09/03/2023 10:03:10 AM
85. Wood Green Common
Wood Green Common, in Wood Green, is a remnant of the original Wood Greene, which bordered the east side of Tottenham Wood, part of the Forest of Middlesex. It’s lined by London plane trees and is a nature conservation area.
The common is in two sections divided by a straight footpath, the west section is open grassland with a playground at the end, and the east section was laid out as a formal garden in the early twentieth century. In the formal part is a pergola, which is covered with wisteria in the spring. Four paths radiating from a circular area with a central drinking fountain (it doesn’t work). This is in memory of C W Barratt whose confectionery factory overlooked Wood Green Common from 1880 to around 1980, and who was an important local employer.
I found an article in the British Newspaper Archive, from the Tottenham and Edmonton Weekly Herald of 20 July 1910, of a teenager charged with gambling on Wood Green Common. A policeman said that he had seen him and a group of friends playing with coins. The boy's defence was that in fact they’d been playing woggle. This apparently involves sticks and a ring, and he said the policeman had mistaken a small bit of wood (the woggle) for a coin. A number of witnesses corroborated this and the case was dismissed.
Have you ever woggled? I haven’t, but clearly it’s not illegal (or, it wasn’t in 1904) and as soon as I find out the rules and the weather improves I’ll be woggling in the garden. For anyone else old enough to remember the radio programme Round the Horne, this is worthy of Kenneth Williams's character Rambling Syd Rumpo.
Judith Field
Wood Green Common, Station Road, N22 7SY
02/03/2023 09:53:56 AM
84. Trent Country Park
This is a large park in Enfield and includes varied woodlands, some of which dates from before 1600. There are also lakes, meadows and other habitats and a heritage landscape. Hay meadows in the park are harvested to encourage grassland flowers.
It used to be part of the royal hunting park of Enfield Chase. When it was enclosed after 1777, A deer park and lake were laid out and an old lodge converted into the house that’s still there, known at the time as Trent Place.
It’s the former estate of the Sassoon family of Baghadi Jews family known as "The Rothschilds of the East". Sir Philip Sassoon designed Trent Park to be the perfect venue for his political and social entertaining in the nineteen twenties and thirties. In 1951 the estate was compulsorily purchased as Green Belt land and in 1968 most of it became a public park, Trent Country Park, which was officially opened in 1973.
Trent Park is recognised by Historic England as being of national and international significance on a level with Bletchley Park. During the Second World War, the house was requisitioned by the government and used as a centre to extract information from captured German officers. The rooms at Trent Park had been equipped with hidden microphones allowing the British military (MI19) to listen to the prisoners’ conversations. These secret listeners were almost all German émigrés (most of them Jewish) who escaped Nazi persecution for Britain and signed up for military service. This provided information about, for example, the relative strengths and weaknesses of German aircraft during the Battle of Britain. Undercover interrogators were planted among the prisoners.
Later in the war the house was used as a special prisoner-of-war camp (the "Cockfosters Cage") for captured German generals and staff officers. Again, hidden listening devices allowed the British to gather important information and an insight into the minds of the German military elite. My father was involved with MI19. I don’t know if he was one of the listeners, and I wish I could ask him, even though he may not have told me.
The main entrance to the park is the west entrance on Cockfosters Road. The north entrance on Hadley Road leads into a forest, close to Camlet Moat, a small, moated island. This first appeared in local records in the fifteenth century as Camelot Moat when there seems to have been a building on the site called Camelot Manor. I've not heard of any Arthurian connections.
The Country Park has a café, toilets, visitor centre, showground, golf course, two fishing lakes, a cycle trail through the meadows, a horse-riding circuit and play area.
Judith Field
Trent Country Park, Cockfosters Road, Enfield, EN4 0PS
23/02/2023 09:55:29 AM
83. Bluebell wood
This hidden gem is a triangular fragment of oak and hornbeam forest in Bounds Green. It’s at the end of a suburban street, sandwiched between houses, allotments and a golf course. It’s designated as ancient woodland and is the last remaining piece of what was a much larger woodland called Tottenham Wood. In 1619, this covered 157 hectares, about the size of eight football pitches. The forest had been part of the Bishop of London’s estate and there’s a pronounced ditch to the north of the wood, which would have been a way of keeping the commoners’ animals out of the forest.
