Park of the week

112. Boxers Lake Open Space

Boxers Lake in Enfield is surrounded by woodlands, remnants of Enfield Chase. The woodland mainly comprises oak, hornbeam and ash. The lake has a small, wooded island and is popular with anglers. Foxes are often seen in the area and occasionally muntjac deer. There are a variety of waterfowl to be seen, including mallard, moorhen, Canada goose and swans. The area is a Site of Nature Conservation Importance.

There’s a children’s playground, enclosed by fencing as it’s right next to the lake. There’s no café or toilets.

Boxer's Lake Open Space is a relic of the seventeenth century landscape park of South Lodge. It was originally one of a string of lakes or fishponds on the estate. South Lodge was one of three lodges of Enfield Chase, a royal hunting ground, established to accommodate the keepers when the Chase was divided into three walks after 1419. Suburban housing was built over the estate in the nineteen thirties, but its boundary is still traceable in lines of residential streets such as Lonsdale Drive, where the lake is.  

The open space and lake are owned by the local authority, but the upkeep is the responsibility of the Boxers Lake Conservation and Angling Association. Surface water from the whole of the Oakwood area passes through culverts and is collected and held in the lake before being released at a controlled rate to continue along the Glenbrook to join Salmons Brook and then the River Lea.  

We visited in January, on a dry day, at the start of a blessed release from the weight of months that had nearly crushed me. While Jack was on the Big Lying Down swing in the playground, I sat on a bench, looking through the treetops, each twig glowing and sparkling round the edges, towards the patches of blue sky between the clouds. I exhaled.
Once I’d breathed in again, we went to feed the water birds.

I hadn’t thought to bring anything for them, but they eemed to like the goldfish food that we keep in the car in case we come across any piscine fellow travellers.

Who was Boxer? Does the name include an apostrophe or not? The truth is probably out there. Somewhere.

Judith Field

Boxers Lake, Lonsdale Drive, EN2 7JU