Winchmore Hill is a suburb and electoral ward[1] in the Borough of Enfield, north London, within the N21 postal district. The Winchmore Hill conservation area serves as the focal point of the district. Geographically, the district is bounded on the east by Green Lanes (the A105 road), Barrowell Green, Firs Lane and Fords Grove. To the north-west, it is bordered by Grovelands Park. The southern boundary extends to part of Aldermans Hill, while the northern boundary reaches Vicars Moor Lane and Houndsden Road. Winchmore Hill is situated 8.9 miles (14.3km) north-northeast of Charing Cross.
Prior to the Roman invasion, the areas now known as Hertfordshire, Essex, and Middlesex were occupied by the Catuvellauni tribe. It is believed that this tribe built a hill fort on the mound now occupied by Bush Hill Park Golf Club.
The earliest recorded mention of Winchmore Hill is in a deed dated A.D. 1319, where it is spelled Wynsemerhull. According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names, 'merhull' in Old English translates to 'boundary hill'. It is speculated that the name might mean 'Wynsige's boundary hill'[2]. By 1395, the name had been altered to Wynsmerhull, and by 1565, the village was known as Wynsmorehyll, eventually becoming Winchmore Hill by the time it was mentioned in state papers in 1586[3].
Winchmore Hill is home to many buildings of historical significance. The first recorded religious building is the Quaker Meeting House, established in 1688 and rebuilt in 1790. Notable individuals buried here include Luke Howard, the father of modern meteorology, Alice Hum, founder of Palmers Green High School for Girls, and members of the Hoare and Barclay banking families. Samuel Hoare, a founder of the 'Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade', played a prominent role in the campaign against the slavery.
St Paul's Church, was built as a Waterloo church on land donated from the Grovelands estate, once had the largest unsupported expanse of plasterwork ceiling in Europe until renovations in the 1960s added concealed supports. The original wooden clapboardSt Paul's School building can still be seen further down Church Hill. Remnants of the second brick-and-stone school building are evident in the walls of the church car park. The current school building, constructed in the 1960s, is located on Ringwood Way, off Station Road. Other historical buildings can be see on Wades Hill, leading north from The Green. Notably, there are wooden clapboard cottages and a tall-five story residential building dating back to 1710, reminiscent of Georgian townhouses in London's West End.
The oldest pub in the district was likely the Green Dragon on Green Lanes, reputed to have opened in 1726 at the junction of Green Lanes and Green Dragon Lane. The Victoria County History records that by 1752, the Green Dragon was established, although not in its present form. Historically, highwaymen caught near the pub were hanged at a gallows erected by its front entrance. This gallows remained for years, prompting the pub's relocation to the bottom of Vicars Moor Lane by the late 18th century. The original Green Dragon was demolished in 1892, and the new one was extensively remodelled in 1935. It ceased operating as a public house in 2015, although the building remains as a supermarket.
The Woodman pub, near the end of Broad Walk, reportedly dates back to 1727, though some evidence suggests it was built in 1820. Before obtaining a pub licence in 1868, it was a private residence.
Woodside House and Rowantree House on The Green at the end of Broad Walk were built in 1750 and of painted brick. Numerous local buildings constructed between 1770 and 1839 remain today. Near the Dog and Duck on Hoppers Road are old terraced houses built around 1770. Number 106A Vicars Moor Lane is a distinctive private residence retaining the façade of a chapel. To the east on the same road are residences likely built in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century.
The station c.1875.
In 1865, the Great Northern Railway obtained permission to build a new line from Wood Green to Hertford through Palmers Green and Enfield. However, financial constraints in 1869 led the company to consider Enfield as the northern terminus, with Palmers Green and Winchmore Hill as intervening rural stations. Despite terrain challenges that led to the deaths if five workers, the branch opened on April 1, 1971. The first passenger train through Winchmore Hill helped transform it into a suburb of London. Initially, only 16 trains a day departed from Enfield, mostly heading to Moorgate.
The Capitol Cinema, designed in the Art Deco style by Robert Cromie, opened on 29 December, 1929, in Green Lanes. Briefly run by Lou Morris, the cinema was taken over in December 1930 by ABC Cinemas, which operated it until its closure on 5 December, 1959. It was demolished the following year. The site was later occupied by the office block Capitol House, occupied by the Inland Revenue (demolished by August 2019).
Winchmore Hill in the twenty-first century
At the heart of the area is Winchmore Hill Green, a village green surrounded by shops and restaurants. Winchmore Hill also features is own "millionaire's row", Broad Walk, which has been home to many rich and famous individuals.
Of particular note is Grovelands Park, originally a private estate before being partly sold off to the council in 1913. The remaining private section now houses the Priory Clinic, which hosted General Pinochet while he was in the UK awaiting charges from the Spanish government.
Winchmore Hill Sports Club provides the local community with facilities and teams for cricket, football, tennis, hockey, and table tennis.
At the 2001 census, Winchmore Hill had 12,225 residents in 4,976 households. 80% of residences were owned by their occupiers. The population was in general rather older than in the rest of Enfield – 38.3% being 45 or over, compared with 35.3% for the borough as a whole.
At the 2011 census, 76% of the ward's population of 13,403 was white (54% British, 18% Other, 4% Irish). The area is also covered by the Bush Hill Park ward which had a population of 13,923. In 2011, the ward was 74.3% White (53.1% British, 16.8% Other White and 3.2% Irish)[4]
In culture
Argentinian-born composer Juan María Solare wrote in 2001 a piano piece called Winchmore Hill, dedicated to James MacAonghus (who lives in the district); it was premiered by Dorota Niziol in Stuttgart on 28 September 2002, with a choreography by Diana-Maria Sagvosdkina (Studio für BewegungsChiffren) within the frame of the Kulturmarkt Stuttgart.[5]
An electric tramway along Green Lanes from Palmers Green, developed in 1907, further spurred area development. Although the tramway is long gone, the wide road reminas, and the 329 bus (formerly the 29, and before that the 123) follows the tram route from Enfield to Turnpike Lane.
Winchmore Hill: Memories of a Lost Village, Henrietta Cresswell.
Memories of Winchmore Hill, Horace G Regnart.
Fond Memories of Winchmore Hill, Alan Dumayne, 1990.
A Look at Old Winchmore Hill, Stuart Devlin.
Southgate and Winchmore Hill: A Short History,David Pam.
Dr Cresswell's Winchmore Hill, published by the London Borough of Enfield Libraries.
The Story of Southgate and Winchmore Hill, Walker Round, Wynchgate Press (1906).
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