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Enfield Chase

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Salmons Brook is a minor tributary of the River Lea , located in the London Borough of Enfield .

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60-635: Enfield Chase is an area of Enfield that is named for a former royal hunting ground. It comprises the majority of the open countryside within the London Borough of Enfield, and land north of the M25 within Hertfordshire. At the time of a survey by Francis Russell in 1776-7, the Chase extended from Monken Hadley in the west to Bulls Cross in the east, and from Potters Bar to Southgate. While parts of

120-461: A charter to Humphrey de Bohun and his wife to hold a weekly market in Enfield each Monday, and James I granted another in 1617, to a charitable trust, for a Saturday market. The market was still prosperous in the early eighteenth century, but fell into decline soon afterwards. There were sporadic attempts to revive it: an unsuccessful one of 1778 is recorded, and in 1826 a stone Gothic market cross

180-426: A doctors' surgery – was the home of Joseph Whitaker , publisher and founder of Whitaker's Almanack ; he lived there from 1820 until his death in 1895. (Inscription on Blue Plaque on The White House, Silver Street, Enfield.) Enfield Town had the world's first cash machine or automatic teller machine , invented by John Shepherd-Barron . It was installed at the local branch of Barclays Bank on 27 June 1967 and

240-512: A growing nuisance to the inhabitants". The New River , built to supply water to London from Hertfordshire , runs immediately behind the town centre through the Town Park , which is the last remaining public open-space of Enfield Old Park . The Enfield Loop of the New River also passes through the playing fields of Enfield Grammar School, and this is the only stretch of the loop without

300-507: A horticulturist Uvedale earned a reputation for his skill in cultivating exotics, being one of the earliest possessors of hothouses in England. In an Account of several Gardens near London written by J. Gibson in 1691 ( Archæologia , 1794, xii. 188), the writer says: 'Dr. Uvedale of Enfield is a great lover of plants, and, having an extraordinary art in managing them, is become master of the greatest and choicest collection of exotic greens that

360-603: A man called Ēana". At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, the manor of Enfield, spelt 'Enfelde', was the property of Geoffrey de Mandeville , a powerful Norman granted large estates by William the Conqueror . A priest is recorded in the Domesday Book as holding about 30 acres of land in Enfield, leading some to believe that a priest may have ministered there at St Andrew's Church in this period, although

420-531: A marketplace, making the town of Enfield (also known today as Enfield Town), at the core of the parish, a market town . The parish was the largest in Middlesex (if one excludes from the parish of Harrow on the Hill its Pinner north-west corner, which broke away in 1766); Enfield measured 12,460 acres in 1831, i.e. 19.5 square miles (51 km ). Proximity to the megalopolis of London saw Enfield "engulfed" by

480-527: A public footpath on at least one side of it. Enfield was the location of some of the earliest successful hothouses , developed by Dr Robert Uvedale (1642–1722), headmaster both of Enfield Grammar School and of the Palace School. He was a Cambridge scholar and renowned horticulturalist; George Simonds Boulger writes of Uvedale in the Dictionary of National Biography , 1885–1900, Volume 58: As

540-509: A relatively steep eastern slope. (This eastward shift has been attributed to an underlying monocline . ) Salmons Brook thus extended its course south-eastwards from Bush Hill, across the valley floor of the lower Lea, through Lower Edmonton , to Meridian Water . There, it merges today with Pymmes Brook, which in turns flows southwards before joining the River Lea near Tottenham Lock. From Hadley Road down to Grange Park , Salmons Brook, like

600-422: A small stream - for example, at Slades Hill. But we are currently in an interglacial period, and the stream would have been flowing more strongly than today at times of "high discharge, under cold climatic conditions". And, at such times, soil cover and vegetation would have been much thinner than today, thus facilitating greater erosion. Furthermore, as the River Lea itself cut down as it moved eastwards, it lowered

660-511: A survey drawn up by the Duchy of Lancaster surveyor Francis Russell , the chase then covered an area of 8,349 acres (34 km). According to the map accompanying the Act, the Chase was cut up and divided among the following authorities: Based on the map entitled Survey and Admeasurement of Enfield Chase by Francis Russell in 1776/7, the Chase extended from Monken Hadley in the west to Bulls Cross in

