Fortis Green is a ward in the extreme north-western corner of the Borough of Haringey

London Borough of Haringey

The London Borough of Haringey is a London borough, in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of three former boroughs. It shares borders with six other London boroughs...

, North London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. It is also the name of the road that runs between Muswell Hill and East Finchley which forms part of the A504.

The ward lies between Colney Hatch

Colney Hatch

Colney Hatch is the historical name for a small district within the London Borough of Barnet in London, England. The name Colney Hatch was originally that of a hamlet in the parish of Friern Barnet, first recorded in the early 15th century...

 to the north, Muswell Hill

Muswell Hill

Muswell Hill is a suburb of north London, mostly in the London Borough of Haringey. It is situated about north of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. Muswell Hill is in the N10 postal district and mostly in the Hornsey and Wood Green parliamentary constituency.- History :The...

 to the east, Highgate

Highgate

Highgate is an area of North London on the north-eastern corner of Hampstead Heath.Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has an active conservation body, the Highgate Society, to protect its character....

 to the south and East Finchley

East Finchley

East Finchley is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, in north London, and situated north-west of Charing Cross. Geographically it is somewhat separate from the rest of Finchley, with North Finchley and West Finchley to the north, and Finchley Central to the west.- History :The land on which...

 to the west. It is a mostly residential area, although it also contains two large hospitals: Coppets Wood Hospital to the north, which is the Infectious and Tropical Diseases Unit of the Royal Free Hospital

Royal Free Hospital

The Royal Free Hospital is a major teaching hospital in Hampstead, London, England and part of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust....

 NHS Trust, and St Lukes Woodside Hospital to the south.
Fortis Green ward has a population of about 11,000 and is generally a middle-class area, with a higher proportion of skilled and highly qualified employees than the borough average (40.7% as compared with 26.3% are in social grade AB). More than half of the 16- to 74-year-olds in Fortis Green are qualified to degree level or higher, and employment levels are very high. About 85% of the population is White

White people

White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...

, higher than the borough average of about 65%. 47.2% of the housing stock is in houses; 52.8% in flats

Apartment

An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...

.

Fortis Green Road is the main shopping thoroughfare and the parish church is dedicated to St James. The nearest tube

London Underground

The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

 station is at East Finchley

East Finchley tube station

East Finchley is a London Underground station in East Finchley in north London. The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line, between Highgate and Finchley Central stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 3.-History:...

.

History

Although Fortis Green is now seen as being integral with Greater London this is a quite recent development. Before the 19th century the area was completely rural with an expanse of common land to the north and farmland to the south. In 1816 only Coldfall Wood

Coldfall wood

Coldfall Wood is an ancient wood in Muswell Hill, North London. It covers an area of approximately 14 hectares and is surrounded by the St. Pancras and Islington Cemetery, the East Finchley public allotments, and the residential roads Creighton Avenue and Barrenger Road...

 and wasteland lay north of Fortis Green and west of Coppetts Road. Several houses stood near the junction of Fortis Green with Muswell Hill Road where these scattered dwellings included the parish poorhouses and Upton Farm.
Development of Fortis Green from a countryside track began with the enclosure of the commons it crossed. The area of Hornsey

Hornsey

Hornsey is a district in London Borough of Haringey in north London in England. Whilst Hornsey was formerly the name of a parish and later a municipal borough of Middlesex, today, the name refers only to the London district. It is an inner-suburban area located north of Charing Cross.-Locale:The ...

 Common fronting the track was divided into narrow plots in 1815. Building started soon after with the semi detached villas Albion Lodge and Albion Cottage being one of the first properties to be built around this time. These are one of the earliest surviving properties in the area, outside Highgate

Highgate

Highgate is an area of North London on the north-eastern corner of Hampstead Heath.Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has an active conservation body, the Highgate Society, to protect its character....

.

Development of the East Finchley end began in 1820 when the Bishop of London

Bishop of London

The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...

 sold off a large south facing field on the south side of Fortis Green on the corner of the East Finchley High Road. Four grand houses were built on the plot and proceeding from west to east these properties were Fairlawn, Cranleigh, Park Hall and Summerlee. A further large house, Park View was also built to the east of Summerlee.

In 1835 the architect Anthony Salvin

Anthony Salvin

Anthony Salvin was an English architect. He gained a reputation as an expert on medieval buildings and applied this expertise to his new buildings and his restorations...

 purchased a field and built two Italianate

Italianate architecture

The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...

 villas, Springcroft and Colethall (later Uplands) to the east of Summerlee.

In the 1850s St James Church school was constructed on the north side of Fortis Green near to the junction with Tetherdown.

