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Muswell Hill
Muswell Hill photos
Displaying the first of 17 old photos of Muswell Hill. View all Muswell Hill photos
Muswell Hill maps
Historic maps of Muswell Hill and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Muswell Hill maps
Muswell Hill area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Muswell Hill and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Muswell Hill
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Muswell Hill.
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Fish And Chip Shop
I can remember visiting my uncle and auntie in Muswell Hill. They used to run the fish and chip shop, which (I think) was in Colney Hatch Lane. We would spend the afternoon up at Alexandra Palace. I can recall a large area of open ground just across the road from the fish and chip shop.
Living in Queens Avenue And Going to School
I was three when we moved to Muswell Hill in 1951. My parents had both been in the forces and it was difficult to find accommodation for a family. My grandmother knew a Mr. Wood, he was a judge. His son and daugther-in-law had recently moved into their own home and Mr. Woods wife was dead. He was apparently in need of a live in housekeeper and part-time handy man and offered the position to my parents. As a child, it was an amazing house to grow up in- a double fronted Victorian house with an inner glass set of doors and a stone flagged hall. The house was originally staffed with servants and so each room had a bell push or pull. In the kitchen above the built in dresser the bells for each room were labelled and still in working order. If I was ever ill in bed, all I had to do was press my bell to let my mum know I needed her! Mr Wood... Read more
Greater London memories
Fish Shop in Hornsey High Street
I was born in 1950 at Alexandra Park Nursing Home in Muswell Hill. My Mum and Dad (Ivy and Joe Abrahams) owned and ran the fish shop in Hornsey High Street and my Dad was not very pleased when Mum went into labour just before the lunchtime rush! I came home to live in the flat above the fish shop. It was a wet, dry and fried shop. My Dad used to have live crab on the slab in the front window and we had a tank on one side of the shop with live eels - sometimes school boys would let the eels out and my dad would have to chase them down the high street. When dad was frying, I used to sit on counter. One side of us was the butcher's shop run by a lovely couple called George and Lil, and on the other side was the greengrocers run by George Alders and his wife. In 1952 my Dad had a massive stroke when he was... Read more
Town Hall
My Aunt Sylvia Monnington worked at Hornsey Town Hall from the 1960s until at least the mid 1970s.
Hornsey
I grew up in Hornsey - Westfield Road to be exact. They tore down a lot of the houses in the late 1960s and built a new estate in its place. I still remember going to Priory Park, the swimming pool on Park Road - ahhh happy days.
Hornsey
I was born in Hornsey in 1940. Returning from evacuation in S.Wales in 1944, I went to Highgate Primary School for a short time, before moving to 141 Crouch Hill (now demolished) and attending Rokesley Infants School & Crouch End Junior school where I remember teachers Miss Flynn and Mr Baker. Having failed the 11 plus, (it was fixed) moved on to Crouch End Secondary Modern. I remember the Headmaster was Mr Chapman and deputy head Mr Marks. Teachers include Wardle, Salter, Davies, Adams (he never liked me), Small, Stonely and Young, who being small in stature naturally acquired the nickname 'Mighty Joe'. We played football and cricket at the playing fields on Park Rd behind Hornsey Swimming Pool. The classrooms for woodwork and metalwork were on Park Road next to the 'bread & drip' shop. At dinner time we would descend on this cafe to buy 'doorsteps' of fresh bread laden with thick beef dripping....heaven. They sold other snacks and chips... Read more
Growing up in Hornsey
I was born in Hornsey in 1923, and spent the first 10 years of my life living with my parents in the top flat at 257 Wightman Road. The ground floor was occupied by Mr and Mrs Dan Costigan. Mr Costigan was a bus driver, and they had one child, a daughter, who was greatly prized. In 1928, I was enrolled at the school which occupies the space between Mattison and Pemberton roads. Very happy memories of that school, including one year being chosen to be Father Christmas in the school play! My best friend, at the same school, was Norman Parsons, who lived at 108 Wightman Road. 257 Wightman Rd was at the bottom of a hill down which horse-drawn bakers' and milkmens' carts used to come, with a steel 'shoe' under the rear wheels to stop the cart overtaking the horse!
At the bottom of our garden there was (is) a steep bank at the top of which... Read more
