The
village of Tottenham lay some five miles north-east of Georgian London.
The greater part of the extensive parish was given over to grasslands
for grazing livestock, although the area also held many substantial
mansions. The village essentially consisted of one long street, constructed
on the thoroughfare to Ware, Royston, and Cambridge. J Norris Brewer
described the village in 1816 as "unpleasingly flat, the buildings
straggling and unequal, yet partaking little of a rural nature."
The village was often referred to as Tottenham-high-cross after the
ancient
cross that stood on the east side of the street, not far from the
centre of the village. The medieval cross was made of wood and covered
in lead to protect it from water. This was so decayed by 1600 that Dean
Wood replaced it with a brick structure; this was further covered with
stucco in 1809.
The
church of Tottenham sat on a slight rise about a quarter of a mile to
the west of the village, and the oldest parts of it date from the early
fourteenth century.
