Hornsey is a district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban, for the most part residential, area centred north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood to the west and Alexandra Park to the north, and lies in the valley of the now-culverted River Moselle. The central core of the area is known as Hornsey Village.
Locale
Hornsey is relatively old, being originally a village that grew up along Hornsey High Street, at the eastern end of which is the churchyard and tower of the former St Mary's parish church, which was first mentioned in 1291. At the western end is Priory Park. This was the administrative centre of the historically broad parish.
North of Hornsey High Street, and immediately to its south, some of the area is public sector housing, surrounded by the late-Victorian terraces developed by builders such as John Farrer. Between the western end of the High Street and the bottom of Muswell Hill, the character of the area changes; most being part of the Warner Estate built up with large late-Victorian houses. To the south west of the High Street is Priory Park.
The High Street has a variety of shops, coffee shops, restaurants and pubs, the oldest being the Three Compasses. The eastern section retains strips of grassed areas.
The 13th-century St Mary's Tower is all that remains of St Mary's Church. The church was demolished in Victorian times and a grey stone church was built on the corner of Church Lane and Hornsey High Street. The tower was retained as there were not enough funds raised for a new bell tower. However, in the late '60s the Victorian church was demolished and St Mary's school was built on the site.
The 500-year-old Tower was restored and managed by the charity, Friends of Hornsey Church Tower (FoHCT). It is now used for open-air live performances. The internal space, known as The Intimate Space, claims to be London's smallest performance space. It has become one of the four key venues of the Crouch End Festival that now runs an annual two-day music festival, The Tower Music Festival. Hornsey Parish Church holds open-air services there every Sunday.
Hornsey also has a Bowling Club which is situated on land owned by the London Diocesan Fund, part of the Diocese of London. The London Diocesan Fund had expressed an interest in building new homes on the site of the Bowling Club in 2015.
Priory Park is the main park serving the area. It is a 6.5-hectare site. Two key events that happen in the park annually are the YMCA Fun Run and the Carter's Steam Fair. It has a cafe, kid's paddling pool and tennis courts. The park was originally opened in 1896 as the Middle Lane Pleasure Grounds.[2] In 1926 the western section was added after the acquisition of a piece of land known as Lewcock's Field. The expanded park was renamed Priory Park The park was created in two sections. Two parcels of land at the eastern and southern ends were purchased in 1891 by the Borough of Hornsey at the instigation of Henry Reader Williams and opened in 1896 as the Middle Lane Pleasure Grounds. In 1926 the western section was added after the acquisition of a piece of land known as Lewcock's Field. During World War 1 this had been requisitioned by the council for allotments. After the war an initial plan for the council to develop the field for housing was dropped on grounds of cost, and an expanded park was renamed Priory Park in 1926. Some locals have suggested it be renamed Hornsey Park.
Hornsey is served by 5 major churches including Hornsey Parish Church, Holy Innocents, Moravian, Middle Lane Methodist and Campsbourne Baptist Church. Mosques in the area include Wightman Road Mosque and Diyanet Camii.
Geography
There are various views as to the location of Hornsey's current boundaries. The northern and eastern boundaries are relatively uncontentious. Most definitions seem to recognise those as being provided by Alexandra Park and the Great Northern Railway respectively. The southern and western boundaries are less clear cut. A recent version of those boundaries was provided by popular local opinion as expressed in the residents' survey undertaken as part of the application for the Crouch End Neighbourhood Forum. It offers a contemporary view of where local residents see the boundary between Hornsey and Crouch End and so defines the southern and western boundaries. The area defined is almost identical to that presented by one individual on a personal Google Map. Both closely resemble the post-19th-century Anglican parish and refer to former methods of property reference such as the layout of building schemes (developers' estates).