I found this postcard on eBay - a snip at £2.50! It shows an uninterrupted view down Finsbury Road from the corner of Park Avenue across the Bounds Green Road. The vendor dated the picture as 1910 but, as we know, the obelisk was moved from the junction to it's current site outside The Prince public house in 1904 when the road was widened to accommodate trams.

The monument was erected in 1879 to commemorate the life and work of Mrs Catherine Smithies (1794- 1877) the founder of the Band of Mercy Movement (a precursor of the RSPCA) and a tireless campaigner for Temperance. I imagine her spinning in her grave as I'm often to be found sitting on the base of her memorial meditating over a pint of rather fine ale!

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That's brilliant Richard, for some reason I had in mind that the obelisk was associated with a lady connected with the suffragette movement but I prefer the irony above! And while I'm at it isn't The Prince a wonderful success story? Viva Bowes Park.

Ever thought about exhibiting your photo collection? :-)

Tis marvellous - I thought about standing for Parliament as a Real Ale candidate, and then I could rightly claim The Prince as my second home and put the tab on expenses! I’m happy to continue to exhibit my photographs discreetly & piecemeal here on-site as I don’t have copyright on all of them

More pics and info here.

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