The area was built up during the middle part of the nineteenth century and known as Woodberry Down.
The first tavern on the site was built by Stoke Newington builder Thomas Widdows, 1830-4 next to the turnpike on Green Lanes. Prior to this date a cottage had existed on the site, owned and occupied by Widdows. In 1829 an Act of Parliament permitted the building of the Seven Sisters Road which would have made the site an ideal location for a profitable tavern.
The charming multi-sided hut at the right of this image is the toll-house which was here, diagonally opposite the Tavern, until the Seven Sisters Road arrived.
The building of the Piccadilly Line required the crossroads to be again enlarged which caused the 1931 rebuilding of the Tavern. The tube station arrived in in 1932. Woodberry Down is now the name of a nearby estate of social housing.
This image comes from an excellent post all about the tavern.
We cannot explain the derivation of the name Manor House, since there does not ever seem to have been one here or nearby. The nearest would have been the one at what is now the Finsbury Park cafe.
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