In an old Charter relating to Fairs in the Parish of Edmonton it is directed that “Beggarsbush Fair,” which had been held near the King’s Head at Winchmore Hill from the time of King Edward III, should in future be held between the Edmonton Church and Fillcaps Gate. This latter was the name of one of the gates to Enfield Chase, which was at the top of Bush Hill, near the house now called Elmscott. No doubt Bush Hill takes its name from the Fair. The etymology of the name Winchmore Hill is very doubtful; it is said that at one time there was a winch and windlass to Vicarsmoor Well, and that was the origin; but this well was sunk in the 17^th century by a vicar of Edmonton, to give water to his parishioners on the Moor; and the village was known by its present title full three hundred years earlier.

 

In 1850 the pump near the pond on the green was erected at the expense of Mrs Todd, of Uplands; previously there was an open well there also which may have had a windlass. A child who was drawing water fell in, and was drowned, and the charitable widow had the well covered at her own expense so that such an accident might never happen again. The Vicarsmoor well was of no great depth, but the water practically never failed; it was usually within six or eight feet of the surface, and it had probably always been a mere dipping well.

 

 A far more likely derivation is from the Moor, on which the Whin or Furze grew plentifully—The Whinsmoor Hill. It is more than a century since the enclosure of the various common-fields of Edmonton and Enfield Chase, and they must have amounted to about a third of the whole district. All the land to the North, roughly speaking, of a line drawn from Fillcaps Farm to the “Bell” at Scotland Corner, Southgate, formed part of the Royal Chase of Enfield, 1000 acres of which, on its enclosure, were allotted to Edmonton parish, in lieu of common rights, and were divided, pro rata, among the freeholders.

 

Enfield Chase became Royal property and a portion of the Duchy of Lancaster, through Mary Bohun, wife of Henry, son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who afterwards became Henry IV. It is said that the original Manor House of the Mandevilles, Earls of Essex, from whom the Bohuns, Earls of Hereford, obtained the property, stood in Trent Park, about a mile north of Mr Bevan’s house, near the Hadley Road. The spot is known as Camlet Moat; there is a large moat, a well, and some remains of masonry. The memory of the Bohuns is retained in the name of Bohun Lodge, at the corner of Cat Hill, Southgate, and the road from Hadley Church to the Chase Farm Schools, on the Ridgeway at Enfield, is called the Camlet Way. The Grovelands Estate, Winchmore Hill Wood and the Park, about 300 acres of land, remains, probably even now, somewhat similar in appearance to what it was centuries ago, when it was only a portion of the primeval forest of North Middlesex. The “Great Forest of Waltham,” as it was called in the thirteenth century, extended as far West as Harrow Weald; South, to Tottenham and Hornsey Woods’ North, nearly to Hertford; and East, half-way across Essex. Forest, of course, does not imply continuous woodland here, any more than in Dartmoor or the Highlands of Scotland; but no doubt much of this wild country north of London was richly timbered.

 

Hornsey Wood has disappeared, and even a century since was very small, as it occupied only a portion of the present Finsbury Park. Tottenham Wood has also quite vanished. It extended from Wood Green to the extreme western border of the old parish, near the “Orange Tree” at Colney Hatch; but Highgate Woods and Hadley Woods and Common, we have the satisfaction of knowing, are permanently preserved for the use of the people, as well as the beautiful forest of Epping. It seems a thousand pities that Winchmore Hill Wood is likely to be sold, sooner of later, in building plots. In the last fifty years the changes in the village have been enormous, but till the last decade they were slow and gradual. The rustic village has become a suburb; it is much to be hoped that it will not degenerate from a suburb to a slum, as has been the case with so many of the northern and north-eastern districts of London.

 

In the Sixties, communication with London had been considerably extended. There were then two omnibuses daily, making two journeys each way. The “Red ‘Bus” went from the King’s Head to the “Flower Pot” in Bishopsgate Street and the Bank, via Upper Edmonton and Stamford Hill; and the “Green ‘Bus’ from the “Green Dragon” to London Bridge, by Wood Green and the Green Lanes. This was the larger of the two vehicles and in bad weather had three horses. The journey was accomplished in fine weather in less than two hours, but half-an-hour late was of small consideration in those days. People whose business took them to the city daily, either drove the whole way in their own carriages, or walked, to and from, Edmonton, or Wood Green. At that time there were few houses between Winchmore Hill and the “Manor House” at Finsbury Park [then known as Hornsey Wood]. There were the “Dog and Duck” and a cluster of cottages in Hoppers Road, “The Fox” and a few houses at Hazelwood Lane, “The Cock” at Bowes Farm, “The Jolly Butchers,” and a few shops and streets at Wood Green, which had grown up round the great Almshouses of the Bookbinders’ and Fishmongers’ Companies. At the corner of Hornsey Lane was the turnpike, were every vehicle had to pay a toll. Hornsey was then a beautiful old village clustered round its ivy-covered church. The “Queen’s Head,” a short distance further on, was a brand new red brick house. There were more dwellings after that, and the Northumberland House Lunatic Asylum, at the foot of Manor House Hill. Harringay Park was still a beautifully wooded private park and estate, and the Hog’s Back, now Ferme Park, was only hilly fields. There was another turnpike at Enfield, exactly where the Village road in Bush Hill Park joins the London Road. The “Green Lanes” was a narrow road with broad grass down each side, it was only a gravelled way, and as there were no watercarts, the dust in summer was only equalled by the mud in winter. There was only one roadman in work for the whole district, Old Henny, who lived near the “Dog and Duck.” His forerunner, named Scarborough, was a quaint figure, who wore an old tall hat and a smock frock. Henny worked also as a jobbing gardener, whenever he chose to consider the roads did not require his labours. When new gravel was laid extra men were employed, but it was simply shot from a cart and roughly spread with a spade, so Highway expenses were not large.

