Pymmes Brook - Brunswick Park
Pymmes Brook
Pymmes Brook flows south east
TQ 28134 92850
Land around the Great Northern Cemetery and the Great Northern Railway with its cemetery station. Standard Telephones and Cables had a big works here
Post to the north Osidge
Post to the east Old Southgate
Brunswick Avenue
This was originally called Black Horse Lane.
2a Trendy House for Trendy Trainers International
Brunswick Crescent
Haynes Crescent built on the site of Brunswick Park Junior Mixed and Infants School
Brunswick Park
The area was developed in late 19th with some speculative housing in the 1930s although some open land remained.
Brunswick Park Gardens
Housing from the 1970s built on some of the cemetery area following clearance,
Brunswick Park Road
This was previously called Barnet Lane.
Brunswick Park Health Centre. Burnt down in 2010
Brunswick Park Primary School
Waterfall Walk through public open space on the site of the old sewage works with Pymmes Brook running through it.
Sewage Works. The area immediately between Pymmes Brook and the cemetery was the East Barnet Sewage Farm which belonged to the local authority. This included a railway complex. Closed early 1970s.
New Southgate Cemetery – new name for the Great Northern Cemetery
Great Northern Cemetery. This was established as a hygienic alternative to city churchyards and as a cheaper option to the large private cemeteries. In 1855 the Great Northern London Cemetery Act established this site as a cemetery and allowed areas in it to be leased by Metropolitan parishes and an agreement with the Great Northern Railway for the transport of bodies. The cemetery was in two parts and the land bought from Mr. Bowles.
Great Northern Cemetery section on the east side of Brunswick Park Road. It was laid out by Alexander Spurr on a concentric plan like a wheel with spoke around the chapel. It was, intended to cover 200 acres with an attractively mature landscape in the southern part. The Chapel was in the centre with a tall spire – the interior was converted to crematorium in the 1950s. An earlier crematorium would have been Britain’s first but it was banned by the Bishop of Rochester. Among the monuments is a tall late 19th obelisk erected by the Society of Friends. In a walled garden a very large marble column to Shogi Effendi, Baha’i leader in 1957.
Cemetery gates with Gothic gate piers
Great Northern Cemetery section on the west side of Brunswick Park Road. It was in this area that the station was sited. This was little used and with the demise of the railway service it was closed and the area leased to a pig farmer. By 1897 the track leading into the cemetery had been removed, although some of the buildings, including the church, remained standing. Some of the area was used from 1916 by for the use of a J.Tylor & Co, who made lorry engines and then by Western Electric which became Standard Telephones & Cables. Northern Telecom - Nortel - were still manufacturing here in 1989 but the factory closed in 2000. It became North London Business Park Trading Estate. Some of the cemetery area remained to be cleared in 1971
Standard Telephone and Cables. The site was purchased in 1922 and the factory was opened as International Western Electric which became Standard Telephones Cables moving staff and works from North Woolwich. Before opening, in a hut on the highest spot on the night of 14th/15th January, 1923, engineers and press, listened to a broadcast from New York. A plaque in the Entrance Hall recorded “the first spoken word from the western hemisphere to these islands’. The factory made telephone and related equipment. In 1923 the company secured the contract for transmitters at the Post Office's Rugby station. In 1931 the company initiated what became known as microwave technology and in 1938 Pulse Code Modulation, 14,000 were employed there but it was a target for bombers in the Second World War. And a V1 fell here in 1944. . Northern Telecom - Nortel - were still manufacturing here in 1989 but the factory closed in 2000. It became North London Business Park Trading Estate. Some of the cemetery area remained to be cleared in 1971
North London Business Park on the site of the STC works. Consists largely of Barnet Council Offices and educational buildings of Barnet College and Middlesex University
Ceteum Cosmetics Company in factory buildings which began with the North View Photographic and Stereoscopic Works in 1898. It was subsequently a printing works in the 1920s
Oakleigh Road North
Cemetery station. The station buildings were designed by Edmund Alexander Spurr and consisted of neo Gothic chapel, a house occupied by Spurr as Superintendent and station buildings. The service did not prosper and quickly declined and in 1865 was terminated. The buildings were sold to the railway company who used the area to expand the line. The buildings were used by a local pig breeder and called “The Retreat”. The sidings were rebuilt in 1916 for the use of a J.Tylor & Co, and later by the Telegraph Company
Oakleigh Road South
New Southgate Recreation Ground. Previously Brunswick Park Recreation Ground opened 1892 as the first houses appeared in the area.
Industrial area being developed for housing
Pymmes Green Road
Waterfall Tennis Club
Railway Line
The line to the cemetery station ran parallel to the east of the main line having branched off at what is now New Southgate Station. There was a run round loop by the station.
Cemetery Down Signal Box abolished in 1922
Cemetery Up Signal box abolished in 1973 and built on a high brick base. The box was built to control the goods line to New Southgate.
Whitehouse Way
Whitehouse Estate of the British Land Company late 19th housing development which includes some modern movement flat roofed houses
Source material for this section
Pevsner & Cherry Buildings of England London North
Articles in London Railway Record
STC New Southgate history and reminiscence web site
GLIAS Newsletter
Graham Dalling Southgate and Edmonton Past
London Borough of Barnet Pocket Histories web site
(plus some personal reminiscence material on STC)
Lewis. Industry and Innovation in the Lea Valley
Pymmes Brook flows south east
TQ 28134 92850
Land around the Great Northern Cemetery and the Great Northern Railway with its cemetery station. Standard Telephones and Cables had a big works here
Post to the north Osidge
Post to the east Old Southgate
Brunswick Avenue
This was originally called Black Horse Lane.
