A WATERCOLOUR capturing Tottenham's glamourous past has been donated to Bruce Castle Museum in a bid to celebrate Haringey's rich history with the community.

Painted by artist George Shepherd in 1829, the miniature-but-detailed piece shows members of Tottenham's high society going about their merry way around Tottenham High Cross.

The monument, which still stands in High Road, Tottenham, near the junction with Philip Lane, was erected between 1600 and 1609 by Owen Wood, Dean of Armagh, and marks what was the centre of Tottenham Village, which later joined with Hornsey to form the London borough of Haringey.

It also sat on Ermine Street - a major Roman Road which ran through Tottenham linking Bishopsgate, in central London, to York.

At the time Shepherd put brush to easel, the large houses in and around Philip Lane outpriced those in Highgate and the area was on the cusp of a transition from rural village to thriving town.

History enthusiast and former councillor Leonard Cohen, who represented Tottenham on the Middlesex County Council, donated the piece after deciding the museum was its proper home.

Mr Cohen, who was born in Tottenham in 1934, said: "I was walking down Bond Street and the painting caught my eye. Tottenham is an area I know intimately.

"I have enjoyed it for many years but I'm getting older now and thought the time has come for it to move on. Bruce Castle seems like the perfect place.

"Tottenham High Cross is still standing today and every Tottenham resident will recognise the landmark. Now they have an opportunity to see their area in a new light."

The artwork will now be featured in the mayor's parlour at the museum, in Lordship Lane, and was happily presented to Haringey mayor Councillor Bernice Vanier at a ceremony today.

Ms Vanier said: "I am delighted that Mr Cohen has chosen to make such a generous donation to the borough and it will be an honour to receive the painting from him."

She added: "For new arrivals to our borough this presents a perfect opportunity to learn the past of the place they are going to live and develop an understanding of how Haringey came about."

Mr Cohen was also one of the councillors who fought for planning permission to build Broadwater Farm Housing Estate in response to a overwhelming demand for housing.

He said: "It was a fantastic thing at the time and despite its problems I am pleased to see Broadwater has continued to improve.

"In the Sixties architects put no thought into what they were building. Perhaps if they had, they would have done a better job at designing somewhere that was a pleasure to live."