The poet John Keats was apprenticed to a surgeon in a cottage in Church Street between the years 1811 and 1815 and a blue plaque records this.

Nevertheless, the science of medicine and surgery did never acquired a competent professional, as he became a poet!.

When in London not miss HAMPSTEAD!. You will find there KEATS HOUSE MUSEUM in this very pretty former village

As is very common sight  in this type of buildings, in many parts of London, an England, with a girl in school uniform in a niche.

The school served from 1784 until 1904. The girls were clothed and fed and educated to be in service.

Charity schools  were less formal institutions and were geared chiefly towards the poorer sections of society. Many of them in fact owed their existence to the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SPCK), founded in 1699. It was an expressed aim of the Society to spread Christian knowledge as a form of missionary activity.

During the 18th century the Society's leaders created schools for the poor in the 7-11 age group wherever it could. It is from these schools that the modern concept of primary and secondary education has grown. The SPCK also concerned itself with the training of teachers, and to some extent introduced a sense of professionalism to teaching.

The home of the essayist Charles Lamb and his sister, Mary. The cottage is thought to date from the 16th century and Charles died here in 1834.

Most of the building dates from the  fifteenth century. The churchyard  proves a welcome oasis on a searing hot day. Charles and Mary Lamb are buried here.

The former Charles Lamb Institute of 1908 is faced with stone in the style of a Tudor college. It was originally the parish hall for All Saints Church.

Therefore the sort of place I have come to expect to find a blue plaque. However, a short walk from Church Street that is indeed what one finds. It is on the modest home of Charles Coward and who worthier of commemoration than someone who saved prisoners from Auschwitz? Here, in Chichester Road, he lived from 1945 until his death in 1976. As well as a number of escapes, as a prisoner of war, he displayed considerable ingenuity in rescuing Jews. At one time he substituted corpses for live prisoners, who were then able to escape.

Salmons (as it is normally spelled )Brook is a minor tributary of the River Lea,  marked thus on Rocque's map of 1754, probably named from the family of John Salemon of Edmonton mentioned in 1274.^[2]

Opposite the WAR MEMORIAL is the memorial to the eleven victims of the worst air disaster Britain had known until 1938. The trainee pilot of a Hawker Audax had flown from Hatfield on the morning of September 4th. Instead of keeping within three miles of the base, as instructed, he flew to Edmonton. Flying low over Pymmes Park ,where scouts were having a jamboree, he waved. Unfortunately the undercarriage caught the top of a house in Dunhome Road and the plane crashed. Among the dead were three men who had attempted to rescue the pilot and a child who had happened to be playing in the street.

Having been turned down for service as a missionary in China because of her working class background and lack of education, GLADYS AYLWARD nevertheless saved up for her passage to China and founded the Inn of the Eighth Happiness in 1930. After the Japanese invasion she led a group of Chinese children across the mountains to safety: a true example of dogged persistence if ever there was one. Her exploits were portrayed in the film ‘The Inn of the Sixth Happiness’ starring Ingrid Bergman.

The selective Latymer School reminds us of the the presence in Enfield of schools which are ‘creamed’ of high achieving pupils.

The Latymer School, like most schools that predate the rise of state-funded education, owes its origins to the foresight and generosity of individuals who believed that wealth brought with it an obligation to help those less fortunate than themselves.

The Latymer Foundation has a long history of giving since the original bequest of Edward Latymer in 1624. At that time an undertaking was given to annually provide “eight poore boies” from Edmonton with a doublet, a pair of breeches, a shirt, a pair of woollen stockings and shoes and always on the 1^st of November.  In return for being educated to the age of 13 at a "petty school", the boys had to wear the red Latymer cross on their sleeves.

In 1662 John Wild of Edmonton made a bequest including £4 per annum for the maintenance of a schoolmaster and a similar sum to maintain a poor scholar at Cambridge. This was followed in 1679 with a bequest by Thomas Style of Edmonton of £20 per annum for teaching "20 poor boys ... Grammar and Latin tongue". Over a century later, in 1811, Ann Wyatt left £500, 5% Navy Annuities, to build a new school and £100 in the same securities for its maintenance.

architect CARÖE
Is it in the Art Nouveau Gothic style?

Dating from the 18th century, MILLFIELD HOUSE has belonged to Robert Mushet of the Royal Mint, been a workhouse school, a home for Belgian refugees, and an epilepsy hospital.  

The area known as Pymmes Park has a long history, dating from 1327 when William Pymme built a mansion on the north side of Watery Lane (now known as Silver Street/Sterling Way ) in Edmonton . It is believed that Watery Way was so called, because of the proximity of Pymmes Brook and until the late 19th century Angel Road was known as Water Lane . From 1327 to1578, the Pymmes Estate changed hands several times, until Thomas Wilson, a statesman and a Member of Parliament, purchased the estate in 1579.

