Wood Green Through Time

Wood Green, 6 miles north of the City of London, is now part of the lively borough of Haringey. In 1619, when part of the parish of Tottenham, it was a mere hamlet of houses on the periphery of Wood Green Common, which later became the iconic Alexandra Palace and its park. However, it was close to a highway from London to Enfield and beyond, and it was as a result of this that its commercial growth began, starting with a smithy in 1770. Coaching inns followed in the late eighteenth century, and by the nineteenth century the High Road was full of shopping parades. Residential development was accelerated by the arrival of the railway in 1859, and in 1888 it became a borough in its own right, with a population of 23,000. As Wood Green continues to thrive today, its history is reawakened by this beautiful collection of images.