Pymmes Brook - Old Southgate
Pymmes Brook
Pymmes Brook continues to flow south east
Post to the west Brunswick Park
Post to the south Arnos Grove
Arnos Grove
Centre road of upmarket Minchenden Estate developed in 1939 for Lord Inverforth, to high standards at the insistence of the local authority.
Duchess Pond. This was drained in 1925 and lay at the top end of Arnos Grove adjacent to The Green
Balaams Lane
Cottages originally built in 1792 and rebuilt in 1911 with modern weatherboarding.
Baird Memorial Homes built in 1894 and, named after the first Vicar Of Christ Church. Plaque on the front. Baird was the Vicar
Blagden’s Lane
Named after Robert Blagden a local land surveyor who had a school in 107 High Street
Minchenden Lodge. This is said to be where Queen Victoria and Prince Albert stayed when opening Colney Hatch Hospital. It was once owned by the landlord of the Cherry Tree Inn who used material salvaged from the demolition of Minchenden House in its construction. It later became a hotel and in 1973 a Care home
Obelisk in the garden of Minchenden Lodge is said to have once marked the boundary between Middlesex and Hertfordshire.
Bridge Way
Footpath over Pymmes brook
Hampden Way
Bridge carrying the Piccadilly Line,
High Street
108 site of Zion Academy kept by Robert Blagden in the 19th
Eagle Hall. This stood opposite the Woolpack pub and was the birthplace, in 1784, of Leigh Hunt. A blue plaque was on the wall a since demolished United Reform Synagogue.
88 Southgate Masonic Centre. The Centre is said to been Southgate Church House a converted church hall built for Christ Church in the early 1930s. It was opened as a masonic centre in 1968 and is home to 160 Lodges and 5 Chapters.
75 ARAN Construction – with decorative patterns on the south wall. Before the Great War this was a smithy
65 Southgate Auction Rooms. Previously a depot and timber yard
Southgate College in buildings previously used by Minchenden School 1927-1984. The administration block is Southgate house which is behind a high wall and surrounded by trees. It is a building of yellow brick dating from about 1780. A plaque notes that it was the home of Baron Lawrence from 1861 until his appointment as the first Governor-General of India in 1864.
Meadway junction – little circle of terracotta shops
Ellington Court - designed by Frederick Gibberd in 1936. One of the few examples of Gibberd's early private commissions, completed before he was 30. It reflects his ideas on design and building methods which were later to become standard in post-war large-scale housing schemes. It was built on the site of Victorian house Churchfields.
The Green
Area also known as ‘Old Southgate’ – to distinguish it from New Southgate and give a name to the conservation area. This was the hub of the hamlet of South Street.
Minchenden House. This stood on the south side of the Green and had been built in 1747 by John Nicholl, and later owned by the Duchess of Chandos It was at one time the home of Sir John Lawrence, Governor General of India, and also a school. It was bought by Walker Bros, brewers and the owners of Arnos Grove and was demolished in 1853 and the grounds incorporated into their estate.
Stocks – although they are not original but installed during the coronation in 1953 after an earlier set went missing during the Second World War. They are made of oak.
Horse trough erected by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association.
Signpost. This has finger signs and was made at the 'Royal Label Factory, Stratford on Avon'.
2 The Old House. With a Georgian door
4 Arnoside like Essex House. The bell on the roof is a reminder that this was once used as a school along with the Old House and Essex House
5 Essex House. A pair of 18th houses, with a detached service wing on each side. There are baroque gate piers with urns, and the original iron railings and gates.
17 has a gate which mentions goods and chattels.
23-31 a group of houses built in 1777 for the Valentine Poole Trust on charity land, apparently as almshouses. Designed by south London architect Michael Searles but partly rebuilt in in 1981. The funding comes from a bequest of land in 1624
38-39 Norbury House and Sandford House. A pair of houses built 1775-6 for Richard Goad, a local landowner.
40 Ash Lodge. A house used as the first office of the Southgate Local Board of Health in 1881. There is a plaque about this on the house.
41 Ingleside 19th
Bank. This replaced a house in which the Reverend Benjamin Waugh, founder of the N.S.P.C.C lived
The Old Cherry Tree Inn. There was an inn on this site when it was given by Valentine Poole for the benefit of the poor of Barnet in 1624, and there are records of the pub in 1721. It is built in a mixture of brick, timber and stucco with a painted brick extension acting as an assembly room over the coach entrance. There are two recesses with holes in the ceiling of the archway entrance to the inn yard which are said to be for storage of coach poles
Tunnel
The tube tunnel runs under the sports grounds of Ashmole School to the north. Having gone across the viaduct over Waterfall road and Hampden Way the Piccadilly Line goes back into a tunnel as the ground rises. These running tunnels were built through clay and were of the standard tube type. The northbound tunnel is 930 yards, whilst the southbound is 2 yards shorter
Waterfall Close
Whitehouse farm cottages
Waterfall Road
Viaduct - this takes the Piccadilly line over the road as it runs between Arnos Grove and Southgate stations. This skew viaduct is 64 yards with seven segmental arches, most with a span of 25ft, but there is one of 20ft and the other 13ft.
