| & Heritage In Enfield Essay, Research Paper
Ponders
End? History
Ponders
End started out as a large hamlet in the parish of Enfield. The Enfield
enclosure map (1803) shows a straggling L-shaped settlement. The High Street
was built up from Red Lane (Lincoln Road) to just south of Farm Lane (Southbury
Road). Houses were dotted along South Street as far as Ponders End Mill and the
Lee Navigation. There was also a small settlement clustered around Scotland
Green. There was no road access across the river to Chingford. (It was not
until the early eighteen-seventies that Lea Valley Road was built, financed by
public subscription). The
River Lee in its natural state was more or less navigable as far as Ware and
Hertford. The present Lee Navigation was constructed from 1766 under the
supervision of John Smeaton, including a lock at Ponders End.The
ancient moated manor house called Durants Arbour stood to the east of the High
Street, between The Ride and Durants Road. In the sixteenth century it was held
by the powerful Wroth family. Both Sir Thomas Wroth and his son Sir Robert
Wroth were prominent MP’s during the reign of Elizabeth I. The property later
passed to the Stringer family, one of whom, William Stringer, was married to
the daughter of the notorious Judge Jeffreys. The manor house was destroyed by
fire in the late 18th century, but a Tudor gatehouse survived until 1910. The
moat was subsequently filled in and the site built over.In 1826
there were coaches every half hour to London. In 1840 the first section of what
was to become the main railway line to Cambridge was opened between Stratford
and Broxbourne with a station at Ponders End. In 1845 the station was served by
6 trains daily in each direction. In 1891 the opening of the Southbury Loop
gave Ponders End a second station, sited in Southbury Road. However, this line
lost its passenger service in 1909 due to tramway competition.In 1881
a horse tramway from Stamford Hill was opened as far as the junction of
Southbury Road and the High Street. Sadly, it did not prosper and within a
short time the service was cut back to Tramway Avenue Depot at Edmonton. In
1907 a completely new electric tramway was built through Ponders End, reaching
Waltham Cross in 1908. In 1911 the tramway was extended along Southbury Road,
forming a branch to Enfield Town. Apart from the Southbury Road route the trams
gave way to trolleybuses in 1938. A
report by the General Board of Health (1850) on sanitary conditions in Enfield
reveals an alarming state of affairs in Ponders End. Many of the older cottages
were grossly overcrowded and extremly insanitary. The worst affected areas were
South Street and Scotland Green. The whole area suffered from poor drainage.Housing
development began at a fairly early date. Alma Road was developed from 1855 and
Napier Road had been laid out by 1867. The Lincoln House Estate (Derby Road and
Lincoln Road) was built up from 1871. Durants Road was dveloped from 1888 and
Nags Head Road from 1890. By 1914 much of the area had been built up, but there
was still open country separating Ponders End from Enfield Highway to the north
and Edmonton to the south.For
many years the nearest church was at Enfield Town. Then in 1831 St James Church
was built at Enfield Highway. Ponders End did not get a church of its own until
1878 when St Matthew’s Church was erected in South Street. The nonconformists,
however, took Ponders End rather more seriously. An Independent Chapel was
built in the High Street in 1768. (This is the direct ancestor of the present
United Reformed Church).The
oldest industrial site is the Ponders End Mill. The present mill buildings date
from the late 18th century. In 1809 Grout and Baylis’ crape factory was built
in South Street. This closed in 1894 and the factory was later taken over by
United Flexible Metal Tubing. A jute mill was opened beside the Lee Navigation
in 1865, lasting until 1882. The building was taken over by Ediswan in 1886 and
used for the manufacture of electric light bulbs and later radio valves. During
World War I, a huge munitions factory, the Ponders End Shell Works was built in
Wharf Road. The factory buildings were sold off after the war. Further
factories were built in the thirties alongside the newly-built Great Cambridge
Road.Housing
development resumed after World War I. The gaps separating Ponders End from
Edmonton and Enfield Highway were finally closed. Much former market garden
land was built upon. By 1939 the area was virtually fully developed.There
have been several transport innovations since World War II. The Southbury Loop,
closed to passengers since 1909, was re-opened and electrified in 1960. The Lea
Valley Line was electrified in 1969. Trolleybuses gave way to conventional
diesel buses in 1961. In the early nineteen-sixties Nags Head Road was extended
to link up with Lea Valley Road, bypassing the heavily congested level crossing
at Ponders End station.After
World War II much of the older part of Ponders End was in a rundown state. From
the fifties onwards there was much council redevelopment particularly in the
South Street and Alma Road areas. Today Ponders End is an uneasy mixture of old
and new: the Mill buildings survive in the shadow of the Alma Road tower
blocks.Further
Reading Hodson,
George and Ford, Edward – A history of Enfield. Enfield. 1873.Pam,
David – Protestant gentlemen: the Wroths of Durants Arbour, Enfield and
Loughton, Essex. Edmonton Hundred Historical Society. 1973Robinson,
William – The history and antiquities of Enfield. London. 1873Whitaker,
Cuthbert Whitaker – An illustrated history, statistical and topographical
account of Enfield. London. 1911.St
Matthew’s Ladies Fellowship – Ponders End remembered. Enfield. 1981.Dalling,
Graham – Parish church of St Matthew, Ponders End. Enfield. 1978. Pam,
David – A history of Enfield: Vol.1: before 1837. Enfield. 1990.
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