Page:Old and New London, vol. 5.djvu/470

432 A pretty walk from Finsbury Park to Hornsey Church in fine dry weather is by the pathway running in a northerly direction over Mount Pleasant, a somewhat steep hill, from which some pleasant views are to be obtained of the surrounding country, embracing Highgate, the Alexandra Palace, Epping Forest, Tottenham Church, and the valley of the river Lea. The summit of Mount Pleasant is upwards of 200 feet above the level of the river; and its eastern end, from its peculiar shape, has been called the Northern Hog's Back.

The parish church of Hornsey lies, at some little distance from the village, in a valley near the Hornsey Station on the Great Northern Railway, and its tower forms a conspicuous object in the view from the neighbouring uplands. With the exception of the tower, the present fabric is comparatively modern, dating only from about the year 1833; it is built of brick, and is of Gothic architecture. Its predecessor, which was pulled down

in 1832, is stated by Norden and Camden to have been built with stones taken from the ruins of the palace of the Bishops of London, about the year 1500. The Ambulator, in 1774, describes the church as "a poor, irregular building, said to have been built out of the ruins of an ancient castle." The tower, which is now profusely covered with ivy, is built of a reddish sandstone, and is embattled, with a newel turret rising above the north-west corner. On the western face of the tower are