| Seven Sisters | |
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Seven Sisters
Seven Sisters shown within Greater London |
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| OS grid reference | TQ334888 |
|---|---|
| London borough | Haringey |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | London |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | N15 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| EU Parliament | London |
| UK Parliament | Tottenham |
| London Assembly | Enfield and Haringey |
| List of places: UK • England • London | |
Seven Sisters is an area of North London in the United Kingdom and part of the London Borough of Haringey. It is located at the east end of Seven Sisters Road, which runs from Tottenham High Road to join the A1 in Holloway.
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The Dorset map of 1619[1] shows the area we know today as Seven Sisters named as Page Greene. However by 1805, the first series Ordnance Survey map was showing the area as Seven Sisters.[2]
The name is derived from seven elms which were planted in a circle with a walnut tree at their centre on an area of common land known as Page Green.[3] The clump was known as the Seven Sisters by 1732[4]
In his early Seventeenth century work, Brief Description of Tottenham, local vicar and historian William Bedwell picked out the walnut tree for particular mention. He wrote of it as a local 'arboreal wonder' which 'flourished without growing bigger'. He described it as popularly associated with the burning of an unknown Protestant.[5] There is also speculation that the tree was ancient, possibly going back as far as Roman times, perhaps standing in a sacred grove or pagan place of worship.[6]
The location of the seven trees can be tracked through a series of maps from 1619 on.[7] From 1619 they are shown in a position which today corresponds with the western tip of Page Green at the junction of Broad Lane and the High Road.[8] With urbanisation radically changing the area, the Seven Sisters, had been replanted by 1876, still on Page Green, but further to the east.[4] Contemporary maps show them remaining in their new home until 1955.[7]
The current ring of Hornbeam trees was planted in 1997 in a ceremony led by five families of seven sisters.[6]
Seven Sisters is on the route of Ermine Street, the Roman road connecting London to York. At the time of Domesday, the area was within the Manor of Tottenham held by Waltheof II, Earl of Northumbria, the last of the great Anglo-Saxon Earls.[9]
In the medieval period a settlement grew up at Page Green and the woodland was increasingly cleared for agriculture. In the early decades of the nineteenth century, the Seven Sisters Road was constructed and the area saw the construction of a number of large houses, including Suffield Lodge, Seven Sisters House and Grove Place.[10] These fine buildings soon fell victim to the spread of Victorian London and by the third quarter of the century the area had been almost completely built over.[4]
Today Seven Sisters is a multi-cultural area strongly influenced by its location on key road and underground rail routes. At its heart is the Seven Sisters market, housed in the old Wards Department Store building. Its fifty stalls have a strong Latin American flavour. Under threat from development, the market and its building have become a catalyst for local community renaissance.[11][12]
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