Inventory Site Record

Town Park is a surviving fragment along with Bush Hill Park Golf Course of the pre-Elizabethan Old Park estate of Enfield Manor. Part of the estate later became the estates of Chase Side House, which in the C19th had fine pleasure gardens, and Chase Park. In 1894 Enfield UDC purchased some of the estate lands and Town Park was laid out and opened in 1902, a bathing lake opened in 1905. Along the southern boundary runs part of the New River Loop, separating the public park from the private golf course.

Previous / Other name:

Old Park Estate; Chase Side House, Chase Park

Site location:

Cecil Road/Essex Road, Enfield

Postcode:

EN2

What 3 Words:

money.rated.agent

Type of site:

Public Park

Borough:

Enfield

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

8am Mon-Sat / 8.30am Sundays to dusk (refer to Council website for seasonal details)

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Café, children's playground, toilet, tennis courts, bowling green, interactive water play park, multi use games area.

Events:

Events Programme includes National Playday (1st Wednesday in August), Enfield Autumn Show (September), Firework Display (November)

Public transport:

Rail: Enfield Chase/Enfield Town. Bus: 121, 191, 192, 231, 307, 313, 317, 329, W9, 310, 310A, 311, 517, 610, W10

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

01/02/2011

Last minor changes:

19/07/2023

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.enfield.gov.uk

The village of Enfield, at one time called Enfield Green and later Enfield Town, was one of the largest mediaeval parishes in Middlesex and a fully cultivated area by the time of the Domesday Survey. To the west was the 3,250ha. royal hunting park of Enfield Chase. The connection with royalty and the proximity to London contributed to the gentry moving to Enfield from the C17th onwards, who built fine houses here such as Chase Side House, its site now that of Enfield Central Library across Cecil Road from the public park. Town Park is a surviving fragment, along with Bush Hill Park Golf Course (q.v.), of the Old Park estate that dated back to pre-Elizabethan times, part of which later became the estates of Chase Side House and Chase Park.

The public park and private golf course are divided by a remnant, now ornamental, of the Enfield Loop of the New River. The New River was engineered by Sir Hugh Myddelton, a goldsmith by trade who, as a member of the House of Commons Committee considering water shortage in London, offered to undertake a scheme to bring water 38 miles from Amwell Springs in Hertfordshire through Enfield to Islington. Work began in 1609 with financial backing from James I, and was completed in 1613. In 1859 the portion of the Loop around Enfield village was straightened, and in 1890 it was piped underground thereby making this stretch redundant. It was saved from being infilled by a public campaign that lobbied for its preservation for its ornamental value.

In 1736 the Old Park Estate was purchased by Samuel Clayton for £7,000, at that time consisting of 230 acres, to which 33 acres were later added as a result of the 1777 Enclosure Act. The mansion, probably a ranger's lodge, and 200 acres were purchased by Mrs Winchester Lewis in 1825, although part was subsequently resold. Chase Park was a portion of the Old Park estate consisting of 34 acres of land, which Thomas Cotton had purchased from Mr Clayton in 1811. The former Chase Park house had stood near the entrance lodge from Chase Green. In 1822 Cotton sold Chase Park to Mr Browning, who demolished the house and built a mansion where the Magistrates Courts now stand in Windmill Hill. In 1832 he conveyed the estate to his son-in-law, William Carr, who had previously purchased 56 acres of adjoining land from Mrs Winchester Lewis. At around this time the New River Company formed the ornamental water known as 'Carr's Basin' on which William Carr had the right to fish and use a boat. This remains in the stretch of the New River on the western boundary of Town Park, where it broadens out and has a tree- and shrub-covered island.

