TOTTENHAM, a parish in the hundred of EDMONTON,
county of MIDDLESEX, 5 miles (N. by E.) from
London, comprising High-Cross, Lower, Middle, and
Wood-Green wards, and containing 5812 inhabitants.'
This place, written in Domesday-book Toteham, and
now frequently called Tottenham High Cross, is a genteel
village, consisting chiefly of one long street, formed
by houses irregularly arranged, on the line of road from
London to Cambridge; it is lighted with gas, and well
supplied with water from several fountains produced by
boring; and the immediate vicinity is adorned with
numerous handsome villas. Near Tottenham Green, a1
cross has stoodfor many years; the present structure,
superseding the original one of wood, is an octangular
brick column, erected, in 1600, by Dean Wood: it was
repaired, covered with cement, and decorated with various
architectural embellishments, in 1809, for which'
purpose a subscription, amounting to nearly £300, was
raised by the inhabitants. At the entrance of Page
Green, on the east side of the high road, is a remarkable
circular clump of elm trees, called "the Seven Sisters;"
in the centre was formerly a walnut tree, which, according
to tradition, never increased in size, though it
continued annually to bear leaves; these trees appear
to have been at their full growth in 1631, but no authentic
account of their being planted is extant. Within
a short distance from the high road is Bruce Castle, a
mansion rebuilt, in the seventeenth century, on the site
of an ancient castellated edifice, erected in the rejgn of
Henry VIII, and honoured, in the year 1516, with the
presence of that-monarch, who came hither to meet hig
sister, Margaret, Queen of Scots; in 1578, Elizabeth
also honoured it with her presence. The original castle
was the residence and property of Robert de Bruce,
father of Robert, King of Scotland; the present building
has been converted into a school for young gentlemen;
a detached brick tower, which covers a deep
well, is the only vestige of the ancient edifice. In
the parish is a well, of which, the water is similar in
its properties to that at Cheltenham; also a spring,
caUed Lady's Well, of reputed efficacy for disorders in
the eyes; it is said that this water never freezes. Here
are extensive flour and oil mills; the former have been
established time immemorially; also a pottery for
coarse brown ware, and a brewery; a large silk manufactory
is unoccupied. The navigable river Lea passes
through the parish. Tottenham is within the jurisdiction
of a court of requests held at Enfield, for the recovery
of debts under 40s. The regulation of the parish
is vested in two churchwardens, four overseers, and
a constable, who is also the sexton, assisted by two
surveyors and an engineer.
The living is a vicarage, in the jurisdiction of the Commissary
of London, concurrently with the Consistorial
Court of the Bishop of London, rated in the king's book's
at £ 14, and in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter
of St. Paul's, London. The church, which is dedicated
to All Saints, stands about a quarter of a mile west of the
high road, and is in the later style of English architecture,
with a square embattled and ivy-mantled tower:
on the summit was formerly a lofty wooden cross
(whence, according to some, the adjunct to the name of
the village), which was destroyed during the civil war:
on the south side of the church is a large brick porch,
erected prior to 1500 j and over it a room, called " a
church house," for the transaction of parochial business,
afterwards appropriated as a residence for a poor pensioner,
and now used for a Sunday school. At the east
end of the north aisle is a vestry of circular form, surmounted
by a dome, erected, in 1696, by Lord Henry
Coleraine, and repaired in 1790; underneath this is the
family vault: the eastern window, divided into eight
compartments, and containing representations of the
Evangelists and some of the Prophets, in fine old
painted glass, was given to the parish, in 1807, by the
late John Eardley Wilmot, Esq.: the font is curious and
of great antiquity; many ancient monuments adorn the
interior, of which one in white marble, to the memory
of the family of Sir Robert Barkham, is worthy of
especial notice. This church was repaired, in 1816, at
an expense of £3000. A new church has been recently
erected on Tottenham Green, in the later style of English
architecture, with turrets at each angle, and pinnacles
over the aisles: it contains eight hundred and
one sittings, of which three hundred and eighty-six
are free; his Majesty's Commissioners for building new
churches granted £4893. 11. 6., the remainder of the
expense having been defrayed by subscription. There
are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Wesleyan
Methodists, and Roman Catholics. The grammar
school, founded by means of a bequest from Nicholas
Reynardson, alderman of London, in 1685, was
endowed in the following year, by Sarah, Duchess
Dowager of Somerset, with £250 for enlarging the
buildings, and £1100 for the purpose of extending
the benefits of the institution to all children, of such
inhabitants of the parish as were not possessed of
real property to the amount of £20 per annum; several
small bequests have been made since that period;
the master is paid according to the number of children,
has a good residence, and is allowed to take twelve private
scholars; there are now eighty boys on the foundation.
The Blue school, instituted in 1735, in which
are thirty-six poor girls; and the Green school, established
in 1792, in which are forty, are supported by
voluntary contributions; all the children are clothed
and educated. Lancasterian schools for children of both
sexes are similarly supported. Almshouses for four poor'
men and four poor women were founded and endowed
with a small rent-charge by Balthasar Sanches, a Spaniard,
about 1600, first pastry-cook to Philip of Spain,
with whom he came over to this country, and was the
first who exercised that trade in London. An almshouse
for six poor men and six poor women, with a small chapel
in the centre, was founded and endowed with £2000 by
Nicholas Reynardson, Esq., in 1685 some valuable augmentations
have been made to the funds, and, in 1828,
the buildings were repaired at an expense of £450, defrayed
by voluntary contributions. Some almshouses,
near the church, are occupied by poor women, placed
there by the parishioners.