Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for ENFIELD

ENFIELD, a small town, a parish, and a sub-district, in Edmonton district, Middlesex. The town stands on the New river at the terminus of a branch of the Eastern Counties railway, near Ermine-street, 2 miles NNW of Lower Edmonton, and 10 N by E of St. Paul's, London. It is divided into three quarters, -Town, Green-street, and Bulls Cross; has a railway station with telegraph, a post office under London, N., a chief inn, and a modern market-cross; and is a seat of petty sessions, and a polling-place. A weekly market is held on Saturday; and fairs on 23 Sept. and 30 Nov. The parish includes also the hamlets of Botany-Bay, Bulls Cross, Enfield Chase, Enfield Highway, and Ponders End. Acres, 12, 460. Real property, £55, 678. Pop. in 1851, 9, 453; in 1861, 12, 424. Houses, 2, 310. Much of the surface is main part of the quondam forest of Enfield chase. This was anciently a wooded tract, well stocked with deer, measuring 8, 349 acres in area, and 21 miles in circuit, and extending to the river Lea. It was known at Domesday as Enefelde, -as was also the manor; it was held, along with the manor, by Geoffrey de Mandeville; and it passed to the Bohuns and the Crown. It was broken up during the civil wars in the time of Charles I., -its timber cut down, its deer destroyed, its land parcelled out into small farms; and after the Restoration it was once more enforested, -was reenclosed, replanted, and restocked with deer; but in 1779, by act of parliament, it was again disforested, and its land laid out for cultivation. A stream, called Enfield wash, rises in the chase, and falls into the river Lea. In the town are remains of a palace in which it is said Edward VI. once held his court; which Elizabeth made her abode before she became queen; which she visited at several periods of her reign, to enjoy shooting in the chase; and which afterwards was inhabited by Uvedale the botanist. Elsynge Hall, or Worcesters, an extinct seat of the Tiptofts, the Lovells, and the Cecils, also was visited by Edward VI. and Elizabeth. Forty Hall, or Fortees, a mansion built by Inigo Jones, was a seat of the Wolstenholmes, and passed to the Meyers. Trent Place was built by Jebb the physician; and passed to the Bevans. A mansion at Ponders End was a seat of the Earls of Lincoln. Beech-Hill House was occupied by Russell, the East Indian historian. White Webbs House was associated with the gunpowder plot. Durants belonged to the Stringers, and was the residence of Jeffreys. The South Lodge of Enfield chase was held by the Earl of Chatham; the East Lodge was a seat of Lord Loughborough; and the West Lodge was held, in the time of Charles II., by Secretary Coventry. Edmund Calamy and the antiquary Gough were residents in the parish; Bishop Wickham was a native; and the Earl of Strafford takes from it the title of Viscount. A cedar, now about 16 feet in girth, was planted by Uvedale. Roman urns, tiles, and coins have been found. The government factory of small arms at Enfield Lock is partly in the parish; and an extension of its works was the cause of the increase of population between 1851 and 1861. Corn mills are of ancient origin; and the tanning of leather was a long time carried on. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of London. Value, £1, 174.* Patron, Trinity College, Cambridge. The church is of the 14th century; belonged to Saffron-Walden abbey; had a chantry, which was converted into a vestry; and contains some fine old monuments. The vicarages of St. James-Enfield-Highway, Jesus' Chapel-Forty-Hill, and St. John Baptist, and the p. curacy of Trent, are separate benefices; and the first was constituted in 1833, the second in 1845, the third in 1867. Value of St. James' living, £300; of Jesus' Chapel, £118; of St. John Baptist, not reported. Patron of all three, the Vicar of Enfield. There are chapels for Independents, Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, and Roman Catholics. Wilson's charity for six men has £163; King James' charity has £100; and other charities have £712. The parish contains one of two workhouses of the Edmonton district, a school of industry for forty girls, and national and British schools. The sub-district is conterminate with the parish.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Enfield St Andrew AP/CP       Enfield SubD       Edmonton RegD/PLU       Middlesex AncC
Place names: ENEFELDE     |     ENFIELD
Place: Enfield

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