In 1582 William Cecil, the Right Honorable Lord Burleigh, Lord High Treasurer of England, purchased the Estate (6 acres of pasture and a house) for £250. Sir Robert Cecil, son of William Cecil, became the owner of Pymmes following his marriage in 1589 and the estate, which had increased to 51 acres, remained in the family until 1801. The Ray family has also had a long association with the Pymmes Estate and records show ownership dating from 1808 until 1899, when The Council purchased the 53 acres from the Ray family for £36,000.  The estate was purchased to provide much needed public open space following an increase in population. 

Northside was opened in 1897 and the remainder set out as a Park opened to the public in June 1906, with one of the main attractions being the Bandstand, which could seat up to 800 people. The park was named Pymmes Park after William Pymme, one of the first owners of the original Estate. Pymmes House was destroyed by fire in 1940 and a plaque (situated above the public entrance to the Walled Garden ) commemorates this fact. During World War II portions of the park were dug up for allotments.

The hospital in parts betrays its 1842 origins as a workhouse. 

Has it anything to do with the former WORKHOUSE?. Remember that famous inhabitant of the workhouse… OLIVER TWIST!.

Like the better-known Angel in Islington, ANGEL TERRACE and ANGEL CORNER, Upper Edmonton, takes its name from an inn – in this case one that stood here from at least the 17th century. Another popular inn, the Bell, lay to the south on Fore Street.

A number of roads in central London were declared highways and transferred from the care of the commissioners to the local parish authorities. The roads remaining under the trust were organised into sixteen districts, with different tolls applied, and the funds gathered being applied to the maintenance of the roads in the district:^[4]

You are on the Eleventh District: The road from Shoreditch to Lower Edmonton

Margot says, to end her walk: “My history-packed five mile  walk ended at The Crescent, built in the 1820s by a solicitor. It is very splendid and familiar to me as it is in the ward in which I unsuccessfully stood for election in 2006. I suppose the fact that the houses have been made into flats accounts for the surprising shabbiness of some of the gardens and the exteriors”. EDMONTON has changed a lot.

As you can see in the maps and the spider maps various bus routes link EDMONTON with ENFIELD TOWN 

Map of ENFIELD TOWN CONSERVATION AREA, which I have, as well, been using, following the useful ENFIELD SOCIETY GUIDE.

Have a look at the ENFIELD DISPATCH

This 18th century house was bought in 1888 by the Enfield Board of Health. It was later a public library and is now the Registry Office. The square bay to the right was added in the 19th century.

The 18th century brick front of Elm House hides an earlier 17th century house. Now in private occupation, it has been a school, hall and store, and was a convalescent home in the First World War.

This late 17th century timber framed stableman’s cottage was provided with an early Georgian façade covered in white stucco.

To the left, the 16th century L-shaped timber-framed barn later became a coach house before being converted to a house in 1957.

Fortescue Villas were built in the 1840s and were at one time a school and later a children’s home.

Probably circa 1840-50. Restored in recent years in Georgian Style. 3 storeys, brick 4-sash windows with cambered heads and keystones and slatted shutters. Canted bays of brick to ground floor and basement Sash windows, angle columns to windows, stone lintels, hipped slate roof. Georgian style doorway with cornice on consoles, panelled door with ornamental fanlight. Steps up with iron rails. Bracketed eaves.

The Grade II* listed Clarendon Cottage was originally a 16th century timber-framed hall house and was extended in the 17th century. At the end of the 17th century it was a girls’ school and in the early 19th century it was a boarding house run by a Mrs Leishmann. Charles and Mary Lamb stayed there in 1825 and 1827 before they moved to live in Chase Side.

To the left of CLARENDON COTTAGE are the 17th century timber-framed Eastbury and Sedgecope, both with early 18th century red brick fronts.

The recently restored Archway House dates from 1750 and was a BEER HOUSE before the First World War. The archway to the right led to Love’s Row, now called CHAPEL STREET>>>>.
The mainly 19th century house on the left was at one time the stables for the ARCHWAY TAVERN and later a general shop until the late 1960s.

There were fewer cars in Gentleman’s Row in 1969. On the left, William Place dates from 1871 while the four cottages in the centre are early 19th century. The bay-fronted Belmont Cottages out of view opposite were built in the 1890s.

The early 19th century Rivulet House originally faced on to the New River.

At the end take the path to the left and cross the river. Sharp right along Chase Side Place. Recross the river at the 

CROWN AND HORSES PH.
and follow the footpath alongside this. At the next bridge go right along Pennyfather Lane.

12th century origins; 15–16th century; 1824 restoration by W.C Lochner; 1852–3 restoration by J P St Anbyn; 1866–7 works by Sir George Gilbert Scott; further restoration by J O and CMO Scott, early 2th century.

