Hornsey

“HORNSEY, a parish and suburban district of London, in the Finsbury division of the hundred of Ossulstone, county Middlesex, 5 miles N. by W. of St. Paul's, London.

It has a station on the Great Northern railway near the church, with an hotel adjoining. The manor of Hornsey, anciently called Harringay or Haringe, has from a remote period belonged to the see of London, and the bishops had formerly a park at Lodge Hill, memorable as the place where, in 1386, Thomas Duke of Gloucester and other noblemen assembled to form a league against the favourites of Richard II., and where Edward V. and Henry VII. were met by deputations from the citizens of London. The custom of gavelkind still prevails, so that lands held under the lord of the manor descend in common to all the sons and daughters of a customary tenant. The parish is within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court and metropolitan police, and forms part of the N. postal district. It contains, besides the village of Hornsey, lying on the New River, the populous hamlets of Muswell Hill and Fortis Green to the N., Crouch End and Stroud Green to the S., and part of Highgate, which last now forms a distinct chapelry. At the foot of this hill is the residence of the poet Moore, who here penned the greater part of his "Lalla Rookh," and whose daughter Barbara is buried in the churchyard at Hornsey. On the N. side of the hill several feeders of the Colne have their source, and near the top of the hill, close to the Great Northern line of railway, is the newly formed Alexandra Park, to which part of the Exhibition building of 1862 has been removed. At Crouch End and Stroud Green many streets of houses have recently been erected. Near the latter place are Dale House and Hornsey Wood House. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of London, value £400, in the patronage of the bishop. The church of St. Mary stands near the old channel of the New River, and was rebuilt in 1833, except the ancient tower, which is constructed of the stones of Lodge House, and has a corner turret. The interior contains a brass of a child, and several monuments; among them one to the memory of Samuel Rogers, the author of "The Pleasures of Memory," who was buried here in 1855. The register dates from 1655. Besides the parish church there are the district church of St. James at Muswell Hill, and Christ Church, recently built on Crouch Hill, also a handsome chapel belonging to Protestant Dissenters. There are three separate schools for boys, girls, and infants at Hornsey, and a school for girls and infants at Muswell Hill. The charities produce about £147 per annum, exclusive of Highgate. The living was once held by Bishop Westfield, and Dr. Lewis Atterbury, and Lightfoot, the Hebrew scholar, resided here.

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from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868