Muswell Hill is a suburban district of the

London Borough of Haringey The London Borough of Haringey (pronounced , same as Harringay) is a London borough in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation o ...

north London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nor ...

. The hill, which reaches over above sea level, is situated north of Charing Cross. Neighbouring areas include

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisat ...

Hampstead Garden Suburb Hampstead Garden Suburb is an elevated suburb of London, north of Hampstead, west of Highgate and east of Golders Green. It is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations. It is an example of early twentie ...

East Finchley East Finchley is an area in North London, immediately north of Hampstead Heath. Like neighbouring Muswell Hill it straddles the London Boroughs of Barnet and Haringey, with most of East Finchley falling into the London Borough of Barnet. It ha ...

and

Crouch End Crouch End is an area of North London, approximately from the City of London in the western half of the borough of Haringey. It is within the Hornsey postal district (N8). It has been described by the BBC as one of "a new breed of urban villag ...

. It has many streets with

Edwardian architecture Edwardian architecture is a Neo-Baroque architectural style that was popular in the British Empire during the Edwardian era (1901–1910). Architecture up to the year 1914 may also be included in this style. Description Edwardian architecture is ...

History

The earliest records of Muswell Hill date from the 12th century. The

Bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

, who was the Lord of the Manor of Haringey, owned the area and granted , located to the east of Colney Hatch Lane, to a newly formed order of nuns. The nuns built a chapel on the site and called it Our Lady of Muswell. The name ''Muswell'' is believed to come from a natural spring or well (the "Mossy Well"), said to have miraculous properties. A traditional story tells that Scottish king

Malcolm IV Malcolm IV ( mga, Máel Coluim mac Eanric, label=Medieval Gaelic; gd, Maol Chaluim mac Eanraig), nicknamed Virgo, "the Maiden" (between 23 April and 24 May 11419 December 1165) was King of Scotland from 1153 until his death. He was the eldest ...

was cured of

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

after drinking the water. The area became a place of pilgrimage for healing during medieval times. The River Moselle, which has its source in Muswell Hill and Highgate, derives its name from this district; it was originally known as the ''Mosa'' or ''Mosella''. Until the 1950s, the town's name was often pronounced "Muzzle Hill". In the 18th century Muswell Hill was a scattered village consisting mainly of detached villas with large gardens. In 1787 one commentator wrote that nowhere within of London was there a village so pleasant or with such varied views. Little had changed by the middle of the 19th century. One of the houses of the time was ''The Limes''. This house occupied the angle of Muswell Hill Road with Colney Hatch Lane and was a three-storeyed house with portico and two-storeyed wing approached by a double carriage drive through impressive gateways. The large grounds of the house extended to Tetherdown and included a lake. Opposite ''The Limes'' was Muswell Hill pond and beyond that the ''Green Man'' inn, built of stone. Further down the hill past the ''Green Man'' was ''The Elms'', a squat three-storeyed house later improved by

Thomas Cubitt Thomas Cubitt (25 February 1788 – 20 December 1855) was a British master builder, notable for his employment in developing many of the historic streets and squares of London, especially in Belgravia, Pimlico and Bloomsbury. His great-great-g ...

standing in , part of the grounds of which were laid out by Joseph Paxton. A short distance down the north side of Muswell Hill was ''The Grove'', which was three storeys high and had nine bays with pedimented projections at each end. It stood in of grounds which contained a avenue of oaks. In 1774 the house was occupied by

Topham Beauclerk Topham Beauclerk ( ; 22 December 1739 – 11 March 1780) was a celebrated wit and a friend of Dr Johnson and Horace Walpole. Life Topham Beauclerk was born on 22 December 1739, the only son of Lord Sidney Beauclerk and a great-grandson of King ...

19th century

A little farther down the hill stood ''Grove Lodge'', also in wooded grounds. Altogether there were eight properties in Muswell Hill worthy of note in 1817. Muswell hill odeon

Parallel with Muswell Hill was a track known as St James's Lane which ran across a triangle of wasteland. By the middle of the 19th century houses were already dispersed along the lane at the foot of which was ''Lalla Rookh'', a two-storeyed villa with a wide verandah. Other buildings there were apparently cottages or huts, both single and in terraces. It was not until the end of the 19th century that Muswell Hill began to be developed more densely from a collection of country houses to the London village that it is today. The development was spurred by the opening in 1873 of Alexandra Palace, a massive pleasure pavilion built on the most easterly of north London's gravel hills and intended as the counterpart to the

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

on Sydenham Hill in south London. Alexandra Palace was served by a branchline railway from Highgate, with an intermediary station at Muswell Hill (see below). The foot of Alexandra Palace was served by another rail network with connecting services to Finsbury Park and Kings Cross stations.

