London Borough of Haringey: History
=== Toponymy ===
The names Haringey, Harringay and Hornsey in use today are all different variations of the same Old English: Hæringeshege. Hæring was a Saxon chief who lived probably in the area around Hornsey. Hæringeshege meant Hæring's enclosure and evolved into Haringey, Harringay and Hornsey.
In the Last Glacial Maximum, Haringey was at the edge of a huge glacial mass that reached as far south as Muswell Hill. There is evidence of both Stone Age and Bronze Age activity.
In the Iron Age and Roman periods, Haringey was peopled by a Celtic tribe called the Catuvellauni, whose extensive lands centred on Hertfordshire and Middlesex. The Romans' presence is evidenced chiefly by the roads they built through the area. Tottenham High Road was part of the main Roman thoroughfare of Ermine Street. There have also been Roman finds in the borough which suggests possible Roman settlement.
In the 5th and 6th centuries after the Saxon invasions the settlement of Haeringehaia was founded; its name coming from the Old English haeringe meaning a "meadow of hares".
Haringey remained a rural area until the 18th century when large country houses close to London became increasingly common. The coming of the railways from the mid-nineteenth century onwards led to rapid urbanisation; by the turn of the century much of Haringey had been transformed from a rural to an urbanised environment.
The area of the modern borough broadly corresponds to the two ancient parishes of Tottenham (which covered most of the area) and Hornsey in the south-west. Both parishes were historically in the county of Middlesex, with Tottenham being in Edmonton Hundred and Hornsey in Ossulstone Hundred. Ossulstone was later split into divisions for certain administrative functions, and Hornsey was included in its Finsbury division.
The ancient parishes provided a framework for both civil (administrative) and ecclesiastical (church) functions, but during the 19th century there was a divergence into distinct civil and ecclesiastical parish systems. The ecclesiastical parishes were gradually sub-divided to better serve the needs of a growing population, while the civil parishes continued to be based on the ancient parishes. The civil parish of Tottenham was made a local board district in 1850, with an elected board overseeing public health and responsible for the provision of infrastructure.
Similar local government districts were created for South Hornsey in 1865, and for the rest of Hornsey parish in 1867. The boundary between the Hornsey and South Hornsey districts was adjusted in 1874 to follow the Seven Sisters Road. The Tottenham district was divided in 1888, when its western part was made a separate district called Wood Green.
The four districts of Hornsey, South Hornsey, Tottenham and Wood Green were each reconstituted as urban districts under the Local Government Act 1894. South Hornsey Urban District was abolished in 1900 when it was absorbed into the Metropolitan Borough of Stoke Newington. Hornsey Urban District was incorporated to become a municipal borough in 1903, as were Wood Green in 1933, and Tottenham in 1934.
The modern borough was created in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963, covering the combined area of the three municipal boroughs of Hornsey, Tottenham and Wood Green. The area was transferred from Middlesex to Greater London to become one of the 32 London Boroughs. The new borough was given the name Haringey, which was an old name for Hornsey.