The defining aspect of an urban myth is not that it’s true – manifestly, if it’s slam-dunk cold fact it’s not a myth – nor that it could be true, but that it should be true. It’s the sort of story that sounds barely credible but could just have happened – and that you want to believe did happen.
Articles
This section contains a wide range of articles about the history of the area.
My Apprenticeship at the Hornsey Journal
In the first of an occasional series of personal reminiscences, journalist Richard Woods shares his memories of writing for the Hornsey Journal in the 1960s.
Hornsey Gasworks: An Update
Colin Marr wrote about a gas holder at the Hornsey Gasworks known as Hornsey No 1 in 2006 when it was under threat of demolition to make way for the Haringey Heartlands development. This was reposted as part of our Newsletter Archive series in 2020.
Muswell Hill Football Club: 1898-1899
Based on extensive research in the HHS and other archives, this special guest article tells the story of Muswell Hill Football Club’s incredible treble winning season.
The Whittington Almshouses, Highgate
This engraved book plate, 1827, drawn by Mr Shepherd, engraved by T Dale, is one of the 65 items in the Ruth Rogers Bequest. These almshouses are linked to a famous name. Dick Whittington, his cat and Highgate Hill are synonymous.
The Aged Pilgrims’ Asylum
This almshouse (called an asylum) is located just outside Hornsey Parish and is part of the late Hugh Garnsworthy’s postcard collection gifted to the Society.
Shoreditch Almshouses, Wood Green
It is the wrought iron gates, melted down by the man charged with restoring them, in what an English Heritage spokesman called in 2007, ‘a clear case of cultural vandalism’, which shone a spotlight on these almshouses over fifteen years ago.
Printers’ Almshouses, Bounds Green Road
This romantic view of the almshouses depicting them as a rural retreat was gifted to the Archive in 2003 by David Frith. The image was reproduced by the Borough of …
The Fishmongers’ and Poulterers’ Almshouses, Wood Green High Road
This image is one of the postcards which the late Hugh Garnsworthy gifted to the Society. Postmarked 1904, the large, impressive building is softened by the presence of the two little girls in their clean white pinafores in the foreground.
Waste Land Cottages, Muswell Hill Road
This evocative image is on a postcard gifted to the Society by nonagenarian Edwin Monk whose book, Memories of Hornsey, was the first to be published by HHS in 1976. …