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720-575: A translation of the Aeneid . The school's building later became Enfield Town railway station , but was demolished in 1872. The current building was erected in the 1960s. In 1840 the first section of the Northern and Eastern Railway had been opened from Stratford to Broxbourne . The branch line from Water Lane to Enfield Town station was opened in 1849. The White House in Silver Street – now

780-898: Is Enfield Town railway station , one of three northern termini of the Lea Valley lines to Liverpool Street in the City of London , with services operated by London Overground . On the Enfield Town branch line between Enfield Town and Edmonton Green is Bush Hill Park . The Southbury Loop separates from the Enfield Town branch line between Bush Hill Park and Edmonton Green stations, towards Cheshunt . The loop runs through Southbury and Turkey Street stations in Enfield, at which London Overground services between Liverpool Street and Cheshunt call. The West Anglia Main Line , also one of

840-521: Is 156,858 as of 2018, counted from 10 electoral wards that make up Enfield. In the 2011 census, the Town ward (covering areas north from the Southbury Road) was 82% white (68% British, 10% Other, 3% Irish). The largest non-white group, Black African, claimed 3%. The District is also covered by the Chase, Highlands, Grange, Southbury, Lock, Highway, Turkey Street and Bush Hill Park wards. Of these,

900-533: Is London’s largest reforestation project, Thames21 is working in partnership with Enfield Council to restore 60 hectares in the Salmons Brook catchment, part of the greater River Lea catchment. The first phase of the project, which commenced in autumn 2020 and was completed in 2022, involved the planting of 100,000 trees. It cost £1.3million in total, with £748,000 provided by the Mayor of London, £425,000 by

960-449: Is a deposit of "Boyn Hill Gravel". That gravel, which is on the highest of the river terraces left by the post-Anglian lower River Lea, marks the line followed by the Lea after the retreat of the ice sheet. (Bush Hill itself is today an example of inverted relief, albeit on a small scale. Inversion of relief occurs "when materials on valley floors are, or become, more resistant to erosion than

1020-500: Is known that today's tributaries of the upper Lea, such as the Rivers Mimram and Stort , follow broadly the same lines as pre-glaciation valleys, so, by analogy, it is quite possible that elements at least of the pre-glaciation topography of the lower Lea basin are reflected in today's relief. In the case of Salmons Brook immediately after the glaciation, that stream joined the River Lea somewhere around Bush Hill, where there

1080-479: Is perhaps anywhere in this land. His greens take up six or seven houses or roomsteads. His orange-trees and largest myrtles fill up his biggest house, and … those more nice and curious plants that need closer keeping are in warmer rooms, and some of them stoved when he thinks fit. His flowers are choice, his stock numerous, and his culture of them very methodical and curious.' The poet John Keats (1795-1821) attended progressive Clarke's School in Enfield, where he began

1140-653: The Hertfordshire border and M25 motorway , it borders Waltham Cross to the north, Winchmore Hill and Edmonton to the south, Chingford and Waltham Abbey , across the River Lea , to the east and north-east, with Cockfosters , Monken Hadley and Oakwood to the west. Historically an ancient parish in the Edmonton Hundred of Middlesex , it was granted urban district status in 1894 and municipal borough status in 1955. In 1965, it merged with

1200-887: The Lea Valley Lines railway, it is quickly joined by the outflow of the Deephams Sewage Treatment Works . Flowing through the Eley Industrial Estate and close to the Edmonton Incinerator , the brook can be seen as it passes under the North Circular Road at Angel Road before merging with Pymmes Brook . The main geological formation underlying the Salmons Brook catchment area is Eocene London Clay . The uppermost part of this formation -

1260-612: The New River to enter Edmonton . The brook is culverted under Edmonton Green to emerge at Plevna Road, where it runs alongside the Pymmes Brook Trail . It skirts the walled Edmonton Federation Jewish Cemetery and the Tottenham Park Cemetery before flowing under Montagu Road to be joined by the culverted Saddlers Mill Stream in an area prone to serious flooding. Running through wasteland and under

