View of Hornsey Wood House from the south, with the New River in the foreground (image copyright Haringey Museum and Archive Service at Bruce Castle) In 1613 the New River, created to bring water from Chadwell and Great Anwell in Hertfordshire to Islington for the growing population of London, was completed. It still flows through the north east corner of Finsbury Park. It is a fantastic example of early engineering. Source: Hayes, H. (2001) A Park for Finsbury. Friends of Finsbury Park

(watercolour) The land that became Finsbury Park was part of the manor of Brownswood. The first mention of a building on the Brownswood estate is in 1649, called Copt Hall. Somewhere around the mid-18th century Copt Hall changed from a private home to a tea-room and tavern for Londoners to visit on Sundays. By the early 19th century, the old Copt Hall had undergone extensive redevelopment and was now known as Hornsey Wood House. Click below to read more

(© Public Records Office work 16 28/1) On 5 June 1857 Superintending Architect Frederick Manable gave this report and estimate of costs for the creation of Finsbury Park to the Metropolitan Board of Works. On 8 June the plans were approved by the board to be submitted to H.M. Office of Works for approval and to be submitted to the House of Commons. On 18 June H.M. Office of Works approved the bill. The bill became law on 17 August 1857. Source: Hayes, H. (2001) A Park for Finsbury.

(image copyright unknown) On 1st July 1861 (eight years before the opening of Finsbury Park), Seven Sisters Road Station - now Finsbury Park Station - opened for the small local community. Source: Hayes, H. (2001) A Park for Finsbury: Finsbury Park at the Millennium. Friends of Finsbury Park.

Image from the Illustrated London News, from a collection curated by harringayonline.com

(from a collection curated by harringayonline.com) The Times's write-up of the Finsbury Park opening ceremony on 7 August 1869.

From The Penny Illustrated Paper, 30 September 1893​ (Image courtesy of Haringey Museum and Archive Service at Bruce Castle) ​ "The salubrious North London suburb, of which Finsbury Park is the centre, was, on Sept 20th, the scene of a lively escapade. Mr James Sanger's 'Jim,' as sketched by a P.I.P Artist, was the offender, 'Jim', a big twenty-five years-old elephant, had been for some days at Mr Sanger's depot in Woodville Grove..." Click below to read more.

(image copyright unknown) 1914-16: The North London Herald League held open air meetings against World War 1, which were at times popular, and at times were broken up by jingoist crowds. At a 1914 meeting, in response to official appeals to the upper class to release servants to the army, a speaker asked a crowd: ”Have you got a sweating employer or a rack-renting landlord you can spare? Let him join up to fight for humanity... Click below to read more

(image from a collection curated by harringayonline.com) Finsbury Park's Model Village was built in the 1920s. It was slowly vandalised in the 1970s and eventually removed. From 'The Age', on the Model Tudor Village in Melbourne, Australia: "[It] was built by ... Edgar Wilson ... along with at least two others ... He donated the largest of the four villages to Melbourne, and gave the others to Vauxhall Park, Finsbury Park and Brockwell Park in London... Click below to read more

A photo of Finsbury Park from the south-west, showing the Seven Sisters Road stretch up to the Manor House Gate, with the underground reservoir visible in the bottom left. Taken in 1930 by Aerofilms Ltd, a pioneering air survey company set up in 1919 by First World War veterans Francis Lewis Wills and Claude Grahame-White. Image courtesy of Britain from Above - click below to view the image on the Britain from Above website

(​©spankthemonkey) In order to raise money for the parks department, Haringey Council let the park to various producers of commercial events, starting in 1990 with the Fleadh. Here is what a blogger said about Fleidh 2001: "It's a river ... Fuelled by a combination of torrential rain and blocked drains ... On one side of it stands yours truly ... on the other side is the rain-sodden park in which we're all planning to have fun for the next twelve hours. Click below to read more.