London's Lost Railways Ep. 13 - Parkland Walk
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ต.ค. 2024
- It's Episode 13 of London's Lost Railways, and it's the well loved Parkland Walk between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace via Highgate and its tunnels. There's so much to see here on this epic three mile walk in North London ...
Download the London's Lost Railways map here: www.geofftech....
The original Londonist Parkland Walk video (from 2016, reuploaded 2019) : • London's Lost Railways...
Info on the Parkland Walk Art Trail: www.parkland-w...
Spriggan - What on earth is a spriggan? It's a malevolent tree spirit from Cornish fairy tales, this one is a sculpture by Marilyn Collins and was installed in 1993
Many thanks to additional illustrations by David Kirwin.
I used to trespass there back in the late 1970's before it was opened up to the public and sadly some old signals and bits of mangled and twisted track were removed circa 1984. Also I walked through both tunnels when the fences were easy to simply climb over. The second much longer tunnel had track that suddenly had a third and forth rail halfway in! This was very scary and, with friends, we were very careful not to touch the middle or side rails only to find out that they were not connected to any supply and were therefore not live. That being said, the line does connect to live Northern Line track after the second tunnel, whereby we were chased away by London Underground staff! I was 14 years old at the time .... Thankfully I knew how the underground works even back then, and we were quite safe....
Me too, I lived in Scarborough Rd in the 70s for a while and jumped over the back fence and had a similar experience . I remember the tunnel was dark and frightening.
I walked this route with my wife and daughter last Sunday before I had ever discovered this wonderful set of videos. We walked it to check it out for a family walk for my 60th birthday at the end of this month as my father-in-law now uses a mobility scooter. I said I wanted to celebrate my big day with a family walk followed by a good old fashioned boozy pub lunch. Can't wait!
Parkland Walk is the one everyone has anticipated for!
Oh yes!
I knew this was going to be a bank holiday special
Yes, did this last year. Great walk
Absolutely fantastic short. I am so glad I found it and watched it. I have lived both at Crouch End and Muswell Hill (behind Alley Palley) and cycled both sections - Parkland Walk South - very many times - mountain biking. I loved the area and knew something of it but due to your thoughtfulness in this documentary - you have finally filled in the blanks. Thank you so much
"... you come out at Cranley Gardens." aaaaaaand, moving swiftly on >>>
Great video! last walked along here in 2002. I should go and do it again sometime!
I used to live right next to Parkland Walk in Muswell Hill, and my back garden went straight on to the walk. In fact, I would often get back home via Parkland walk and my garden if I forget my keys (or just wanted to have a more scenic walk home)! Unfortunately, the house was sold last year after my grandfather passed, whose house it was. Many good memories from that area.
:)
Lived on Avenue Road in Crouch End in the early 00’s and the Parkland Walk went right past the back of us. Happy memories
Ah yes...The Boss of all disused railways. One of my favourite walks in London along with River Lea and Outer London Orbital path.
All great walks and fantastic urban nature spots.
The river Lea route down into Limehouse is great. A lot of walking groups use it as as its a 10 mile plus traffic free route into the East of the city. I particularly like the slight diversionary section that goes through the newly opened Walthamstow wetlands, which at 520 acres is a decent walk in itself..
Oh yes, I remember this video on Londonist! I really like this line alot, as it was supposed to be apart of the Northern line!
Hi i love your videos
No, Northern heights separate line. It would have many connecting stations though
@@asherpiggycow1221 no it was gonna be part of the Northern line. The northern line got its name from the northern heights project (obvious clue). Watch Geoff's video on how the tube lines got their names
Somebody I went to school with, Jonathan James, co-wrote an excellent book about this line called "Northern Wastes". Well worth a read if you can find a copy.
Years ago, I managed to walk through the south tunnels and get onto the High Level platforms. I got caught by an LT staff member but rather than a clip round the ear I got a cup of tea and a guided tour instead.
Thank you for such a great video. A vivid fan of your TH-cam blog from country Georgia 🇬🇪
Love this walk. Made the trip into London a few years ago and walked the opposite direction for my Birthday.
I grew up with a similar Railway Walk here in Milton Keynes so I've always been fascinated by these walks. The Wolverton to Newport Pagnell Railway walk is well worth your time if you're ever this way. Wolverton is a Railway town and there is still plenty to be seen along the walk, and in Wolverton itself.
This videos given me the impetus to get up early and do this walk before the I head down to the Emirates tomorrow. Looks a great way to work up an appetite for lunch at the Arsenal Cafe
Very interesting - one of my favourite disused railways! I've walked or cycled it numerous times.
