Pymmes Brook - Arnos Grove

Pymmes Brook
Pymmes Brook continues to flow south eastwards and is met by Bounds Green Brook from the south west

A suburban area east of New Southgate it is crossed by the North Circular which changes route slightly here. The non-North Circular section of Bowes Road has shops and public facilities including one of Holden's most famous stations on the Piccadilly Line which runs north:south here. The northern part of the area is covered by Arnos Park, with a viaduct on the underground line crossing Pymmes Brook and some remains of the original line of the 17th century New River.

Post to the south Bounds Green
Post to the north Old Southgate
Post to the east Broomfield Park

Arnos Grove
Named from an estate called ‘Arnoldes Grave’ in the mid 16th.  The Arnold family is noted in documents from the 14th.
In the 1920s the Arnos Grove estate was owned by Lord Inverforth who wanted to develop it – and the result, Arnos Grove and surrounding roads, emerged from interactions between Inverforth and the local authority.

Arnos Park
The park is made up of the remaining bit of grounds of Arnos Grove. It was opened in 1928 to the public following a deal between the council and the developer. It was developed lout of 44 acres of woodland and meadow and designed by Borough surveyor Robert Phillips
New River. The original course of the conduit ran through the area of the park. There is now no trace of it except for a line of shrubs and trees half way up the slope between Pymmes Brook and the northern boundary of the park. This indicates the position of the old loop of the river. Nearby to the trees is a clump of trees with a ditch running through them.  The river must have crossed Pymmes Brook somewhere near the Piccadilly Line viaduct.
Railway – the Piccadilly Line crosses the park and Pymmes Brook on a 348 yard curving brick viaduct made up of thirty-five arches.

Betsyle Road
Betsyle was the name of a small village in this area.

Bowes Road
Part of Bowes Road in this section is the North Circular Road
Arnos Arms half-timbered with its frontage angled across a corner. Now a Harvester, reviews aren’t encouraging.
Bowes Primary School. Built by Edmonton School Board in 1901 It is a three-decker school on a small site. Has a pretty cupola
Library and pool complex. .c Built for Middlesex County Council by Cunis & Burchett in 1939 but refurbished. A stylish brick group complementing Arnos Grove Station just down the road.  The complex includes a caretaker's flat and there is also a slightly later clinic.
Arnos Pool. There is a single single-storey block for changing rooms with circular port-hole window. The pool is lit through a range of windows alternating with ventilators. Inside is an oval roof light with plaster modelling to represent waves. Rolled steel joists support the roof.
Arnos Library. The first-floor library is reached via a curved concrete stair, lit by a slender bowed oriel window. A Tower at the east end has double metal doors and a single semi-circular metal window. There is one free-standing brick pier with a ball support.
Our Lady of Lourdes. Roman Catholic Church built in 1935 by J. A. Crush. A basilica in red brick.
Ambulance Centre
Arnos Grove Station. Opened 1932 it lies between Southgate and Bounds Green Stations on the Piccadilly Line. It was built for the Piccadilly Line & London Electric Railway. The station was a Charles Holden design and it was his personal favourite among all the stations he worked on. It has a circular brick ticket hall and its 'passimeter' booking office, constructed around a pillar, which supported a concrete roof made of Portland stone aggregate.   There is a round tower with an angular street frontage built from brindled Staffordshire bricks matching the parapets of the bridge. Access to the trains was over a reinforced concrete bridge, with the Station Masters’ office at one end. The platform canopies, designed by Stanley Heaps, were made from steel encased in concrete and partially glazed. There are endless articles and books raving about the station design.
The signal box was located south of the platforms, on the west side of the line and adjoined the sub-station. It was equipped with a Westinghouse frame.

Highview Gardens
The first phase of a twenty- year redevelopment scheme by Southgate Council in 1956, within ten years the Council had been abolished.  Between dense Edwardian terraces and the railway line was built maisonettes, and two thirteen-storey point blocks by David du R. Aberdeen in 1958-60.

Limes Avenue
Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School, built in 1972 on the land owned by the Church

Morton Circus
Formal brick gate piers R. Phillips, Borough Surveyor whose name is on a plaque on the gates

Telford Road
North circular
The Piccadilly line coming from Bounds Green arrives at a section of viaduct. It then crosses the North Circular Road on a bridge made up of three skew spans. Having crossed the road, the viaduct continued northwards, initially over eight arches.

Upper Park Road
Garfield Primary School

Wilmer Way
Broomfield School. Built by Middlesex County Council as a senior elementary school for 800 pupils in 1938 when it was called Arnos School. It has been said it is school board architecture ‘at its most austere’.  It later became a secondary modern school with extensions made to the original site in 1948, 1957, 1964 & 1966. In 1967 it became a comprehensive school. In 1984 it merged with Minchenden School and was renamed Broomfield School.

Sources
London Encyclopedia
Walford. Highgate to the Lea
Field. Place Names of London
Pevsner and Cherry. London North
Essex Lopresti. Walking the New River
Nairn. Modern Buildings
Day London Underground
Piccadilly Line. Capital Transport
Southgate Green web site
Londongardensonline web site
British Listed Buildings web site
Bowes Primary School web site
London Railway Record
London Borough of Barnet web site
Our Lady of Lourdes web site
Our Lady of Lourdes School web site
Broomfield School web site

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