Notes for East Finchley Winter Festival 2013 History Walk 2013 About the walk:  Today’s’ walk will take us up the medieval track along the edge of the former common  Given the interest in the Big Grange Local, I hope to get as far as the site of the Grange  Then across the fields to East End Road and back past another hot item, Stanley Road Playing Field.  This is ambitious, so if we are behind schedule when we get to Church Lane I’ll be asking you whether we cut out the next few stops or allow the walk to run over.  If anyone gets cold, or bored, or short of time please feel free to melt away discreetly.  I’ve brought old ordnance survey maps for us to navigate by – 1864 and 1894, the railway arriving between.  These are provided by The Finchley Society, as are most of the photographs   I’ve identified the places I plan to stop with a red circle.  I’ll be showing old photos of lost East Finchley, 1900s onwards along the way.  If you want to contribute to the discussion, or ask questions by all means do so. Just to briefly set the scene: East Finchley, or East End as it used to be known, was not a single village but a scattering of small settlements on the eastern side of the Manor of Finchley, mainly along the edge of the common but also along East End Road. The manor was owned by the Bishop of London and let out to well-to-do families but that does not really concern us today. Until the 1800s Finchley was a relative backwater with a static population which only began to grow significantly in the 1800s, with the growth of London and greatly improved transport links. Middle class families built large mansions along EER and the working class areas developed from the Walks towards the High Road as we shall see. The first map shows the development stimulated by the enclosure of the common. The second map is showing the early effects of the railway, the start of the transition to suburb.

Stop 1 About where we are: Former Holy Trinity School, or National School, opened in 1848 There’s a plaque outside put up earlier by the Finchley Society so I won’t dwell on this building, other than to say one thing that’s not on the plaque The impetus for this parish church and school came from the competition by the non-conformists for members. At the time of our maps you could see across the common from here to the school founded by the Congregationalists a few years before this one.

[1] Before starting off, does anyone recognise this building? The recent home of the Congregationalists, who played an influential part in development of East End and will be part of today’s story. And it is opposite! If there is one settlement which comes to mind when people talk about East End it is Market Place and that will be our first stop.

Stop 2 Market Place: We are on a track along the edge of the common since medieval times, from Park Gate (near the junction with the Bishops Avenue to Fallow Corner (near Finchley Memorial Hospital). 1680s Thomas Odell of the George pub started a twice weekly hog market which became one of the largest in England. Pigs were kept in a pound on Pound Road off Park Road. 1828 Prospect Place constructed 1853 Chapel Street constructed across the former common to the chapel 1890s The Hog Market had virtually fizzled out, although pigs still kept around Prospect Place until 1955 1890s Aveton Road appears on the later map and is presumably built around then 1960s Much demolition in name of slum clearance 2000s Duke of Cambridge and George pubs replaced by flats

[2]. One building here is still recognisable, have you located it? [3] on the back of this, Prospect Cottages [4] looking forward to the former post office  Notice Easts Boot Makers [5] That brings us to a photo of Chapel Street in the 1950s; notice Easts Bootmakers still on corner. [6] Looking back down Chapel Street towards the George and the location for the fire engine Now we need to talk about the Congregationalists, Chapel Street and early education.

1804 Congregationalists become active in East End 1830 East Finchley Congregationalists built a chapel on High Road 1842 School opened for infants in a room behind the chapel 1850 Second class room opened for older children 1853 Chapel Street was built to link High Road and Market Place 1875 Chapel and school burned down; they could not afford to reopen the school and, against opposition from the church, pressed for a board school to be opened on the premises 1878 Imposing new stone building opened at the junction of High Road/EER 1881 School reopened as a board school. Chapel was repaired as lecture hall. 1884 After 3 years as a board school the school moved to Long Lane, as we’ll see 1895 After other uses, the original chapel was sold to Catholics

[7] This aerial photo of around 1910 shows the old and new chapels, Aveton Road, Prospect Place and the south side of Chapel Street. Overleaf shows the imposing new building 1940 Chapel was destroyed by bomb but the scout hut survived and was used as a temporary church, re-erected further north near the cemetery 1965 The imposing new building on the corner was demolished in 1965, when part of the site was sold, around that time Chapel Street was demolished.

