New River Walk (No.5)

At the Hornsey Water Works the path turns right to go under the railway and then turns left into Western Road. A signpost at this point would have been helpful…. Walk along the left side of Wood Green Common, heading towards Station Road. (Wood Green Common is the very small remains, deforested, of the Forest of Middlesex.) At Station Road turn left, and shortly pick up the New River on the right hand side of the road. Here, too, is the beginning of the Wood Green Tunnel, completed in 1859 to remove a loop in the New River.

From Station Road walk northwards, over the New River,  to Avenue Gardens, and Nightingale Gardens, coming out on Bounds Green Road where a curious obelisk required a little diversion. The obelisk is in memory of Mrs Catherine Smithies who founded ‘Bands of Mercy’, a society concerned for humane treatment of animals and said to be a forerunner of the RSPCA. However, Lewis Gompertz, as early as 1824, had founded the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and spent his life promoting the aims of the Society.

Continuing northwards to Nightingale Road and then Truro Road, diverting left up Palmerston Road before turning left again into Myddelton Road where the New River reappears from the Tunnel (or disappers into it, depending on the direction of your walk!)

Myddelton Road offered another little diversion – a street market! Here is an outdoor exercice point with very full information about the New River and the Tunnel. Then a beautiful stretch of the New River up to the North Circular Road, and to my stopping point near Palmers Green station.

You may be interested in
Walking the New River
Another New River Walk!
Lewis Gompertz & the SPCA – interesting article