Broadwater Farm, Haringey
An ill-famed housing estate situated between Lordship recreation ground and Bruce Grove in west Tottenham
A depiction of the Broadwater Farm riot by the London-based artist Mike Hawthorne, whose work can be seen at the Lambeth Archives and the Museum of London
The original Broadwater Farm covered 119 acres of the huge Downhills estate, which Tottenham council bought and began to develop in 1902.
Built between 1967 and 1973, the present Broadwater Farm estate consists of twelve concrete-panelled blocks, most of which have four to six storeys, originally with a deck access system of pedestrianised walkways. By 1976 the design faults, lack of amenities and fear of crime on the estate resulted in more than half of those on the housing waiting list refusing accommodation here and a long queue of transfer requests from existing tenants.
In October 1985, during a police search following the arrest of her son, Cynthia Jarrett collapsed and died at her home near the Broadwater Farm estate. In the ensuing Broadwater Farm riot PC Keith Blakelock was hacked to death. Three men were convicted of his murder but were all eventually acquitted on appeal. No one has since been charged in connection with Blakelock’s killing.
During the ten years from 1993 comprehensive improvements were carried out to make Broadwater Farm a more humane place in which to to live. Disused shops were replaced by smart new homes and overhead walkways were dismantled. The estate-based management programme designed to address the social problems in Broadwater Farm has been relatively successful, partly through the use of ‘super-caretakers’ and also because the neighbourhood is so well-defined; other projects have attempted to encompass ‘communities’ with which residents do not identify. However, writing of the scheme in the New Statesman, Paul Barker pessimistically commented that “you need only go there to see that it is a high-wire act. The smallest slip, and things will be back at the bottom.”
On 4th August 2011 Broadwater Farm resident Mark Duggan was shot dead by police in nearby Tottenham Hale. Two days later a protest march from Broadwater Farm into the centre of Tottenham escalated into the most serious rioting seen in London for many years, followed by several nights of disorder, arson and looting all across the capital – and beyond.
