Enfield, Middlesex

Enfield Town Station

A nice shot of Enfield Town Station, at the side of the station was the engine shed. I started work at for British Railways Enfield Town as an engine cleaner in 1953 and later became a fireman. We worked the steam trains from Enfield to Liverpool Street using type N7 0-6-2 Tank engines. Your photograph shows the station just... [more]

Enfield, 1901 Census, Durants Road.

The 1901 census shows my grandad was living at 49 Durants Road Enfield with his wife and two children. His occupation is shown as Clerk at Electric Lamp Works.
Does anyone know the likely name and location of the Electric Lamp Works?

Market

I used to help cleen up the market on Saterday Nights when I was a small boy, the church bells used to toll and one night sounded for hours. One stall holder was very small and when he drove his truck he had wooden blocks fitted to the peddles and could only see through the stearing wheel.

Suits and films

Burtons the Tailors. I remember going there to buy a suit but found nothing I liked. I then went to a tailors nearby and had my first made-to-measure suit made, barrelbacked and knuckle length in a sober grey Glen Check with a red line in it.
Besides Burtons is the Rialto which was one of the many cinemas I went to... [more]

Premier

I can remember going to the Premier, you would buy your ticket at the kiosk then a young lady would tear your ticket in half and all the halves she collected were put in a bag. After the first film she would take the bag on stage, then someone would pick a ticket out of the bag, and the person with... [more]

Chase Side memories

The original Chase Side Secondary School shared premises with the Chase Side Primary, although we had separate play grounds. Next to the school was the Birkbeck Hygenic Laundry with a huge chimney and a steam siren that sounded the lunch break. The old Workhouse that eventually became a home for elderly women and later became abandoned. The War Memorial Hospital, where... [more]

Lancaster Road.

Henry Waits the butchers, small shops that sold sweets from a jar and fireworks. Penny for the guy, small children waiting at bus stops with the 128, 231 and 144B to try and pry a penny towards fireworks. Girlfriend (Rose Gritty) down Drake Street. Rag and Bone merchant towards 'The Hop Poles' pub. Doing the weekly shopping on my bicycle and... [more]

Hilly Fields

Situated at the top of our road, as young children Hilly Fields was something quite magical. During winter time we would trek our home made sledges over to toboggan hill and hurtle down to the brook at the bottom of the hill at breakneck speeds. Summer time, climbing trees, fishing for stickle backs in the brook. The game known to us... [more]

North London Photographic Memories

Situated on its northern edge, Enfield is one of the most attractive market towns within the Greater London area; it was well-established by Domesday. Not a wealthy town until the arrival of the railway in 1849, it has now become irretrievably linked to Central London by a 1930s sea of suburbia. This photograph looks eastwards towards the mediaeval town centre, but... [more]

North London Photographic Memories

The compact market place on the north side of the town is enhanced by its octagonal timber market cross, built in 1903 in celebration of Edward VII's coronation to replace a stone Gothic cross of 1826. The earlier cross was moved to the gardens of Myddleton House at Bulls Cross. Burtons is a fine example of its genre, while the flank... [more]

North London Photographic Memories

Close to the northern end of London Road, the market place and the parish church, the weatherboarded Ebben Steam Bakery, now departed, contributes to the market town feel of the photograph. Although it is as well-designed as a high rise building can be in a small-scale setting, the twelve-storey Civic Centre lurks menacingly just round the corner in Silver Street.