Park of the week

46. Arnos Park

Jack asked to visit this park, which he’d apparently been to with his college a long time before. He didn’t know its name, describing it as “a park with a railway bridge near X and Y’s house” (in Whetstone) and I didn’t know which one he meant. His mixed-up directions took us to Cockfosters without finding the park, but on the way back (by which time he was extremely cross with me, and the only thing stopping me pulling my own head off was the fact that I was driving), we happened to pass what turned out to be Arnos Park – in Southgate. I hadn’t been there before.

Southgate was a settlement at the south gate of hunting park of Enfield Chase. Henry VIII confiscated the land, then owned by the Roman Catholic Church. It became the Arnos Grove Estate. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century the large estates in the area were broken up as housing was built. Arnos Park was created in 1928 when an area of wood and meadow were bought by the local authority. The rest of the estate was sold for housing development. The “railway bridge” is the Arnos Park Viaduct on the Piccadilly Line, built in the nineteen thirties, which divides the park in two. With thirty-four arches, it’s the biggest brick viaduct ever built for the London Underground. 

The park is long and thin, with a lot of open space. It’s a Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation. Its woodland, running across the north end of he park, is believed to be ancient in origin, with trees including sessile oak and wild service tree (both uncommon in London), as well as hornbeam, wild cherry, and hazel. 

It has a small stream – Pymme’s Brook, bordered with shrubs and willows. The brook has its source in Hadley Common, eventually joining the River Lea. Woodland flowers grow near it. A walking route, the Pymme’s Trail, follows the brook as far as Arnos Park. 

It has tennis courts, cricket and football pitches, a children’s playground, a putting green, and a bowling club. There are toilets but no café. There’s no car park but it’s possible to park on the surrounding streets.

Judith Field

Arnos Park, 120 Morton Way, London, N14 7AL