Later in the seventeenth century the wood was enclosed as a private hunting park by King James I. By the end of the eighteenth century the wood had become cultivated and meadow land. In the early nineteenth century the land was converted to a dairy farm, with Bluebell Wood the only part of the farm to remain wooded. The farm was eventually sold to Haringey Golf Course. It’s maintained by the Friends of Bluebell Wood.
We visited at the wrong time of year for bluebells, but apparently there are no native bluebells there. Any that you can see are hybrids that have spread from neighbouring gardens. Trees in the wood include oaks, hornbeam and the ancient woodland indicator species. wild service. What might a Wild Service at FRS look and sound like?
The colours of nature are soothing and it’s been suggested that people relax best while seeing greens and blues. We can try ‘forest bathing’. This Japanese relaxation practice, known as shinrin yoku is encouraged by Forestry England. It doesn’t involve getting into water, it’s a simple process of being calm and quiet among the trees and observing nature around you, to de-stress and boost health and wellbeing. It works for me, I look at the leaves above my head and see the different shapes and colours of each one, I breathe deeply, and wind down for a moment. It’s amazing that built-up London still has patches of woodland lingering from prehistoric times, if you know where to look.
Judith Field
Bluebell Wood, Winton Avenue, London N11 2AR
16/02/2023 09:26:28 AM
82. Broomfield Park
Broomfield Park, in Palmers Green, is a Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation and is registered by English Heritage in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens for its special historic interest. It was originally the gardens of Broomfield House, built in the sixteenth century. The local authority bought the house and grounds in 1903, and they were opened to the public in the same year.
The house was Grade II listed in 1950 but was badly damaged by fire in 1984, and it’s still derelict. The local authority plan to bid for National Lottery Heritage funding for “dismantling the derelict shell of Broomfield House, and reconnecting the park and House through memorialisation, interpretation and landscaping.” I don’t know what that means, and perhaps Jack will allow usto go back in a couple of years and find out. The Friends of Broomfield Park, a group of volunteers, work with the local authority to maintain and improve the park.
The park has three lakes, a sensory garden, a conservatory and a community orchard (on the site of a former bowling green). From the former carriage drive, now a large open space, there are good views across to Alexandra Palace and the City of London and parts of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
There are also an outdoor gym, tennis and netball courts, football pitch, a children’s playground, wildflower garden and a memorial garden honouring the dead of both World Wars.
There is a model boating pond, but it’s been empty for a couple of years. It’s now in the early stages of repair and restoration. In August 2019, a wetland area was opened in the park, with the aim of creating a new wildlife habitat and improving river water quality nearby.
There’s a community café run by volunteers, open on Wednesdays and at weekends, and toilets. The main entrance to the park is on Aldermans Hill and there are also gates on Powys Lane and Broomfield Lane. There’s no car park but there is space to park on nearby streets.
Judith Field
Broomfield Park, Aldermans Hill, London N13 4HE
09/02/2023 09:28:42 AM
81. Meadow Park
Meadow Park is close to BBC Elstree Studios and Borehamwood town centre, and next to Borehamwood Football Stadium, home to Boreham Wood FC, Arsenal Women and Watford FC Reserves. It’s mostly a flat, open playing field, with a wildflower meadow but not very many trees.
I usually include something about a park’s history, but I can’t find anything for Meadow Park besides that it opened in 1929. I’ve no idea what had been there before. That shouldn’t stop anyone visiting, perhaps if you’re in the area rather than making a special trip. It’s popular with people playing sports and there are lots of things to do. It has two children’s play areas, tennis courts, multi-sports court, baseball court, interactive games with lights and music, football pitches and an outdoor gym. There’s something called a youth shelter, which appears to be a place where teenagers can meet, rather than hanging around the streets, open on one side. The park is monitored by CCTV.
Since we visited, a splash park opened there, including water jets, large columns of water to run or jump through, a fountain three metres high and “arching crawl features”. Jack won’t let us visit a park more than once, so I won’t be able to go back and find out what these features are. The park also hosts local events such as Movies in the Park, Families’ Day, Halloween Funday and an annual firework display. There’s a bandstand, home to concerts, and it’s also used as a performance area.
