For other places with the same name, see Edmonton.
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Edmonton is 8.6 miles (13.8 km) north-north-east of Charing Cross and stretches from just south of the North Circular Road in the south to just past Edmonton Green in the north and from the Great Cambridge Road in the west to the River Lea in the east. The northern part of Edmonton (N9 postal district) is known as Lower Edmonton and the southern part (N18) as Upper Edmonton.
Demography
2001 Census
Edmonton had a population of 96,493 in the 2001 census[2]
The three white groups made up 66.1% of the population and thirteen ethnic groups the remainder.[2]
Constituency profile April 2004
Edmonton has a young, ethnically diverse population. It has significantly higher proportions of Muslims than the borough average. It is clearly the most deprived part of Enfield and has the highest crime rate. Satisfaction with the area is as high as for Enfield as a whole with environmental concerns ranking highest.[2]
In 2008 the Edmonton Green ward has been identified as having one of the highest numbers of working age adults living on state benefits in the UK.[3]
In the first three months of 2008 five young men were murdered, most of them victims of knife crime. The area has become known as "Shank Town".[4]
The Edmonton Green area is currently being redeveloped by St. Modwen Plc. The £100 million project will include new housing, bus station, clinic and refurbishment of the shopping centre.[5]
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson visited Edmonton in November 2008 to release his Time For Action plan. He claimed his proposals would help stop young people becoming repeat offenders. [6]
Sites or buildings of historic interest
All Saints'Church The mostly 15th century church is located in Church Street. It is the oldest building in Edmonton.
Angel Place. A mid 18th century block of two linked Grade II listed houses, plus a block of three which were altered in the middle of the 19th century. Located in Fore Street A1010 road and standing close to the junction with the A406 road. The houses were adjacent to the now demolished Angel public house.[7]
File:Charles Lamb Institute.jpgCharles Lamb Institute. The grade II listed building is located in Church Street. Designed by J S Alder and opened in 1908. The building today is used as a gymnasium.[8]
Edmonton Central Library. The former public library (closed 1991) opened in 1897 at Fore Street. Designed by Maurice B Adams with bequests provided by the John Passmore Edwards foundation. Today the Grade II listed building is used as a religious and community centre. (Inside the library by the main entrance were two portrait plaques of Charles Lamb and John Keats by George Frampton,1908. The plaques can be viewed at Community House, 313 Fore Street, Edmonton )[9]
Edmonton Federation Cemetery. The roughly triangular shaped cemetery was founded in 1889 with land given by Samuel Montagu.[10] The walled cemetery is bordered by Salmons Brook which forms part of the Pymmes Brook Trail and a footpath which follows the course of the disused Lower Edmonton low level railway.[11]RabbiEliezer Gordon is buried here . The entrance is in Montagu Road B137 road. The site also incorporates the Western Synagogue Cemetery[10] founded in 1884 and adjoins the Tottenham Park Cemetery.[12]
Edmonton Girls' Charity School. The simple yellow brick structure with red brick dressings is located on the south side of Church Street. Initially the school , founded in 1784, had been on a different site. However the benefactor, Obadiah Legrew, grew tired of the children close to his home. He had the original school demolished, drew £170 from the trust, and purchased another plot of land. In 1793 the new school was built afresh, away from his delicate ears. Pupils aged between 7-14 were clothed and educated, although the main purpose was to fit them for domestic service. The facade carries a figure of a charity girl and the words A structure of Hope founded in Faith on the basis of Charity. The school closed in 1904.[13][14]
Lamb's Cottage. Formerly known as Bay Cottage. The cottage is believed to have been built in the 1680s and is located in the Church Street conservation area.[7] Writers
Charles and Mary Lamb occupied the house between 1833-34, and is where Charles Lamb died.[15] The cottage was sold to its new owners in June 2008.[16]
Millfield House. The late 18th century house has been used as a workhouse school, hospital and a refugee centre before closing in 1971. The house re-opened as an arts centre in 1979 in a complex which encompasses the Millfield Theatre, Millfield Arts Centre and the former Weir Hall Library (closed 2008). [17]
North Middlesex Hospital. The hospital is located in Sterling Way, Upper Edmonton. Built in 1842 by the Edmonton Board of Guardians as the Edmonton Union Workhouse. A separate infirmary block was opened in 1910. Much of the building was taken over for use as a military hospital. it was returned to civilian use in 1920 and re-named The North Middlesex Hospital.[18]
Salisbury House. The house dates to the late 16th/early 17th century, and is the oldest building in Edmonton apart from All Saints' Church. The house which is located in Bury Street West, Lower Edmonton has been a private residence and a school before it was bought by Edmonton council in 1936. The building was established as an arts centre in 1957 (the first to be provided by a local authority in London).[19] In 1992 it underwent a major restoration. The house is Grade 11 listed along with some of the surrounding walls.[20]
The Crescent. A terrace of twenty five Georgian houses located in the Hertford Road. Built between 1826-51 by a London solicitor. By the late 19th century the Crescent had been largely split into flats.[21][22]
St Alphege's church. Was erected in 1958 and designed by Edward Maufe. The church can be found at the junction of the Hertford Road and Galliard Road.[24]
St Edmund's RC church. Built between 1905-1907 . The church is on the junction of the Hertford Road and Bounces Road.
