EDMONTON, LONDON

Edmonton disambiguation
'Edmonton' is an area in the east of the London Borough of Enfield, distinct from Enfield Town. The man-made River Lea diversion adjoins the east of Edmonton and forms the boundaries between Enfield and Waltham Forest[1] and the historical boundary between Middlesex and Essex.

Contents

Location

Places of interest

History

Industry

Shanktown/Shanksville/SH9

Railway and transport

Watercourses

Nearest places

Railway stations

Notable residents

Notable people educated in Edmonton

Literature

External links

References

Location

Edmonton is 8.6 miles (13.8 km) north-north-east of Charing Cross and stretches from just south of the North Circular Road in the south to just past Edmonton Green in the north and from the Great Cambridge Road in the west to the River Lea in the east.
Edmonton comprises Upper Edmonton to the south and Lower Edmonton to the north. The Member of Parliament for Edmonton is Andy Love (Labour), who polled 18,456 votes (53.2%) at the General Election held on 5 May 2005. The main shopping centre in Edmonton is at Edmonton Green, the second largest is at the Angel, Edmonton which is a high street.

Places of interest

'Lee Valley Leisure Complex': Part of the Lee Valley Park, comprises an 18 hole golf course, 12 screen cinema, camping and caravan site, and restaurants.The Lee Valley Athletics Centre,which was formally opened by Tessa Jowell. Culture Secretary on January 16 2007[2], will replace the original 1973 Picketts Lock Leisure Centre, which featured in an episode of the 1970s sitcom ''Some Mothers Do 'ave 'em''. Picketts Lock was chosen to hold the 2005 World Athletics Championships but in 2001, after serious concerns over costs and transport problems, the planned stadium was scrapped.[3]
'William Girling Reservoir': Part of the Lee Valley reservoir chain, together with the King George V Reservoir known as the Chingford Reservoirs. These vast waters are Sites of Special Scientific Interest, owned by Thames Water.

History

The old highway Ermine Street passed through what is today Edmonton. Ermine Street was the main Roman Road from London through Lincoln and on to York.
Edmonton appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is recorded as Adelmentone.
Pymmes Park with its historic walled garden is Upper Edmonton's park.
Pymmes Park originated as a private estate. In the late 16th century it was owned by the powerful Cecil family. In 1589 Robert Cecil, later 1st Earl of Salisbury, spent his honeymoon at Pymmes. The estate was eventually acquired by Edmonton Council and opened as a public park in 1906. Pymmes House was destroyed by fire during World War II and the remains were demolished.
Robert Cecil was a protege of Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I's chief spymaster and he succeeded him as Secretary of State in 1590.
The historic All Saints' Church is situated in Church Street as is Lamb's Cottage, which was home to writers Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb.
Edmonton was the hometown of Sir James Winter Lake, director of the Hudson's Bay Company. A trading outpost in what is today the Canadian province of Alberta was named for Edmonton in London. The Canadian Edmonton is now capital of the province, and more widely known than its namesake and predecessor.

Industry

Edmonton was home to many industries which included manufacturing of gas appliances, electrical components and furniture most of this has been lost in recent years.Some of the household names that produced goods here include MK electric, Ever Ready batteries, British Oxygen, Glover and Main gas appliances. Eley Industrial Estate named after Eley Brothers the firearms cartridge manufacturer,its shot tower was a distinctive landmark on the Edmonton skyline. Demolished late 20th century.Due to its close proximity to the River Lee Navigation,timber was transported by barge from London Docks and stored in riverside wharves as a result many furniture makers including Nathan's,Beautility and Homeworthy had factories here.Today Parker-Knoll products are manufactured at the former B&I Nathan factory on the Eley Industrial Estate[4]
Today the area is dominated by the 100 metre Edmonton Incinerator chimney which was built in1971.
Coca Cola have a manufacturing plant on the Ely Industrial Estate[5].

Shanktown/Shanksville/SH9

Edmonton (mainly the N9 area) has been dubbed by the local youths as "Shanktown", and later dubbed as "Shanksville" and "SH9" (a mixture of the N9 postcode and the Shanktown nickname). There is a lot of reference to this in local Grime MC's lyrics.

