It is believed Tottenham is a Saxon name meaning “Totta’s village”. By Tudor times it was a thriving rural area, particularly well known for its taverns, but by early Victorian times there were large slums. In 1840 the Great Eastern Railway built a railway line into the area. This did not initially stimulate growth because of the high fares, but in 1872 a railway line from Enfield to Liverpool Street opened with much cheaper fares and this resulted in working men and their families moving into the Tottenham area and the construction of a lot of cheap housing.

Near Stamford Hill, to the west, there are Victorian terraces in streets known as “the Gardens”, such as Kimberley, Chesterfield and Roseberry Gardens, running off Green Lanes. North of St Ann’s Road there are residential terraces of small houses in the area up to West Green Road. North of West Green Road, Clyde Circus and streets around it have some larger houses as well as terraced properties.

In the area of Downhills Park there are more residential streets with Victorian (and later) terraces in streets such as Downhills Park Road and Kirkstall Avenue. North of Lordship Lane is the Tower Gardens conservation area with pre-First World War cottages in Risley Avenue and the streets off it. Church Lane further east is the centre of another conservation area and contains Victorian cottages. East Tottenham below Lansdowne Road contains the Dowsett Road Estate with 1930s houses. New homes were constructed in the 90s with views over the River Lea.