History of Priory Park
Have you ever wondered how Priory Park came into existence? Why the land didn't disappear under the jungle of buildings and railway lines in the housing and railway boom which engulfed London from the 1840s onwards?
Well, if you have, read on.
Like so many of the green spaces which make Crouch End and its environs so attractive, the driving force was Henry Reader Williams, the Chairman of the Hornsey Local Board.
Plans for building many small houses on the site had already been submitted, but Williams proposed the purchase of the farm land adjoining Middle Lane and, on 2nd March 1891, the Hornsey Local Board agreed in principle to purchase the land which was to form the core of Priory Park.
Two low-lying fields - a total of four acres of land - were purchased for £1,200 from Colonel Warner. The Board's intention was to create "a pleasant and safe retreat as a well-planted public pleasure ground, greatly to the advantage of children and others residing in the locality".
At around the same time, a neighbour of Colonel Warner - a Mr Linzee - offered three acres of farm land at the junction of Middle Lane and Priory Road. He eventually sold the land to the Board for £2,700 who were aided in their purchase by a loan sanctioned by the local Government Board. These combined purchases created the area which was to become the Recreation Ground or Pleasure Grounds, as it was subsequently known.
In a move not likely to be replicated today, the Board also purchased a quarter of an acre of land on Barrington Road to build a cottage for a gate-keeper for the Recreation Ground. The cottage is still there today, at the entrance to Priory Park, with the inscription "H.L.B." (Hornsey Local Board) still in place on the gable end.
In a way perhaps more reminiscent of modern times, it took the Board some time to realise their desire to create a public amenity. Having acquired the land in 1891, work did not begin on laying out the grounds for public use until after 1896, a project which took around four years to complete.
In the meantime, the hollow ground had been used to dispose of road sweepings which previously had to be taken out of the district at a cost of £100 per annum. Bearing in mind that horses formed the main means of road transport, local residents were no doubt delighted when the Council began to look for a new place for road sweepings in 1899.
Priory Park, as we know it today, did not really come into existence until 1923/24 when the Council acquired the nine acres of land known as "Lewcock's Field" bounded by Park Avenue South, Barrington Road and Priory Road for the princely sum of £8,140 part of which was borrowed over a period of 60 years! However, this acquisition was not without controversy as it entailed negotiating with holders of allotments on the site and the Middlesex Education Committee who had been using some of the land as sports pitches. Notices were also served to the Abbeville Bowling Club and the Scouts who used the land. The creation was completed in 1926 when the whole area was renamed Priory Park.
In closing, it seems appropriate to quote directly from James Savin's article on which this summary is based. "It is largely due to the vision and persistence of Henry Reader Williams that the residents of Hornsey are so fortunate [in having Priory Park]. Whilst the clocktower in Crouch End is his formal monument, Priory Park should be thought of as his living memorial".
Based on the article by James Savin: "Priory Park, Its Purchase and Development", Hornsey Historical Society Bulletin No. 30 (1989).
​
​
​
​
St. Paul's Fountain
On Saturday 6th November 1909 the Lord Mayor of London, Sir George Wyatt Truscott, accompanied by his Sheriffs, visited Hornsey to unveil the fountain.The fountain was working until the mid to late 1960s and some of the older Hornsey residents may remember it as such. At some point it was turned off, filled in with rubble and soil and transformed into a giant planter. In the 1970s the fountain was given Grade II listed status by English Heritage. In the autumn of 2014 the Friends of Priory Park decided to investigate the possiblity of getting it working again.
​
