Historical outline style ornamentation with a
bas-relief Green Man decoration on one of the Grand Parade Buildings In the
Ice Age Harringay was on the edge of a huge
glacial mass that reached as far south as
Muswell Hill. ), tarmac to the west (ex-
Hornsey) The area was then largely covered with forest until the
Middle Ages when it was developed as agricultural land. From 1750 to 1880 Harringay experienced the pressures of the burgeoning population in London. Gradually inroads into the pastoral landscape were made, first for the leisure and then for the settlement of Londoners. By 1900 Harringay had become a respectable London-adjacent suburb with all the land built over and only
Finsbury Park remaining as a hint of its former character. It remained part of
Middlesex and was not within the jurisdiction of the
County of London until 1965. Identified as a single unified urban area from 1900, Harringay was originally split between the old boroughs of
Hornsey and
Tottenham with the boundary between the two running slightly to the west of
Green Lanes The unification of the two boroughs in 1965, as the
London Borough of Haringey, brought all Harringay under the control of a single unit of local governance for the first time in more than a thousand years. On many of the roads in West Harringay, it is still possible to see the old Tottenham - Hornsey boundary where the paving stones give way to tarmacked pavement. The old
parish /
borough boundary markers are also still in place on some roads (see picture, right).
Toponymy The name
Harringay has its origin in the
Saxon period and is derived from the name of a Saxon chieftain called Haering. ''Haering's Hege'' meant Haering's enclosure. The earliest written form of the name was recorded as
Harenhg’ in about 1195. Its development thereafter gave rise to the modern-day names of Harringay (the district of London), the
London Borough of Haringey and
Hornsey (another nearby district of London). :
Sources: Entertainment From 1750 until the second half of the 20th century, Harringay became a destination for Londoners seeking to relax. Hornsey Wood House,
Finsbury Park,
Harringay Stadium and
Harringay Arena were all hugely popular leisure destinations in their day. The stadium and arena site is now occupied by
Sainsbury's and the Arena Shopping Park. In the 21st century, Harringay continues to attract visitors from across London and beyond to visit the ever-growing number of popular restaurants, bars, festivals and live music venues. In the years since 2010 the festivals, bar and music studios of the creative hub in the Harringay Warehouse District is also attracting people to Harringay as an entertainment centre.
Transport and communications history There is little doubt that the history of transport communications through Harringay had a significant effect on its shape today. In
Roman times, a great roadway through the area to the north was established. This roadway endured as a great communication passage to the north and brought much activity through the heart of the area. It also acted as the rough dividing line for land ownership, identifying Harringay's position on the edge of
manorial and subsequently
borough boundaries. In the mid-19th century, the arrival of the
Great Northern Railway (GNR) cleaved western Harringay from the rest of the
Borough of Hornsey and set it fair for its subsequent union with the southwesternmost slice of the
Borough of Tottenham. The subsequent construction of the
Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway (THJR) almost defined Harringay's present-day southern boundary. ==Demographics==