Inventory Site Record

Trent Park Cemetery was opened in 1960 by Islington Council. The land was formerly in agricultural use but had once been part of the hunting park of Enfield Chase at its far western edge. When the Chase was enclosed after 1777 a small part was retained as a miniature hunting park and became Trent Park, which by mid-C19th covered 1,215 ha. A farm called West Farm existed at Cockfosters from at least the C16th and was added to the Trent Park estate in the C19th. The cemetery has a small brick chapel near the entrance that contains a Book of Remembrance.

Previous / Other name:

Part of Enfield Chase

Site location:

Cockfosters Road

Postcode:

EN4 0DZ

What 3 Words:

pull.fine.pigs

Type of site:

Cemetery

Borough:

Enfield

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

November to February 9am - 4pm; March, April, September, October 9am - 5.30pm; May to August 9am - 7pm; Christmas Day: 10am - 2pm

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Parking; toilets

Events:

Public transport:

Tube: Cockfosters, Oakwood (Piccadilly). Bus: 121, 298, 299, 307, 384

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

01/04/2006

Last minor changes:

19/07/2023

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.islington.gov.uk/.../cemeteries/trent_park_cemetery.asp

Trent Park Cemetery was opened in 1960 by Islington Council and was designed as a lawn cemetery. The land was formerly in agricultural use but had once been part of the hunting park of Enfield Chase. When the Chase was enclosed after 1777 a small part was retained as a miniature hunting park and became Trent Park, which by mid-C19th covered 1,215 ha. Cockfosters was an isolated hamlet to the south, and remained rural farmland until the early C20th. A farm called West Farm is recorded from at least 1572, and is marked on Surveys of Enfield Chase in the C17th and C18th. Between 1793 and 1810, the then owner of Trent Park, John Wigston, purchased 145 acres of land to the south for agricultural use and a later owner, Robert Bevan, purchased West Farm in 1824, which remained in his family after the remainder of the Trent Park estate was sold to Sir Edward Sassoon in 1909. Three fields were leased to Cockfosters Cricket Club in 1939. Cockfosters did not develop substantially until after 1933 when the Piccadilly line extended here.

The cemetery entrance on Cockfosters Road is via semi-circular iron gates in a red brick wall, which leads to a wide tarmac roadway running through the cemetery. A small brick chapel is on the left of the entrance and contains a Book of Remembrance. In front of the chapel is some ornamental planting in an oval lawn. Either side of the road are rows of trees, mostly conifers, between which in places are rows of small memorials. Beyond, on either side, are open areas of grass, with a few graves in the right hand side, but without headstones to speak of. In the 1990s, remains from the private Nonconformist Jones Burial Ground near Islington Green, also known as 'New Bunhill Fields Burial Ground', were reburied at Trent Park when the area was being developed for a private housing scheme, Andersons Square (q.v.) and the burial ground was exhumed. The Jones Burial Ground is thought to have seen up to 17,000 burials before it closed in 1854.

Sources consulted:

Reference to Jones Burial Ground in Museum of London Archaeological Services (MOLAS) report - extracts of information from Derek Sealey; The Paul Drury Partnership for LB Enfield, 'Trent Park Conservation Area Character Appraisal', 2006

Grid ref:

TQ281965 (528186,196515)

Size in hectares:

Site ownership:

L B Islington

Site management:

Islington Cemeteries and Crematorium

Date(s):

1960

Designer(s):

Listed structures:

None

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:

Trent Park

Tree Preservation Order:

Not known

Nature Conservation Area:

No

Green Belt:

Yes

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

Yes - Enfield Chase Heritage Area AOSC (Area of Special Character)

Other LA designation:

None