Local History

photo of signpost at palmers green triangle

© Copyright Stephen McKay and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

If you're interested in the local history of Palmers Green, Southgate, Winchmore Hill, Edmonton and Enfield, there are a number of societies which put on regular lectures and talks and provide research facilitiies. We list some of these in our Community Directory in the History category, but you should also investigate the Conservation Groups, Residents' Associations and North London on the Web categories.

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  Category: Local History

Enfield Council has withdrawn its proposal to completely cease providing drop-in access to its Local Studies Centre at the Dugdale Centre and to drastically scale back the Enfield Museum, which is also located at the Dugdale Centre.  There will, however, still be cutbacks, though their scope is unclear. "Just Married" might have been the last special exhibition at the Enfield Museum under the original proposalsThis rethink, announced on the Council website earlier today, is a response to.......

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  Category: Local History

"Enfield 229" has issued a second bulletin with information about its campaign against drastic reductions in Enfield Council's Museums and Archives Service (see this earlier article).  The campaigners are now expecting a decision by the end of November, but say that there have been contradictory indications about the proposed scale of cuts to the service. Despite reassurances that "nothing has been finalised yet", the campaigners claim to have learnt that plans are in place to delete all.......

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Written by Garry Humphreys    Category: Local History

The first of a new series of lectures organized by the Friends of Christ Church, Southgate, takes place next Wednesday, 7 October, at the church on The Green, N14 7EG. These talks are intended to mark the 400th anniversary of Christian worship on the site by featuring people associated with Southgate in general and the church in particular. A page from an 1815 Figgins specimen bookOn Wednesday the church is extremely privileged to have secured the services of Professor James Mosley, one of the.......

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  Category: Local History

A campaign has been launched in opposition to Enfield Council's plan to make money-saving changes to the operation of the Museum and Archive Services (see this earlier article).  'Enfield 229' or the "Unofficial Friends of Museum and Archive Services" have issued a four-page bulletin outlining their fears about the impact of the proposed changes.  They accuse the Council of a lack of frankness about the proposals, in particular the failure to mention that four and a half experienced.......

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  Category: Local History

Enfield residents are being invited to comment on proposed changes to the Council's "heritage resources" which are intended primarily as a cost-cutting measure, but at the same time would provide increased online access to these resources. The Council is proposing to digitise the materials stored at the Local Studies Centre in Thomas Hardy House and make them available online.  The current Monday to Friday drop-in access to the Local Studies Centre would cease and visitors wishing to see.......

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  Category: Local History

As autumn approaches there is always a new term "back to school" feeling in the air so its a perfect time to sign up for a course of evening meetings and discussions on the history of Enfield Led by Joe Studman, a professional local history guide and speaker, the twelve week introductory course will chart the history of Enfield, Edmonton and Southgate. The course will be held at Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane, Enfield, EN2 0AJ from Tuesday September 29th 7:15 - 8:45pm. Each week will consist.......

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  Category: Local History

BFI Player, the online video streaming service run by the British Film Institute, recently launched a channel called Britain on Film, featuring footage from across the years and across the country. Among the local films that can be viewed for free are two featuring Palmers Green in the 1950s: Southgate Celebrates the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II Southgate's New Running Track, Broomfield Park The Coronation film is fascinating for many reasons, not least for the sheer number of people.......

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  Category: Local History

The video below, released in connection with an exhibition at Bruce Castle Museum, is a beautifully filmed and soberly narrated tour of the architectural and artistic delights to be found within churches in Tottenham, Hornsey, Stamford Hill, Noel Park and Harringay.  The buildings date from the middle ages right through to the 1990s - but the modern buildings contain some astounding items salvaged from demolished buildings. Well worth spending half an hour watching (I could have done.......

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  Category: Local History

Among the events being organised by Enfield Council to mark the 50th anniversary of the creation of the present-day London boroughs is a series of free local history walks led by Joe Studman.  They start on 16th June and run through to March 2016, criss-crossing the borough and taking in every part of Enfield, examining its rich, varied and fascinating history and characters.. For more information about the walks email . Joe Studman is a born and bred Londoner. Born.......

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  Category: Local History

On Thursday 12th March, from 1pm to 4pm, Enfield Town Market will play host to an unusual visitor - a KinoVan (or should that be "the KinoVan"?) The KinoVan - a "cinema on wheels" - will be showing cine clips illustrating how the borough has changed over the past hundred years.  And various experts, such as film archivist Louise Pankhurst, will be there to tell people about the borough's film history. The KinoVan belongs to Film London - London's Film Archives and its visit is part of a.......

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  Category: Local History

The Enfield Society has just published the fourth volume in its series A History of Enfield.  "A Time of Change", covers the period 1939 -1969. It includes chapters on life in Enfield, Edmonton and Southgate during the war, the austerity of the late Forties, the difficult Fifties and the swinging Sixties. Written by Monica Smith, this hardback book with over 200 illustrations costs £18.50. It is available from Waterstones in Enfield town, online at www.enfieldsociety.org.uk and at.......

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Written by Basil Clarke    Category: Local History

Artist and Enfield resident John Salmon (see his YouTube channel here) has put together a fascinating and ingenious slide show of early photographs of Enfield Town, accompanied by sound track of contemporary background noises. John adds the following written comments: Experience what life may have been like in Enfield Town once photography was able to record interesting details and events which make our town what it is today. I’ve been collecting local photographs from the internet for.......

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