Southgate and Edmonton Cemetery. Laid out on a strict grid pattern with no chapel because the parish church is so near. Box like lodge but gothic gate posts and a seat
Walker Primary School. This was opened in 1953 and has been extended since. It is named for the Walker family of Arnos Grove who in time were part of the Taylor Walker brewery. John Walker opened a charity school in 1812 on their estate.
Christ Church. Built 1861-3 by George Gilbert Scott to replace the Weld Chapel. Much of the funding was provided by the Walker family and the vicar was married to one of them. It is in stone, with a tower and spire. There are windows by Morris & Co., dating from the early days of the firm to the early c20 and with some figures designed by Morris himself, and others by Ford Madox Brown, Rossetti and Burne-Jones,
Site of the Weld chapel. This was built in 1615 by Sir John Weld, who lived in Arnolds as a chapel of ease to Edmonton.
Churchyard. This includes headstones from the 17th
Minchenden Oak Gardens. These were created by Southgate Borough Council as a Garden of Remembrance in 1934. The gardens are on the site of the Minchenden Estate. The Minchenden or Chandos Oak is an ancient pollarded oak tree which was said in the 19th to be the largest in England with a girth of over 27 feet and it could be some 800 years old.
Walker Cricket ground. The Walker Ground was once Chapel Fields, bought by Isaac Walker from the third Duke of Chandos in 1853 to enlarge his estate, and his son, John, laid it out for cricket soon afterwards. He was the eldest of seven bachelor brothers several of whom played for England, and in 1858 10,000 people saw the Sixteen of Southgate beat United All England here. John Walker’s bat is preserved in the pavilion
Source material for this section
Graham Dalling - Southgate and Edmonton Past
Pevsner & Cherry - Buildings of England, London North
C.W.Radcliffe -Middlesex
Stevenson - Middlesex
Middlesex Parish Churches (pub. Bishopsgate Inst)
Walford - Village London
Articles in London Railway Record
Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society Newsletter
Southgate Green Association web site
Pymmes Brook continues to flow south east
Post to the west Brunswick Park
Post to the south Arnos Grove
Arnos Grove
Centre road of upmarket Minchenden Estate developed in 1939 for Lord Inverforth, to high standards at the insistence of the local authority.
Duchess Pond. This was drained in 1925 and lay at the top end of Arnos Grove adjacent to The Green
Balaams Lane
Cottages originally built in 1792 and rebuilt in 1911 with modern weatherboarding.
Baird Memorial Homes built in 1894 and, named after the first Vicar Of Christ Church. Plaque on the front. Baird was the Vicar
Blagden’s Lane
Named after Robert Blagden a local land surveyor who had a school in 107 High Street
Minchenden Lodge. This is said to be where Queen Victoria and Prince Albert stayed when opening Colney Hatch Hospital. It was once owned by the landlord of the Cherry Tree Inn who used material salvaged from the demolition of Minchenden House in its construction. It later became a hotel and in 1973 a Care home
Obelisk in the garden of Minchenden Lodge is said to have once marked the boundary between Middlesex and Hertfordshire.
Bridge Way
Footpath over Pymmes brook
Hampden Way
Bridge carrying the Piccadilly Line,
High Street
108 site of Zion Academy kept by Robert Blagden in the 19th
Eagle Hall. This stood opposite the Woolpack pub and was the birthplace, in 1784, of Leigh Hunt. A blue plaque was on the wall a since demolished United Reform Synagogue.
88 Southgate Masonic Centre. The Centre is said to been Southgate Church House a converted church hall built for Christ Church in the early 1930s. It was opened as a masonic centre in 1968 and is home to 160 Lodges and 5 Chapters.
75 ARAN Construction – with decorative patterns on the south wall. Before the Great War this was a smithy
65 Southgate Auction Rooms. Previously a depot and timber yard
Southgate College in buildings previously used by Minchenden School 1927-1984. The administration block is Southgate house which is behind a high wall and surrounded by trees. It is a building of yellow brick dating from about 1780. A plaque notes that it was the home of Baron Lawrence from 1861 until his appointment as the first Governor-General of India in 1864.
Meadway junction – little circle of terracotta shops
Ellington Court - designed by Frederick Gibberd in 1936. One of the few examples of Gibberd's early private commissions, completed before he was 30. It reflects his ideas on design and building methods which were later to become standard in post-war large-scale housing schemes. It was built on the site of Victorian house Churchfields.
