An exploration of the history and ownership of a single Victorian house and its surroundings in the South Tottenham and Stamford Hill areas of North London tracks through the centuries, uncovering a surprising web of people, places and events linked by their connection to the land.
“In Front Door to the Past, Jennifer Brown has, through her research for and writing of the book, completed a substantial labour of great love. Over a period of several years she has focused much of her time and energy on a project that began with the passing wonder as to who had been the previous residents of her then home in Vartry Road. The result is a detailed work that straddles a period from Ughtred’s and her nuns’ receipt of the land in question around 1152 to the 21st century.
The modern part of the story begins in the late 19th century with the early lives and later arrival in London of two brothers, Samuel and George Candler, the former beginning a career in the law, the other as an estate agent and property developer. Their business as well as family lives are intertwined and George becomes the builder and first resident of the Vartry Road house. The account progresses through the lives of many people – family, locals, neighbours and the occasional person of great note, as well as back though ownership of the land under and around the house to discover a treasure of mystery, intrigue and surprise.
Then, returning to more ancient times, the author explores the lives, deaths and transactions of earlier owners of the land and others connected to it. Perhaps by coincidence, it is the noted Candelers (or Candlers) of London who dominate the period after the dissolution of the monasteries, progressively passing it down through a series of wealthy owners that include the Barkhams, Hayters, Lethieulliers and Dormans.
Along the way we are introduced to a host of major and minor personae such as Samuel Pepys, Oliver Cromwell, Robert Walpole, Ernest Shackleton and even Alfred Hitchcock, but many more as well.”
“In Front Door to the Past, Jennifer Brown has, through her research for and writing of the book, completed a substantial labour of great love. Over a period of several years she has focused much of her time and energy on a project that began with the passing wonder as to who had been the previous residents of her then home in Vartry Road. The result is a detailed work that straddles a period from Ughtred’s and her nuns’ receipt of the land in question around 1152 to the 21st century.
The modern part of the story begins in the late 19th century with the early lives and later arrival in London of two brothers, Samuel and George Candler, the former beginning a career in the law, the other as an estate agent and property developer. Their business as well as family lives are intertwined and George becomes the builder and first resident of the Vartry Road house. The account progresses through the lives of many people – family, locals, neighbours and the occasional person of great note, as well as back though ownership of the land under and around the house to discover a treasure of mystery, intrigue and surprise.
Then, returning to more ancient times, the author explores the lives, deaths and transactions of earlier owners of the land and others connected to it. Perhaps by coincidence, it is the noted Candelers (or Candlers) of London who dominate the period after the dissolution of the monasteries, progressively passing it down through a series of wealthy owners that include the Barkhams, Hayters, Lethieulliers and Dormans.
Along the way we are introduced to a host of major and minor personae such as Samuel Pepys, Oliver Cromwell, Robert Walpole, Ernest Shackleton and even Alfred Hitchcock, but many more as well.”