 

The Tottenham Gas Company laid a small main in 1864, but there was no public lighting till some fifteen years later.

 

There was no attempt at general drainage till 1873, and for the first five years it did little except pollute the shallow surface wells which formed practically the whole water supply. There were a few deep wells in the chalk, and the well at Eversley, sunk by the late Mr Wigan, when he built his house in 1865, was 360 feet deep. It passed through the chalk and gault, and obtained a small and fairly regular supply from the Upper Green Sand. Most of the cottages had no supply except from rain water butts, and they fetched their drinking water either from the pump on the Green or Vicarsmoor Well.

 

Winchmore Hill Church was consecrated by Bishop Howley in 1828. In 1844 some thieves broke in to steal the Altar Cloths and Communion Plate, but fortunately the Silver had been removed to the Curate’s house. They accidentally set fire to the Church, and the east end was much damaged. Mrs Todd, of Uplands, gave the carved Altar, Pulpit, and Reading Desks, that there might be no “hangings” to be stolen.

 

The church was a Curacy (not in charge) and only a Chapel of Ease to Edmonton. Before it was built, All Saints’ Parish Church, and the Private Chapel of the Weld Family at Old Southgate, were the only churches in Edmonton parish. The Church was not, however, the earliest place of worship in Winchmore Hill. Some of the first Quakers, when driven out of London at the end of the seventeenth century, settled there, and there have always been a number of members of the Society of Friends in the neighbourhood. Their Meeting House is surrounded by a large cemetery, and is holy ground, as George Fox preached there.

 

In the early part of the nineteenth century there was a famous depot for the sale of smuggled goods, kept by Mr and Mrs Udall. It appeared merely an ordinary village shop, and stood on the Green, opposite what is now called Rowan Tree House, and on the site of the present stables of “The Limes.” Mrs Udall sold drapery on one side of the premises, and her husband grocery on the other. The contraband trade seems to have been carried on in the most open manner, and yet the Revenue officers never succeeded in discovering where the stock was hidden; French lace, gloves, brandy, schnapps, silks, tea, and tobacco were all sold, although most of the articles were prohibited, and the rest were liable to high duties.

 

These people were of Welsh extraction, and were the founders of what is now the Baptist Chapel in Vicarsmoor Lane. There was at first something special about their teaching, and the sect were called “Udallites,” but this name has long since been forgotten. At one time their minister was an old man living in a cottage in Middle Lane near the gate of the cricket field. The congregation assembled for worship one Sabbath morning, but their minister did not appear; at last two of the elders were sent to discover the reason of his absence, and were greatly surprised to find him hoeing potatoes, having entirely forgotten the day of the week!

 

Before 1842 there was an Independent Chapel where Woodside Cottages now stand, and from the numbers of bones found of persons who had been buried in or near it, it is probable it stood there for a long period. It was succeeded by a Chapel in Hoppers Road, which was pulled down when the railway was made, and was eventually re-erected in Compton Lane, under the name of the Congregational Church. This used to be called Back Lane. Lawyer Compton, from whom it takes its name, lived on the south side of the road, about half way down. The house was pulled down after his death in or about 1840, its ground being added to Highfield Park. Mr Wade, from whom Wade’s Hill takes its name, was a retired merchant tailor, who died in 1865 at Beaumont Lodge, now Avondale College. The old gentleman used to tell an amusing story about himself and a friend, another “snip,” with whom, after he had retired from business, he visited Paris. They went to an hotel where English was spoken, and gave the orders to a waiter, who promptly replied “Toute-a-l’heure,” and they were much surprised and rather offended that he should at once have discovered their trade, for they imagined that he had said “two tailleurs” when they had spoken to him.

