The Name of Harringay

By John Hinshelwood and Stephen Rigg

The name of the London Borough of Haringey and its relation to the district of Harringay causes much confusion. Fifty years ago no such confusion existed since the London Borough of Haringey had not been formed and the spelling of the name of the district of Harringay was of little consequence. The London Borough of Haringey was formed in 1965 under the London Local Government Act of 1963 by the amalgamation of the Borough Councils of Hornsey, Tottenham and Wood Green. Representatives of the three Councils formed a joint planning Committee which was required by the Minister for Housing and Local Government to submit a name for the new Borough. After due consideration the representatives proposed to their Councils, each of which agreed, that the name Haringey, being of great antiquity and associated with the central area of the proposed borough, should be adopted.

The names ‘Hornsey’, ‘Haringey’, and ‘Harringay’ all derive from the same Old English word - ‘Heringes-hege’. Dr S J Madge (1874-1961), a teacher of English and History at South Harringay School, was the authority who undertook a major study into the origin of the meaning of these names, published in 1936 as the Origin of the Name of Hornsey. The spelling used for the new Borough was the one that Madge had identified for legal and formal use as opposed to the popularly used name for the district - ever since it has caused some confusion in the minds of residents and visitors alike.

Portrait of Dr Sidney Joseph Madge, schoolteacher, antiquary and topographer, in doctoral robes, 1939, courtesy Bruce Castle Museum (ldbcm:2011.577)

John Hinshelwood & Stephen Rigg’s book Harringay A Century of Change is available to buy @ 523 Green Lanes