The Parkland Walk is a 4.5-mile (7.2 km) linear green walkway, in the London Boroughs of Haringey and Islington, which follows the course of the railway line which used to run between Finsbury Park through Stroud Green, Crouch End, Highgate and Muswell Hill to Alexandra Palace.
It is a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) and a Site of Metropolitan Importance.[1] It was declared a Local Nature Reserve in 1990 and is London's longest LNR.[2]
The walk is almost all in Haringey, but a short stretch between Crouch Hill and Crouch End Hill is in Islington. (Crouch Hill Park in Islington is to the south of the Islington stretch and immediately bordering on the Parkland Walk) The route follows the bridges and cuttings of the line, passing through tunnels on each side of the closed surface section of Highgate station, which is closed to walkers for safety reasons. The route between the northern end of the Highgate Tunnels to the Northern line depot at Wellington Junction is used by trains entering the depot, while the rest of the cutting round Highgate Wood from Wellington Junction to Cranley Gardens is outside the wood’s fence, not officially part of Parkland Walk, and so is allowed to stay overgrown.
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This path was once the route of part of the London and North Eastern Railway's (LNER's) line from Finsbury Park to Edgware constructed in 1867 by the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway, with the branch to Muswell Hill and Alexandra Palace added in 1874. Plans were published by London Underground in the 1930s for its incorporation as part of the Northern Line (The Northern Heights Plan) but the onset of World War II stopped the work at an advanced stage.
After the war the development plan was abandoned but passenger trains continued to run on this line until 1954. The service was reduced to freight haulage and tube traffic, until its final closure in 1970.
Tracks and infrastructure were removed and most of the platforms and station buildings demolished. The Parkland Walk was officially opened in 1984 following extensive re-surfacing and improvements to access.
From the Finsbury Park end the route starts from the western side of the existing East Coast Main Line beside a foot overbridge that gives access from the eastern end of Oxford Road to the Finsbury Park open space itself. The route rises on an embankment overlooking the back gardens of the Victorian suburban houses. The route then bridges Upper Tollington Park before crossing Stapleton Hall Road at a point where the Gospel Oak to Barking rail route also passes beneath the road. The station building of Stroud Green station still survives, but there are no traces of the trackside buildings. The embankment then gives way to a cutting as the land rises north-westwards. The route continues beneath overbridges carrying Mount Pleasant Villas, Mount View Road, and Crouch Hill.
Immediately after passing under Crouch Hill to the left can be seen a large block house originally built to house switching gear for the Northern Heights Line as part of the plans to incorporate the line into the tube system. The blockhouse was used for a number of years by Islington Council to house a youth project, but is at present (November 2011) closed while extensive building operations are carried out by Islington Council.
These building operations involve the significant refurbishment of the block house, and the reinstatement of a substantial area of Metropolitan Open Land to the south of the Parkland Walk as the "Crouch Hill Park." Further to that the "Crouch Hill Recreation Centre" building which used to be visible from the walk is being demolished, it having been closed in 2004. It will be replaced by a new building which will house Ashmount Primary School and the Bowler's Nursery. Beyond the site of the new building is a foot overbridge dating back to the original railway which will be retained and will connect Hazelemere Road, in Haringey to the Crouch Hill Park in Islington when the building operations are complete in Autumn 2012. Until then the Park is closed and cannot be accessed from the Parkland Walk, with a number of public rights of way having been suspended.
At this point the still intact but partly overgrown platforms of Crouch End Station remain at the end of which the route passes under the site of the former station building and the road bridge over the cutting carrying Crouch End Hill.
Beyond this the cutting opens out on the northern side as the route skirts a hill, parallel to Hornsey Lane where some apartment blocks have been built. The route bridges Stanhope Road on a footbridge replacing the original structure. The route continues on an embankment to a brick-built bridge over Northwood Road, beneath which traffic can flow in only one direction at a time. The surrounding ground rises rapidly and the route becomes a cutting at the end of which the portals of the southern pair of Highgate tunnels come into view. Vestiges of line-side electrical equipment for the planned 1930s electrification of the line and part of the structure of the old Highgate station are visible through the tunnels. The tunnels are closed to pedestrian access. Consequently the main route ends here with an exit on to Holmesdale Road. Should the walker choose to proceed further they can travel up hill along Holmesdale Road which soon joins on to Archway Road. Continuing along Archway Road travelling north past Highgate Station leads to the junction between Archway Road and Muswell Hill Road.
A further shorter section of the walk begins along Muswell Hill Road, just beyond Cranley Gardens, where the road overbridge crosses the old line. On the left (western) side of the road a primary school completely occupies the site of the former Cranley Gardens station and the old trackbed. The walk continues opposite via steps down to the trackbed towards Alexandra Palace, which skirts a hill. The span of the seventeen-arch viaduct over St James's Lane gives a view eastwards and southwards over London. The route ends with a reconstructed overbridge under Muswell Hill itself. At this point Muswell Hill primary school has been built on the trackbed. A pedestrian route by passes the primary school into Alexandra Palace Park proper. Further remains of the rail route can be seen in Alexandra Park. Alexandra Palace railway station (Muswell Hill branch) building still exists and is used for community purposes.[3]
The Capital Ring goes through the Walk between Highgate and Finsbury Park.
No trees were permitted to grow close to the track when the railway was operational. The range of trees found today has grown up in the last fifty years. Most arrived naturally (oak, ash, birch, hawthorn, cherry, apple, holly, rowan, sycamore and yew), but a few additional species have been planted (field maple, hazel, black Italian poplar and white poplar).
More than three hundred species of wild flowers have been recorded on the Parkland Walk. They range from commonplace to exotic. Species sighted include Michaelmas daisies, golden rods, buddleia and Guernsey fleabane.
The great variety of plant life sustains a wide range of animals. Twenty two species of butterfly have been recorded. Hedgehogs benefit from the proximity of adjacent homes and occasional feedings from homeowners. Foxes are plentiful and muntjac (a small species of deer) are seen occasionally. A colony of slow-worms thrive along the grassy embankment. More than sixty species of bird have been seen along the walk and many breed here. Parkland Walk is known to be an important site for bats in the London context, providing important foraging habitat and an excellent dark commuting route. A significant bat roost is known to exist in the vicinity.
Along the walk just before the disused platforms at Crouch End, a man sized green spriggan sculpture by Marilyn Collins had been placed in one of the alcoves of the wall on the right at the footbridge before the former Crouch End station. This was thought to be a tribute to a ghostly 'goat-man' who haunted that particular area in the mid 1980s. Local children playing out in the evenings would 'dare' each other to walk the Parkland Walk from the Crouch End Hill bridge to the Crouch Hill bridge in the darkness. The sculpture, and Parkland Walk generally, provided the inspiration for Stephen King's short story "Crouch End".
There is also a myth that trains could still be heard rumbling along the route close to the Highgate tunnels, even after tracks had been lifted. This is unfounded, as is the ghost of a workman who threw himself in front of a train near the tunnels at Highgate station.
Another rumour regarding the failure of the route cited that the whole area had been cursed by gypsies who were evicted from the pre-Alexandra Palace site. They cursed the Palace construction project and "all connected proposals".
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