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1320-645: The North Sea . As a result of the glaciation, the Thames was diverted to a more southerly route, broadly along the line of its current course. Prior to the Anglian glaciation, a "proto-Mole-Wey" river was flowing northwards from the Weald and North Downs , through the " Finchley depression " and Palmers Green , to join the proto-Thames somewhere around Hoddesdon , at what is today an altitude of around 60 metres. It

1380-619: The River Lea . As a west bank tributary of the lower River Lea, Salmons Brook came into being about 400,000 years ago, after the Anglian glaciation . During that glaciation, ice from the north of England advanced at least as far south as Watford , Finchley and Chingford . Until the Anglian glaciation, the River Thames flowed north-eastwards via Watford, through what is now the Vale of St Albans , then eastwards towards Chelmsford and

1440-458: The lower River Lea , has a notably steep eastern slope. Associated with that is the fact that all the tributaries of that section of Salmons Brook are on its west side. So it is possible that that section of the brook has, like the lower River Lea, also shifted eastwards somewhat since the Anglian glaciation (and, if so, presumably for the same reason). In addition, that section of the Salmons Brook valley today seems disproportionately deep for such

1500-521: The " Claygate Beds " - has a higher sand content. In some parts of the higher sections of the catchment area, the London Clay is overlain by "Stanmore Gravel" and "Dollis Hill Gravel" (both Quaternary pre-glacial fluvial deposits), and by Quaternary glacial till . From Slades Hill southwards, there are alluvium deposits on the Salmons Brook valley floor. And east of Bush Hill, the brook crosses extensive Quaternary river terrace deposits laid down by

1560-521: The 2016 young adult novel Timekeeper by Tara Sim. The Enfield poltergeist (a claim of alleged poltergeist activity in Brimsdown , Enfield between 1977 and 1979), was dramatized in the 2016 horror film The Conjuring 2 . The story also attracted press coverage in British newspapers, and has been mentioned in books, and television and radio documentaries. The Barclays Bank in the main town

1620-559: The Areas of Special Character will only be permitted if features or characteristics which are key to maintaining the character of the area are preserved or enhanced." In June 2021 Enfield Council published for public consultation a draft Local Plan which proposed development with large parts of the Area of Special Character. These areas included the following proposed development sites within undeveloped countryside of Enfield Chase: In July 2021

1680-787: The Forestry Commission, and £150,000 from the council itself. In May 2022, the Enfield Chase Restoration Project won an award at the London Tree and Woodland Awards. In April 2023, the Greater London Authority announced that it would provide another £500,000 in funding for further tree planting and improvements to footpaths at Enfield Chase. The Friends of Enfield Chase group of local volunteers help to plant and maintain trees and undertake other practical conservation activities in

1740-903: The Lea Valley lines, runs through Ponders End , Brimsdown and Enfield Lock stations. Services are operated by Greater Anglia to Liverpool Street, Stratford , Hertford East and Bishop's Stortford . Enfield Chase railway station on Windmill Hill, west of the town centre, is on the Hertford Loop line , with services to Moorgate , Hertford North , Watton-at-Stone and Stevenage operated by Thameslink . Also on this line are Crews Hill , Gordon Hill and Grange Park . London Buses routes 121 , 191 , 192 , 217 , 231 , 279 , 299 , 307 , 313 , 317 , 329 , 349 , 377 , 456 , 629 , W8 , W9 , W10 , night routes N29 and N279 , and non-London routes 610, 611 and 629 serve Enfield. Enfield and its clock tower are important locations in

1800-594: The Lock ward had the highest minority proportion, 45.1% of its population. Highlands ward had the highest male and female life expectancies from 2009 to 2013, 82.5 and 87.2 years respectively. The lowest was 76.7 years in Enfield Lock, and 81.4 years in Chase, respectively. Enfield Lock is the only ward where most houses were rented, 50.1%. At the opposite end, in Bush Hill Park 78.5% of houses were owned by