The Green
Area also known as ‘Old Southgate’ – to distinguish it from New Southgate and give a name to the conservation area. This was the hub of the hamlet of South Street.
Minchenden House. This stood on the south side of the Green and had been built in 1747 by John Nicholl, and later owned by the Duchess of Chandos It was at one time the home of Sir John Lawrence, Governor General of India, and also a school. It was bought by Walker Bros, brewers and the owners of Arnos Grove and was demolished in 1853 and the grounds incorporated into their estate.
Stocks – although they are not original but installed during the coronation in 1953 after an earlier set went missing during the Second World War. They are made of oak.
Horse trough erected by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association.
Signpost. This has finger signs and was made at the 'Royal Label Factory, Stratford on Avon'.
2 The Old House. With a Georgian door
4 Arnoside like Essex House. The bell on the roof is a reminder that this was once used as a school along with the Old House and Essex House
5 Essex House. A pair of 18th houses, with a detached service wing on each side. There are baroque gate piers with urns, and the original iron railings and gates.
17 has a gate which mentions goods and chattels.
23-31 a group of houses built in 1777 for the Valentine Poole Trust on charity land, apparently as almshouses. Designed by south London architect Michael Searles but partly rebuilt in in 1981. The funding comes from a bequest of land in 1624
38-39 Norbury House and Sandford House. A pair of houses built 1775-6 for Richard Goad, a local landowner.
40 Ash Lodge. A house used as the first office of the Southgate Local Board of Health in 1881. There is a plaque about this on the house.
41 Ingleside 19th
Bank. This replaced a house in which the Reverend Benjamin Waugh, founder of the N.S.P.C.C lived
The Old Cherry Tree Inn. There was an inn on this site when it was given by Valentine Poole for the benefit of the poor of Barnet in 1624, and there are records of the pub in 1721. It is built in a mixture of brick, timber and stucco with a painted brick extension acting as an assembly room over the coach entrance. There are two recesses with holes in the ceiling of the archway entrance to the inn yard which are said to be for storage of coach poles
Tunnel
The tube tunnel runs under the sports grounds of Ashmole School to the north. Having gone across the viaduct over Waterfall road and Hampden Way the Piccadilly Line goes back into a tunnel as the ground rises. These running tunnels were built through clay and were of the standard tube type. The northbound tunnel is 930 yards, whilst the southbound is 2 yards shorter
Waterfall Close
Whitehouse farm cottages
Waterfall Road
Viaduct - this takes the Piccadilly line over the road as it runs between Arnos Grove and Southgate stations. This skew viaduct is 64 yards with seven segmental arches, most with a span of 25ft, but there is one of 20ft and the other 13ft.
Southgate and Edmonton Cemetery. Laid out on a strict grid pattern with no chapel because the parish church is so near. Box like lodge but gothic gate posts and a seat
Walker Primary School. This was opened in 1953 and has been extended since. It is named for the Walker family of Arnos Grove who in time were part of the Taylor Walker brewery. John Walker opened a charity school in 1812 on their estate.
Christ Church. Built 1861-3 by George Gilbert Scott to replace the Weld Chapel. Much of the funding was provided by the Walker family and the vicar was married to one of them. It is in stone, with a tower and spire. There are windows by Morris & Co., dating from the early days of the firm to the early c20 and with some figures designed by Morris himself, and others by Ford Madox Brown, Rossetti and Burne-Jones,
Site of the Weld chapel. This was built in 1615 by Sir John Weld, who lived in Arnolds as a chapel of ease to Edmonton.
Churchyard. This includes headstones from the 17th
Minchenden Oak Gardens. These were created by Southgate Borough Council as a Garden of Remembrance in 1934. The gardens are on the site of the Minchenden Estate. The Minchenden or Chandos Oak is an ancient pollarded oak tree which was said in the 19th to be the largest in England with a girth of over 27 feet and it could be some 800 years old.
Walker Cricket ground. The Walker Ground was once Chapel Fields, bought by Isaac Walker from the third Duke of Chandos in 1853 to enlarge his estate, and his son, John, laid it out for cricket soon afterwards. He was the eldest of seven bachelor brothers several of whom played for England, and in 1858 10,000 people saw the Sixteen of Southgate beat United All England here. John Walker’s bat is preserved in the pavilion
Source material for this section
Graham Dalling - Southgate and Edmonton Past
Pevsner & Cherry - Buildings of England, London North
C.W.Radcliffe -Middlesex
Stevenson - Middlesex
Middlesex Parish Churches (pub. Bishopsgate Inst)
Walford - Village London
Articles in London Railway Record
Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society Newsletter
Southgate Green Association web site
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