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N21.net History - Main Brief History of N21
Winchmore Hill, Grange Park and Highlands - A brief history
On the Wikipedia website, there is only a basic entry for Winchmore Hill and very little on the Grange Park entry. We summarise the key points in N21's history here
| 1319 | Earliest mention of Winchmore Hill in a deed showing the name to be Wynsemerhull | |
| 1543 | Winchmore Hill was originally spelt Wynsmore Hill which could have been derived from the old English “Wynsige”, a person’s name and “maerhyll” a boundary hill | |
| 1613 | The New River, designed by Hugh Myddleton, commenced construction in 1609 and was completed in 1613. This was an artificial river supplying London with fresh drinking water from the springs in Hertfordshire, and which ran through Enfield. | |
| 1600s | Winchmore Hill originated as a remote woodland hamlet in the parish of Edmonton. The extensive woodlands formed the basis of a major local industry. The oak woods (parts of which survive in Grovelands Park) were regularly coppiced. The oak bark was carefully stripped and sold for use in tanning. Some of the timber was sold as firewood, while the rest was burned to produce charcoal. The woods were owned at this time by the powerful Cecil family. | |
| 1688 | Quaker community in Winchmore Hill | |
| 1790 | Current Quaker meeting house built in Church Hill | |
| 1797 | Grovelands House and estate was built for Mr Walker Gray, a Quaker brewer from Tottenham, to a design by John Nash. The grounds were landscaped by Humphry Repton. | |
| 1801 | The Edmonton enclosure map shows a well established settlement centred on Winchmore Hill Green. There was already a certain amount of ribbon development along Hoppers Road, Middle Lane (Station Road), Winchmore Hill Lane (Church Hill), Middle Chase Lane (Wades Hill) and Vicars Moor Lane. The nearest church at this date was All Saints Church, Edmonton. | |
| 1828 | The Church of England built St Paul's Church in Church Hill, originally a chapel of ease to All Saints, Edmonton but a separate parish after 1851. | |
| 1835 | Mr Walker Gray dies and Grovelands is purchased by Mr John Donnithorne Taylor, of brewery fame. He begins to buy large tracts of land in the area. | |
| 1858 | The growth of Southgate and Winchmore Hill increased to such an extent that separation from Edmonton was put forward and in 1858 it was made into a separate parish with a population of approximately 2000. | |
| 1869 | The Great Northern Railway began work on a branchline to Enfield via Palmers Green and Winchmore Hill. | |
| 1871 | According to the date shown on the station building the railway reached here in 1870, however due to delays, the first passenger train called at the station on 1st of April 1871 | |
| Winchmore Hill's chief link with London at this time was a horse bus which ran to and from Bishopsgate via Hedge Lane, Silver Street, Tottenham, Stoke Newington, Dalston and Shoreditch. | ||
| 1885 | Mr John Donnithorne Taylor, the owner of Grovelands dies. His private "Green Belt" policy to prevent london engulfing Winchmore Hill is over. | |
| 1887 | Highlands Hospital opened | |
| 1895 | Some houses were built in Middle Lane (Station Road) | |
| 1902 | Mr John Donnithorne Taylor's grandson sold the entire estate in Southgate and Winchmore Hill, consisting of 13 separate lots of land. A number of these did not reach the reserve price. | |
| 1907 | The opening of an electric tramway along Green Lanes | |
| 1908 | A new Parish Church, Holy Trinity, was built at the junction of Green Lanes and Queen's Avenue to serve the vastly expanded suburb | |
| 1910 | Grange Park railway station opened | |
| 1911 | The Southgate Urban District Council purchased 64 acres of land for £22,893 and added an additional 27 acres to give us Grovelands Park as we know it to-day. | |
| 1912 | Winchmore Hill : Memories of a lost village book by Henrietta Cresswell published | |
| 1914 | By this date much of the Highfield Estate and the Eaton Park Estate had been covered with middle class housing. A new shopping parade (The Broadway) had been built in Green Lanes beside the tramway. | |
| 1916 | Grovelands House becomes a hospital | |
| 1931 | Broadfields Estate land sold. After this development on Wades Hill, Winchmore Hill was more or less fully built up | |
| 1933 | The area was granted a Charter of Incorporation by King George V and became the borough of Southgate | |
| 1938 | The tramway gave way to trolleybuses | |
| 1961 | Conventional diesel buses take over from trolley buses | |
| 1965 | The Boroughs of Southgate, Enfield and Edmonton were amalgamated into the larger London Borough of Enfield. | |
| 1976 | Railway electrification | |
Some Entries above are based on information supplied by Graham Dalling on the Enfield website.