Stop 3 The Walks We’ve now reached the start of what is now called The Walks, a continuation of the old track, and I’d like to show some more photos. [8] We are standing next the paling in front of the old post office, now a children’s playground. [9] Looking back, from exactly here this photo shows Market Place with that one familiar building in the distance. [10] Another familiar building can be seen in this photo of the walks, taken from the road across today’s children’s playground. Behind these houses was a large bakery before it burned down (called variously Burton Bakeries, Clarks, Merry Miller it employed 200) It was built on the edge of Homefield, which together with a field Poor Toms on its left across the passageway, stretched all the way to East End Road, and became part of the Finchley Charities. More on that on the way back. We leave this settlement shortly and cross fields to the next one where we’ll stop again. As you cross Church Lane, looking right was a further settlement and EF’s first post office was there.

Stop 4 We have just walked up King Street, EF’s only street since Chapel Street was demolished. Origin of the name is obscure This housing development replaced two institutions: On this island a chapel, originally built by Methodists was occupied by Elim Gospel Alliance until they moved to the first building I showed you in 1974 The other was the Board School, later renamed Alder School The development of education in Finchley is confusing; here are some dates: 1884 East Finchley Board School opened here with space for 500 boys & girls and 250 infants, (replacing Chapel Street) 1902 Taken over by Council when school boards abolished 1913 A new council school opened on High Road (now Martin Schools) 1931 Finchley Education Authority reorganised schools into seniors and juniors 1931 Original School here, renamed Alder School, took the senior pupils from HT and Martin Schools 1932 New council school renamed Martin School 1941 Alder School infants transferred to Martin School 1944 Alder School became a Secondary Modern 1978 Alder School closed; amalgamated /w Christ’s College in its new location Now some photos: [10a] The Windsor Castle we passed, as it used to look [11] Alder School, main entrance in Long Lane [12] [13] Red Lion Hill and on the back the pub which gave it its name Red Lion Hill was first named in 1821 Now we’ll walk on up the hill to Cuckolds Haven and locate Oak Lodge and the Grange.

Stop 5 Now we’ve arrived at our most distant point and can see the relationship between Oak Lodge,   The Grange and the Grange estate. [14] Oak Lodge is located on both maps. [15] The Grange came too late for the first map but is on the second [16] This 1970s aerial view shows them in relation to the Grange Estate. Can you locate them both? 1749 Oak Lodge existed as three tenements 1766 These were united and probably rebuilt by 1780 1863 Edward Sayer of Oak Lodge built THE GRANGE next door on land he had leased to ensure his tranquillity 1916 OAK LODGE became a special school 1919 The Grange became a piano factory 1920 Frederick Simms bought The Grange and built factory in the grounds, making dynamos & magnetos 1937 Plans for Grange/Red Lion Estate passed by Council, 1968 Simms Motor Units merged with CAV Lucas 1973 Oak Lodge moved to Heath View 1977 CAV Lucas employed 1600 people 1980s Oak Lodge demolished 1991 Factory closed About Simms: German-born Simms purchased the rights for the use and manufacture of Daimler's high-speed petrol engine 'in England and the colonies, excluding Canada' from his friend Gotlieb Daimler. Simms' plans, company and licenses were taken over by London company-promoter H J Lawson and he successfully floated The Daimler Motor Company Limited leading to, it is claimed, Britain's first serial production car plant in Coventry. Simms also founded the Automobile Club of Great Britain, the forerunner of the RAC.

Stop 6 A walk across fields If you trace where we are on the first map you’ll see we are crossing a large field diagonally towards the church. Notice from the later map that even before Simms opened his factory the land cut off by the railway was being built over. So much so that residents petitioned (unsuccessfully) for their own railway station. This is short diagonal passage is all that remains of the path. Notice the shape of the building next door, to accommodate this. The foot tunnel was installed, after a long battle with the railway company following the death of a boy while crossing the level crossing to take his father, working in the field, his lunch. Now we’ll continue past the church and reassemble at East End Road. Have a good look at the church as we pass through the church yard.

