Enfield Lock | |
---|---|
Modern housing in Ordnance Road | |
Location within Greater London | |
Population | 16,469 (2011 Census. Ward) [1] |
OS grid reference | TQ365985 |
London borough | |
Ceremonial county | Greater London |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | ENFIELD |
Postcode district | EN3 |
Dialling code | 01992 / 020 |
Police | Metropolitan |
Fire | London |
Ambulance | London |
UK Parliament | |
London Assembly | |
Enfield Lock is an area in the London Borough of Enfield, north London. It is approximately located east of the Hertford Road between Turkey Street and the Holmesdale Tunnel overpass, and extends to the River Lee Navigation, including the Enfield Island Village. [2] The locality gains its name from the lock on the River Lee Navigation. Today's Enfield Lock was rebuilt in 1922. [3] The area forms part of the Lee Valley Park and the Enfield Lock Conservation Area. [4] On its eastern boundary Enfield Lock has marshland formerly used as a testing site between the Royal Small Arms Factory and the Gunpowder Mills, beyond this is the village of Sewardstone and the Epping forest boundary. To the south is Brimsdown, the north Waltham Cross and to the west Bullsmoor and Freezywater. Enfield Lock forms part of the London boundary.
Enfield Lock is recorded thus in 1710, earlier as Norhtlok (1355), The Locke (1657), i.e. 'the (northern) lock or river barrier (near Enfield)', from Middle English lok. [5]
The area was first developed from about 1812 when a government-owned rifle factory, which was later known as the Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF), Enfield, was built. The factory was built towards the end of the Napoleonic War on the instructions of the Board of Ordnance on marshland at Enfield Lock on the banks of both the River Lea and the River Lee Navigation. The RSAF was closed in the late 1980s, shortly after privatisation, and the majority of the former site has now been redeveloped into a large housing development: Enfield Island Village.
The original machine shop frontage and the older part of the rear structure has been retained and was converted into workshops and retail units by the Enfield Enterprise Agency. Until the construction of the M25 in the 1980s, the Enfield island Village which began to house many families from local councils such as Harringey and Hackney, and the later building of the A1055, the area was much like a village with only a small population and consisting of only a few roads in the locality. Roads such as Ordnance Road, Salisbury Road and Medcalf Road are still populated by families who have lived in the Enfield Lock area for several generations.
After rioting had spread from neighbouring Tottenham on 8 August 2011, the Sony DADC/PIAS distribution centre on the Innova Business Park was looted and destroyed by fire. [6] The Home Secretary, Theresa May, was shown the destroyed distribution centre by chief police officers and firefighters on 12 August 2011. [7] In September 2012, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, opened the rebuilt warehouse. [8]
The Enfield Lock ward, which also covers Enfield Island Village, is 54% white (38% British, 15% Other, 1% Irish) as of the 2011 census. 23% of the population is black (15% African, 8% Caribbean, 4% Other). [9]
Enfield Lock and Turkey Street are in London Travelcard Zone 6. Brimsdown is in Travelcard Zone 5. Oyster Cards are valid at all three stations for travel southbound, and northbound as far as Broxbourne, or on some services, Hertford East. Enfield Lock is not on the London Underground network. [10]
The A1010 (Hertford Road) passes north–south to the west of Enfield Lock, linking the area to Edmonton and Tottenham to the south, and Waltham Cross, Waltham Abbey and Cheshunt to the north. The A1055 (Mollison Avenue) links Enfield Lock to the A10 (Great Cambridge Road) towards Hertford. Southbound, the road passes through Brimsdown, Ponder's End and Tottenham Hale.
The M25 London Orbital Motorway forms the northern border of Enfield Lock. From Enfield Lock, the road can be accessed via the A10 at junction 25, to the north of Bulls Cross. The M25 carries traffic around London, giving Enfield Lock a direct link to Heathrow Airport, the M11 (for Stansted Airport) and the M1 (for Luton Airport), along with several other arterial routes across both East Anglia and South East England. The M25 passes through the Holmesdale Tunnel, just to the north of Enfield Lock.
The River Lee Navigation passes north–south through Enfield Lock. The lock after which the area is named is numbered "13" along the River Lee.
The navigable river links boats northbound to Hertford and the River Stort. The River Stort is navigable for canal traffic to Harlow and Bishop's Stortford.
Southbound, the River Lee passes through Ponders End, Tottenham Hale and Stratford in the East End. From Stratford, the Hertford Union Canal carries canal traffic westbound towards the Regent's Canal, which eventually leads to Camden Lock and Paddington. [11]
Cycling infrastructure in Enfield Lock is primarily maintained by the London Borough of Enfield. Enfield Lock is well connected to National and International cycle networks:
Section 18 of the London LOOP, a long distance footpath, can be accessed at Enfield Lock railway station. The path connects with the Lea Valley Walk above Enfield Lock at Ordnance Road.
Angling is allowed on the River Lee Navigation upstream and downstream of Enfield Lock. Information from the River Lea Anglers Club. [16]
National Cycle Route 1 follows the River Lea towpath to Gunpowder Park.