1860-686: The National Park City Foundation complained that Enfield Council was using the National Park City concept, mentioned several times in the draft Local Plan, as a 'bargaining chip' in Green Belt housing plans. In September 2022 the Council announced that a timetable for the next steps in the development plan would be published "early in 2023" . However as of May 2023 no timetable had been published. In May 2023 it

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1920-495: The Queen Elizabeth II Stadium. North Enfield Cricket Club was formed in 1886, and has been based at Clay Hill since 1945. Enfield Town is 10.1 miles (16.3 km) north of Charing Cross - the centre point of London - and is about 4 miles (6.4 km) south-west of Cheshunt , 5 miles (8.0 km) south-east of Potters Bar , and 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Barnet . At the centre of Enfield Town

1980-475: The River Lea and Lee Navigation , is renowned for its industrial heritage. The Royal Small Arms Factory , at Enfield Lock, produced the famous Enfield rifles . The Brimsdown Industrial Estate is home to heavy industry , warehousing and retail, and Wright's Flour Mill , at Ponders End, is Enfield's oldest running industrial building. Forty Hall , on the site of the Tudor Elsyng Palace , is in

2040-895: The Salmons Brook Valley, the Turkey Brook Valley, the Merryhills Brook Valley, Clay Hill, the Theobalds Estate South, Whitewebbs and Forty Hall, Hornbeam Hills South (adjoining Hadley Wood) and Trent Park. The AoSC was designated in order to protect the existing character of Enfield Chase as an area comprising woodlands, streams, designed parklands and enclosed farmland. The Enfield Development Management Policies Development Plan Document (a statutory planning document), adopted in 2014, states in policy DMD84 that "new development within

2100-521: The adjacent valley slopes. As erosion proceeds, the valley floor becomes a ridge bounded by newly formed valleys on each side". In the case of Bush Hill, the permeable Boyn Hill Gravel on the hill protected the otherwise easily eroded London Clay underneath from being removed, while nearby watercourses cut down into exposed London Clay). During the course of the following 400,000 years, the lower Lea moved steadily eastwards, leaving river terrace deposits of decreasing age and altitude as it did so, as well as

2160-536: The base level of its tributary stream, Salmons Brook. That would have enabled the brook to become further incised into the higher ground to the west of the Lea flood plain. The drainage pattern in this area continues to evolve. For example, the pronounced wind gap at the junction of Waggon Road and the A111, where the east-flowing Monken Mead Brook turns sharply to the south to become the upper part of Pymmes Brook, indicates that Monken Mead Brook once continued eastwards as

2220-412: The capital in the inter-war period of the 20th century. The parish church, located on the north side of the marketplace, is dedicated to St Andrew . While some masonry from the thirteenth century remains, the nave, north aisle, choir, and tower constructed of random rubble and flint, date from the late fourteenth century. The clerestory was added in the early sixteenth century , and the south aisle

2280-560: The earliest written evidence of the parish church in Enfield dates from when the parish of Enfield (dedicated to St Andrew ) and St Andrew's Church were endowed to the monastery of Walden Abbey in Essex in 1136. In 1303, by charter of King Edward I , nobleman Humphrey de Bohun and his heirs were granted a licence to hold a weekly market and two annual fairs, one on St Andrew's Day and another in September. The village green became

2340-558: The east, and from Potters Bar to Southgate. In 1777 George III leased the central part of the Chase to Sir Richard Jebb, his favourite doctor, as a reward for saving the life of the King's younger brother, the then Duke of Gloucester. This land later became Trent Park . The opening of Enfield station on the Great Northern line in 1871 (renamed Enfield Chase station in 1924 to avoid confusion with Enfield Town station ) resulted in

2400-406: The first period of sustained housebuilding on former Chase lands. This began with 'artisan's cottages' built along Chase side in the 1880s and accelerated after the opening of new stations at Gordon Hill and Crews Hill in 1910. The grounds of South Lodge were acquired by developers Laing, who built a new housing estate in the period 1935-1939. Boxers Lake and Lakeside, once part of South Lodge, are

