M25 Ganwick Corner
Post to the north Potters Bar
Post to the south Hadley Wood
Post to the east Enfield Chase
Barnet Road/ Great North Road
The Great North Road here is running along the ridge of Enfield Chase at a height of 400 ft above sea level. It was made up of fragments of existing roads during the 16th to make a main route between London and the north. From Barnet the road skirted Enfield Chase, still within its boundary banks, across common land which is now part of Wrotham Park. Enfield Chase was notorious for highwaymen. The southern part of the current road in this square runs along the border of Wrotham Park. The road was turnpiked from Barnet to Ganwick Corner in 1720 as the Galley Corner Trust
Wrotham Park. This square covers only the north east section of the park. This area is pasture with many mature parkland trees and an oval pond at the north side close to a cricket pitch which lies in the area nearest to the junction of Barnet Road and Dancers Hill Road. This is still a private family estate although there is some use for filming and events.
Duke of York Inn. Three storey 18th inn with a bust of the Duke over the portico and on the first floor an inn sign takes the place of one of the windows. It was once known as the Angel and probably stood a little to the south of the present building. And this original building was erected illegally on Bentley Heath in 1743. From 1751-88 it was called the White Horse and has been the Duke of York since 1793.
Bentley Heath Lane
Whitehouse Commercial Centre. This was built as a tractor factory in the 1930s, then becoming a lawnmower manufacturer in the 1970s and since the 1980s as an industrial estate. It is now the site of a new housing estate called Bentley Place
Tractors (London) Ltd. The Trusty 2-wheeled tractor was built from 1933 to the late 1950s. It had a front mounted engine driving a pair of wheels and powered by a 5hp JAP engine.
The White House. a house adjacent to the entrance to Commercial Centre used as a management office.
Bentley Heath Farm. Late 17th farmhouse. There is a converted barn at the back built in the 18th timber framed and weather boarded
.
Dancers Hill Road
Strafford Cottages built in 1876 by the Earl of Strafford who owned the land. There is a monogrammed ‘S’ plaque with the date
Wyeville Garden Centre. This opened in the late 1970s as a rose nursery owned by the Tuck family,
Ganwick Corner.
The name may have come from Gannocks which was a medieval estate at Bentley Heath. Much of the area was subsumed into Wrotham Park and was demolished in the early 19th. It stood on what are now the Bentley Heath Farmlands. It is said that an early Tudor stone fireplace in a farm locally may have come from Gannocks. The Corner was also known as Galley Corner.
M25
Potters Bar Brook.
This rises north of Ganwick Corner, winds north and then west
Railway
Tunnel. This runs in a tunnel under this area and there is no sign of it. The Great Northern Railway, to avoid severe gradients, negotiated the high ground by burrowing through the ridge. The line lies directly beneath, deep in the longest of the three Hadley Wood tunnels, Hadley Wood North 232 yards
Wagon Road
Ganwick Farm. The farm operates a fodder store for horses and other pets.
Ganwick House. This is a residential care home for adults with autism and severe learning disabilities. It is a late 18th house.
Three Oak Hill. This is to the north east of Wagon Road and it is under this that the railway runs
Sources
Archaeology Data Service. Web site
British History on line. South Mimms. Web site
Brookmans Park Newsletter. Web site
Duke of York. Web site
Mee. Hertfordshire,
Meulenkamp and Wheatley. Follies
Potters Bar History. Web site
Webster. Great North Road
Whitelaw. Hidden Hertfordshire
Wrotham Park. Web site
Post to the south Hadley Wood
Post to the east Enfield Chase
Barnet Road/ Great North Road
The Great North Road here is running along the ridge of Enfield Chase at a height of 400 ft above sea level. It was made up of fragments of existing roads during the 16th to make a main route between London and the north. From Barnet the road skirted Enfield Chase, still within its boundary banks, across common land which is now part of Wrotham Park. Enfield Chase was notorious for highwaymen. The southern part of the current road in this square runs along the border of Wrotham Park. The road was turnpiked from Barnet to Ganwick Corner in 1720 as the Galley Corner Trust
Wrotham Park. This square covers only the north east section of the park. This area is pasture with many mature parkland trees and an oval pond at the north side close to a cricket pitch which lies in the area nearest to the junction of Barnet Road and Dancers Hill Road. This is still a private family estate although there is some use for filming and events.
Duke of York Inn. Three storey 18th inn with a bust of the Duke over the portico and on the first floor an inn sign takes the place of one of the windows. It was once known as the Angel and probably stood a little to the south of the present building. And this original building was erected illegally on Bentley Heath in 1743. From 1751-88 it was called the White Horse and has been the Duke of York since 1793.
Bentley Heath Lane
Whitehouse Commercial Centre. This was built as a tractor factory in the 1930s, then becoming a lawnmower manufacturer in the 1970s and since the 1980s as an industrial estate. It is now the site of a new housing estate called Bentley Place
Tractors (London) Ltd. The Trusty 2-wheeled tractor was built from 1933 to the late 1950s. It had a front mounted engine driving a pair of wheels and powered by a 5hp JAP engine.
The White House. a house adjacent to the entrance to Commercial Centre used as a management office.
Bentley Heath Farm. Late 17th farmhouse. There is a converted barn at the back built in the 18th timber framed and weather boarded
.
Dancers Hill Road
Strafford Cottages built in 1876 by the Earl of Strafford who owned the land. There is a monogrammed ‘S’ plaque with the date
Wyeville Garden Centre. This opened in the late 1970s as a rose nursery owned by the Tuck family,
Ganwick Corner.
The name may have come from Gannocks which was a medieval estate at Bentley Heath. Much of the area was subsumed into Wrotham Park and was demolished in the early 19th. It stood on what are now the Bentley Heath Farmlands. It is said that an early Tudor stone fireplace in a farm locally may have come from Gannocks. The Corner was also known as Galley Corner.
M25
Potters Bar Brook.
This rises north of Ganwick Corner, winds north and then west
Railway
Tunnel. This runs in a tunnel under this area and there is no sign of it. The Great Northern Railway, to avoid severe gradients, negotiated the high ground by burrowing through the ridge. The line lies directly beneath, deep in the longest of the three Hadley Wood tunnels, Hadley Wood North 232 yards
Wagon Road
Ganwick Farm. The farm operates a fodder store for horses and other pets.
Ganwick House. This is a residential care home for adults with autism and severe learning disabilities. It is a late 18th house.
Three Oak Hill. This is to the north east of Wagon Road and it is under this that the railway runs
Sources
Archaeology Data Service. Web site
British History on line. South Mimms. Web site
Brookmans Park Newsletter. Web site
Duke of York. Web site
Mee. Hertfordshire,
Meulenkamp and Wheatley. Follies
Potters Bar History. Web site
Webster. Great North Road
Whitelaw. Hidden Hertfordshire
Wrotham Park. Web site
Comments