2a Trendy House for Trendy Trainers International
Brunswick Crescent
Haynes Crescent built on the site of Brunswick Park Junior Mixed and Infants School
Brunswick Park
The area was developed in late 19th with some speculative housing in the 1930s although some open land remained.
Brunswick Park Gardens
Housing from the 1970s built on some of the cemetery area following clearance,
Brunswick Park Road
This was previously called Barnet Lane.
Brunswick Park Health Centre. Burnt down in 2010
Brunswick Park Primary School
Waterfall Walk through public open space on the site of the old sewage works with Pymmes Brook running through it.
Sewage Works. The area immediately between Pymmes Brook and the cemetery was the East Barnet Sewage Farm which belonged to the local authority. This included a railway complex. Closed early 1970s.
New Southgate Cemetery – new name for the Great Northern Cemetery
Great Northern Cemetery. This was established as a hygienic alternative to city churchyards and as a cheaper option to the large private cemeteries. In 1855 the Great Northern London Cemetery Act established this site as a cemetery and allowed areas in it to be leased by Metropolitan parishes and an agreement with the Great Northern Railway for the transport of bodies. The cemetery was in two parts and the land bought from Mr. Bowles.
Great Northern Cemetery section on the east side of Brunswick Park Road. It was laid out by Alexander Spurr on a concentric plan like a wheel with spoke around the chapel. It was, intended to cover 200 acres with an attractively mature landscape in the southern part. The Chapel was in the centre with a tall spire – the interior was converted to crematorium in the 1950s. An earlier crematorium would have been Britain’s first but it was banned by the Bishop of Rochester. Among the monuments is a tall late 19th obelisk erected by the Society of Friends. In a walled garden a very large marble column to Shogi Effendi, Baha’i leader in 1957.
Cemetery gates with Gothic gate piers
Great Northern Cemetery section on the west side of Brunswick Park Road. It was in this area that the station was sited. This was little used and with the demise of the railway service it was closed and the area leased to a pig farmer. By 1897 the track leading into the cemetery had been removed, although some of the buildings, including the church, remained standing. Some of the area was used from 1916 by for the use of a J.Tylor & Co, who made lorry engines and then by Western Electric which became Standard Telephones & Cables. Northern Telecom - Nortel - were still manufacturing here in 1989 but the factory closed in 2000. It became North London Business Park Trading Estate. Some of the cemetery area remained to be cleared in 1971
Standard Telephone and Cables. The site was purchased in 1922 and the factory was opened as International Western Electric which became Standard Telephones Cables moving staff and works from North Woolwich. Before opening, in a hut on the highest spot on the night of 14th/15th January, 1923, engineers and press, listened to a broadcast from New York. A plaque in the Entrance Hall recorded “the first spoken word from the western hemisphere to these islands’. The factory made telephone and related equipment. In 1923 the company secured the contract for transmitters at the Post Office's Rugby station. In 1931 the company initiated what became known as microwave technology and in 1938 Pulse Code Modulation, 14,000 were employed there but it was a target for bombers in the Second World War. And a V1 fell here in 1944. . Northern Telecom - Nortel - were still manufacturing here in 1989 but the factory closed in 2000. It became North London Business Park Trading Estate. Some of the cemetery area remained to be cleared in 1971
North London Business Park on the site of the STC works. Consists largely of Barnet Council Offices and educational buildings of Barnet College and Middlesex University
Ceteum Cosmetics Company in factory buildings which began with the North View Photographic and Stereoscopic Works in 1898. It was subsequently a printing works in the 1920s
Oakleigh Road North
Cemetery station. The station buildings were designed by Edmund Alexander Spurr and consisted of neo Gothic chapel, a house occupied by Spurr as Superintendent and station buildings. The service did not prosper and quickly declined and in 1865 was terminated. The buildings were sold to the railway company who used the area to expand the line. The buildings were used by a local pig breeder and called “The Retreat”. The sidings were rebuilt in 1916 for the use of a J.Tylor & Co, and later by the Telegraph Company
Oakleigh Road South
New Southgate Recreation Ground. Previously Brunswick Park Recreation Ground opened 1892 as the first houses appeared in the area.
Industrial area being developed for housing
Pymmes Green Road
Waterfall Tennis Club
Railway Line
The line to the cemetery station ran parallel to the east of the main line having branched off at what is now New Southgate Station. There was a run round loop by the station.
Cemetery Down Signal Box abolished in 1922
Cemetery Up Signal box abolished in 1973 and built on a high brick base. The box was built to control the goods line to New Southgate.
Whitehouse Way
Whitehouse Estate of the British Land Company late 19th housing development which includes some modern movement flat roofed houses
Source material for this section
Pevsner & Cherry Buildings of England London North
Articles in London Railway Record
STC New Southgate history and reminiscence web site
GLIAS Newsletter
Graham Dalling Southgate and Edmonton Past
London Borough of Barnet Pocket Histories web site
(plus some personal reminiscence material on STC)
Lewis. Industry and Innovation in the Lea Valley
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