South Tottenham

 

Opened as 'Tottenham and Stamford Hill' station on 1 May 1871, on the Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway, it was renamed 'South Tottenham' on 1 July 1903. A short distance west of the station, on the far side of the A10, there is a single east-to-north turnout towards Seven Sisters. To allow this to be reached by westbound trains, there is a facing crossover, located in the platform area. A short distance to the east of the station, there is a double turnout branching to the south, to reach the eastern route of the two north-south Lea Valley Lines. Visually from the platforms, this looks like it is the main line, since the main tracks curve to the north from the junction. (In fact, it was the original main line, since the Tottenham and Forest Gate Railway eastwards was a later addition.) Both curves were formerly part of the route used by trains on the Palace Gates Line (which then continued onwards to North Woolwich) but these days see infrequent use, with just three booked London Overground passenger trains each week on Saturday only running over them (one between London Liverpool Street and Cheshunt, one between Liverpool Street and Edmonton Green and the other between Liverpool Street and Enfield Town via Stratford and Seven Sisters. These surviving parliamentary trains do not however stop at South Tottenham.

 

Tottenham is believed to have been named after Tota, a farmer, whose hamlet was mentioned in the Domesday Book; hence Tota's hamlet became Tottenham. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as Toteham. There has been a settlement at Tottenham for over a thousand years. It grew up along the old Roman road, Ermine Street (some of which is part of the present A10 road), and between High Cross and Tottenham Hale, the present Monument Way. When the Domesday Book was compiled in 1086, about 70 families lived within the area of the manor, mostly labourers working for the Lord of the Manor. A humorous poem entitled the Tournament of Tottenham, written around 1400, describes a mock-battle between peasants vying for the reeve's daughter. South Tottenham to Seven Sisters station (on the western, Seven Sisters Branch of the Lea Valley Lines and on the London Underground Victoria line) is considered an official out-of-station interchange by the National Rail timetable, and involves a short walk. This link will become fixed under the planned route for Crossrail 2, which sees a double-ended underground station built linking together South Tottenham and Seven Sisters stations. The station is in Travelcard Zone 3 and has wi-fi, help points and a waiting room but no toilets.

 

Connections: London Buses routes 76, 149, 243, 318, 349 and 476 and night routes N73 and N76 serve the station.

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