Yay! Another Day, Another video with Geoff and Victoria (in an Invisibility Cloak)!
Igrew up near cranley garden station in the early 1950s. Isaw steam trains in action on this line. This lead me on to a lifelong interest in trains,which in turn lead me onto a fifty year career on the railways
Always a joy to watch these videos. 😍🤗
A summer holiday in 1984 playing along it with bikes and friends. It was quiet and desolete. Everyday was warm and fun.
I use to play there as a kid in the late 70’s / early 80’s and would enter via Milton park N6. My friends and I created treehouses, tunnels and cycle tracks on the embankment which the council eventually ruined by installing steps. In 1977, the embankment caught fire. Privileged to have explored the tunnels and Highgate station.
the tunnel being a bat sanctuary is very cool
a look at what graffiti people have to get threw to paint moving steel too lol
The old tunnel at Marlborough wilts is also a bat sanctuary
A lot of old railway tunnels in Europe are either converted to bat tunnels or tunnels to grow fungi in.
I love bats but why does every disused tunnel have to be turned into a bat hibernaculum?
Its just English division of Batcave.
You've made this north Londoner in exile very happy! Great video as always, Geoff.
heh heh, many thanks! happy to!
This is one of the best walks in terms of how many remnants remain.
100%
Thank you for bringing back memories for me. I lived 5 minutes from the old Crouch End station from 1996-2000, and regularly did the Parkland walk, including once late at night back from Finsbury Park when Sting was headlining a festival. You could have mentioned that the Railway Tavern used to be at Crouch End station and was moved down the road (I understand). Also, Bob Dylan stories abound in Crouch End...
Thank you for this. I moved from N London and walking the old railway in part regularly (quite recently) it was wonderful walking with you in my mind through Highgate woods and Cranley Gardens tunnel to the best view bit- felt nostalgic and a little home sick. Will do it again someday with my dog I hope.
Walked this today, absolutely brilliant!
You know its warm when Geoff rolls his sleeves up.
Crouch End is the most easily seen station. THE PLATFORMS ARE STILL THERE!
Crouch End really needed rail acess to central london how difficult was crossing finsbury park to run at least hampstead-moorgate ?
The bridge over the old platforms also has an excellent greasy-spoon cafe for the obligatory cup of tea
Crouch end sounds like something from Catweasle!
@@1anwrang13r I've always wondered what was up with the shape of that bridge, its so weird
@@juanescobar8123Most of the bridges along this line were deemed unsafe for buses, so the one by Crouch End Station was changed to accommodate buses, among others.
Thank you Geoff for this interesting selection of lost railways. The Parkland Walk one was interesting as I was born near Crouch End so I know that section of the walk. I`ll look forward to watching the bonus videos
Hey Geoff.
I've cycled through the 3 bridges in Hanwell. It's a fantastic spot on the old railway down to what used to be Brentford Station and the rail yard by the Thames.
Been looking forward to this one, I grew up at the top of Crouch Hill.
Geoff; me and my gf were lucky enough to see you recording this episode. Was fun, thanks. Great job!!!!
Thanks Geoff for this incredible video (and incredible series). As a local who has walked the parkland walk so many times I have still learnt new things from this video. One thing that I noticed recently that you hadn’t mentioned in the video is that after the platforms at crouch end station and under the bridge where there is a slope (which I always loved to run down when I was little and sometimes still do) there is a tree growing out of a brick and if you look very closely you can see that there is also a piece of (what looks like) rail submerged in the tree- which I just find so interesting as I wouldn’t expect there to be this small bit of rail halfway up the slope, and I can’t understand what it could be for, but it looks to me like it must be rail.
thanks Lyra, very kind. i missed the metal rail, i'll look out for it next time! :)
Your original Parkland walk video was a major factor for me to visit London a few years ago. I loved the Parkland walk with all its railway-related stuff on the way, and the view from Alexandra Palace over London is astonishing. Thanks for redoing all the lost railways!
Thanks for re-igniting my fascination at trains Geoff
Love this. I recall travelling by steam train from Highgate to Alexandra Palace with my Mum one time, probably in 1954.
Two of my close friends have moved from Crouch End to Berlin this weekend, and this video brings back a lot of memories of walking these paths when visiting them.
Thanks so much for this. I lived for a time just off Stanhope Road and discovered it then c.1990. It's biggest appeal is being able to walk a good distance away from the traffic. Not many places offer that opportunity. I wouldn't be keen on all the joggers now who have taken over. On a walk I like to meander and trundle along with no particular place to be, but the footness brigade disrupt that vibe for me. As for the jogger with the buggy - no comment.
