A walk round one of my favourite locations in London – Crouch End. A place with uncanny links to tales of the undead and general weird stuff from the middle ages to Shaun of the Dead.
We start with the Parkland Walk, a former railway line where the King of Horror himself, Stephen King, had a mystical experience that inspired him to write a short story. Next, we explore the fascinating story of Bob Dylan’s infamous visit to Crouch End that has become a vital piece of London folklore.
But the mysteries of the Northern Heights don’t stop there. The area is said to be the site of two powerful ley lines that cross beneath the Victorian clocktower. This tower was originally the site of a wooden cross that gave the area its name.
Some of the key scenes of Shaun of the Dead were filmed in Crouch End, but that features in a previous video and only gets a passing mention here as I list the references to the undead in this eldritch zone from Sir Roger Bolingbroke through the Highgate Vampire to that brilliant Zom Com. We also visit the legendary Kings Head pub, the Harringay Arms, the Queens, Tottenham Lane, Hornsey Town Hall, Hornsey Library, Church Studios, Crouch End Hippodrome, and much more.
Just returned home after a stay in Hornsey Rise. Crouch End was recently voted as the best place to live in London.
Hope you had a good time Kathleen
Clive Barker wrote about a fictional organisation called ‘The Tabula Rasa’ in Highgate; he describes the old railway walk and the area where one emerges with such admiration. It’s like walking through a maze filled with secret gardens. I love walking there with my wife in summer.
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