 

There have not been many local celebrities at Winchmore Hill. The best known is Tom Hood, who dwelt at Rose Cottage, about 1828. A part of this house is very old, and a vague tradition asserts that Henry Cromwell, son of the Lord Protector, lived here for a time.

Sharon Turner, the historian, resided for some years at Percy Lodge.

Mr Patten, sen., the well-known R.A., lived at Hill House.

 

During the construction of the New River, Sir Hugh Middleton lived at Bush Hill House, then known as Red Ridge. The most difficult part of his task was the construction of a wooden trough, or aqueduct, across the valley to the south of Bush Hill. This trough was 650 feet in length and nearly 30 feet high, and was supported by trestles. In 1780 the Protestant rioters, led by Lord George Gordon, threatened to deprive London of water by the destruction of this aqueduct, and the military had to be called out for its protection. To prevent such a danger in the future an earthen embankment was made, and at the same time the roadway was raised nearly twenty feet. The earth required for the purpose was obtained by making large pieces of ornamental water in Bush Hill Park and in Chase Park, Enfield. The latter is now known as the Broad Water, and contributes much to the beauty of the footpath from Winchmore Hill to that town.

 

At the top of Bush Hill is a footpath which avoids the long bend of the high road. It used to pass slightly to the west of its present position and was known as “The Poet’s Walk” or Stoney Alley. It passed under an avenue of limes which met overhead, and on its left was a black and sullen looking pond. Towards the Enfield end there was a high red brick wall, overhung by ancient yew trees, which made it exceedingly dark at the close of the day. It was reputed to be haunted, and few people would go through it after dusk. The ghost was said to be a lady in full bridal costume, who appeared on the top of the wall, gave a piercing and unearthly shriek and vanished. After a time it transpired that a white peacock found the wall under the trees a pleasant roosting place, and when disturbed it uttered its unmelodious cry and flew away. The footpath through the Wood to Southgate enters Southgate Lane at Clappers Green, an extremely pretty group of old cottages. The road passes the Pound, leaving it and Bourne Hill on the right, and eventually winds downhill to “The Fox” in the Green Lanes, and is usually known as “Fox Lane.” At some fifty yards beyond the Pound there is a gate and stile into the footpath across what are known as the “Cherry Tree Fields.” This is really “Old Park” and part of the estate of the late Major Taylor, owner of Winchmore Hill Wood. The original name of Old Park was Culland’s Grove. From the footpath a Cedar of Lebanon may be seen on the southern slope of the fields. At this spot a large house stood till about 1830, which belonged to Alderman Sir William Curtis, who was M.P. for the City of London and an early advocate of popular education. He said that instruction in the three R’s, Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmetic, was the true panacea for all social evils. He was known as “Nosey” on account of the prodigious bottle nose which was his distinguishing feature. He was a banker, and is said to have saved England from the French by providing money and taking up Exchequer Bills when other financiers would not accept them. King George IV. always professed a great liking and respect for him, and on several occasions dined with him at Old Park. Sir William is said to have been an epicure of the true Aldermanic type. His kitchen was a show place, a large and lofty room round which ran a gallery so that his guests could whet their appetites by watching the preparation of the meal, and inhaling the savoury smells of the cooking. The memory of Sir William is still retained in the name Alderman’s Hill, and the lodge and entrance gate of the Park may be seen near Palmer’s Green Station.

 

Strictly speaking Old Park is in Southgate, not Winchmore Hill, the boundary being the road known as the Bourne.

 

In 1800 a common was enclosed which lay between Vicarsmoor Lane and Dog Kennel Lane, now called Old Green Dragon Lane. It was known as Hagfield or Hagstye field, on account of a witch who infested it on stormy nights with her proper accessories of a broomstick and a black cat! The right-of-way across the common was left as an enclosed footpath. In the sixties there were five stiles in it marking the field boundaries. This is still called Hagfields, and not long ago was strictly avoided after  dark. The Clapfield Gates, now Wilson Street, had also a bad name. They were said to be haunted by a black bull.

 

In 1840 there was no Post Office at Winchmore Hill. Letters had to be taken to, or called for at, the Green Dragon, and an old Postwoman came there from Edmonton three times a week.

 

A telegraph wire was laid to the village through Southgate in 1870, but for some time the messages rarely exceeded three in number during the whole day. The messengers were chiefly employed delivering groceries. The advent of the railway in 1871 was, of course, the great modernising influence on the neighbourhood, but even this was a small matter at first, as there were only sixteen trains each way a day and four on Sundays, and the whole staff consisted of a stationmaster, a boy booking-clerk, two signalmen, and a lad porter, and for the first nine months there was no telegraph. Also there was only one theatre train in the week, and that on Friday nights. What would the present inhabitants of Winchmore Hill say if they had to face the prospect of walking back from Wood Green, or if they were at all extra late, walking home from Finsbury Park, if they went to the theatre or any London entertainment, on any other day of the week?