Shopping
The main shopping centre in Edmonton is at Edmonton Green which has a popular market, the second largest is at the Angel, Edmonton which is a high street.
Angel Road, Edmonton, at dusk. Edmonton gasworks on horizon. (February 2006)Edmonton gasworks seen from Tottenham Marshes
The old highway Ermine Street passed through what is today Edmonton. Ermine Street was the main Roman Road from London through Lincoln and on to York.
Edmonton appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is recorded as Adelmetone- 'a farmstead or estate of a man called Ēadhelm' from an Old English personal name and tūn. [25]
Edmonton Hundred was a division of the historic county of Middlesex from Saxon times, an area of some 31,000 acres (125 km2) stretching up the west bank of the Lea from Tottenham to the county boundary south of Waltham Cross, and west into what is now Hertfordshire as far as South Mimms. Local government in the modern sense began in 1837 with the Edmonton Union, set up under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. This also covered a wide district of 47,102 acres (191 km2), including the modern boroughs of Haringey and Enfield, plus Cheshunt, Waltham Abbey and Waltham Cross. The population of this area grew rapidly, reaching 445,875 by 1911 and would today be about 615,000. As the population mushroomed Middlesex was subdivided into many small local government areas, a much smaller Edmonton of 3894 acres (16 km2) eventually achieving the status of borough (main article Municipal Borough of Edmonton) in 1937. At the 1961 census the borough had a population of 91,956.[26] This was absorbed into the London Borough of Enfield in 1965, and the former Town Hall and civic buildings were controversially demolished by Enfield Council in 1989.[27]
Pymmes Park with its historic walled garden is Upper Edmonton's park.
Pymmes Park originated as a private estate. In the late 16th century it was owned by the powerful Cecil family. In 1589 Robert Cecil, later 1st Earl of Salisbury, spent his honeymoon at Pymmes. The estate was eventually acquired by Edmonton Council and opened as a public park in 1906. Pymmes House was destroyed by fire during World War II and the remains were demolished.
Robert Cecil was a protege of Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I's chief spymaster and he succeeded him as Secretary of State in 1590.
In the 17th century the then rural Edmonton had a reputation for supernatural activities. In approximately 1600, a play entitled The Merry Devil of Edmonton was performed in London about a wizard who lived there.
John Keats, the poet, was apprenticed to surgeon Dr. Hammond in Church Street between 1810-1816. The house was demolished in 1931 to be replaced by Keats Parade. An extant shop carries a blue plaque in commemoration.[8]
Gilpin's spouse decides she and her husband should spend their twentieth wedding anniversary at The Bell Inn, Fore Street, Edmonton. The journey is beset with misfortune from start to finish. Gilpin loses control of his horse which carries him on to the town of Ware ten miles (16 km) distant. On the return journey, Gilpin is still unable to handle his steed, as he once again he fails to stop at The Bell. The horse gallops back to Cheapside much to the dismay of his concerned spouse.[29]
Gilpin is remembered in Edmonton by the statue at Fore Street. The Wetherspoons outlet the Gilpin's Bell public house opposite the site of the original inn and the 1950s council housing Gilpin House in Upper Fore Street.
