I visited Tottenham Hale tube station on Saturday, as part of my project to visit every Underground station. But what to do there? I decided to pay a visit to Bruce Castle Museum.
The museum is a Grade I listed 16th century manor house. It is located in 20 acres of parkland, which is now a public park. The oldest parts of the building were built by William Compton, a member of Henry VIII’s court, and it has been modified several times since then. Bruce Castle opened as a museum in 1906.
Currently Bruce Castle Museum hosts local history collections relating to the borough of Haringey. I really like small local museums even though they all contain the same things – old photographs and artefacts in dusty glass cases, portraits of notable citizens of the area, and a reconstruction of a room during World War II. It’s a nice little museum though and well worth a visit – the house itself is beautiful, too.
The tower in front of the house is rather intriguing – it dates from the beginning of the house’s history but no one really knows what it was used for, although one suggestion is that it was used to keep falcons.
FACTS
Address: Lordship Lane, Tottenham, N17 6RT
Opening Hours: Wed-Sun 1pm-5pm
Prices: Free