20th century

Most development was initiated in the early 20th century when the current street pattern was set out and elegant Edwardian retail parades were constructed. The shopping centre is based on roads that form three sides of a square: Fortis Green Road, Muswell Hill Broadway and the extension of the Broadway into Colney Hatch Lane. At each node point is a church: United Reformed, Church of England, Methodist, and Roman Catholic. One of the nodes, opposite St James's CoE, was also the site of the ''Athenaeum'' music hall (later demolished with the site redeveloped as a supermarket), opposite which a surviving

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

Odeon cinema was built in the 1930s. The site of the Ritz, a cinema formerly at the top of Muswell Hill on the next node to the east, has been redeveloped as offices. Until the mid-20th century there was a rail branch line, the

Muswell Hill Railway The Edgware, Highgate and London Railway was a railway in North London. The railway was a precursor of parts of London Underground's Northern line and was, in the 1930s the core of an ambitious expansion plan for that line which was thwarted by ...

, from

which passed through Muswell Hill, terminating at a station at Alexandra Palace. It was intended under the

Northern Heights plan The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...

to integrate this into the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, tw ...

; some contemporary

tube map The Tube map (sometimes called the London Underground map) is a schematic transport map of the lines, stations and services of the London Underground, known colloquially as "the Tube", hence the map's name. The first schematic Tube map was des ...

s (e.g. th
1948 map
showed the line as being under construction. However, this plan was cancelled after the Second World War, and the railway line was abandoned in 1954. The line was later converted to become the

Parkland Walk The Parkland Walk is a linear green pedestrian and cycle route in London, which follows the course of the railway line that used to run between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace, through Stroud Green, Crouch End, Highgate and Muswell Hill. It ...

. In 1964, three young Muswell Hill residents, the brothers Ray and Dave Davies and Pete Quaiffe, formed

The Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhyt ...

. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, the Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock groups of the era. The Davies parents’ home at 6 Denmark Terrace, Fortis Green, remains a magnet for rock music tourists. In 1979

Wetherspoons J D Wetherspoon plc (branded variously as Wetherspoon or Wetherspoons, and colloquially known as Spoons) is a pub company operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company was founded in 1979 by Tim Martin and is based in Watford. It o ...

opened their very first pub, on Colney Hatch Lane. In November 2016, the shop 'Really British' opened on Muswell Hill broadway. The shop owner was accused of racism, with local residents threatening to stage a protest, with more practising a boycott. In March 2013 and June 2020 Muswell Hill was named one of the five most desirable places to live in London in the '' Sunday Times'' "Best Places To Live" guide.

Administration and representation

The hill was part of the Bishop of London's Manor of Hornsey, an area served from the medieval period by the ancient parish of

Hornsey Hornsey is a district of north London, England in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban, for the most part residential, area centred north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood and Alexandra Park to the ...

. Parishes were originally ecclesiastic in purpose, but from the Tudor era onwards had a civic as well as ecclesiastical purpose. In 1903, the area of the civil parish of Hornsey became the

Municipal Borough of Hornsey The Municipal Borough of Hornsey was a local government district in east Middlesex from 1867 to 1965. History In 1867, a Local Board was formed for part of the civil parish of Hornsey. The rest of the parish was already under South Hornsey Loca ...

, within the administrative county of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

. Then in 1965 Horney merged with

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Wal ...

and

Wood Green Wood Green is a suburban district in the borough of London Borough of Haringey, Haringey in London, England. Its postal district is N22, with parts in N8 or N15. The London Plan identifies it as one of the metropolitan centres in Greater Lond ...

to form the modern

. Northern parts of the N10 postal area, sometimes also regarded as part of Muswell Hill, were part of the parish of

Friern Barnet Friern Barnet is a suburban area within the London Borough of Barnet, north of Charing Cross. Its centre is formed by the busy intersection of Colney Hatch Lane (running north and south), Woodhouse Road (taking westbound traffic towards North ...

, which subsequently became

Friern Barnet Urban District Friern Barnet Urban District was a local government area in Middlesex, England created in 1883 from the civil parish Friern Barnet. It was succeeded by the London Borough of Barnet in 1965 as one of the smaller of its contributory predecessor dis ...

before becoming part of the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London borough in North London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest London borough ...