In 1859 Francis Bryant Adams purchased the then 76 acre Chase Park estate for £15,000. To the east, Chase Side House and its grounds formed another portion of the Old Park estate, which had once extended to include Enfield Palace and its gardens. Part of the land had been sold off from 1629 onwards. In the C19th a number of trees on Chase Green still marked the former Old Park boundary, including a fine elm that was damaged in a bonfire on 5th November 1836 and some weeks later was blown down by strong winds. There was probably a C17th house where Chase Side House stood, which was purchased in 1826 by James Farrer Steadman, who also purchased further land from Mr Clayton's Old Park estate. His widow married William Everett, and in the Everetts' time Chase Side House was described as a 'handsome villa' overlooking 'about five acres of pleasure grounds (. . . ) and a prospect of the park-like scenery of about thirty acres to the south'. William Keane in 'The Beauties of Middlesex' (1850) described Everett as 'a gentleman of considerable taste in all that belongs to the departments of horticulture, floriculture, &c.' . The kitchen garden contained an extensive vinery and cucumber pit, and his pleasure grounds led to St Andrew's Church (q.v.) along a 'winding walk . . . bounded, on each side, by festoons of roses hanging from pillar to pillar for some considerable distance, until it enters the shrubbery to the gardener's cottage and to the orange-house'. Mrs Everett became well-known locally for her benevolence and hospitality, and she actively encouraged celebrating May Day and other festivals by opening the grounds of their houses. In 1883 a font was dedicated to her at St Mary Magdalene Church (q.v.). After Mrs Everett's death in 1865 the Chase Side House estate was purchased by Phillip Twells MP, a banker for the City of London, and it remained in the Twells family until the death of Mrs Georgina Twells in 1898.

A section of the estates of Chase Side House and Chase Park were purchased by Enfield Urban District Council but plans to build a new Town Hall in addition to the Library did not come to fruition. The public park, named Town Park, was created on 23 acres of the land and was opened on 30 July 1902. The bathing lake was opened in 1905, a number of concrete ponds surrounded by rockeries and shrubs, near which an early C20th pavilion still stands. The first firework display in Town Park took place in May 1935 to mark the Jubilee where it attracted thousands of people.

The New River Loop forms the southern boundary of the park and runs just beyond its western edge from Church Street; a riverside walk runs along the other side of the park railings. With the aid of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £1.8milliion in 1997, the New River Loop Restoration Project commenced in 1998 to restore the historic watercourse, listed bridges and railings, and to regenerate the timber banks of the New River. This included the stretch in Town Park, where work included restoring the banks, providing new paths and other amenities. An additional HLF grant was secured in April 2001, with funding also raised by Enfield Preservation Society, and Thames Water undertook works in lieu of match funding.

The main entrance gates to the park at Cecil Road and those at Essex Road have original cast-iron railings painted black and gold. Just inside the main entrance is a small red granite drinking fountain. The park opens from the main entrance onto hedged rose gardens either side of a wide tarmac path with a central Wellingtonia with circular seating around its trunk and further formal beds beyond. To the south are playing fields and largely open grass leading to the boundary with the golf course and New River Loop, along which new paths were laid in c.2000 as part of the New River Loop restoration project. An area of Town Park was used as a silt storage lagoon for spoils during the restoration works, which was dried out and used for horticultural purposes.

Towards the east of the park by the pavilion café is a children's play area and the remains of the original bathing lake that once contained three ponds, surrounded by raised beds planted with a variety of ornamental shrubs. Today one of the ponds has an island planted with shrubs and another, which was once a paddling pool, is now an interactive water play park. The park contains a scattering of mature oaks, horse chestnuts along the east side, one notable oak pollard, with lime and horse chestnut along the New River bank.

Sources consulted:

Revd George Hodson (Church History) and Edward Ford (General History), 'A History of Enfield in the County of Middlesex including its Royal and Ancient Manors, the Chase and the Duchy of Lancaster, with Notices of its Worthies, and its Natural History, Etc. Also an account of The Church and the Charities, and a History of the New River' (Enfield Press, printed by J H Meyers, 1873); David Pam, 'A history of Enfield pt 2: a Victorian suburb 1837-1914'; William Keane 'The Beauties of Middlesex' 1850; Andrew Duncan 'Walking Village London' (New Holland) 1997; Victoria County History; local history leaflets; history on LB Enfield website; The Paul Drury Partnership for LB Enfield, 'Enfield Town Conservation Area Character Appraisal', 2006; David Pam 'The Story of Enfield Chase', Enfield Preservation Society, 1984

Grid ref:

TQ324963 (532510,196222)

Size in hectares:

9.5

Site ownership:

LB Enfield

Site management:

Place Shaping and Enterprise, Parks Business Unit. Friends of Town Park

Date(s):

1902/3

Designer(s):

Listed structures:

Locally listed: Railings and bridges over New River Loop

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

No

Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965:

No

Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931:

No

Local Authority Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

No

In Conservation Area:

Yes

Conservation Area name:

Enfield Town

Tree Preservation Order:

Not known

Nature Conservation Area:

Yes - Borough Importance (New River)

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

Yes

Special Policy Area:

No

Other LA designation:

Wildlife Corridor. Included in Local Register of Historic Parks and Gardens