The London/Hertfordshire border - Kitts End


The London/ Barnet/Hertfordshire border goes a short way north up Kitts End Road and then crosses it and Great North Road, goes slightly south and then due east.

A tributary to the Mymshall Brook flows north westwards

TQ 24 99

Post to the south Hadley Green
Post to the east Hadley Wood
Post to the west Knightsland

Sites on the Hertfordshire side of the border

Great North Road
The Great North Road, straight ahead has, it is true, the look of a mail coach road: wide, paved surface flanked with boundary ditches and green selvedges, lined with great oaks.

Wrotham Park
Home farm was set up in the mid-19th century, at around the same time as the model farm at Windsor established by Prince Albert. Steam engine - Grasshopper engine, built by Easton & Amos of The Grove, Southwark, supplied in the 1850s. The engine operated a sawmill, threshing and other farm machinery in adjacent barns and workshops through a system of belt driven shafts, some of which survive. It also appears to have pumped water over a considerable distance as it was supplied fitted with a pump, which was driven direct from the beam, and 600 yards of pipe which was included in the price. It also seems likely to have been replaced by a Gardner gas engine, which were on the market in the period 1900-1910. The gas engine, with its cooling tank and various pipework connections, survives on the other side of the wall from the steam engine. The Home Farm is no longer used for that purpose and is an office estate.

Kitts End Road,
Pre-1826 Holyhead Road passed through hamlet of Kitts End and was just like a country lane. Little better than a meandering lane and it is hard to believe that it was ever anything more. Telford found much to criticise in the awkward turns and unnecessary gradients of this main road to Birmingham, the North West and Holyhead
Kitts End – a lost settlement incorporated into South Mimms
Lower Kitts End Farm. Home of the Chalke family who have farmed this land for over 100 years. Grandfather Chalke came to the area in 1907 from Wiltshire. At that time Lower Kitts End was a grazing farm where horses from London came for a rest. Subsequently it became a dairy farm.
Kitts End Farm. Dairy
St.Katherine’s Old People’s Home
Jacqueline Farm. Florists
Hadley Lawns Residential Care Home

Sources
Cuffley Archaeological Group. Papers.
Hertfordshire Churches
London Borough of Barnet. Web site
Meulenkamp and Wheatley. Follies
Walford. Village London
Webster. Great North Road
Wrotham Park. Web site

Comments

John Stevens said…
my mother was the owner of St Catherine's, we lived there from the late 60s to the late 70s.The family name is Devonish. Due to a family feud between Nora Devonish and her eldest son the business closeed in the late 70s.It was home to 16 elderly people. The owners(Nora her husband Lionel and their youngest son also Lionel lived upstairs. They had 5 live in staff and a cook that would come in monday to Friday. At the time it was known to be the best private run home in Barnet. St Catherine's was empty for a while(the actual owners being the Bing family) before being bought by 5 doctors and re named Hadley lawns. I do have a couple of old photos of myself (the youngest son. There was 5 Devonish children) in the garden. St Catherine's was formerly a children's home and at the side of the house there were some roundals with faces of children. I have many happy memories of living there, the people that warked there and many stories.
3 May 2022 at 02:21
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bromley by Bow

Post to the west (north west quarter) Mile End Post to the west (north east quarter) Post to the east Bromley by Bow Post to the north Old Ford Addington Road Addington Arms . Pub dating from the 1860s. It does not appear to be still there. Police stables . From 1938 twenty horses were located here. These stables were built in moderne style white concrete by police surveyor Gilbert Mackenzie Trench. There is a stable at the back as well as tack rooms and a chimney for the forge – there was a full time farrier. Above are two flats for married police officers. The white concrete wall is original.  Alfred Street 1-5 Inland Revenue Office . Sold off 1981. Has been used as a college an as offices Almshouses Way, This was once called Priscilla Street.  1 Drapers' Almshouses . These were built in 1706.  What remains is a brick group of four tenements with central raised and pedimented chapel. They were restored in 1982 but were originally part of a larger group funded by
Read more

South Norwood

Post to the south Woodside Post to the east Birkbeck Post to the north Anerley Albert Road This road is the earliest built here, first listed in 1855, and although the Croydon Canal was no longer in use it influenced the alignment of the road. From the junction with Portland Road looking the curve of the road reflects the line of the old canal which was to the north of the houses. It is named after Albert, the Prince Consort. 74-76 Stanleybury . Very large three-storey semis. Built for William Stanley, who moved to 74 in 1867. William Stanley’s works in South Norwood was complimented by his local philanthropy. His site is now a close of modern flats. Accidentally demolished. 67 small trading estate and MOT centre .  At one time this was home to a theatre transport specialist. St.Mark . This was the first church in the area and is the parish church by G. H. Lewis. The nave was built in 1852 and the church was extended in 1862 and in successive years until 1890. It is in Kentis
Read more

River Lea/Bow Creek Canning Town

River Lea/Bow Creek The Lea winds itself generally southwards towards the Thames TQ 39505 81448 Canning Town on the Essex bank of Lea/Bow Creek. This was, and is, a heavily industrialised area together with a very down market housing area with markets, shops, cinemas, pubs and many charitable and missionary organisations. In the 2000s public transport has been transformed and much housing renewed, and it is an area in a great deal of change. Post to the west Poplar Post to the south Leamouth   and Dome Post to the east Canning Town, Butchers Road Post to the north West Ham Station Appleby Road The road is named after a local ARP warden who was killed during the Blitz. A pre-war suburban ideal is demonstrated in this West Ham estate. Barking Road It was built by the Commercial Road Turnpike Trust from the East India Docks eastwards. Now the A124 it formed part of the original A13 before the building so the East Ham  and Barking Bypass in 1928. It was widened as part o
Read more