Constructed with an eclectic mix of materials including rubble with stone dressings, several types of 18th and 19th century brick, and some flint. The medieval fabric is largely uncoursed rubble masonry with stone dressings, with some knapped flint in the N aisle. The S aisle and chapel, the nave E gable wall, the NE vestry and the N aisle parapet are brick, and there are patches of brick repairs in the N aisle. The S porch is part brick, part stone. Traces of render and limewash still adhere in places, and the E half of the vestry has modern render. Interior is plastered and painted, except for nave walls above arcade, which are painted over stripped stone and brick.

It has a rectangular plan with aisled nave and chancel of equal length. Nave with 5-bay N and S arcades continuing into 2-bay arcades for the chancel chapels. Nave has W tower, S porch, polygonal N rood stair and a probable blocked N door. NE porch and vestry to NE of N chapel. Gallery, now organ loft, over W end of nave.

The exterior appearance is that of a grand town church, both high and long. Unbuttressed W tower with high plinth and a string course with weathered heads below the parapet; the tower windows are late C14 of two traceried lights. The tower S door is C19 and is accessed by a short flight of external stairs. There is no stair turret, which, with the lack of buttresses, suggests an early original date for the tower. The long nave is embattled and has N and S clerestories of the C16 (c.1522) with very depressed headed windows of 3 plain lights. The nave E gable wall was rebuilt in brick in the late C18.

The KING’S HEAD PH.

Built in 1899, The Kings Head is a historic public house and Grade II listed building. It is surrounded by history and character and conveniently positioned right in the heart of Enfield Town.

A pub has sat on the site in different guises for more than 300 years, and the existing building has been in the centre of Enfield since 1899. But the pub shut down at the end of 2007 prompting fears for its future.

After being lovingly restored in 2010, from what many feared would be the loss of a traditional community pub, it now forms an essential part of Enfield Town’s centre.

The Market Place is an open cobbled civic space at the heart of Enfield Town. It occupies the space between St Andrew’s Church, the Kings Head Pub Barclays Bank, 20 The Town, 1–2 Market Chambers and is adjacent to the oldest part of the Grammar School in Church Walk.

It contains the Market House, 1904 by Sidney M Cranfield, an octagonal timber structure on classical columns and stepped plinth with a tile roof culminating in large half ball finial, built to mark coronation of Edward VII.

The ancient pump has been in the Market Place (although has moved position) for many years. The Fountain marks the centre of the old and present Enfield Town; the present market place nearby next to St Andrews church dates from 1532, prior to which it was held on a small green nearby. The former green was progressively encroached upon and now the only surviving remnant is the small paved triangular area surrounding the fountain. The fountain dates from 1884, when funds were raised, according to the inscription “Erected by public subscription 1884”.

The Market Office is in the nearby Old Vestry Office (22 The Town) which is also a Grade II listed building. All these buildings have a direct connection with the Market Place which enhances their settings or gives them meaning and purpose.

In 1303, Edward I granted a charter to Humphrey de Bohun, and his wife to hold a weekly market in Enfield each Monday, and James I granted another in 1616, to The Parish, for a Saturday market. At that time it was held on a smaller area in front of the Church gates which by 1648 had been extended and market buildings including stalls, the Cross, Pump and Market House had been erected.
A fair was held once a year on St Andrews day in St Andrews Close and an elaborate Gatehouse erected. More stalls were built in 1656.

The Market was still prosperous in the early eighteenth century.
In 1721 it was leased to the landlord of the Kings Head who kept 50 Pairs of trestle tables to be set out on Saturdays, but by 1778 it seems to be failing and by 1813 it was in a sad condition and the old stone Cross had been removed (another was erected in 1826 which is now at Myddelton House).

There were sporadic attempts to revive the Market: an unsuccessful one of 1778 is recorded, 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, this pessimism was premature as trading resumed in the 1870s and in 1904 a new wooden Market House was built to replace the stone Cross, by now decayed, which was removed to Myddelton House where it still is. By 1919 the Gazette was reporting that “on most days of the week the Market Place seems to be regarded as an area for trick cycling”.

The Market still takes place in the Market Place on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and is currently undergoing another revival. It is administered by the Old Enfield Charitable Trust although the extent of the Trust’s ownership and responsibilities is not clear.

Apart from the Market activities the Market Place is a traditional gathering place for the inhabitants of the area. The London Journal of 17 August 1723 records that Thomas Duncombe was PILLORIED there. For many years from 1688 onwards it was the setting for a BONFIRE  on 5th November. In 1721 three men collecting wood on the Chase for the bonfire were caught and and sentenced to 3 months with hard labour and a PUBLIC WHIPPING in the Market Place, which sentence was mercifully over-turned.
Information from David Pam’s “A History of Enfield” and “ The Story of Enfield Chase”

The parish BEADLE’S HOUSE  and LOCK-UP was built in 1830 and became a POLICE STATION in 1839. It was later the VESTRY office.