. The area is in the Hornsey and Wood Green parliamentary constituency.

Geography

Close to Alexandra Park and Highgate Woods, Muswell Hill is a mainly Edwardian north London suburb. Muswell Hill Broadway and Fortis Green Road, the main shopping streets, still maintain their historic character with most of the original facades preserved above street level. The area has a synagogue and six churches, one of which has been converted into a steak house.

Education

Primary schools

* Coppetts Wood Primary School and Children's Centre * Coldfall Primary School *

Eden Primary Eden Primary School is a cross-communal Jewish Primary school or Jewish day school in Muswell Hill, in the borough of Haringey, North London, UK, catering for children aged 4 to 11. It is distinctive for actively welcoming children irrespective ...

* Hollickwood JMI School * Muswell Hill Primary School * Norfolk House Preparatory * Our Lady of Muswell RC Primary School * Rhodes Avenue Primary School * St James C of E Primary School * Tetherdown Primary School

Secondary schools

Alexandra Park School Alexandra Park School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in the Muswell Hill area of the London Borough of Haringey, England. The school provides education for students aged 11–18. Since opening ...

Fortismere School Fortismere School (simply referred to as Fortismere) is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Muswell Hill, Greater London, England. In 2016, it was ranked by ''The Sunday Times'' as the 12th best comprehensive school in th ...

Special schools

* Blanche Nevile School. A school for deaf and hearing impaired children, based on the sites of Highgate Primary School and

. * TreeHouse School, based at the Pears National Centre For Autism Education.

Transport

Rail

Muswell Hill is not directly served by a

tube Tube or tubes may refer to: * ''Tube'' (2003 film), a 2003 Korean film * ''The Tube'' (TV series), a music related TV series by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom * "Tubes" (Peter Dale), performer on the Soccer AM television show * Tube (band), a ...

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the ...

station. Nearby tube stations include

Bounds Green Bounds Green is a residential suburb just north of Wood Green, in the London Borough of Haringey in north London. Parts of it are also known as New Southgate, but most of New Southgate lies in the London Borough of Enfield to the north-west. B ...

(),

Finsbury Park Finsbury Park is a public park in the London neighbourhood of Harringay. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks ...

( ),

(), Turnpike Lane () and

(). National Rail () services pass to the east of Muswell Hill, calling at Alexandra Palace,

and

. Trains are operated by Great Northern and

Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...

to destinations such as

Moorgate Moorgate was one of the City of London's northern gates in its defensive wall, the last to be built. The gate took its name from the Moorfields, an area of marshy land that lay immediately north of the wall. The gate was demolished in 1762, bu ...

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

and

Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...

. To the south of Muswell Hill, London Overground () trains serve Crouch Hill station between

Gospel Oak Gospel Oak is an inner urban area of north west London in the London Borough of Camden at the very south of Hampstead Heath. The neighbourhood is positioned between Hampstead to the north-west, Dartmouth Park to the north-east, Kentish Town to t ...

and

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

, via South Tottenham.

Bus

Muswell Hill Broadway and Muswell Hill West are both served by London Buses, providing the area with a direct connection to the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

and the West End. Buses also serve nearby stations.

Road

The A504 passes east–west through Muswell Hill. Eastbound traffic is carried towards

and the A10. Westbound destinations include

, Hendon and the M1. The A1201 terminates at Muswell Hill. Southbound destinations along this route include Crouch Hill,

and

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...

. Highgate is to the south of the district and can be reached via Muswell Hill Road. To the north, Colney Hatch,

and Whetstone can be reached via Colney Hatch Lane. Both routes are numbered B550. The A1 passes to the south of Muswell Hill, carrying traffic southbound towards Archway, Islington and the

. To the north, the route crosses the

North Circular Road The North Circular Road (officially the A406 and sometimes known as simply the North Circular) is a ring road around Central London in England. It runs from Chiswick in the west to Woolwich in the east via suburban North London, connecting ...

(A406), and traffic can reach destinations such as

Mill Hill Mill Hill is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is situated around northwest of Charing Cross. Mill Hill was in the historic county of Middlesex until 1965, when it became part of Greater London. Its population counted 18,45 ...