Stop 7 In 1864 we would have passed near East Finchley’s old pond over there on the left. This was on the edge of a large triangular open space known as Hunts or Hunters Green, shown on the first map which stretched from where we are standing to the church and to the pub, and originally part of the common. [17] This picture of the pond shows the entrance to a large property on the far side of East End Road. In existed as the Elms in the 1500s but was later renamed Elmhurst [18] [19]. Here are views of Elmhurst front and rear Elmhurst is best known for one of its residents – Anthony Salvin. Salvin campaigned for, fundraised for and designed East Finchley’s first parish church and church school, built in 1846/7 Anthony Salvin was an architect of Tudor and Gothic style country houses and restorer of castles, including work at Holy Island, Windsor, Newark, Carisbrooke, Caernarvon and Alnwick Castles and the Tower of London. Elmhurst was demolished in 1939 and Elmshurst Crescent and Pulham Avenue were built in the grounds after the war. As you can see, the green space in front of the house was left for the public. [20] The triangle of green to our right was created in the 1960s by the demolition of Causeway Cottages for a projected road widening scheme. Notice the buildings in the right of the picture; they are still there, on our left. Notice, too, a white house, known then as The Old House and lived in by the Rew family. It is the last of a row of elegant houses that bordered EER, on south facing slopes overlooking at the time a country valley with views across to Hampstead and Kenwood. As we walk down the road, notice the how the variations in architecture reflect individually the grounds of each former house. Pay attention to the pub and the buildings to the right of it as we pass on the way to our final stop.

Stop 8 There is mention of an ale house in 1484 when a Thomas Sanny was fined for not putting enough hops in his beer. That building was over there. Twenty years later, a Thomas Sanny (the same?) donated a large piece of land with dwellings including the ale house to the church for the good of the poor in return for the singing for the soul of himself and those of his parents, wife and children. It would become part of the Finchley Charities. The land stretched from here all the way to The Walks on either side of this road/pathway, the Homefield on the left and Poor Toms (Thomas Sanny?) on the right. The first recorded licensee of the Five Bells was in 1751 but in 1803 the original pub building on the Homefield site was demolished and replaced by cottages, [21]. A new pub was built in its present-day location to the west, outside the charity land The Five Bells became known for bare-knuckle boxing in the 1840’s; heavyweight champion Gem Mace trained there. The present building dates from 1868 following a major fire. Most of the charity land was used for grazing and haymaking, but in 1829 a parcel of it was leased for the construction of Homefield House by Mark Plowman [22]. It was just there. In 1865/7 the coming of the railway cut the land in two. In 1914, a large part of Homefield across the railway was let to the Finchley Presbyterian Lawn Tennis Club, and then the East Finchley Congregational Church Sports Association, before being taken over by the Borough Council in 1939 as a sports ground then sold to Middlesex county Council for £3,407and is known as Stanley Road Playing Field. In the 1920s a plot on the Walks end was leased to Burton Bakeries. In 1964 land on Poor Toms was sold to Middlesex County Council for the building of Holy Trinity School, which opened in1975 Homefield House evolved into Homefield Garage and was demolished in 1973, one year after Homefield Cottages. The town houses in Ashburnham Close date from 1976 and Homefield Gardens followed in 1979. We’ll walk up between Homefield and Poor Tom’s past Stanley Field and HT school. If you have the time I’ll tell you a bit about the occupants of the elegant homes opposite

Stop 8a The estate immediately opposite was built on the grounds of Cromwell Hall. Not the first on the site, it was renamed Cromwell Hall by Edward Butler around 1827 after Richard Cromwell son of Oliver Cromwell and Lord Protector of England for about a year. Richard Cromwell in fact stayed next door towards the end of his life with the Pengellys in a house later named Belle Vue, which was pulled down to make way for Cromwell Close in 1959/60. [23] Meanwhile Cromwell Hall, a much larger estate built in Gothic Revival style in 1803, was home to some colourful characters. In the late 1800s the Butler family led an extravagant lifestyle; a Miss Butler used to drive hectically around in a Brougham, paying her bills in sovereigns drawn from a bag. There was a large greenhouse – the highest and widest single span roof at the time – from which came bananas, oranges and lemons. No fewer than 15 china dinner, tea and dessert services and 4,100 bottles of wine were left when she died The house passed to the Honri family. Percy Honri was a well-known musical entertainer in music hall fashion, and married into a family that owned and ran theatres and with children that were entertainers too. There were concerts at home. [24] When the recession came, Honri turned the estate into a commercial concern, with a restaurant, shops and a putting green but to no avail. The estate was sold off and replaced by Abbots Gardens in 1932-35. Now let’s go and get warm. We take the path between the fields Home Field and Poor Tom’s passing Stanley Road Playing Field on the left after the railway, and HT School, successor to the one originally in the building now occupied by the  Bobath Centre. Finchley Society memberships offered.