Located in North London, it lies immediately east of Finsbury Park, west of Stamford Hill and south of Harringay.

On its western edge stands the former filter house, now set out as a visitor centre with a café; some of the old hydraulic machinery can be viewed in the main hall.

The pumping station at the reservoir gates, converted to a climbing centre in 1995 was designed in a distinctive castellated style by Robert Billings under the supervision of William Chadwell Mylne and built in 1854–56.

[4] Building started on Green Lanes with the appearance in 1821 of a large house at a spot that would later be the site of the junction with Woodberry Down (the road).

Further north on Green Lanes, just to the south of the New River, Northumberland House, a three-storeyed building with a pillared entrance, balustrade, and urns on its roof, was completed in 1822.

This was a terrace of at least twelve houses, which, starting with the Finsbury Park Tavern, ran northward along Green Lanes from its junction with the new Woodberry Grove.

At around the same time, Angell and a London builder Thomas Oldis were responsible for development that began to spread eastward along the north side of Seven Sisters Road.

From 1868 to 1870 large detached houses with gardens running down to the New River were built at the east end of Seven Sisters Road.

[11] Woodberry Down was laid out in 1868, when it was extended eastward from Lordship Road, and villas were built on the south side in the late 1860s.

Social decline continued, until in 1954 the district was inhabited mainly by students, foreigners, and the working class, with most houses containing four or five families and all in decay.

The LCC compulsorily purchased the area for this purpose in 1934 in order to alleviate chronic housing shortages, but work did not begin till after the Second World War.

The strong community spirit, which existed among residents in the 1950s was still evident to a lesser extent during this time, and the estate managed to avoid the more extreme crime and social problems often associated with inner-city housing projects.

Prior to this date a cottage had existed on the site,[14] but in 1829 an Act of Parliament was passed to permit the building of the Seven Sisters Road.

Robert Baily, late of the Eyre Tavern, St John’s Wood, having taken the above newly erected House, fitted up in a most superior manner, and commanding extensive and delightful views, solicit from his friends and the public that support he has hitherto been favoured with, assuring them that no exertion shall be wanting on his part to merit their patronage.

There is likewise a large Garden and Bowling green, good Stabling, lock-up Coach-houses, &c. Dinners for Public and Private Parties.

The route included the still relatively new Seven Sisters Road and a stop was made at the Manor House Tavern for the first change of horses.

The advertisement of sale gave the following description: The Manor House, Roadside Inn and Wine Vaults The above property has for years been recognised as one of the best in its class which is amply testified by the enormous and peculiarly profitable trade attached thereto; and in order that no misconception may arise as to the nature of the business, the auctioneers deem it wise to announce the tavern business and trade dinners have been discontinued for several years and the present returns are entirely confined to the counter and grounds from which sources they amount upwards are £5,000 pounds per annum.

[28]The building was bought by John Charles Kay who sold it two years later to Samuel Perrin [29] A further change of ownership in 1878 saw the pub in the hands of Stephen Medcalf.

In 1930 the imminent arrival of the Piccadilly Line led to the widening of the road, the demolition of the old tavern [31] and the erection of current building.

Club, hosting artists such as Cream, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, Long John Baldry and his Hoochie Coochie Men, Rod Stewart (then nicknamed 'Rod the Mod'), John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Fairport Convention, Fleetwood Mac, Jeff Beck, the Spencer Davis Group, Graham Bond and Zoot Money.

Since 2007, Woodberry Down has been undergoing a phased redevelopment which involved the construction of more than 5,500 modern flats on the site, 41% of which will be affordable, for an investment of c.