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

, Stevenage and

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

. Cycling infrastructure in Muswell Hill is limited. The now-defunct

London Cycle Network Cycle routes in London that have been waymarked with formal route signage include "Cycleways" (including "Cycle Superhighways" and "Quietways") and the older London Cycle Network, all designated by the local government body Transport for Londo ...

developed two signposted routes through Muswell Hill: * Route 6 - an incomplete but signposted route from Barnet to Central London, passing through the Broadway on main roads. * Route 54 - an unbroken but signposted route to Walthamstow via

following main roads. Between

Highgate Wood Highgate Wood is a 28 hectare (70 acre) area of ancient woodland in North London, lying between East Finchley, Highgate and Muswell Hill. It was originally part of the ancient Forest of Middlesex which covered much of London, Hertfordshire and Ess ...

and Alexandra Palace, the route skirts around the southeastern edge of Muswell Hill on a traffic-free

shared-use path A shared-use path, mixed-use path or multi-use pathway is a path which is 'designed to accommodate the movement of pedestrians and cyclists'. Examples of shared-use paths include sidewalks designated as shared-use, bridleways and rail trails. A ...

Campaigns

The Muswell Hill

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urb ...

Group campaigns to reinstate a historic railway line which ran between Alexandra Palace and Finsbury Park, via Muswell Hill. The group says that the line would relieve congestion on local roads and that an electric railway would improve local air quality. The Haringey Cycling Campaign is a local cycling lobby group.

Demography

The 2011 census showed that the N10 postal area (including parts of

} had a population of 27,992 in the 2011 census. The same census showed that in the much smaller Muswell Hill electoral ward of the London Borough of Haringey, 84% of the population was white (65% British, 16% Other, 3% Irish). 40% were irreligious and Christian each, while the Jewish population stood at 5.3%.

Places of interest

* Alexandra Palace * Alexandra Park *

Golf Course Allotments The Golf Course Allotments are allotments in the Muswell Hill area of North London, United Kingdom. At over 11.5 acres they are the second largest allotment site in the London Borough of Haringey (who also owns them). As with nearly all allotme ...

(the largest allotment site in the area) * The

Guy Chester Centre The Guy Chester Centre is responsible for areas of the North Bank Estate in Muswell Hill, North London, which is owned by the Methodist Church of Great Britain. The Centre manages Chester House, which is a student hall of residence. The Guy Chest ...

of the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

church * Oliver Tambo Memorial Statue at the Albert Road Recreation Ground * Muswell Hill United Synagogue

Cultural references

* In the war romance film '' The Americanization of Emily'' (1964), Emily's mother lives in a house in Dukes Avenue. Exterior shots show Alexandra Palace in the background. * In the 1970s BBC TV comedy series '' Porridge'', the principal character,

Norman Stanley Fletcher Norman Stanley Fletcher, commonly nicknamed "Fletch", is the main fictional character in the BBC sitcom ''Porridge'', and the spin-off, '' Going Straight''. He was played by Ronnie Barker. In the pilot episode, Fletcher claims to Mr Barrowclou ...

, played by

Ronnie Barker Ronald William George Barker (25 September 1929 – 3 October 2005) was an English actor, comedian and writer. He was known for roles in British comedy television series such as ''Porridge'', ''The Two Ronnies'', and '' Open All Hours''. ...

, hailed from Muswell Hill. Fletcher claimed that in his younger days he was ''"King of the Teds in Muswell Hill"''. *

recorded the 1971 LP '' Muswell Hillbillies'', which included the song "

Muswell Hillbilly "Muswell Hillbilly" is a track recorded by British rock band The Kinks. It served as the title track to their 1971 album, '' Muswell Hillbillies''. Lyrics and music The lyrics of the track "Muswell Hillbilly" see the singer being forced from hi ...

". * The Yorkshire Television sitcom '' That's My Boy'' (1981–1986), starring

Mollie Sugden Mary Isobel Sugden (21 July 19221 July 2009), known professionally as Mollie Sugden was an English actress. She was best known for being an original cast member in the British sitcom '' Are You Being Served?'' (1972–1985) as senior saleswoman ...

and Christopher Blake, made frequent references to Muswell Hill, as the family lived in the area throughout the first four seasons. * Series one of the 1993 sitcom ''

Sean's Show ''Sean's Show'' is a British television situation comedy, first broadcast on Channel 4 between 15 April 1992 and 29 December 1993. Stand-up comedian Sean Hughes co-wrote and starred as a fictionalised version of himself, aware that he is livi ...

