1 4 o 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. u The King on his way to London 
[from Ludlow] was on the fourth of May met at Hornsey 
Park (now [1756] Highgate) 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 