2460-553: The former area of the Chase including at Southgate, Oakwood, and Hadley Wood have been developed, areas that remain undeveloped include Trent Park, Whitewebbs Park, Hadley Common, Fir and Pond Wood near Potters Bar, and the valleys of the Salmons Brook, Turkey Brook, and Merryhills Brook, as well as golf courses at Hadley Wood and Whitewebbs. Remnants of the Chase now within the urban area of London include Chase Green near Enfield Town and Boxer's Lake Open Space in Oakwood . Enfield Chase

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2520-399: The household. The town is home to two association football teams: Enfield Football Club , formed in 1893, reformed in 2007, and currently based at Bishop's Stortford ; and Enfield Town Football Club , a breakaway club of Enfield F.C. formed in 2001 and currently based at Enfield's Queen Elizabeth II Stadium . Enfield Town L.F.C. is Enfield Town's women's football club, also based at

2580-406: The ice sheet, then through "Dollis Hill Gravel", and then into Claygate Beds and London Clay below. It is not known at present whether Salmons Brook, and other west bank tributaries such as Pymmes Brook and Cuffley Brook , followed valleys which had been in existence before the ice sheet covered the land, or whether they fashioned a substantially different landscape after the ice retreated. But it

2640-681: The municipal boroughs of Southgate and Edmonton to create the London Borough of Enfield , a local government district of Greater London , of which Enfield is the administrative centre . Enfield Town, a market town chartered by Edward I in 1303, is the commercial centre of Enfield and the location of St Andrew's Enfield , the original parish church . The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The east of Enfield, adjacent to

2700-448: The newly diverted Thames, which at that time was spread over a wide flood plain extending as far north as Islington . And, as the ice sheet retreated, west bank tributaries of the lower Lea, such as Salmons Brook, flowed eastwards and south-eastwards from higher ground running roughly south–north through Potters Bar , down towards the newly formed lower River Lea. They, and their own tributaries, cut down successively through till left by

2760-662: The north, with Enfield Chase , the former royal hunting ground, and Chase Farm Hospital , in the west. The New River runs through Enfield from north to south, with the bypassed New River Loop encircling the town centre, through Enfield Town Park . In Anglo-Saxon times, the manor of Enfield was held by Ansgar the Staller ( c. 1025-1085), a nobleman and staller to King Edward the Confessor ( r.  1042–1066 ). The name 'Enfield' most likely came from Old English Ēanafeld or similar, meaning "open land belonging to

2820-474: The only remaining open spaces. In 1936-7 Middlesex County Council purchased around 4,000 hectares for inclusion in the Green Belt, which was drawn at the limits of urban development in 1939. Some of the land purchased became golf courses, whilst others, for example at Trent Park, Whitewebbs and Forty Hall, became public parks. The remainder of the Council-owned land was leased to tenant farmers. In what

2880-556: The parts of the former Chase that are being 'restored'. The Enfield Chase Heritage Area of Special Character (AoSC) was designated in 1994, following the recommendation of the Countryside Commission, English Nature, English Heritage and the London Ecology Unit, based on its combined landscape, historical and nature conservation interests. The AoSC is divided into a number of 'character areas' including

2940-522: The stone cross, by now decayed. The market is still in existence, administered by the Old Enfield Charitable trust. The charter of 1303 also gave the right to hold two annual fairs, one on St Andrew's Day and the other in September. The latter was suppressed in 1869 at the request of local tradesmen, clergy and other prominent citizens, having become, according to the local historian Pete Eyre, "a source of immorality and disorder, and

3000-413: Was erected to replace the octagonal wooden market house, demolished sixteen years earlier. In 1858 J. Tuff wrote of the market: "several attempts have been made to revive it, the last of which, about twenty years ago, also proved a failure, It has again fallen into desuetude and will probably never be revived". However, the trading resumed in the 1870s. In 1904 a new wooden structure was built to replace

