EDMONTON

EDMONTON, a parish in the hundred of Edmonton, county Middlesex, 7 miles N.E. of London.

It is a station on the Enfield branch of the Great Eastern railway. The parish includes Winchmore Hill and Southgate, besides the town of Upper and Lower Edmonton, which two last form one continued line of street, on the main road from London to Hertford and Ware. The town is well lighted with gas, and amply supplied with water, the New River winding through the parish. It is also divided into four wards, called Bury-street, Churchstreet, Fore-street, and South-street. The old highway Ermine Street passed through the parish, and the Lea navigation pursues its course in the immediate vicinity, affording ready conveyance for timber, in which there is a considerable trade. The town is very old, and in Domesday Survey is called Edelmeton. Petty sessions are held here, also a county court, monthly. The Union workhouse is in Upper Edmonton, where is a police station. In the vicinity are many elegant mansions and handsome villas, surrounded by well-planted grounds and parks. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of London, value £1,160, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's. The parish church is an ancient structure, and underwent considerable alterations at the latter end of the last century. It is dedicated to All Saints, and contains several monuments and brasses, some nearly 500 years old, among others there are tombs of the Myddelton and Huxley families. In the churchyard is the tomb of Charles and Mary Lamb. The learned theologian, Dr. John Owen, for some time held this living. The register commences in 1557. There are also the following district churches, the livings of which are perpetual curacies in the patronage of the vicar: St. Paul's, Winchmore Hill, value £200; Southgate, value £300; and St. James's, Upper Edmonton, value £200. The parochial charities are numerous, producing altogether about £1,000 per annum, and are under the management of a Board of Trustees; among the principal are Latymer's school for boys, Stanbridge's for girls, and Wild and Styles' almshouses. The Independents, Baptists, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists have each a chapel; that of the Independents, built in 1850, is an edifice of peculiar beauty. In addition to the endowed schools, there are two National, for both sexes, and an infant school. The Edmonton Poor-law Union comprises five parishes in Middlesex, one in Essex, and one in Hertford. On Bush Hill, in this parish, are the remains of a large circular encampment, supposed to have been the site of a British town, near which Sir Hugh Myddelton had a residence. Bury Hall, the seat of President Bradshaw, retains much of its pristine appearance. Peter Fabell, alias the "Merry Devil of Edmonton," and Dr. Brook Taylor, secretary to the Royal Society, were born here. The village is also celebrated in Cowper's popular ballad of "John Gilpin."

[Description(s) from "The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland" (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]
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