Path on Tottenham Marshes

Image: © Marathon Taken: 16 Sep 2015

Tottenham Marshes were Lammas meadows in the 19th century. Hay was grown from spring until July and animals grazed through the autumn and winter with nutrients being supplied by winter floods. Lammas land was important for local people as it provided year round food for the animals, usually cows, sheep and horses. Here at Tottenham marshes, Lammas land was traditionally grazed from 12th August until 5th April. Tottenham Marshes stopped being grazed in this way in the early 20th century but Lammas land is still grazed at Walthamstow Marshes. On Saturday 23rd January 1910, the two brothers involved in the Tottenham Outrage were pursued across Tottenham Marshes before being killed in Epping Forest. During the chase, Police Constable William Tyler was killed – see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3519906 During the food shortages of the First World War, allotments were provided on Tottenham Marshes. By the 1920s, the marshes had tennis courts, football pitches, swings and roundabouts. Just after the Second World War, though, waste was tipped on to the Marshes which raised the ground level by six feet. Tottenham Marshes are now owned by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and are managed for recreation and wildlife. This was a thoroughly wet and miserable day from beginning to end.

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