Well researched as ever. Walk from Gillespie Rd nature reserve to Finsbury park. Then short walk to the line itself via the park. Then up to Highgate. Then Church Bottom Wood (don't you dare give me any of that royal crap), soon to Highgate Wood to rejoin at Cranley gardens to the finish.
Miles and miles of no traffic. In London!!!
Ancient woods, a railway... Arsenal , this is all the planet can offer...go!
I remember part of this was used in an episode of Grange Hill in the 80s when they did a sponsored walk
I absolutely love Parkland Walk! Living in Ally Pally, its a great space for a run or walk. Crouch End station definitely a highlight with the view from Muswell Hill too.
Great video with so much to see. Put on my list of places I'd like to walk.
I went on this walk myself a few years ago, lovely scenery so close to central London.
I used to walk into the Highgate Tunnel from the southern side in the mid 90’s from Finsbury Park. The Green Man sculpture at Crouch End station had just been installed.
That bridge over Stanhope Road (5:23) will soon need replacing, as hinted at by the slightly worrying looking industrial jack holding it up!
Once again, beautifully filmed!
Very kind, thank you! :-)
I have no idea how I stumbled across your videos a few years ago - I'm not that big into Trains, and I live in Canada; but I love watching the adventures you get on, and learning about how a really old transit system evolved and continues to evolve. Weirdly, while watching DownieLive today doing a tour of Vancouver's SkyTrain system, he mentioned you and how you should collab. And I could not agree more. When the world turns the right way around, come for a visit!
thanks Nick, kind comment! one day Downie and I hope to cross paths, yes .....
Amazing done! Thx! Greetings from Tricity in Poland :-)
One of your best Geoff and I've seen many
Hurray for bonus episodes!
Geoff, may I suggest doing about 240 of them?
Hi Geoff! Just wanted to say that I find your videos - and I've watched most of them - thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable! It's just amazing that there's so much undiscovered railway history out there! Keep up the god work!
As a northerner, I love London and it's transport system and history. This has to be a favourite of your lost London railways series, great work!
I'm a south London lad - but moved to Stroud Green after college and fell in love with North London - Not just with this nature walk but the whole area - so beautiful! I would walk around the streets enjoying the different styles of houses! Great memories brought back by this video! Thanks!
Yay! Another episode! Thanks Geoff for these, and what a way to end the series!
It's not the end ... still at least one more! :-D
@@geofftech2 great keep going for a long time!
I remember walking along this line when it was an unofficial footpath in the late 1970s as a young kid. It had a bit of a reputation then for undesirables.
This is one of my favourite walks in London. It is brilliant because it is A: a part of London’s History (a good subject for an episode of Unfinished London) and B: forms part of The Capital Ring.
Excellent stuff again Geoff! My dad lived in Hornsby then Finsbury Park in the late 70s so Ally Pally was a frequent destination. We did explore the old railway back then which was a deal less easy to negotiate from what I can remember back then, and definitive a bit more hazardous, but one could also say more “hands on” 😆 There was an awful lot of railway furniture all over the place, though by the time I finally got around to revisit the place in the early 2000s, it had changed almost beyond recognition, though obviously having a familiarity with the route helped prevent me being disoriented! 😜 Great to see there are still remnants laying around though. Crouch End was one of the most exciting things possible to junior school Tim! 🤓
Cheers mate, glad to see there will be yet more to come 🍻🍀👍
Bonus facts: (inhales)... If you go to the West Side of Highgate Wood there is a green metal fence and a large gap between the fence and the houses. That gap is where the line used to run through Highgate Wood. The Highgate northern line depot is at the sight of the junction where the Alexandra Palace branch broke off. The sight of Cranley gardens station is now a school. At east finchley there are 4 platforms because the outer tracks are used by the northern line through trains but the centre tracks were used by trains going from central London to Edgware via Highgate using both the parkland walk line and the mill hill to Edgware line. (BTW I know all this because I'm a local and a nerd)
love it! thanks ... excellent bonus info, ta!
Always thorough and informative, geeky and sufficiently nerdy, always a terrific job. Well done!
My all time favourite walk
The Alexandra Palace looks interesting. Thank you, Geoff, for showing us the hidden nuggets of London.
The best till last! Epic video with some good puns and seeing Highgate was impressive, I have walk some of the Parkland Walk myself from Stroudly Green to Crouch End but would love to go back thee again to walk the.... almost the entire line.
Great tour of a line that looks to be one of the casualties of the Beeching cutbacks around 1964.