Industry
Edmonton was home to many industries which included manufacturing of gas appliances, electrical components and furniture. Most of this has been lost in the latter part of the 20th century. Some of the household names that produced goods here include MK electric, Ever Ready batteries, British Oxygen, Glover and Main gas appliances. Eley Industrial Estate was named after Eley Brothers the firearms cartridge manufacturer. Its shot tower was a distinctive landmark on the Edmonton skyline, demolished late 20th century. Due to its close proximity to the River Lee Navigation, timber was transported by barge from the London docks and stored in riverside wharves. As a result many furniture makers including Nathans, Beautility and Homeworthy had factories here. Today Parker-Knoll products are manufactured at the former B&I Nathan factory on the Eley Industrial Estate [1]. The skyline here is dominated by the 100 metre Edmonton Incinerator chimney which was built in 1971. Other major employers here include Coca Cola. [2]
Railway and transport
The railway arrived in 1840 with the opening of the first section of the Lea Valley Line from Stratford to Broxbourne. A station was provided in Water Lane (Angel Road). As the station was badly sited and the trains were slow and expensive, few people used the railway in the early days, preferring the horse buses. In 1845 there were buses every 15 minutes along Fore Street, travelling alternately to Bishopsgate and Holborn.
The single-track line from a junction just north of Angel Road to Enfield Town opened on 1 March1849, with an intermediate single-platform station at Lower Edmonton, located at the edge of the village green. The service was infrequent and often required a change of train at the junction. This, coupled with the train taking the long way round through Stratford to get to the terminus at Bishopsgate, meant that the railway offered little competition to the existing horse coaches and buses.
The direct line from London to Enfield Town was opened in four stages, from Bethnal Green to Stoke Newington on 27 May1872; from Stoke Newington through to Lower Edmonton High Level on 22 July1872, with stations in Edmonton at Silver Street and a new High Level station at Lower Edmonton, which was renamed Edmonton Green in 1992; the short section from Lower Edmonton High Level to Edmonton Junction (where the new line met the original Eastern Counties Railway route from Angel Road to Enfield Town via Lower Edmonton Low Level) on 1 August1872; and the suburban platforms on the west side of Liverpool Street station on 2 February1874.
The stations were well sited and offered exceptionally cheap workmen's fares of just 2d on trains arriving at Liverpool Street prior to 07:00, 3d on those arriving between 07:00 and 07:30, and half-price returns on those arriving between 07:30 and 08:00. A horse tramway along Fore Street opened in 1881. The tramway was re-constructed and electrified during 1905, lasting until 1938 when trolley buses took over.
Leisure and recreation
Edmonton Cricket Club . The cricket club was founded in 1872 and is located in Church Street.[30] The ground is also home to the Norsemen football club.[31]
Edmonton Leisure Centre located at Edmonton Green opened in August 2007. Facilities include a swimming pool and sports hall.[32]
Bury Lodge gardens. The gardens are located in Bury Street West. Built on land belonging to Bury Lodge house (demolished 1935) and the nearby Salisbury House. The ornamental garden includes brick pillared pergolas, rose gardens and a pond. Other facilities are a playing field. The southern boundary of the park is bordered by Salmons Brook.[35][36]
Churchfields Recreation Ground. The recreation ground is located close to the A10 in Lower Edmonton. The grounds facilities include playing fields and children's play area. The site is the home to London's only complete World War II Civil Defence Centre.[36][37]
Craig ParkTQ3448092570. The park is located in Upper Edmonton and lies close to Angel Road A406. Facilities include sports pitches, children's play area. and hardcourt.
Jubilee Park. Covering 37 acres (150,000 m2) of land previously used for brick-making. The park opened on June 24, 1939 to commemorate King George VSilver Jubilee in 1935. Facilities include, the Henry Barass stadium, formal gardens , pitch and putt, sports pitches, tennis courts and wildlife area.[38][39]
Montagu Road Recreation GroundTQ3511193199. The recreation ground is located in Montagu Road B137. The facilities include playing fields, children's play area and hard courts.
Plevna Road Open Space.Open space close to Edmonton Green
Tatem Park and Hollywood Gardens. The park and the gardens opened in 1938 and were built on a former gravel pit which belonged to the Tatem sisters, who donated the site to Edmonton Borough Council in the 1930s, for use as a public park. The gardens are named after Alderman Hollywood, former Mayor of Edmonton. The ornamental gardens occupy a triangle between two main roads A10 and the A111. In 1983 a nature area was created with the accent on wildlife conservation.[40]
The Overflow ChannelTQ3622492939 flows along the western perimeter of the William Girling reservoir to merge with the River Lee diversion, close to the Lea Valley Viaduct.
^ Godfrey A. (notes to) Old Ordnance Survey Maps: London Sheet 2, Edmonton (Pickett's Lock) 1894 Alan Godfrey Maps, ISBN 0850549671 Retrieved March 252008
Edmonton Green market
Edmonton Incinerator viewed from the River Lee Navigation
Edmonton Green bus station completed in 2007