There’s a café, and toilets. There is a car park, but we parked on a local street and there seems to be plenty of room nearby.
Judith Field
Meadow Park, Brook Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, WD6 1TL
02/02/2023 10:02:25 AM
80. Shenley Park
This park, run by the Shenley Park Trust, has an orchard, meadow, woodland walks, and a
landscaped walled garden with a grassed amphitheatre. There are several habitats supporting wildlife, including a wide range of birds such as buzzards, red kites, kestrels, and sparrow hawks. The pond is home to fish (see large example in the picture) and there are grass snakes, although we didn't see any.
In many areas of the park the grass is left to grow long in summer with paths cut in and around. There’s a bug hotel in the walled garden, and a group of beehives. Bees are also kept in the orchard to aid the pollination of the heritage apple trees. You can buy the apples from the produce stall in the walled garden, and juice made from them.
The name Shenley is based on the Anglo-Saxon Scenlai, Scenlei or Senlai, which means ‘fair or bright clearing or wood.’ In the early Middle Ages, south-west Hertfordshire was heavily wooded, with isolated farmsteads or hamlets in forest clearings. The site of the park was once a private estate known as Porters Park. During the First World War, part of the land was requisitioned and used as an aerodrome.
In 1924 the owner sold the land to Middlesex County Council in 1924 for the purpose of building a psychiatric hospital. This was known as Shenley Hospital. Patients became engaged in agricultural and horticultural duties as part of their therapy. The Walled Garden continued to be a provider of most of the fruit and vegetables for the kitchens.
When the hospital closed in 1998, some of the land and buildings were set aside for a park to be created. Events are held year-long: wassailing the orchard in January, open air theatre productions and concerts in the summer and in October there’s Apple Day. There are volunteering weekends throughout the year for such as tree care, bulb planting and apple picking.
The park has a children’s playground, extremely popular with local kids and the cast of “Motherland” when we visited. There’s a café (on the site of former hospital staff social club) where you can buy apple juice by the glass. There are also toilets and a car park.
Judith Field
Shenley Park, Radlett Lane, Shenley, Herts, WD7 9DW
25/01/2023 10:46:00 AM
79. Rushgrove Park
Rushgrove Park is an elongated green space in Colindale. The land it occupies has been open for a long time. Even in the nineteen thirties, when the area was transformed from rural landscape to suburbs, the land was not built on, most likely because it was liable to flooding. In 1937, the local authority bought the land from the Grand Union Canal Company, and named it Colindeep Open Space. By the mid nineteen fifties it had been laid out as a recreation ground by the mid nineteen fifties, with paths, a pond and tennis courts. The pond has since been covered over and today the park comprises winding paths bordered by woodland. Among its trees are gingko (my favourite, hooray), catalpa (also known as Indian Bean Tree, which has heart-shaped leaves) and conifers. It’s a Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation and there are plans to create a new wetland area to reduce the risk of flooding.
The Silk Stream, a tributary of the River Brent, flows through the park, as it does through Watling and Silkstream Parks, which were created as part of housing estate development, and Montrose Playing Fields (see previous posts about these), on its way to the Welsh Harp Reservoir (and about this). There’s not much in it by way of water plants but sticklebacks, ducks and grey wagtail can be seen.
The Thames21 volunteer group, who work with communities to improve rivers and canals, regularly do conservation work in the river in Rushgrove Park, such as river fly monitoring (a good indicator of river health), removing Himalayan Balsam and general cleaning up.
The park has a playground, tennis courts, basketball hoop, a multi-sports court, but no café or toilets. Parking is available on the surrounding streets.
Judith Field
Rushgrove Park, Rushgrove Avenue, London NW9 6RD
18/01/2023 11:31:27 AM
78. Aberford Park
This park is in Borehamwood. The local authority purchased the land it now occupies in 1888, but don’t seem to have done anything with it until after the First World War when they built a sewage works on it. By the nineteen fifties this had fallen out of use and the area was used for landfill. In the nineteen sixties it was turned into a public park with lakes, which form part of a flood relief system for the town. The lakes are home to a wide variety of wildlife and waterfowl, and swans nest there. Tykes Water, a minor tributary of the River Colne, runs through the park. The Colne eventually joins the Thames, in Surrey. Because it is close to the BBC and to Elstree Film Studios, the park has been used in several films and TV programmes such as East Enders and Grange Hill.