A small, lodge-like building,  2-storey centre and one-storey sides canted back. Stucco with 1st floor band continuing as frieze of side wings. Impost band to round-headed windows in wings. Central double door, now half-glazed, in quasi-entablature surround with pediment. Sash windows, some with glazing bars. Centre 1st floor window round-headed tripartite in round-arched recess. Low pitched hipped slate roof. Listing includes the forecourt and ornate railings

The Fountain marks the centre of the old and present Enfield Town; the present market place nearby next to St Andrews church dates from 1532, prior to which it was held on a small green nearby. The former green
was progressively encroached upon and now the only surviving remnant is the small paved triangular area surrounding the fountain. The fountain dates from 1884, when funds were raised, according to the inscription “Erected by public subscription 1884”. There is a subsequent dedication to Henry Joshua Brown (1906–1983) Past President and Horticulturalist”. The fountain has more recently been restored by Enfield Council in 1994, with contributions from customers of the nearby Marks and Spencer.

Lloyds Bank is an restrained building constructed of stone to the first floor and red brick and stone dressings above. It has an impressive stone canopied doorway at the corner of Silver Street and Southbury Road although this now difficult to see beyond the plethora of traffic lights and barriers and the crowds of people on the narrow pavement.

It is older than might be thought having been constructed in 1886 (pre-dating Barclays by some 11 years) as a branch of Lloyds, Barnetts and Bosanquets Bank Limited, the head office of which was at 62 Lombard Street in the City of London. Col Bosanquet, who lived at “Claysmore” in Clay Hill became a director of this company when Lloyds amalgamated with the Bank in which he had been a partner.

A robust three storey red brick building, with stone dressings and a stone-faced rusticated ground floor, and steep tiled roof with dormers. It has two principal elevations, the entrance on a splay between them, under a carved stone shell hood. The building retains its original use and character and makes a significant statement on the corner of Southbury Road and Silver Street, and in the views from adjoining roads. It is one of a series of bank buildings in the town centre (not all in their original use), which act as ‘punctuation’ and as landmarks in the street scene because of their scale, quality of detail and materials and confident design.

E. UPSON & SON FUNERAL DIRECTORS

DUGDALE ARTS CENTRE

LOCAL MUSEUM & CAFÉ

No. 58 and 60 are late C18. 3 storeys and sunk basement, 3 windows. Stock brick with stone coped parapet. Angles slightly set back. Gauged flat brick arches to sash winds with glazing bars in stucco lined reveals. Ground floor windows of mid C19, with margin lights and glazing bars, under segmental gauzed brick arches. In centre a blank round arch in round-arched recess with key block. One-storey stuccoed right entrance extension has door of 4 fielded and 2 beaded panels under patterned radial fanlight.

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COAT OF ARMS

Coat of arms of the former Municipal Borough of Enfield

The main charge on the shield is a mythological animal sometimes used in heraldry. This beast is called an enfield, thus making the arms canting. Like many medieval mythological creatures, the enfield is composed of parts from different real animals: the enfield has the head of a fox, the forelegs of an eagle, the chest of a hound but the rest of the body like a lion and the hindlegs and tail of a wolf. An enfield was also present in the coat of arms of the former Municipal Borough of Enfield. The bars in green, silver and blue behind the red enfield represent New River, the Green Belt areas and open spaces in general.

The crest contains a stag's head with a wreath of red roses, derived from the supporters in the coat of arms of the Municipal Borough of Southgate, where the stag represented the forests of the area and the roses stood for the Duchy of Lancaster, the well-known red rose of Lancaster.

While the supporter to the right is a chained lion with a saltire, like the supporters in the coat of arms of the former Municipal Borough of Edmonton, representing courage and determination, the left supporter is the same enfield as in the coat of arms itself.

LOGO

CHRISTCHURCH

”As a part of theUnited Reformed Church, we are member of a national church movement that began as a union of the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches in 1972 but whose origins date back to the 16th century. The United Reformed Church is one of the three main Free Churches along with the Baptist and Methodist Churches”. 

This building is the former British School. It opened in 1838, with two classrooms, each measuring 40x30 feet, one for boys and one for girls. The school closed in 1901 and was then used as a public hall, a dairy and a restaurant.

The MILLENIUM FOUNTAIN with sundial was made by WENDY TAYLOR.

On the map, I have pointed out FORTY HALL. Buses 191 & 456

to the N of it:

SPURS grounds 

MYDDELTON HOUSE

BULLS CROSS

CAPEL MANOR GARDENS and COLLEGE. Buses 217/317

The WHITEWEBBS TRANSPORT MUSEUM Is more to the W

BOTANY BAY. Bus 313

ENFIELD CHASE

More transport related museums in or close to London