Park of the week

67. Bruce Castle Park

This large, historic park is in Tottenham and its use as parkland dates back to the early eleventh century. It was created from the remains of the ancient Bruce Castle family estate, bought by the local authority in 1892, when it became the first park in Tottenham. It won the Green Flag Award in 2003 and has kept it ever since.

A huge ancient oak tree dominates the northern side of the park. It’s over 450 years old and came runner up in the Woodland Trust’s Tree of the Year award in 2018. There is a downloadable tree trail through the park for children to follow and identify ten different trees.

The park is home to a Holocaust Memorial Garden, created by young offenders as part of their rehabilitation. Apart from a small plaque with gold letters carved into a piece of black stone, there is a sculpture made from six wooden railway sleepers, representing the murdered six million Jews. Each has a single name carved on it:  the first names of the six offenders who created the memorial. At the edge of the garden sculpture represents prison bars and barbed wire.
In the park, there are also basketball and tennis courts, table tennis tables, a multi-use games area, picnic area and a children’s playground. There’s also a paddling pool, open at weekends during the summer months and all day during the school summer holidays.

Bruce Castle Museum, located in the park and opened in 1927, is a Grade I listed sixteenth century manor house rather than a castle. It houses Haringey’s local history collections and archives, and the history of the Royal Mail, because the 19th century the manor house became a school with Sir Rowland Hill, the man who invented the postage stamp, as headteacher. The museum is open from Wednesday to Sunday, 1 to 5pm. 

The ghost of a lady is alleged often to be seen wandering the grounds of Bruce Castle Park and it’s believed that the ghost is that of Lady Constantina Lucy, who lived in the house in 1680. We didn’t see anything looking like a ghost, and as I don’t believe in them anyway, I wouldn’t have seen it if it had been there.

The park also has a café, and there are toilets in the museum. There is a car park behind the museum, reachable via Church Lane, N17. We found space to park on the road, for which we had to pay.  

Judith Field

Bruce Castle Park, Lordship Lane, London, N17 8NU