Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Tottenham

TOTTENHAM, or Tottenham High Cross, a suburb of London, in the county of Middlesex, is situated on the old "Great Northern" road, about 41/2 miles north from Shoreditch. The cross at Tottenham is not a market-cross, and its origin is doubtful. Towards the close of the 16th century it consisted of a column of wood, capped with a square sheet of lead. The present cross of brick was erected by Dean Wood about 1600, and the ornamental work of stucco was added in 1809. In the time of Isaak Walton there stood over it a shady arbour of woodbine, sweetbriar, jessamine, and myrtle. Formerly Tottenham was noted for its " greens," in the centre of one of which stood the famous old elm trees called the "Seven Sisters"; these were removed in 1840, but the name is preserved in the Seven Sisters Road. Bruce Castle, occupying the site of the old mansion of the Bruces, but built probably by Sir William Compton in the beginning of the 16th century, is now occupied as a private boarding school. The church of All Hallows, Tottenham, was given by David, king of Scotland, probably when he visited Henry in 1126, to the canons of the church of Holy Trinity, London. It has frequently been restored and altered. The older parts are the tower, nave, and south aisle of the Perpendicular period and the south porch of the 16th century. There are a large number of monuments and brasses. Tottenham consists chiefly of an irregular line of houses for about two miles along the high road, with short side streets at intervals. There are a number of almshouses, including the Sanchez almshouses, founded in 1556 by Balthazar Sanchez, or Zanchero, confectioner to Philip of Spain; Reynardson's (1685); Pheasunt's, or "The Pound," for poor widows, originally founded by George Hynningham in 1536, and further endowed by Pheasunt and Saunders; and the sailmakers almshouses, founded in 1869 by the Drapers Company for forty-five inmates. The free gram mar school was enlarged and endowed in 1686 by Sarah, dowager duchess of Somerset. The population of the urban sanitary district (area 4642 acres) in 1871 was 22,869, and in 1881 it was 46,456.

In the reign of the Confessor the manor of Tottenham was pos sessed by Earl Waltheof, who in 1070 married Judith, niece of the Conqueror, and was created in 1072 earl of Northumberland, Huntingdon, and Northampton, but joined the conspiracy against William, was betrayed by his wife, and was beheaded at Winchester. It was inherited by his daughter Maud, who was married first to Simon de St Liz and afterwards to David, son of Malcolm III., king of Scotland, who was created by Henry I. earl of Hunting don, and received possession of all the lands formerly held by Earl Waltheof. In 1184 the manor was granted by William the Lion, king of Scotland, to his brother David, earl of Angus and Gallo way, the grant being confirmed in 1199 by King John of England, who created him earl of Huntingdon. He married Maud, heiress of Hugh, earl of Chester, and his son John inherited both earldoms. The son married Helen, daughter of Llewelyn, prince of Wales, by whom he was poisoned in 1237, dying without issue. She retained possession till 1254, when the manor was divided between his coheirs Robert de Brus, John de Baliol, and Henry de Hastings, each division forming a distinct manor bearing the name of its owner. In 1429 they all came into the possession of Alderman Gedeney. William Bedwell, the Arabic scholar, was vicar of Tottenham, and published in 1632 a Brief e Description of the Towns of Tottenham, in which he printed for the first time the burlesque poem, the "Turnament of Tottenham."

See Robinson's History of Tottenham, 1840.