'' is set in Muswell Hill. * The '' Doctor Who'' episode " The Idiot's Lantern" (2006) is set in Muswell Hill, during Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953. * The Madness song "Driving in My Car" includes the line "I've been far, I drive up to Muswell Hill". *

Hilaire Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. H ...

referenced Muswell Hill in the poem "Charles Augustus Fortescue". * Angela Thirkell continues the tale of The Cedars, Muswell Hill in her 1939 novel, ''Before Lunch''. * Mentioned in Natasha Gordon's play ''Nine Night.'' * ''Muswell Hill'' is a 2012

Torben Betts Torben Betts (born 10 February 1968, in Stamford, Lincolnshire) is an English playwright, screenwriter and actor. Betts attended the University of Liverpool, where he read English Literature and English Language, and originally trained to bec ...

play which "hold a mirror up to middle-class delusion".

People from Muswell Hill

:''See

People from Muswell Hill A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of propert ...

and People from Fortis Green categories''.

John Logie Baird John Logie Baird FRSE (; 13 August 188814 June 1946) was a Scottish inventor, electrical engineer, and innovator who demonstrated the world's first live working television system on 26 January 1926. He went on to invent the first publicly dem ...

was the first person to transmit moving pictures, now called television. The first public broadcasts were from nearby Alexandra Palace before WW2. His scanning, rotating disc system was later replaced by a more modern electronic system. The former John Baird pub, now the Village Green, in Fortis Green Road was named after him. Musicians Ray and

Dave Davies David Russell Gordon Davies (born 3 February 1947) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the English rock band the Kinks, which also featured his elder brother Ray Davies. He was in ...

, founding members of

, grew up in Muswell Hill, the album title '' Muswell Hillbillies'' being an obvious reference to their youth. They allegedly played their first ever gig in the Clissold Arms in Fortis Green. Musician

Michael Kiwanuka Michael Samuel Kiwanuka (born 3 May 1987) is a British singer-songwriter and record producer who is signed with Polydor Records. His 2012 debut album, '' Home Again'', went gold in the United Kingdom and his second album, '' Love & Hate'', debu ...

was born and raised in Muswell Hill; he was the winner of the

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

2020 for his album '' Kiwanuka'' and a nominee for the 2021 63rd Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. His album '' Love & Hate'' went to Number 1 on the UK albums chart in 2016. Former KGB agent

Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Valterovich "Sasha" Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) or 4 December 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised ...

lived in Muswell Hill from his exile in 2000 until his assassination in 2006. The group Fairport Convention started in the Muswell Hill family home of

Simon Nicol Simon John Breckenridge Nicol (born 13 October 1950) is an English guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He was a founding member of British folk rock group Fairport Convention and is the only founding member still in the ...

. The house, Fairport, is on the south side of Fortis Green near the junction with Tetherdown and Fortis Green Road. The serial killer and necrophile

Dennis Nilsen Dennis Andrew Nilsen (23 November 1945 – 12 May 2018) was a Scottish serial killer and necrophile who murdered at least twelve young men and boys between 1978 and 1983 in London. Convicted at the Old Bailey of six counts of murder and two o ...

committed his later murders in his Cranley Gardens flat in Muswell Hill and became known as the "Muswell Hill Murderer". A resident for a short time in Muswell Hill was the Russian-born England

Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

star Prince Alexander Obolensky, who died in Suffolk in an aircraft accident in 1940 while training as an RAF pilot. Philip Martell, musical director for Hammer House of Horrors lived in Woodland Gardens Musician, author, poet, wit and great English eccentric

Vivian Stanshall Vivian Stanshall (born Victor Anthony Stanshall; 21 March 1943 – 5 March 1995) was an English singer-songwriter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his exploration of the British upper ...

lived his final years in Muswell Hill, dying in a fire in his Hillfield Park flat in 1995.

Nearest places

* Colney Hatch *

Nearest stations

* Alexandra Palace railway station *

Bowes Park railway station Bowes Park railway station is in the London Borough of Haringey in north London, and is on the boundary of Travelcard Zone 3 and Travelcard Zone 4. It is down the line from . The station and all trains serving it are operated by Great Northern ...

Hornsey railway station Hornsey railway station is in Hornsey in the London Borough of Haringey, north London. It is on the Great Northern route that forms part of the East Coast Main Line, down the line from , and is situated between to the south and to the nor ...

* New Southgate station The nearest tube stations are: *

* Turnpike Lane *

References and notes

External links

Muswell Hill & Fortis Green Association
- has some good historical pictures etc.
History of Muswell Hill - Hornsey Historical Society
- articles, books, postcards etc {{Authority control Districts of the London Borough of Haringey Areas of London Places formerly in Middlesex District centres of London