140 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



with houses, and separating Finsbury altogether from the 

 country. Many delays, owing to changes of Government, 

 occurred before the necessary legislation was accomplished. 

 When the Metropolitan Board of Works came into being, 

 it took up the scheme, and it was finally under its auspices 

 that the land was purchased, and the Park, 115 acres in 

 extent, was opened in 1869. 



On the highest point of the ground there is a 

 lake, which was in existence before it became a public 

 park. Near there stood Hornsey Wood House, a Tea 

 Garden of some reputation in the eighteenth century. 

 About the year 1800 the old house was pulled down, 

 and the new proprietor built another tavern, and converted 

 part of the remains of Hornsey Wood into an artificial 

 lake for boating and angling. This second house existed 

 until it was pulled down in 1866, when the Park was in 

 progress. Hornsey Wood was part of the forest which 

 bounded London on the north, and the site of the Park 

 was in the manor of Brownswood, which was held by the 

 See of London. 



Accounts of various incidents which are connected 

 with this spot are given in histories of Hornsey. The 

 most picturesque is that in which the ill-fated little King 

 Edward V, is the central figure, overshadowed by his 

 perfidious uncle. " The King on his way to London 

 [from Ludlow] was on the fourth of May met at Hornsey 

 Park (now [1756] Highgatc) by Edmund Shaw, the 

 Mayor, accompanied by the Aldermen, Sheriffs and five 

 hundred Citizens on Horseback, richly accoutered in 

 purple Gowns ; whence they conducted him to the City ; 

 where he was received by the Citizens with a joy inex- 

 pressible. ... In this solemn Cavalcade, the Duke of 

 Gloucester's Deportment was very remarkable ; for riding 



