U N C O V E R E D

T O T T E N H A M W O O DThe S to r y o f Ha r i n ge y ’s Anc i e n t Woods

H a r i n g e y

AS OLD AS THETREESThe woods in Haringey have been heresince people first came to England atthe end of the last ice age.

“We’re not just talking about a bit ofsnow,” says Mike Hocker, from theFriends of Queen’s Wood.“We’re talkingabout a giant ice sheet that came allthe way down to just north of MuswellHill. About 12,000 years ago, the climategot warmer and the ice began to melt,and the woods have been herethroughout most of the last 10,000years.”

The first people in Haringey huntedanimals with sharp flint weapons. Weknow they were here because flint chipshave been found in the woods. It took4,000 years for people to settle down insimple villages and start clearingwoodland to make fields for crops andanimals.

In Sumer (now Iraq) people werebuilding cities, and perfecting irrigation,art and trade. Advanced cultures soondeveloped in Egypt, India, China andSouth America. But in England, peoplewere still living in huts made ofbranches and mud (although someonehad managed to build Stonehenge).Civilisation finally arrived 2000 yearsago, when England was invaded by theRomans, who quickly set to workmaking pots in the woods.

“The clay at the top of Queen’s Wood isjust the stuff you need for making pots,”says Mike. “The only puzzle is where didthey get the water from? They couldhave got the slaves to carry it up thehill.”

The great wood was still here whenBoudica burned London to the groundin 61AD; when the Romans left a fewyears later; when the Saxons, the Vikingsand then the Normans invaded; duringthe Black Death in 1349 and theGunpowder Plot in 1605. By the 18thcentury, the trees that covered Haringeyhad been here so long there was asaying: ‘You shall as easily removeTottenham Wood.’

DID YOUKNOW... People walked toEngland across theEnglish Channel -12,000 years ago itwas just a boggymarsh.

DID YOUKNOW... The fossilised remainsof an ice-ageelephant andhippopotamus havebeen found underTrafalgar Square.

DID YOUKNOW... The forest thatcovered Haringeywas called TottenhamWood, and WoodGreen used to becalled TottenhamWood Green.

TIMBER!!!“Most of Medieval London was built oftimber: that’s why it burnt so well in theGreat Fire in 1666,” says Mike Hocker.“Timber was the equivalent of oil wells,and they were facing the same sort ofsituation we’re facing now: they wereabsolutely dependent on the forest thatthey were rapidly clearing. You woulduse oak to build houses, docks and thefoundations of bridges, and oak barkcontains tannin for making leather.You’d make wheels out of ash, andbows out of ewe. If you look at an oldwindmill, the teeth of the cogwheels aremade of apple wood or pear wood,and Hornbeam was used for makingcharcoal, which was used for smeltingmetals. Ship-builders would come downto the woods and choose a curvedbranch or tree they needed for aparticular bit of their boat.”

Although the woods were carefullylooked after, sooner or later the woodwas going to run out.

A BONE OFCONTENTIONIn 1665, the Bubonic Plague hit London.At its peak it took the lives of 6,000people a week, on its way to a finaldeath toll of at least 100,000. “There werestories in the 19th century that peoplehad found human bones in the woodsnear Muswell Hill Road (alongside thebuilders yard that’s there now)” saysMike Hacker. “There is this legend that itwas a plague pit and that they weretipping bodies in.” But perhaps you canstill enjoy your picnic: the bones havenever been seen again.

DID YOUKNOW...When Old St Paul’sCathedral burnt downin the Great Fire in1666, timber fromTottenham Wood wasused to rebuild it theway it is now.

DID YOUKNOW...To build a big shiplike those that foughtthe Spanish Armadain 1588 would take allthe trees fromQueen’s Wood.

BARE WITCHESA few years ago some people who livenear Highgate Wood were woken up byloud music,” says Lucy Roots, fromFriends of Queen’s Wood.“The Woodhas 13 oak trees planted in a circlewhere nothing ever grows, and thepolice found a group of witches theredancing around in the nude.”

The ancient woods hold great powerand significance in folklore, so youmight still catch witches on the minorsabbat of the vernal equinox dancingnaked round the oak circle, but only ifyou’re very lucky.

BRICKING ITIn the 18th century, coal replaced woodas the major fuel, and made it a lotcheaper to make bricks. Coal savedHaringey’s woods by making what wasleft of the great Tottenham Wood almostuseless.

At that time, Muswell Hill, Hornsey,Crouch End, and Highgate, were stillvillages surrounded by woodland,meadows and pastures. Tottenham,and Wood Green were a bit bigger, butstill surrounded by countryside.

In the 19th century, new railway linesand stations meant more people couldlive further out of the city. Terracedhouses were built out of cheap bricks allacross the borough, the villages wereslowly joined together, and Haringeystarted to look the way it does now.

What was left of Haringey’s woods wasowned by the Church Commission, andwhen they wanted to sell it off fordevelopment into more houses therewas a tremendous outcry. People stirredup Parliament with meetings and rallies,and Highgate Wood, Queens Wood andColdfall Wood were eventually saved.Along with Bluebell Wood and NorthWood, they are the last bits of the greatTottenham Wood, and the forest that hasbeen here since the last ice age.

DID YOUKNOW...Park rules, like theone forbiddingpeople from cyclingin the woods, weredecided in the late19th century. Other100-year-old by-lawsthat still applyinclude no disturbingfish, worrying cows, orselling indecentbooks..

DID YOUKNOW...Queen’s Wood wasrenamed tocommemorate thejubilee of QueenVictoria. It used to becalled... ChurchyardBottom!

Produced by 020 8883 0260

This booklet was produced by young people at Exposure, Haringey’s award-winningyouth media charity, with help from BTCV, Bruce Castle Museum (Haringey Libraries,Archives & Museum Service) and Friends of Queen’s Wood. It was paid for by theHeritage Lottery Fund.

The following young people took part in this project:

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