Gunpowder Park, which lies to the east of Enfield Lock, is a large open space consisting mostly of marshland and lakes. The land is owned and managed by the Lee Valley Regional Park and is open to the public. [17]
Enfield is a large town in north London, England, 10.1 miles (16.3 km) north of Charing Cross. It had a population of 333,587 in 2021. It includes the areas of Botany Bay, Brimsdown, Bulls Cross, Bullsmoor, Bush Hill Park, Clay Hill, Crews Hill, Enfield Highway, Enfield Lock, Enfield Town, Enfield Wash, Forty Hill, Freezywater, Gordon Hill, Grange Park, Hadley Wood, Ponders End, and World's End.
Hertford is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census.
The River Lea is in the East of England and Greater London. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Creek. It is one of the largest rivers in London and the easternmost major tributary of the Thames.
The Hertford Union Canal or Duckett's Cut, just over 1 mile (1.6 km) long, connects the Regent's Canal to the Lee Navigation in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It was opened in 1830 but quickly proved to be a commercial failure. It was acquired by the Regents Canal Company in 1857, and became part of the Grand Union Canal in 1927.
The Lee Navigation is a canalised river incorporating the River Lea. It flows from Hertford Castle Weir to the River Thames at Bow Creek; its first lock is Hertford Lock and its last Bow Locks.
Cheshunt is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, England, 13 miles (21 km) north of Central London on the River Lea and Lee Navigation and directly south of Broxbourne. It contains a section of the Lee Valley Park, including much of the River Lee Country Park. To the north lies Broxbourne and Wormley, Waltham Abbey to the east, Waltham Cross and Enfield to the south, and Cuffley to the west.
The A10 is a major road in England which runs between The City of London and King's Lynn in Norfolk.
Epping Forest District is a local government district in Essex, England. It is named after the ancient woodland of Epping Forest, a large part of which lies within the district. The district covers northeastern parts of the urban area of London, including the suburban towns of Epping, Loughton, Waltham Abbey, Chigwell, and Buckhurst Hill, as well as rural areas beyond it. The district is situated in the west of the county, bordering north-eastern Greater London.
Lee Valley Regional Park is a 10,000-acre (40 km2) 26 miles (42 km) long linear park, much of it green spaces, running through the northeast of Greater London, Essex and Hertfordshire. The park follows the course of the River Lea (Lee) along the Lea Valley from Ware in Hertfordshire through Essex and the north east of Greater London, through the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to East India Docks Basin on the River Thames. The park is managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and is made up of a diverse mix of countryside areas, urban green spaces, heritage sites, country parks, nature reserves and lakes and riverside trails, as well as leading sports centres covering an area of over 10,000 acres (40 km2). It is crossed by a number of roads and railways.
The Lea Valley lines are a set of suburban rail lines running along the Lea Valley in East London, North London and Hertfordshire to Liverpool Street and Stratford. Historically part of the Great Eastern Railway, the lines now form part of the Anglia Route of Network Rail. Services are operated by London Overground and Greater Anglia.
Broxbourne railway station is on the West Anglia Main Line serving the towns of Broxbourne and Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire, England. It is 17 miles 17 chains (27.7 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Cheshunt and Roydon. Its three-letter station code is BXB and it is in fare zone B.
Waltham Cross railway station is on the Lea Valley Lines, serving the suburban town of Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire, and the neighbouring Waltham Abbey in Essex, England. It is 12 miles 63 chains (20.6 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Enfield Lock and Cheshunt. Its three-letter station code is WLC and it is in London fare zone 7.
Enfield Island Village is a modern property development in Enfield Lock, in the London Borough of Enfield, north London. Before April 1994, Enfield Island Village formed part of the Epping Forest district of Essex, but it was transferred to the borough of Enfield in Greater London when the housing development was created.
Brimsdown is a neighbourhood of eastern Enfield in the London Borough of Enfield, north London, on the west side of the mid-to-lower Lea Valley.
Ponders End is the southeasternmost part of Enfield, north London, England, around Hertford Road west of the River Lee Navigation. It became industrialised through the 19th century, similar to the Lea Valley in neighbouring Edmonton and Brimsdown, with manufacturing giving way to warehousing in the late-20th century. The area features much social housing, with streets also lined with suburban terraced housing from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Lea Valley, the valley of the River Lea, has been used as a transport corridor, a source of sand and gravel, an industrial area, a water supply for London, and a recreational area. The London 2012 Summer Olympics were based in Stratford, in the Lower Lea Valley. It is important for London's water supply, as the source of the water transported by the New River aqueduct, but also as the location for the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain, stretching from Enfield through Tottenham and Walthamstow.
National Cycle Route 1 is a route of the United Kingdom National Cycle Network, running from Dover to Tain. The 1,264 mi-long (2,034-kilometre) cycle-path is located in the United Kingdom.
The Lea Valley Walk is a 50-mile (80 km) long-distance path located between Leagrave, the source of the River Lea near Luton, and the Thames, at Limehouse Basin, Limehouse, east London. From its source much of the walk is rural. At Hertford the path follows the towpath of the River Lee Navigation, and it becomes increasingly urbanised as it approaches London. The walk was opened in 1993 and is waymarked throughout using a swan logo.
The Lee Flood Relief Channel (FRC) is located in the Lea Valley and flows between Ware, Hertfordshire, and Stratford, east London. Work started on the channel in 1947 following major flooding and it was fully operational by 1976. The channel incorporates existing watercourses, lakes, and new channels. Water from the channel feeds the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain.
Rammey Marsh Lock is a lock on the River Lee Navigation at Enfield, London, England. The area adjacent to the lock is known as Rammey Marsh and close to the River Lee Flood Relief Channel.