Lesser Moselle - White Hart Lane

Lesser Moselle
The Lesser Moselle flows east and south

Post to the north Weir Hall
Post to the south Tower Gardens
Post to the west Wood Green
Post to the east Tottenham

Butterfield Close
Built on the site of Devonshire Hall and remaining gardens of River House

Cavell Road
Roseland Close. The Lesser Moselle has had an open section in the grounds of this sheltered block.

Compton Crescent
Devonshire Hill Branch Library built 1935. This has since been closed and used as council offices, and now sold.

Devonshire Hill Lane
Old Course of the New River. Traces can be found. One place is near the top of the footpath which links Devonshire Hill Lane with White Hart Lane near the junction with Devonshire Road.
Devonshire Hill, was once known as Clay Hill, and was part of the estate of the Curtis family. Clay Hill was reached by a winding lane from White Hart Lane
Devonshire Hill Lodge, this was on a lane between Devonshire Hill and White Hart Lane
River House. This was on a lane between Devonshire Hill and White Hart Lane. It was named because the Old Course of the New River plus a footbridge, ran through the grounds. Samuel South had to buy this separately and the bed was filled in with pottery spoil. In the 1930s houses were built on the garden of River House which was demolished.
139 New River House. House built on the site of River House in the 1930s
139-141 The channel of the Old Course New River passes between these houses.
Devonshire Hill Farm. This was on a lane between Devonshire Hill and White Hart Lane, owned by the New River Company. Samuel South set up the White Hart Lane pottery and moved to Devonshire Hill Farm in the 1890's and bought River House and the surrounding land in 1912.
White Hart Public House. Built in the garden of River House which was sold to Whitbread. Pub closed and now housing.

Fryatt Road
The Lesser Moselle goes under this road.

Great Cambridge Road
St. John the Baptist. There was a mission church to St. Hilda, here in 1926 which was set up by the London Diocesan Home Mission. It was replaced in 1939 by the church of St. John the Baptist, designed by Seely and Page which was funded from the sale of the church of St John, Great Marlborough Street, which was then demolished. The church is in brick and concrete. Above the entrance, under a copper hood is a large statue of St John the Baptist.
Church Hall, this is behind the church
The Lesser Moselle crosses the road north of the junction with Roundway.

Rivulet Road
The Lesser Moselle goes down the north side of the road. Just before the turning to Fenton Road it turned south and runs east between Rivulet and Courtman Roads.

Tottenham Cemetery
The Tottenham Burial Board was formed in 1854 and opened five acres north of the church as a burial ground in 1858. The Lesser Moselle enters the cemetery from Fryatt Road and the cemetery is bounded by the Moselle. The ground was later enlarged to the south.  There are two cemetery chapels designed in 1856-7 by George Pritchett in Kentish. The Anglican and non-conformist chapels are identical and were linked by shared bellcote – without a bell - and an attic room over the central carriageway. The non-conformist chapel now used as a store. The Anglican chapel has pews and some 19th stained glass. After the Second World War the board converted part of the cemetery, including the lake into a garden of rest. Burials in the cemetery include that of the architect William Butterfield and his sister.  There are also burials from both world both wars. Graves from the Great War are on the western side with a backed by a Screen Wall bearing the names of this buried in the cemetery. Burials of the Second World War, are scattered, but there are some facing the Great War plot. There is a War memorial to the Great War on the 'Cross of Sacrifice' designed in 1919 by Reginald Blomfield for war cemeteries

Weir Hall Road

Devonshire Hill School. Built in 1917

White Hart Lane
The Lesser Moselle flows along the side of the road until the junction with Rivulet Road. There it meets a tributary from further along White Hart Lane.
St.George’s Trading Estate. Site of Tottenham Potteries
500 Devonshire House. Bridisco. Site of Tottenham Potteries. Bridisco were British Distributing Company – electrical supplies warehousing, since gone out of business.
Tottenham Potteries. The pottery was opened by John Cole in the 1870s. At first the pottery made bricks, tiles and pots but their major product was plant pots serving the Lea Valley market garden industry. They also probably made some decorative items. The owner lived in a house called Tentdale adjacent to the site. Ownership and management of the site passed down through the Cole family. In the Second World War production stopped but the pottery had several million pots in store. In the late 1950 the site was sold as plastic pots began to dominate the market. The site was taken over by warehousing
Haringey Borough Football Ground.  The club is the result of numerous mergers with other local teams and leagues. In the 1950s this was Wood Green Town Football Club ground.
TS Wizard 185. Haringey Sea Cadet Corps
Mineral Water Works 1950s
Rowland Hill Nursery and Children’s Centre. By Michael Tilley of Building Design Services, Haringey Council, 1991. A polygonal building with timber cladding .

Sources
Field. London Place Names,
Middlesex Churches,
Pevsner & Cherry.  London North
Pinching and Dell. Haringey’s Hidden Streams
Samuel South web site
Cole Potteries web site
British Listed buildings web site

Comments

Ken Barker said…
You have set yourself a mammoth task and I wish you every success. Pleased that my Samuel South website has been of help but can I suggest the following amendments

Devonshire Hill School - was built in 1926 and extended 1929

St Georges’ Trading Estate is the site of the Wonderloaf Bakery built in 1936 built 1936 (not the site of Tottenham Potteries)

White Hart Lane Potteries – the potteries of Samuel South & Sons should be included – now the site of of Safehouse Self Storage – the Tottenham potteries of the Cole family were next door

I have written a detailed history of the area see http://www.samuelsouth.co.uk/ruraltottenham2.htm for futher details

Regards

Ken Barker
Anonymous said…
Some interesting info here.

Are you able to shed any light on when the large and beautiful Georgian mansion called White Hall just south of White Hart Lane was demolished? It was between 1935 and 1961.

Thank you.
Alex Ingr, Whitehall Street.
alex.ingr@yahoo.co.uk
Anonymous said…
Dear Mr Barker

Are you able to give the date when the White Hall mansion was demolished, that stood just south of White Hart Lane near the High Road? I believe it had by the time of its demolition between 1935 and 1961 become a shadow of its former self, having had a lake in front of it. It was still standing in 1913 as far as I know, but there is little information I can find pertwining to any time beyond that. Any information would be highly valued.

Regards
Alex Ingr, Whitehall Street
alex.ingr@yahoo.co.uk
Anonymous said…
Anyone know the name of the church/chapel once situated Canning Crescent j/w High Road Wood Green?
Weir Hall History Team said…
Hi,

at the bottom of weir hall there are house that were built in 1926

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