Fortis Green was affected by the construction of the Great Northern Railway

Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)

The Great Northern Railway was a British railway company established by the Great Northern Railway Act of 1846. On 1 January 1923 the company lost its identity as a constituent of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway....

 stations at East Finchley

East Finchley tube station

East Finchley is a London Underground station in East Finchley in north London. The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line, between Highgate and Finchley Central stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 3.-History:...

, which opened in 1867, and Muswell Hill

Muswell Hill railway station

Muswell Hill railway station was in the Muswell Hill district of north London just north of the road junction of Muswell Hill and Muswell Hill Place...

 in 1872 and also by the opening of Alexandra Park

Alexandra Park, London

Alexandra Park is an 80 hectare, Green Flag Award and Green Heritage winning landscaped park in the Borough of Haringey in north London.-Overview:...

 in 1872. Twenty houses were built in the decade to 1861, most of them on the Haswell Park estate to the south of the road which was acquired in 1852 by the National Freehold Land Society. Meant for superior villas, it was divided into 180 plots facing Eastern, Western, and Southern roads and the paths later called Haswell Passage, Francis Road, and Shakespeare Gardens. Some roads existed by 1855 and in 1856 it was claimed that all lots were fenced and connected to main services. In spite of auctions in 1852 and 1856 some lots were still unsold in 1858; there were only 28 houses in 1871. Vacant plots remained in 1896, and the southern part of the estate was never built on. In 1871 there were only twelve houses, six built during 1867-8, standing north of Fortis Green and in 1896 there were just two large houses between Eastern Road and Muswell Hill Road.

During the 1890s, with the expansion of London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, building spread to Fortis Green. By 1900 builders had laid out the curved Creighton Avenue from Page's Lane to Coldfall Wood.

By 1900 the builder W. J. Collins had laid out the area south of Fortis Green and west of Muswell Hill Road, previously the site of the large houses Midhurst, Fortismere, and the Firs, which were replaced before 1905 by five streets of terraced houses running southward from Fortis Green to Grand Avenue.

In 1902 the Police Station was opened. The Clissold Arms is on the site of the Fortis Green Brewery which operated from 1843 to 1902. Until 1888 the Green family operated the brewery, then for some years it was run by a Mr. Norman until being taken over by Ind Coope.

South of Fortis Green Road, on opposite sides of Firs Avenue, the flats Firs Mansions and Birchwood Mansions were erected about 1907 and 1910 respectively. South of Fortis Green itself, Midhurst Mansions dates from 1902 while Leaside Mansions and the Gables date from about 1907.

By 1908 Burlington Road and the western frontage of Tetherdown had been built. Further west, in the same year, building was in progress in Lynmouth Road, Southern Road and Springcroft Avenue.

After 1920 the only remaining development that could be done was at the expense of the remaining open spaces, along Creighton Avenue, to the west of Coppetts Road, and the roads connecting it to Fortis Green. Ringwood Avenue, Beech Drive, Church Vale and Twyford Avenue were built during the 1930s on the southern part of Coldfall Wood.

Woodside Avenue and the connecting roads, and Fordington and Lanchester roads were also built during this period.

Notable current and former residents

Oliver Erichson Janson

Oliver Erichson Janson

Oliver Erichson Janson was an English entomologist who specialised in Coleoptera.He was the son of Edward Wesley Janson and took over the family natural history and publishing business....

, and William Bernhardt Tegetmeier

William Bernhardt Tegetmeier

William Bernhardt Tegetmeier was a noted English naturalist , a founder of the Savage Club, and a writer and journalist of domestic science....

.

Ray

Ray Davies

Ray Davies, CBE is an English rock musician. He is best known as lead singer and songwriter for the Kinks, which he led with his younger brother, Dave...

 and Dave Davies

Dave Davies

David Russell Gordon "Dave" Davies is an English rock musician best known for his role as lead guitarist and vocalist for the English rock band The Kinks....

 of the Kinks

The Kinks

The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...

 are from Fortis Green. Dave released a solo album titled Fortis Green in 1999.

The group Fairport Convention

Fairport Convention

Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...

 started off at the family home of Simon Nicol

Simon Nicol

Simon John Breckenridge Nicol is a guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He was a founder member of British folk rock, or electric folk group Fairport Convention and is the only founding member still in the band...

. The house, Fairport, is on the south side of Fortis Green near the junction with Tetherdown and Fortis Green Road.

The fictional character Norman Stanley Fletcher

Norman Stanley Fletcher

Norman Stanley "Fletch" Fletcher is the main character in the popular BBC sitcom Porridge, and the less-successful spin-off, Going Straight...

 of the BBC sitcom Porridge

Porridge (TV series)

Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland...

was revealed to be resident of the Fortis Green area in the episode Men Without Women. He was being escorted home from Fortis Green Police station in the direction of Fortis Green Avenue by police officer Sergeant Norris.