| Enfield Town | |
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Enfield Town
Enfield Town shown within Greater London |
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| OS grid reference | TQ325965 |
|---|---|
| London borough | Enfield |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | London |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ENFIELD |
| Postcode district | EN1, EN2 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| EU Parliament | London |
| UK Parliament | Enfield North |
| London Assembly | Enfield and Haringey |
| List of places: UK • England • London | |
Enfield Town is the historic town centre of Enfield, formerly in the county of Middlesex and now in the London Borough of Enfield. It is 10.1 miles (16.3 km) north north-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.[1]
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Historically, Enfield was a collection of small communities spread around the royal hunting grounds of Enfield Chase. At the time of the Domesday Book the area was spelt 'Enefelde', and had a priest who almost certainly resided in St. Andrews Church. By 1572 most of the basic street layout had been completed. The village green later became the historic marketplace between the church and where the fountain now stands. A market is still operated in this area, which is owned by the parish charity. Its name most likely came from Anglo-Saxon Ēanafeld or similar, meaning "open land belonging to a man called Ēana" or "open land for lambs".
The parish church, on the north side of the marketplace, is dedicated to St Andrew. There is some masonry surviving from the thirteenth century, but the nave, north aisle, choir and tower are late fourteenth century, built of random rubble and flint. The clerestory dates from the early sixteenth century, and the south aisle was rebuilt in brick in 1824.[2] Adjacent to the church is the old school building of the Tudor period, Enfield Grammar School, which institution expanded over the years, becoming a large comprehensive school from 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. It 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 survives, relocated to a house in Gentleman's Row, a street of sixteenth to eighteenth century houses near the town centre.[3]
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 1617, to a charitable trust, for a Saturday market.[4] 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, [5] and in 1826 a stone Gothic market cross 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". [6]
However the trading resumed in the 1870s. In 1904 a new wooden structure was built to replace the stone cross, by now decayed. The market is still in existence, administered by the Old Enfield Charitable trust. [7]
The charter of 1303 also gave the right to hold two annual fairs. one on St Andrews Day, and the other in September. [8] The latter was suppressed in 1869 at the request of local tradesmen clergy, and other prominent citizens, having become, according to the local historian Edward Ford "a source of immorality and disorder, and a growing nuisance to the inhabitants".[9]
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 a public footpath on at least one side of it.
The poet John Keats went to progressive Clarke's School in Enfield, where he began a translation of the Aeneid. The school's building later became Enfield Town railway station until it 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.
Enfield Town had the world's first ever cash machine or ATM, which was installed at the branch of Barclays Bank on 27 June 1967 was opened by actor Reg Varney.[10]
The Town also houses the borough's Civic Centre, the headquarters of the borough administration at which Council and committee meetings are also held.
On Sunday 7 August 2011 after rioting spread from Tottenham vehicles, including a police car were attacked and several shops and business were targeted in the town centre. Most businesses remained closed on Monday 8th and many were not repaired for several weeks after the rioting. [11]
Enfield Town centre underwent major redevelopment work, completed in Autumn 2006. A large extension to the existing shopping centre was built, under the name Palace Exchange.[12] Many branches of chain stores already existing in Enfield Town centre were relocated to the new extension, and there are some completely new stores.
Enfield Town F.C. is (as of May 2007) in Division 1 (North) of the Isthmian League. The club plays at Queen Elizabeth Stadium, Enfield.[13]
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| Enfield Town | ||||
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Enfield Town has excellent bus links.London Buses routes 121, 191, 192, 231, 307, 313, 317, 329, 377, W8, W9, W10, night route N29, and non-London route 610 serves Enfield Town.
Pam, David (1992). A Victorian Suburb. A History of Enfield. Enfield: Enfield Preservation Society.
Ford, Edward; George H. Hodson (1873). A History of Enfield in the County of Middlesex. Enfield. http://www.archive.org/details/historyofenfield00forduoft. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
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