The park has a community centre, wildlife area, picnic area, café, toilets, multi-sports court, cycleway, and a car park. There’s a skateboard park, two children’s play areas and a field suitable for smaller ball games and general running about.
The park first received a Green Flag Award in 2008 and has held it ever since. At the most recent awarding, the judges said that they hoped the local residents realised how luck they were to have a place like it.
I don’t know who lives inside this tree, but there doesn’t seem to be a way of opening the door, from the outside anyway. Could something, or someone, have been shut inside? Such a nuisance that I’ve already written a story about a hamadryad (the nymph, not the snake) stuck in a tree who gets released when...but I’m giving away the plot. It’s in my book in the FRS Atrium.
Judith Field
Aberford Park, Brook Road, Borehamwood WD6 5HQ
11/01/2023 11:51:22 AM
77. Hampstead Heath at the Vale of Health
The Vale of Health is a country lane, off East Heath Road to the north of Hampstead. I’d passed the end of it many times, but one Sunday afternoon I decided to see what was down there. It turned out to be a cul-de-sac with a small cluster of houses at the end, surrounded on all sides by Hampstead Heath.
It was originally called Hatches or Hatchett’s Bottom and was also referred to as Gangmoor. The area it occupies used to be wet and marshy but in 1777 the Hampstead Water Company drained it and formed a new pond to store and supply water for the City. Houses were built, and the area started to change into a desirable residential location.
The name Vale of Health starts to appear in the early nineteenth century and was probably an attempt at rebranding. It became a focal point for summer weekends and Bank Holidays when Londoners would come to the Heath to escape the city. According to the Ham and High from April 1888 “On Easter Monday there were probably not far short of 80,000 visitors to Hampstead Heath.” There was a fair, and swings and a steam roundabout in the Vale. I was relieved to read that “In spite of some horse-play, especially in the Vale of Health, the holiday makers as a whole, behaved themselves well, and only one or two police charges arose out of the day’s holiday.”
The Vale of Health is said to be one of the most expensive residential areas in the world. Past residents include DH Lawrence, Stella Gibbons, Compton Mackenzie, Edgar Wallace, Rabindranath Tagore, and Liam Gallagher.
The Vale of Health is sometimes said to be as the source of one of London’s lost rivers, the Fleet. The river now flows underground in culverts, pipes, and sewers, until it spills into the Thames near Blackfriars Bridge.
Judith Field
Vale of Health, London NW3 1AP
09/12/2022 10:56:11 AM
76. King Edward VII Park
This park, sometimes called ‘King Eddie’s’, is in Wembley. It was opened in 1914 and named in memory of the king, who had died in 1910.
The land which has become the park was formerly part of Read's Farm. It was purchased by the local authority in memory of the late king, and the park opened in 1914’ The park still has the original gates and railings at the top, where there are flower beds, terraces and steps, with brick piers having capitals and concrete urns.
The park is a Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation and is protected under the Fields in Trust Programme under the Queen Elizabeth II Fields protection type. It has a large open grass space, wild meadows, and winding paths with places to sit. There are good views across to Harrow on the Hill. It has an outdoor gym, tennis courts, multi-use games area and a playground. There are no café or toilets. We parked on a nearby street.
There are a good variety of trees including ginkgo biloba, or maidenhair tree, the oldest living species of tree. This is my favourite species of tree, and I wanted one of my own. Yes, you can buy them, but I thought I’d try to raise one myself. I walk past a small ginkgo tree whenever we pay our weekly visits to East Finchley Cemetery (see 15.) but I didn’t think it was right to chop bits off for cuttings, so I have grown a little specimen from seed. To get the seeds to germinate I had to keep them in a plastic bag of compost in the fridge for weeks. One of the five did germinate but I’m leaving the others in the pot in case they decide to make a late start. I’m not one for naming plants but even if I were, I’d have to wait a while because ginkgos (or should that be ginkgoes?) are dioecious – in other words they have either male or female flowers, not both. Maybe I’ll hold a gender reveal party in a few months’ time.
Judith Field
King Edward VII Park, Park Lane, Wembley, HA9 7RX
