‘Hale’ comes from an old English word meaning to hoist or pull.
Goods, timber in particular, were unloaded here from the River Lea and carried on by road. Tottenham is believed to be named after Tota, a farmer whose hamlet appears in Domesday Book as Toteham. The station opened in 1840 as Tottenham; ‘Hale’ was added in 1875, dropped in 1938 and restored in 1968, when the Victoria line arrived.