Reminds me of a trip my girlfriend and I made in the early 50s. Steam hauled (N2) High Barnet to Southend via Highgate and Finsbury Park. Wish I could remember more about it now!
Great video Geoff. Has to be my favourite lost railway. Need to visit it one day and it’s not too far from me.
Well done Geoff, you have excelled yourself with this series
So interesting to watch these videos. Looking forward to the two bonus episodes. So many new ideas for my London bucket list and I’m just waiting for the day my next visit to London is possible again.
That is a very informative video I hope to walk that route one day.
Walked many of the old lines in London and yes this is by far the best. Been a great series looking forward to the next one.
Great episode, Geoff. Many thanks.
Have done this walk God knows how many times, I know every inch of it, nice video Geoff
I used to live on Crouch Hill. I remember the day the bridge over the Parkland Walk collapsed (early 1995 iirc) and the road was closed for weeks while they built the new echoey bridge
Was it an original bridge?
Im not a massive fan of trains and railways and undergrounds but i thoroughly enjoy watching you and the information you give is fantastic! Im a massive history nerd and world war 1 and 2 are my passion. I was wondering, if in the future you could combine stations and railway lines with there part in that timeline, the blitz, shelters, yards, ect.. would be great! Thank you for your hard work and keep it up 👍🏻
Love your lost railways
Cute greyhound!!
That walk looks like so much fun!
@Geoff Marshall Another fascinating piece of London's railway history! Compelling watching. Thanks for all the research, and great presentation and filming - looking forward to the bonus videos.
It's a nightmare to cycle along. This isn't to criticise the pedestrians, but it's just so busy!
I remember as a young boy, standing at the train spotters point watching the express trains heading north. The bridge at the start of this video was on the same level as the rail bridge that went to Highgate and beyond. Trains were running then, but I think only to reverse into the carriage sidings on the up side of the main line.
This walk reminds me so much of the "petite ceinture" (small belt) one circling Paris inside its outer ring road, except that the Paris one kept almost all its original railway instalments (stations, signal boxes, platforms, foot bridges and access walks), plus one of the two tracks is just covered in sand and removable cladding allowing the line to be easily reuses with a minimal labour just in case... and all the tunnels have remained open meaning that there's a full continuity all along (on a par with the original historically first conversion of this style in the world- the "coulee verte" (green lane) renamed "promenade plantee" over the viaduct theni in a trench between the old Bastille station and the Bois de Vincennes, opened in 1995
This is your best one so far. It must be really something to walk the old platforms at Crouch End. Unfortunately I cannot do this living now near King's Lynn. But I can watch your excellent presentation - three times so far- and imagine what it would be like to ride the train to Alexandra Palace station. Great stuff !
many thanks, very kind! i also love the Croydon one and the Staines West one .. i put a lot of work into them!
You are very welcome and I am sure that everyone appreciates the time and skill you apply to produce such a professional result.
love this series Geoff, something magical about lost railways. Keep em coming!
Great video Completed many times However your video has made the walk much more interesting with all the information Many Thanks 👍👍👍👍
The Northern line running all the way up to Ally Pally would have been so unbelievably convenient. The present-day concert venue is brilliant, but getting to or from the venue is a PITA.
I THINK, with the word 'obliterated' finally turning up, this might well be the bingo episode.
I'm still missing 5!
The one we've all been waiting for!
Love the way they left the railways there after all these years normally there long gone
Excellent video Geoff. Very interesting. Thankyou 👍👍👍👍👍
It looks a beautiful walk now but I can't help but think how useful this line would be now with all the events at the Ally Pally. Difficult to get to by tube and the trains aren't particularly frequent, so would be useful to have particularly late night service that went right up to the palace.
“The Goods Office” used to be called “The Triangle”, a nice restaurant. I had some great meals there in early 2000’s.
I remember walking up that path in the mid 80's, it looked the same, I am surprised it was only recently abandoned
No doubt this one was my favourite as I walked numerous times through there and I live not far from it. Can't wait for the next time I go through to keep my eyes peeled for the stuff you mentioned
Great video Geoff! Looking forward to the next two 😀
Yes, it is coming back now. As a young lad, I was mugged along the northern part a few times. Good times!
great memories! I went there in Dec 2016.
In the 1970s there still used to be a big 'Northern Heights' sign visible from the track on the first house on the left as you walked over Stanhope bridge towards Highgate.
At the time we always used to wonder what it meant, not knowing the history of the line.
Welcome back to Haringey and Alexandra!
Good video! Thank you for that! ☺️
Yeah, it is fantastic place. Love it :))
Great videos Geoff, keep them coming
:-)
Nice bit of war history at the start with the line block bit of concrete