Above are photos of Joe speaking at the last meeting and a photo of our Plant Exchange table. | On September 14th, following the cancellation of our scheduled speaker Pauline Henley, due to covid, we were very grateful to Joe Studman for stepping in to fill the slot! And we were delighted to have nearly all our members present plus 4 visitors! Joe talked very interestingly about how the rural village of Winchmore Hill became a London suburb. He spoke about the area before the railway came and the coming of the trams down Green Lanes. We saw maps and photographs of the area before the 1800s, and the development of farm land for housing, as well as maps of the parks and their development. There was originally a pond on the Green, which is now grassed over; there was also a water feature which was eventually demolished. There were hunting areas within Winchmore Hill area, mostly hunted on by the wealthy! He mentioned witchcraft, hauntings and public hangings and the sale of smuggled goods. Joe made several references to Henrietta Cresswell (1855 - 1931), a writer, who's father was a doctor in Winchmore Hill. She wrote “Winchmore Hill the Memories of a Lost Village “. |
Joe emailed us a selection of old photos that he used in his talk, including photos of the original pond on Winchmore Hill Green, the Old Buckle & Vaughan grocer's shop, now a restaurant that has kept the same name, Stone Hall, sited on Church Hill, which was demolished around 1930 (new developments were built on the site), and an old aerial photo showing The Green and surrounding roads.