Holy Trinity Church is a simple and beautiful Church designed by James Savage. It built 175 years ago (1828 – 1830). Savage modelled the church on King's College Chapel Cambridge.

The church occupies a commanding position on historic Tottenham Green, adjacent to Tottenham High Cross, Tottenham Town Hall, Tottenham Green Sports Centre, Tottenham Bus garage and the historic Swan public house.

The church community is of diverse ethnic origin with many members drawn from Africa and the West Indies. The Church is black led. Our current vicar, Dr Bunmi Fagbemi has family roots in Nigeria. (He is a lawyer by profession, with a PhD from London University.)

History of Holy Trinity

Holy Trinity was the second church to be built in Tottenham, after All Hallows. It was first consecrated as a Chapel to serve the growing population in the southern end of the Parish of Tottenham. The original cost was met by public subscription and parliamentary grant authorised under the Church Building Act 1824 for “new churches to cater for the needs of the new industrial towns.” The first stone was laid in May 1828 and it was consecrated on 26 May 1830. The original building cost £5205 and provided seating for about 800 in the original church. New seating was provided in July 1906 when the capacity of the church was reduced.

A district chapelry taken from the partner parish was assigned in 1844, and perpetual curates were thereafter appointed by the Vicar of Tottenham.

Description of the Church

The church was designed in yellow stock bricks by James Savage. It is a plain building comprising a nave, sanctuary, and aisles, when new it was highly praised, although the crocheted pinnacles were condemned as Perpendicular blemishes in an otherwise austere work in the early English style. A school between the church and the High Road was built in 1847.

The Gentleman’s Magazine of 1831 reported:

“The Chapel may rank among the best structures in Pointed style which we have met with in the course of our surveys. It is situated on the west side of the High Road at the entrance to the village, and not far from the well known Seven Sisters (A grove of seven mighty trees).

The materials are brick and stone ... In the adoption of the early or lancet style of architecture, Mr Savage has displayed good taste and better taste in keeping, with some exceptions to one style in his building … The plan shows a nave, or body with side aisles, which at their extremities fall short of the central part of the building, making a small chancel at one extremity, and a space for vestibules.”

The church stands opposite The Swan, terminus of the 73 bus route from Tottenham Court Road. The Swan is an ancient inn - there is a record in the parish register of a quarrel there in 1610.

High Cross pump stands opposite. The old pump was removed in 1859 and the present pump erected. Today, Haringey Borough Council plan to renovate the pump once again. In 1905, Tottenham Fire Station stood next to the pump.

The site of the church and school, although a part of Tottenham Green, was a “generous grant” from the lord of the manor, Sir William Curtis. A pond occupied part of the site but was filled in to allow the construction of the church.

The school no longer shares the site. Instead, The Green Church of England School, can be found a couple of hundred metres away in Somerset Road, next to a building once occupied by the Tottenham Grammar School.

Tottenham today

Tottenham is an area of deprivation. It is the home of an ethnically diverse community who live together in harmony. The local community is culturally rich and many faiths are represented. There is a strong Muslim presence and a Jewish Community, and Greek Orthodox Retirement home in the parish. Tottenham offers sanctuary to many refugees and asylum seekers. Haringey Borough Council and a number of other agencies have active plans for the regeneration of Tottenham. Despite this deprivation, there are many small offices and factories dotted around the parish, some in the clothing and high tech industries. Equally many people commute daily into the City of London or West End. The Parish contains both council and private housing.

Holy Trinity Parish is still a transport hub of considerable significance. It contains two Victoria Line stations, and three National Rail lines. One provides a direct express link to Stansted Airport and there are excellent rail links north to Cambridge, south to Liverpool Street and the City of London, to east and west and direct into the West End of London. Tottenham Bus Garage is opposite the church, and many buses stop next to the church, either in the High Road or in Philip Lane. The busy Tottenham High Road passes our Church. Nearby are the Lea Valley Regional Park, the Lea Valley Navigation and Tottenham Marshes. Middlesex University have recently purchased a large site in the parish adjacent to Tottenham Lock to create a new campus with residential accommodation.