3060-557: Was granted the estate of West Lodge Park by her brother Edward VI in 1547. In a charter of 1166-89 the hamlet of Southgate , sited around what is now Southgate Underground station , receives a mention. It takes its name from its location at the South Gate of the old hunting ground, later known as Enfield Chase. By the Enfield Chase Act 1777 ( 17 Geo. 3 . c. 17), the chase ceased to exist as an entity. According to

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3120-464: Was mentioned in the Domesday Book as a park and was later used for rearing game to be released into the adjacent Chase. For hundreds of years the chase was owned at first by the Mandeville and then the de Bohun families while local inhabitants of Edmonton and Enfield manors claimed common rights. It is believed that Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth I ) often hunted on the Chase after she

3180-652: Was opened by actor and Enfield resident Reg Varney . Enfield Town houses the Civic Centre , the headquarters of the Borough administration, where Council and committee meetings are also held. Neighbourhoods and villages of Enfield include: Botany Bay , Brimsdown , Bulls Cross , Bullsmoor , Bush Hill Park , Clay Hill , Crews Hill , Enfield Highway , Enfield Lock , Enfield Wash , Forty Hill , Freezywater , Gordon Hill , Grange Park , Ponders End , and World's End . The official estimate of Enfield's population

3240-629: Was part of this forest and also belonged to the citizens of London. By 1154 what had been known as the Park of Enfield or Enfield Wood had been converted into a hunting ground, or chase. It appears it was not known as Enfield Chase until the early 14th century, by which time it was referred to as 'Parcus Extrinicus' ( Latin , 'the Outer Park') to distinguish it from the older and smaller Enfield Old Park ('Parcus Intrinsicus' ('the Inner Park') which

3300-577: Was rebuilt in brick in 1824. Adjacent to the church is the old school building of the Tudor period, Enfield Grammar School , which expanded over the years and became a large comprehensive school in the late 1960s. A sixteenth century manor house, known since the eighteenth century as Enfield Palace, is remembered in the name of the Palace Gardens Shopping Centre (and the hothouses on the site were once truly notable; see below). It

3360-407: Was recorded as Enefeld Chacee in 1325 and chace of Enefelde in 1373, from the Middle English chace , meaning "a tract of ground for breeding and hunting wild animals". In the reign of Henry II the parish of Edmonton and adjoining parishes were for the most part a forest which was then so extensive that it reached from the City of London to about 12 miles (19 km) north. Enfield Chase

3420-655: Was reported that cross-party talks to consider Green Belt development proposals had collapsed. [REDACTED] Media related to Enfield Chase at Wikimedia Commons Enfield, London Enfield is a large town in north London , England , 10.1 miles (16.3 km) north of Charing Cross . It had a population of 333,587 in 2021. It includes the areas of Botany Bay , Brimsdown , Bulls Cross , Bullsmoor , Bush Hill Park , Clay Hill , Crews Hill , Enfield Highway , Enfield Lock , Enfield Town, Enfield Wash , Forty Hill , Freezywater , Gordon Hill , Grange Park , Hadley Wood , Ponders End , and World's End . South of

3480-399: Was the site of the first cash machine in the world Salmons Brook Salmons Brook is marked thus on Rocque's map of 1754 , probably named from the family of John Salemon of Edmonton mentioned in 1274. The brook rises south of Potters Bar , in Enfield Chase on the borders of the former Enfield Old Park , and flows east close to Trent Park and to Bush Hill where it passes under

3540-436: Was this river which, during the course of the early and middle Pleistocene , deposited the "Dollis Hill Gravel" at successive altitudes. When the Anglian ice sheet diverted the Thames southwards, the Mole-Wey was cut off at Richmond . Meltwater from the retreating Anglian ice sheet gave birth to a south-flowing lower River Lea , and that river cut into and followed in part the line of the former proto-Mole-Wey. It flowed into

3600-425: Was used as a private school from around 1670 until the late nineteenth century. The last remains of it were demolished in 1928 to make way for an extension to Pearson's department store, though a panelled room with an elaborate plaster ceiling and a stone fireplace survive, relocated to a house in Gentleman's Row, a street of sixteenth- to eighteenth-century houses near the town centre. In 1303, King Edward I granted

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