There are about 298 acres of marsh land. The several names are “Lock
Mead Marsh,” “Clendish Hills,” “Mill Mead,” “Mitchley,” “Broad Mead,”
“Wild Marsh.” The latter is the largest. Beautiful cowslips used to
grow here. To cross from one marsh to the other there was a ferry boat
at Page’s Lock, and another at Higham Hill, where passengers were punted
over at a charge of 1d. each person.
The names of the common fields are “Down Field” and “Hale Field.”
The above were closed on the 5th April, and open on the 12th August for
grazing of horses and cows belonging to the resident parishioners in
Tottenham. Before the cattle went on they were all branded by the Pound
Keeper. The marshes belonged to a great many different owners, who had
small wooden land marks with their initials on each. In the case of the
New River Co. their’s were iron. Some left their grass and made hay;
others did not seem to care for it.
All the marshes on the East side of the River Lea have been sold to the
East London Water Works, and those on the West to the Urban District
Council.
The Rifle Butts were built about the year 1860, and have been twice burnt
down. Mr. Delano, who lived at Asplin’s Farm close by, built himself a
nice cottage with garden all round on his land on the Marshes for his own
use and called it “Butts Farm.”
This side of the Lea is not so very much altered. The old Blue House was
pulled down, and a new one erected where Mr. Page’s son lived and managed
the locks. There was a beautiful wild garden on the right hand side,
made by Mr. Page’s father, just beyond the boat yard, and had taken a
very great number of years to cultivate. There was a quantity of high
trees, and all sorts of wild flowers, and it ended with a stile on to the
banks of the Lea. Unfortunately, during a very heavy succession of
storms, some few years ago, this was all swept away. The forget-me-nots
were especially beautiful large flowers; it seemed very sad they should
be swept away after all the trouble and expense incurred.