Crouch End


Crouch End is an area of north London, England, from the City of London in the western half of the borough of Haringey. It is within the Hornsey postal district. It has been described as one of "a new breed of urban villages" in London. In 2023, it was voted the best place to live in London.

Location

Crouch End lies between Harringay to the east; Muswell Hill to the north-west; Hornsey to the north; Wood Green to the north-east; Finsbury Park, Stroud Green and Archway to the south; and Highgate to the west. It is located north of Charing Cross and from the City of London.

Toponymy

The name Crouch End is derived from Middle English. A "crouch" meant cross while an "end" referred to an outlying area. Some think that this refers to the borders of the parish, in other words, the area where the influence of the parish ends.
Its name has been recorded as Crouchend, Crowchende, the Crouche Ende, and Crutche Ende. In 1593, it was recorded as "Cruch End".

History

Crouch End was the junction of four locally important roads. A wooden cross was erected at the junction of these roads, roughly where the Clock Tower now stands, and a small settlement developed around it. Crouch End developed as an early centre of cultivation for Hornsey, and was where the farmsteads seem to have been grouped.
From the later part of the eighteenth century, Crouch End became home to wealthy London merchants seeking refuge from the City. However, the area remained rural in character until around 1880. The development of the railway changed the area significantly. By 1887 there were seven railway stations in the area.
Although the first patch of urbanisation along Park Road was distinctly working-class in character, by the end of the 19th century, the large merchants' villas had been replaced by urban middle-class housing and Crouch End had become a comfortable middle-class London suburb with a varied and popular range of shops.
Until 1965 Crouch End was part of the Municipal Borough of Hornsey and that body's forerunners. In 1965, when local government in London was reorganised, Hornsey merged with the boroughs of Wood Green and Tottenham, and Crouch End became part of the London Borough of Haringey.
In the post-war years, the London-wide provision of social housing led to the demolition of the Park Road housing development and its replacement with council homes. Many of the older houses in the area lay empty post-war and many were bought cheaply by speculative landlords who then let them out to the growing student populations of the Mountview and Hornsey Art College. The area became known as bedsit land into the early 1980s, until rising house prices changed the social profile of the area and progressively wealthier residents moved in.

Politics

Crouch End is part of the Hornsey and Friern Barnet constituency for elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
Crouch End is part of the Crouch End ward for elections to Haringey London Borough Council.

Demographics

There is no single figure that provides the demographic profile for Crouch End. As defined by the recent public-council conversation around the setting up of the Crouch End neighbourhood Forum, the neighbourhood is made up of parts of four wards. Between a half and two thirds of the area is formed by Crouch End ward. Its demographics in the 2011 census were as follows:
British 61.1%, White Other 17.5%, Irish 3.4%, Indian 1.6%, Black African 1.5%.
Christian 38.4%, Jewish 4.2%, Muslim 3.1%.

Notable buildings

Hornsey Town Hall

Among its more prominent buildings is the modernistic Hornsey Town Hall, built by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey as their seat of government in 1933-35. It is now a Grade II* listed building, one of about 21,767. The architect was the New Zealand-born Reginald Uren. The interior and exterior have been used several times as a location by the BBC series The Hour, written by Abi Morgan, and other TV and films, including a scene in The Crown.
Queen and the Kinks have both played at the Hornsey Town Hall when it was a major London venue for bands. The HTH was used as a set in the Queen film Bohemian Rhapsody.
The building is currently undergoing renovation and conversion into a hotel, apartments, restaurant and a contemporary arts centre by the Far East Consortium. Completion is expected to be by Summer 2024.

Clocktower

The red-brick Clock Tower has become a much-loved icon of Crouch End. Designed by the architect Frederick Knight, it was originally built as a memorial to Henry Reader Williams in 1895. Williams was chairman of the local authority of Hornsey from 1880 to 1894, and played a key part in shaping the district, in particular campaigning against developers for the preservation of Highgate Wood and Queen's Wood. He also paved the way for the purchase of Alexandra Palace and Park by a consortium of local authorities in 1901. After Williams's retirement the newly designated Hornsey Urban District Council decided to erect a clock tower to celebrate his achievements.
Out of the estimated cost of £1200, £900 was raised by public subscription. On 23 June 1895 a ceremony was held for its unveiling. The Broadway was hung with flags, and the Tower connected to nearby houses with festoons. Over a thousand people assembled, and at noon the Earl of Stafford, Lord-Lieutenant of Middlesex, released a blue ribbon hanging from the belfry and the clock struck its first notes. The bronze sculpture of the head of Williams was created by Alfred Gilbert, who also designed Eros in Piccadilly Circus.
Although closed to the public, it is now used at Christmas for a Santa's Grotto.