Railway and transport

The railway arrived in 1840 with the opening of the first section of the Lea Valley Line from Stratford to Broxbourne. A station was provided in Water Lane (Angel Road). As the station was badly sited and the trains were slow and expensive, few people used the railway in the early days, preferring the horse buses. In 1845 there were buses every 15 minutes along Fore Street, travelling alternately to Bishopsgate and Holborn.
The single-track line from a junction just north of Angel Road to Enfield Town opened on 1 March 1849, with an intermediate single-platform station at Lower Edmonton, located at the edge of the village green. The service was infrequent and often required a change of train at the junction. This, coupled with the train taking the long way round through Stratford to get to the terminus at Bishopsgate, meant that the railway offered little competition to the existing horse coaches and buses.
The direct line from London to Enfield Town was opened in four stages, from Bethnal Green to Stoke Newington on 27 May 1872; from Stoke Newington through to Lower Edmonton High Level on 22 July 1872, with stations in Edmonton at Silver Street and a new High Level station at Lower Edmonton, which was renamed Edmonton Green in 1992; the short section from Lower Edmonton High Level to Edmonton Junction (where the new line met the original Eastern Counties Railway route from Angel Road to Enfield Town via Lower Edmonton Low Level) on 1 August 1872; and the suburban platforms on the west side of Liverpool Street station on 2 February 1874.
The stations were well sited and offered exceptionally cheap workmen's fares of just 2d on trains arriving at Liverpool Street prior to 07:00, 3d on those arriving between 07:00 and 07:30, and half-price returns on those arriving between 07:30 and 08:00. A horse tramway along Fore Street opened in 1881. The tramway was re-constructed and electrified during 1905, lasting until 1938 when trolley buses took over.

Watercourses

★ River Lee (diversion)

★ River Lee Navigation

★ Pymmes Brook

★ Salmons Brook

Nearest places

★ Tottenham to the south

★ Palmers Green to the west

★ Walthamstow to the east

★ Ponders End to the north

★ Winchmore Hill to the north

Railway stations

★ Angel Road railway station

★ Edmonton Green railway station

★ Silver Street railway station

Notable residents

The following people were born in or live in Edmonton:

★ John Clayton Adams

★ Gladys Aylward

★ Percival Harry Barton

★ John Beck

★ Dudley Benjafield

★ Eddie Bovington

★ Jack Burkett

★ Albert Cadwell

★ Robert Cecil

★ Charles Coward

★ Jimmy Dimmock

★ David Evans (politician)

★ Bruce Forsyth

★ Frederick Grace

★ Bobby Graham

★ Brian Harvey

★ Chas Hodges

★ Bob Hoskins

★ David Jason

★ John Keats

★ Jo Kuffour

★ Charles Lamb

★ Mary Lamb

★ Derek Lampe

★ Jennifer Lynn

★ Les Medley

★ Dave Murray (musician)

★ Kevin Nugent (footballer)

★ Joe O'Cearuill

★ Ömer Rıza

★ Jim Standen

★ Brook Taylor

★ B.J. Wilson

Notable people educated in Edmonton

★ Edmonton County School

★
★ Kriss Akabusi, athlete

★
★ Basil Hoskins, actor

★
★ Kevan James, cricketer

★
★ Kelly Johnson, guitarist

★
★ Debbie Kurup, actress

★
★ Larry Lamb, actor

★
★ Daisy Ridgely, athlete

★
★ Roy Strong, historian

★
★ Norman Tebbit, politician

★
★ Ray Winstone, actor

★ The Latymer School

★
★ Johnny Haynes, footballer

★
★ Bruce Forsyth, entertainer

★
★ Claire-Hope Ashitey, actress

★
★ Syed Kamall, Conservative MEP

★
★ Poj masta, DJ

★
★ Albert Meltzer, British Anarchist

★
★ Tim Pope, Film and Video director

★
★ B.J. Wilson, Original drummer with Procol Harum

Literature

★ ''An Edmonton Boy'' by Terry Webb ISBN 190398100X Published by Biograph 2000

★ ''A Poacher's Tale'' told by A.T Curtis.Related by Fred.J Speakman SBN 7135 0969 4 Published by George Bell & Sons 1960

★ ''The Diverting History Of John Gilpin'' by William Cowper

External links

★ Pymmes Park Information

★ Lee Valley Park website

★ Lower Edmonton N9 Information

★ Edmonton County School Old Scholars Association

★ Reports and Statistics for Edmonton and Enfield Borough

★ Council Tax charges for Edmonton and Enfield Borough

References

★ "The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland" (1868) at Genuki, UK and Ireland Genealogy. (A brief description and history of Edmonton from the 1868 Gazetteer)

★ A brief history of Lower Edmonton on the Enfield Council Website. (A succinct account starting early 1800s)

★ A brief history of Upper Edmonton on the Enfield Council Website. (A succinct account starting early 1800s)

★ Edmonton: Economic History from British history Online. (This is detailed and starts in 1086)

★ London's Local Railways (2nd Edition), Jackson, Alan A., , , Capital Transport, 1999, ISBN 1-85414-209-7