1867 O.S. Map

A 19th Century O.S. Map is available online and may be freely downloaded and reused with appropriate copyright statements. So I thought I'd use it as the basis of a page on the site. Although marked as the 1881 map online I am going to chance my arm and call it the 1867 one.

When you access this map online the date 1881 is displayed. The double track line via Seven Sisters to Liverpool Street was opened in 1872 and is nowhere to be seen so clearly it isn't anywhere near that. My understanding is that the maps were surveyed over a period of 1867 to 1881 so although the http://www.old-maps.co.uk/ site is probably correct in saying it is the 1881 Middlesex map, I am going to stick my neck out and say it is probably 1867 survey data. Certainly those with greater experience in this area always refer to the 1867 and 1896 editions of the O.S. map with nothing in between (the 1896 edition is the one I refer to as the 1894 one because that is the date of the survey and that used by the publisher of the reprints).

As can be seen from this map, Lower Edmonton was pretty much The Green and Church Street and not a lot else really. In fact back then there were some relatively posh houses (for example The Crescent, started in 1820) because it was essentially a Middlesex village on a major route into London. It wasn't until the railways came with their cheap workmen's fares that there was an influx of population of East End stock.

Those who thought 'New Road' was just a flyover built at the time of Edmonton Green shopping centre might be interested to see there was not only a road of that name in the same place before, but that it was already there in the mid-19th century. It isn't shown on the 1822 OS Map, I am told, and the natural assumption is that it was probably built to bridge the railway when it opened in 1849 or perhaps a little while afterwards if the level crossing proved insufficient. Dalling confirms that it is indeed from 1849.

The significance of the pubs back then is clear from the maps which highlight the Boundary House, The Cock (Tavern), the William IV, the Horse and Groom (they call it a Tudor Inn these days), the Cart Overthrown and the Stag & Hounds. They all still exist though they have been rebuilt. There has been a Rose and Crown (or whatever it is called this week) on Church Street since the 18th century too but I don't think it is highlighted here.

Notice how Bury Street is a separately identified hamlet grouped around what is now the junction with the A10 Great Cambridge Road.

I notice that along Bury Street there seems to be a footpath or track of sorts where I would guess Junction Road is today. Presumably its name refers to Edmonton Junction which was where the single track line joined the new double track line from the 1870s. On an 1894 OS map Croyland Road has appeared but only from the Hertford Road to about Kenwood Road. I note the names Brook House, Millbridge Farm and Millbrook House around today's Bury Street which presumably relate to Saddlers Mill Stream which is marked on the map but not easy to pick out from other markings on the map unless you know where you should be looking.

This map shows Bury Street crossing the railway line at a level crossing. The 1894 map shows the railway bridge constructed to the north.

Having noted Bury Steet I should also note Marshside, or Marsh Side if you prefer. This hamlet lies on what is now Montagu Road and is focussed around Bounces Road and Town Road. I don't think I have heard the area referred to as Marshside in modern usage but then it isn't my part of town so I may be wrong. While examining this area it can also just be noticed how the road turns right just north of the Bounces Lane junction. This is actually Pickett's Lock Lane which back then was a straight road with a level crossing at the railway (for those that don't know it, it now starts just south of Bounces Road, goes over a bridge and then turns north before picking up the original alignment).

Just to note some name changes, Hyde Lane is now Victoria Road, Bounces Lane is of course Bounces Road and Jeremys Green Lane is Montagu Road. You can already see that Bounces Lane and Town Road are well established and on the 1894 map they can be seem to have been the focus of development.