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Mysteries of Muswell Hill - Pilgrimage to a lost holy well (4K)

John Rogers

36,576 views

A north London walk in search of Muswell Hill's lost holy well - the Moss Well, or Mossy Well, Mouse Well that gave its name to the area. A chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Muswell became a resort of pilgrims after a King of the Scots had been divinely directed there and was miraculously healed by the waters of the well. It is recorded as early as 1112.
Our walk starts on Crouch Hill, goes down Crouch End Broadway, Park Road, Muswell Hill, Muswell Hill Broadway, Colney Hatch Lane looking for the first Wetherspoons pub, then Muswell Hill Road via Highgate Woods.

Watch: Exploring the Fascinating Mysteries & Stories of Crouch End, North London Exploring the Fascinating Mysteries & Stor...
Parkland Walk Haringey - Finsbury Park, Highgate Woods, Muswell Hill Parkland Walk Haringey - Finsbury Park, Hi...

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Shot in 4K on a Olympus OM-D EM-1 mark 2 with audio recorded with a Rode Wireless GO

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20 Comments

@acooper8910 1 year ago (edited) Pinned

The Mossy Well was about 15 doors down from me on Muswell Rd. There's a small plaque - easy to miss. The well's long since been routed into the sewer system - however, for those unfortunate enough to be living on a certain stretch of Dukes Ave in heavy rain, it has a habit of making its presence known & flooding cellars.

That spot on Parkland Walk at 10:25 was hit by one of the last V2 rockets to hit London.

& no, we don't have a clock tower, but we do have a dirty great church with a steeple with big clocks on it. And for the record, I don't think anyone up here has ever felt jealous of Crouch End, quite the opposite, it's them have a chip on their shoulder about being at such a low elevation.

@tilerman 1 year ago

11:46, proper working class bloke here and met some right posh girls and went back to their flat above Nationwide for a party about 1986, happy days and good times LOL.

@aelsedaw 1 year ago

Born and grew up in Muswell Hill. Used to love tobogganing down the Colney Hatch Lane and bathing in the Moselle Brook. Retired in 1961, sold my house on Dukes Avenue for £5,000, and emigrated to Australia where I still live to this day. My granddaughter went to school with Ray Davies, and when my wife Dotty and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in 1966, Ray flew out to Brisbane to play for us. Great memories.

@chrisblay 1 year ago

My Dad always used to talk about Ally Pally as he called it. When he was a boy in London during WW2, I think it was somewhere they would hang out. Never visited it myself.

@grahamedmonds3956 1 year ago

Whenever people mention Muswell Hill , I think of Norman Stanley Fletcher...'King of the Teds of Muswell Hill' 😅

@paulfitzpatrick3090 1 year ago

Back in the mid 80s, Ray an old university friend of mine used to meet up in the Green Man, Muswell Hill. Sadly Ray died last year and l arranged the music for his funeral service. This included, Waterloo Sunset by the Kinks.

@georgesutherland4230 1 year ago

My mum went to school with Dennis Nilsen in Fraserburgh, my home town. His dad was norwegian.

@nedseagoon5101 1 year ago

Norman Stanley Fletcher came from Muswell Hill. Indeed, in one episode he’s seen walking with a copper passed the recently closed Muswell Hill police station.

@george-1961 1 year ago (edited)

As a born and bred North Londoner, this has brought a lot of memories for me of the area. Late 70’s to mid 80’s Muswell Hill and Crouch End was a posh day out for us living in South Tottenham on the borders of Haringey. I never knew anything about the reason why Muswell Hill got its name. Left the Borough of Haringey when I fledged home in the late 80’s, but my whole career was working in North London right up to 2015. I knew the area like the back of my hand.

@benwickey6661 1 year ago

Great video! I wondered if you saw Vivian Stanshall's blue plaque there. This month marks the 30th anniversary of his tragic death in a fire on Muswell Hill. I illustrated a book about him by his widow, Ki Longfellow, "The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall." Thanks as always for another fantastic walk!

@Londonfogey 1 month ago

Trivia fact: Muswell Hill was 'temperance' or 'dry' until 1959. The Logie Baird was the first pub to open there. The other pubs such as the one on Muswell Hill were 'temperance hotels' which did not serve alcohol. (Golders Green was similar, although it got its first pub, the Refectory, a little earlier in 1952).

@person.X. 1 year ago

I grew up in Highgate and Crouch End, bought my first house in Muswell Hill, my brother lives on the Harringey Ladder and my sister has a house on Moselle Avenue in Wood Green!! So this video was very sentimental for me. It is a wonderful area of a great city. So many memories.

@georgeblair5172 1 year ago

Highgate Woods, across from the builders’ yard, had a Roman kiln.

@peterobrien7179 1 year ago

Hopefully I can add a bit about the Holy Well of Our Lady of Muswell. This became a place of pilgrimage and miraculous cures of scrofula were ascribed to its water. A shrine was built over the spring, but everything was destroyed in the "Reformation". However, a new shrine was built and I have a 1932 leaflet with a picture of the new shrine and seeking donations for its upkeep. I will send a copy if I can work out how to do it! Regards, Peter O'Brien

@michaeldillon3113 1 year ago

This wonderful walk made me recall a documentary about Ray Davies i had seen years ago.
I was delighted to find it on YT . ' Ray Davies - Imaginary Man ' - directed by kinks fan Julien Temple . Lots of footage of London - both past and present . Its quite the psychogeography .
Ray Davies meets William Wordsworth on Waterloo Bridge every friday night !?

@bink865 1 year ago

Aaaah the nostalgia is painful

@RonnieLUFC 1 year ago

Lived on the ladder above a betting shop on Wightman Road in the mid 80s. Exiled to Yorkshire since 1999 so thank you for this. So many memories of nights out, and walks, and such good times. Cranley Gardens was very very contemporary and we had a similar creepy experience staggering home and finding ourselves there.

@Phill3467 1 year ago

Love Muswell Hill,Ally Pally and crouch end

@SummerHoneyClock 1 year ago

The reason Broadwater Farm Estate was built with nothing but garages at ground level was because the Moselle was so prone to flooding. There is another well called Queens Well at the corner of Friern Barnet Lane and St James Close, which is marked by a waist-high obelisk.