London (fn. 14) and there is little evidence that it benefited Edmonton until the late 18th century and the nineteenth. A new straight canal was begun a little to the west of the meandering river in 1770. (fn. 15) The Lee Conservancy Board, (fn. 16) which was established in 1868, was taken over by the Metropolitan Water Board in 1904. The course of the river was obliterated by the construction of Banbury reservoir in southern Edmonton and Tottenham in 1903 (fn. 17) and by the much larger William Girling reservoir in Edmonton and Enfield in 1951. (fn. 18)

The two main tributaries of the Lea which run eastward through Edmonton are Pymme's and Salmon's brooks. Pymme's brook, which throughout the Middle Ages was called the Medesenge (fn. 19) and afterwards sometimes Millicents brook (1675) (fn. 20) and Bell brook (1765) (fn. 21) enters Southgate at Arnos Park, where in 1567 it was known as Hawland brook, (fn. 22) and flows to meet the network of watercourses along Edmonton marshes. Bounds (1659) (fn. 23) or Bounds Green brook, which enters New Southgate with the North Circular Road, joins Pymme's brook at the eastern end of Arnos Park. Salmon's brook, (fn. 24) in the 13th century called Stebbing, (fn. 25) enters Edmonton at Bush Hill (fn. 26) and flows to Edmonton Green, where it turns south and then east at approximately the site of the former town hall. In the 16th century it was joined by a tributary near the later junction of Brettenham and Brookfield roads and thence flowed southward along John a Marsh Green to join Pymme's brook at Watery Lane (later Angel Road). (fn. 27) The tributary (which is treated below) had largely disappeared by 1801 and most of the portion between Edmonton Green and Pymme's brook was culverted between 1897 and 1920. Thereafter Salmon's brook ran due eastward from Edmonton Green to the edge of the marsh, whence it flowed south to join Pymme's brook by a drainage channel near the border with Tottenham. (fn. 28)

Merryhills brook in the north and Hounsden gutter at the south of Edmonton's portion of Enfield Chase both ran eastward across Southgate and Winchmore Hill to join Salmon's brook in Enfield. In the 16th century a stream, probably Bridgewater, which was described in 1322 as south of the Hyde, (fn. 29) flowed south-eastward from a point near Fords Green to Fore Street, where it turned northward for a short distance before striking east to join Salmon's brook near the later Brettenham Road. (fn. 30) By 1801 most of it apparently had disappeared in the lakes and streams of Pymmes Park (fn. 31) and by 1895 it terminated at Morees pond west of Fore Street. (fn. 32) In the 16th century a stream, possibly the medieval Hakebrook (fn. 33) and called in 1605 Hobb Hale (fn. 34) and in 1826 Bury Street stream, (fn. 35) formed the boundary with Enfield from Bush Hill to a point almost due north of Bury Farm. Thence it ran southward to cross Bury Street, form the mill stream of Sadlers mill, and flow eastward close to the later Nightingale Hall farm, whence it followed the road south to John a Marsh Green before turning east again towards Edmonton marsh. (fn. 36) In the 19th century it became a tributary of Salmon's brook after the changes to the latter's southern section. (fn. 37) Unidentified watercourses include Melflet in the 13th century, (fn. 38) Church brook in the 14th century, (fn. 39) and Rowes brook in 1616. (fn. 40)

Almost all the streams have been straightened and often diverted into underground sewers. Pymme's and Salmon's brooks were widened and deepened in 1766 and 1772. (fn. 41) After severe flooding in 1881 Salmon's brook, which had formed a pond at Edmonton Green, and Pymme's brook at Montagu Road were confined between concrete walls. In 1921 Pymme's brook was culverted and its western course straightened. (fn. 42)

The New River, which was constructed in 1608-13 to bring drinking water from Chadwell and Amwell (Herts.) to Islington, crossed Edmonton parish from Bush Hill to Bowes. At Bush Hill a wooden aqueduct carried the river across a stream, presumably Salmon's brook. The Gordon rioters threatened to destroy the aqueduct in 1780 (fn. 43) and in 1784 it was removed and the landscape remodelled. (fn. 44) The New River was dependent on the contours and in the southern portion of Southgate and Bowes Park it followed a very meandering course until 1857-8, when an embankment was constructed to carry it across the valley of Pymme's brook. (fn. 45)

Edmonton was noted in Jacobean literature. Elizabeth Sawyer, married to a local labourer, was suspected of felony in 1615 (fn. 46) and apparently hanged for killing by witchcraft. Her story, told to a minister who visited her in prison, was published in a tract in 1621, which immediately became the basis for the play, the Witch of Edmonton, by Ford, Dekker, and William Rowley. Another popular play, the Merry Devil of Edmonton, was probably written by Michael Drayton and first performed c. 1606. According to the play's preface the protagonist Peter Fabell was commemorated on a monument in Edmonton church. (fn. 47) Presumably he was Peter Favelore (d. 1360). (fn. 48)

'Edmonton: Introduction', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 130-133. URL: http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=26931  Date accessed: 16 January 2011