Osidge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Osidge is a district in the London Borough of Barnet, just west of the border with the London Borough of Enfield. It may be defined as the part of postal district N14 that is in Barnet.
Major buildings in Osidge include Ashmole School, Osidge Primary School and Osidge Health Centre.
The two main roads in Osidge are Osidge Lane and Hampden Way, which meet at a roundabout called Hampden Square. Around the roundabout are several shops and the Osidge Arms pub. South and west of this roundabout is a large area of green belt land, crossed by Pymmes Brook and leading down to New Southgate Cemetery. Another road, Whitehouse Way, provided the backdrop to scenes from Mike Leigh’s film Secrets and Lies.
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[edit] History
The name is Anglo-Saxon, meaning 'hedge belonging to someone named Osa'. It was first recorded in 1176, in a charter from Henry II to the Abbot of St. Albans referring to the abbot’s woodland property here. The land was sold after the Dissolution of the Monasteries and a large house was built and parkland laid out. A condition of tenure was that the woods should supply faggots for the burning of heretics. In 1652, the house became the residence of the Hadley family. They were associated with four places in the north of Barnet, Hadley Wood, Hadley Green, Monken Hadley and Hadley Highstone, though they obtained their name from these areas, not vice versa.
A notable resident was Sir Thomas Lipton, who moved there in 1893. After his death, most of his 60 acre (243,000 m²) estate was built up, but Lipton endowed his house (which still stands) as a hostel for nurses.
[edit] School meals
Osidge Primary School achieved prominence in February 2005 when noted chef François Nouaillat, horrified by the quality of the school meals given to his sons, offered to take over the school kitchens. He replaced chicken nuggets and cheap sausages with high-quality beef and free-range chicken at no increase in cost. Unlike Jamie Oliver's attempts to improve food at a school in Greenwich, he believes simple, hearty meals are better than elaborate restaurant-style ones.
[edit] Osidge and Southgate
Osidge is often regarded as part of Southgate, and addresses are sometimes given as Osidge, Southgate. This is technically incorrect, as it lies outside the pre-1965 Borough of Southgate and the current parliamentary constituency of Enfield Southgate. There are probably two reasons for this confusion. Firstly, they are in the same postal district, N14 (though so is Oakwood, London). Secondly, Osidge is close to Southgate tube station, though this merely reflects the fact that the station is very close to the boundary of the former Borough of Southgate.
