was not such an easy matter when my mother was a child, and people did
not expect to take the yearly holiday which is now considered a
necessity. Places which now can be reached in a few hours’ time were
then quite a long journey, and one had to travel either by post-chaise or
stagecoach, which was pleasant for the outside passengers on a fine
summer day, but anything but comfortable if the weather was cold or wet.
It was very cheerful to hear the guard sounding his horn. For those who
could not afford these conveyances there was the waggon—a very slow mode
of travelling, this. It was a huge, clumsy-looking vehicle, drawn by
four horses, the waggoner walking by the side and occasionally sitting on
the shafts for some distance; at night carrying a horn lanthorn. These
waggons were used for moving goods from place to place, and were very
roomy. I knew a lady who, when she was a child, travelled in this way,
under the care of a maid, from Lincolnshire to Tottenham. My earliest
recollection of travelling is of going to the sea-side in a post-chaise;
two horses were sent on the day before we started. We went either to
Margate or Worthing, and left home at four o’clock in the morning. We
travelled all day, changing horses halfway, arriving at our destination
that evening. For those who liked the water there was a boat called “The
Margate Hoy.” Sometimes we varied our holiday and took apartments at a
farmhouse at Finchley, which was then beautiful country. On those
occasions we went in my father’s phæton. It was a very pretty drive all
the way from Tottenham.
My mother remembered a public conveyance called a Shillibeer; this took
its name from the inventor. Later on this was transformed into the
Omnibus, and there was a number of these conveyances on the road, running
to London and back every hour, the terminus being the “Flower Pot,”
Bishopsgate-street. Occasionally one was confronted with the alternative
of either walking home or waiting an hour. For instance, when the May
meetings were held, to which the “Friends” flocked in large numbers,
there was keen competition for a seat; no woman would have thought of
going outside. I remember once seeing a respectable-looking country
woman, taking her midday meal in the omnibus on her road to London. She
evidently thought she was making a long journey, for opening her basket
she placed a small cloth on her knees; she then produced a packet of
bread and butter, a little parcel of salt, and, putting an egg in a cup,
calmly ate her lunch. On another occasion a well-known rather eccentric
character, having purchased some peas, shelled them in the omnibus to
save time on his return home.
Tottenham lost its rural character when the railroads were made. The
first of these was the Great Eastern main line, the Hale and Park
Stations being then opened. Park Station being some distance from the
main road Mr. Hall started a service of omnibusses from “The Horse and
Groom” at Edmonton to this station. The next was the Midland, and lastly
the Great Eastern suburban line to Enfield. When this was started the
terminus was Bishopsgate-street.
Omnibusses were succeeded by horse trams, these again by steam trams,
having a particularly clumsy appearance, and in a short time horse trams
re-appeared, only to be again altered to electric trams.
It may not be generally known that once every year there used to be an
official perambulation of the parish; this was called “beating the
bounds,” and was regarded as an important occasion to mark the boundaries
of the parish. Of course nothing was allowed to be an obstacle; where
necessary the beaters went through hedges and ditches, and even through
ponds, and at various places one of the boys who accompanied the
procession was well bumped against a wall to impress the boundary on his
mind, so that in after years he could testify from personal knowledge if
any doubt arose.
The first local paper in Tottenham was called “Paul Pry”; it was so
personal in its remarks, and so much mischief was made by it, that its
life was a brief one. On the outside was the illustration of a man, with
an umbrella under his arm, and the words, “I have just stepped in; I hope
I don’t intrude.”
The “Weekly Herald” was started in 1861. It had a lot of subsidiary
titles, besides that of the North Middlesex Advertiser which it still
bears, but they have since been discarded. It was started by Mr. E.
Cowing under the management of Mr. Crusha, who took it over in July,
1864.
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[Picture: Decorative graphic]
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TOTTENHAM: Crusha & Son, Typ., 821, High Road.