Crouch End Hippodrome

The Crouch End Hippodrome originally opened on Tottenham Lane in July 1897 as the Queen's Opera House with a production of The Geisha. The theatre was leased initially by H. H. Morell and Frederick Mouillot. It held an audience of 1,500 people. In 1907, it was renamed the Hippodrome and became a popular music hall. During a bombing raid in 1940 it was very badly damaged. It is now a Virgin Active gym.

Hornsey College of Art

In 1880 an art school was established by Charles Swinstead, an artist and teacher who lived at Crouch End. It became "an iconic British art institution, renowned for its experimental and progressive approach to art and design education". In May 1968, as Hornsey College of Art, it was occupied by students as a protest against the ideology of art education and teaching in Britain. The occupation, soon joined by others around the country, and linked with similar events in Paris, offered a major critique of the education system at the time.
After the authorities regained control, known as the "night of the dogs", sympathetic lecturers and students who had taken part were dismissed. Later the college was merged with Middlesex Polytechnic, now University, in the 1970s. Subsequently, it was relocated to a Middlesex campus at Alexandra Palace and the lease of the building taken over by the TUC, which used it as its national training centre. In 2005 Haringey Council took it over, extending and converting the building in order to enlarge Coleridge Primary School.

The Queen's pub

One of the early Edwardian pubs-with-hotel, the Queen's was built in 1899–1902 by developer John Cathles Hill. The pub's Art Nouveau decor windows survive. Its larger sister pub, the Salisbury Hotel in Harringay has some similar architectural details.

Dunns Bakery

Purpose built in 1850 to be a bakery, Dunns Bakery at 6 The Broadway is most likely the oldest retail building within Crouch End. At the top of the front facade one can see a gilded wheat sheaf which bears the initials of the builder, 'WM'
Originally the gates located to the right of the store led to a yard area where the stables were located to house the horses used for deliveries. The stables had been damaged in the Blitz during a night time raid, and have since been rebuilt, expanding the bakery area.
The bakery continues to produce on site to this day, and is run by a sixth-generation baker.

Education

There are three state secondary schools serving the N8 Crouch End area. Highgate Wood School in Montenotte Road is a nine form entry mixed school. Highgate Wood School was the senior school to the former Crouch End School based on the corner of Wolseley Road and Park Road, opposite the Maynard Arms. Hornsey School for Girls in Inderwick Road is the only single sex school in N8. In Hornsey, there is the Greig City Academy. Further away Heartlands High School which lies between Wood Green and Alexandra Palace was opened by Haringey in 2010; despite not being in Crouch End it is close enough to provide additional provision. St Thomas More Catholic School, Wood Green is the only Roman Catholic secondary school in the London Borough of Haringey.
Over 6,000 children school in the area, approx 2,300 in primary schools and 3,700 in secondary schools.
Kestrel House is an independent special school for pupils with autistic spectrum conditions and additional learning and behavioural needs. The vast majority of pupils are referred by local authorities in London and the Home Counties who pay the fees. It is housed in the former Mountview Theatre School premises at the north end of Crouch Hill -the end nearest Crouch End Broadway. Also in the independent are Highgate School and Channing School, both used by parents in Crouch End but located in Highgate.
There are a number of primary schools serving Crouch End : Weston Park, Rokesly School, Coleridge Primary School at the top of Crouch End Hill near the border with Islington, St Aidans in Stroud Green, St Gildas and St Peter-in Chains, just off Crouch Hill and St Mary's in Hornsey. Campsbourne Primary School on Nightingale Lane, North Harringay Primary School on Falkland Road and Ashmount Primary School. Ashmount was until December 2012 on the south side of Hornsey Lane, in Islington and in the N19 postal district, but only meters from Haringey. The school moved January 2013 to a new building in Crouch Hill Park adjacent to the Parkland Walk in N8. The old Ashmount site was taken over by the new-build Whitehall Park School.
There are many nursery schools in the area, including Bright Horizons, Creative Explorers, Starshine, Keiki and MTO.