Ecumenical relations

In Tottenham there are many other Christian Churches. We have ecumenical relations with High Cross United Reform Church, on the opposite side of Tottenham High Road, and St Marks Methodist Church further north beyond the police station. We support Christian Aid.

Tottenham High Cross

Tottenham High Cross once stood adjacent to the site of the current church. (It has since been relocated twenty metres further north.) It shows that he history of human occupation, transport and worship on the site goes back over 1,000 years

Tottenham High Road is part of the ancient Roman Road the Ermine Street which connected London with the north. In 875 the River Lea, about half a mile to the east, was the international boundary between Dane law and Saxon England.

A cross or marker stone has stood on the site for at least 600 years, probably longer. Standing at the junction of Philip Lane, one of Tottenham’s oldest streets, and Ermine Street, it is likely to have represented the point from which it was safe to descend the hill to start the crossing of the Tottenham Marshes to gain access to Walthamstow, Epping Forest and the east. During medieval times passage was facilitated in part by a Hale or Haul ferry across the meandering River Lea. (Some think it was a hale ferry. In other words passengers shouted or rang a bell to attract the attention of the ferry man. Alternatively it was a haul ferry, which passengers could pull to their bank by using a rope.)

Later, crosses were placed on public roads to call the thoughts of passers-by to a sense of religion and as a check to thieves. Such crosses were often erected at cross roads to gain maximum attention.

It is thought that the first Tottenham Cross was of Druidical origin. The name Tottenham means the ham of Taute from Taute or simulacrum of Mercury. The words ‘Toote’ and ‘ham’ are both Saxon in origin.

The Druidical worship of Taut, in early times, is connected with the great sweep of oaks at Tottenham, where the simulacrum stood. Even after the dawn of Christianity the early believers in Christ made pilgrimages to these once sacred pagan stones.

In 1467 it was recorded that the hill of the High Cross was a tumulus, barrow or burial place of the Druid. It was said that the cross stood in the midst of groves of oak trees, the simulacrum, or stone representation of Taute or Mercury.

The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton 1653

In 1653 Izaak Walton published his famous account of an angling trip with his friends, a falconer, and a hunter. The discourse was more than a treatise on the art of how to catch fish it was an insight into rural life of the day and advice on the moral dilemmas we face even in our day, of how to lead to soundly based and honourable life. Since that day angling has been indelibly linked to contemplation thanks to Izaak Walton.

Despite the fame of the book many overlook the fact that the action took place in the Lea Valley. Indeed, the action starts and ends at Tottenham High Cross, outside what is now the site of our church.

The First Day

Piscator, Venator and Aucepts

Piscator: You are well overtaken, Gentlemen! A good morning to you both! I have stretched my legs up Tottenham Hill to overtake you, hoping your business may occasion you towards Ware whither I am going this fine fresh May morning.
Venator: Sir, I, for my part, shall almost answer your hopes; for my purpose is to drink my morning’s draught at the Thatched House in Hoddesden.

Later:

The Fifth Day

Piscator: Well, Scholar, I have almost tired myself, and, I fear more than almost tired you. But I now see Tottenham High-Cross, and our short walk thither shall put a period in my too long discourse; in which my meaning was, and is, to plant that in your mind with which I labour to possess my own soul; that is a meek and thankful heart. And to that end I have shewed you, that riches without them, do not make any man happy. But let me tell you, that riches with them remove many fears and cares. And therefore my advice is, that you endeavour to be honestly rich, or contentedly poor; but be sure that your riches be justly got, or you spoil all.

Earlier, perhaps when walking through Edmonton, he tells Scholar, Our Saviour says in St Matthew’s Gospel: “Blessed be the merciful, for they shall see God. Blessed be the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. And blessed be the meek, for they shall possess the earth".

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or please contact

Peter Clarke, Lay Chair of the PCC, Holy Trinity Church, Philip Lane, Tottenham, LONDON N15 5GZ

HTTottenhamATaol.com

0790 999 3863