Timeline

1205

According to The Place Names of Middlesex by JEB Gover, the earliest known reference to Palmeresfeld on the west side of present day Green Lanes between Fox Lane and St John’s Church

1272   

Records indicate that Stephen Le Claper owned lands in the area – a possible derivation of the name Clappers Green.

C14^th

A family called Fox are living at the Southgate end of what becomes Fox Lane. The name Palmer is also mentioned in deeds from the 14th-16th centuries.

1445 

Earliest recorded reference to The Cock Inn, an ancient establishment on the corner of Green Lanes and Bowes Road s

1566   

John Broomfield sells land in the area to Geofrey Walkaden

C17th

The first Broomfield House built, possibly as a hunting lodge for James 1 while Theobalds was being prepared

1608

The earliest known mention of Palmers Grene, according to Alan Dumayne

1611 

Contender for the throne Lady Arabella Stuart (1575-1615) is rumoured to have rested at the Cock Inn after escaping from the Tower of London, disguised as a man (she was later recaptured at sea and returned to the Tower, where she died).

1615   

Weld Chapel built in Southgate. The weathervane eventually finds its way to a forge on the North Circular Road. The forge building,and the weathervane, are still there.  (The chapel was demolished to make way for Christ Church Southgate)

1621

Winchmore Hill born Elizabeth Sawyer is executed in 1621 after allegedly cursing a neighbour who dies soon after. The events are commemorated in the play The Witch of Edmonton.

1725

Murals painted at Broomfield House by Gerrard Lanscroon

1727  

The two cottages which are later to become the Woodman Pub are built

1797   

Walker Gray, a Quaker brewer from Tottenham,  builds Southgate Grove, later to become known as Grovelands House.  The house was designed by John Nash and the gardens by Humphrey Repton, who is also believed to have chosen the location.

1811

Population recorded as 2000 in the 1811 census

1816

Powys family, who were probably already living in the area, buy Broomfield House

1835

Death of Walker Gray. Southgate Grove and extensive surrounding lands amounting to 250 acres inherited by his nephew John Donnithorne Taylor. Taylor purchases as much additional land as possible over the next 50 years, keen to preserve the rural character of the lands surrounding his home.

1865  

The Great Northern Railway obtains permission to build a new line to run from Wood Green to Hertford.

1869

John Flaxman accidentally shot at the Dog and Duck by his landlord John Dawes

1871

Railway extended through open countryside from Wood Green (Alexandra Palace) to Palmers Green. The first trains run through Palmers Green and Southgate Station on 1 April. There were 16 services a day into the centre of London.

1876

Sir Ralph Littler, an eminent barrister, becomes tenant at Broomfield House, remaining there until 1901 when the Powys’s give him notice and put the house and grounds on the market. 

1881

Population recorded in the census as 8289 in 1694 houses

Palmers Green, Winchmore Hill and Southgate become administratively separate from Edmonton, following a campaign led by Sir Ralph Littler

1885

Death of John Donnithorne Taylor, who by this time holds 600 acres in the area. The estate passes to his son Major Robert Kirkpatrick Taylor

1893

Southgate Town Hall completed.  The building was designed by Arthur Rowland Barker, under instruction to make the building look like a private house.  “A town hall in a turnip field’ said one local wag, commenting in the still largely rural nature of Palmers Green (happy now?)

1894 

Southgate officially becomes an urban district following the Local Government Act of 1894

The first Skinners almshouses built at the junction of Fox Lane and Green Lanes

1900

Dog and Duck pub rebuilt

1901

Dog and Duck Lane officially renamed Bourne Hill. Some residents are in the habit of calling it ‘The Bone’

1902  

Following the death of Major Robert Kirkpatrick Taylor, the Taylor estate is put up for sale in 13 lots

Purchase of Broomfield House and 54 acres of ground by Southgate District Council

1903 

Broomfield Park opens to the public

1904

Last record of animals being held in the Pound – a pig, and later in the year, 9 horses who were released unlawfully by their owners

Fox Inn rebuilt

1905   

Foundation stone of Palmers Green Baptist Church is laid

Palmers Green High School is opened at 1 Osbourne Road by Miss Hum. Stevie Smith and Flora Robson are early pupils

1907 

Southgate County School founded in temporary premises at Broomfield House

1908

Trams introduced along Green Lanes, terminating in Winchmore Hill

Hazelwood School built. It opened its doors in November 1908, with 379 pupils. The first headmistress was Mrs Goulden, whose husband was Herbert Goulden, brother of Mrs Pankhurst. Goulden spoke at the meeting in support of the suffregettes which turned into a riot in 1914. See elsewhere on the site for the full story.

Clappers Green Farm sold; a plot is bought by Middlesex County Council for the new Southgate County School

1909

Congregational Church Hall in Fox Lane completed

A sister school to the Winchmore Hill Collegiate is set up in Amberley Hall, Fox Lane, run by Mrs Tremblett Wood.

The rib, thighbone and tooth of a woolly mammoth is found with other parts of a skeleton in Hedge Lane.

A mesolithic flint axe head is found in Ulleswater Road.

1910 

Southgate County School opens in Fox Lane in September

64 acres of the Grovelands Estate which had not been sold in 1902 is bought by Southgate Urban District Council for a public park

1911 

Sale of the Lodge estate (this had been included in the sale of 1902 but not reached the asking price)

Swimming banned in the lakes at Broomfield Park, due to fears of risk to swimmers from pollution.

218 coins are found in Amberley Road, dating from the time of Henry III and Alexander II of Scotland.

1912

Pilot Jack de Manio crashes his Bleriot plane on the roof of 75 Derwent Road

Queens cinema opens in November 1912

Tram network extended to Enfield

1913 

Foundation stones are laid for the Congregational Church in Burford Gardens (later the United Reformed Church) and St Monica’s Green Lanes

Part of the Grovelands Estate purchased by Southgate District Council for a new public park

1914

Britain declares war on Germany following Germany’s invasion of Belgium

A Suffragette meeting is held at the Triangle, to local indignation. The principal speaker is Mr Goulden (the husband of Mrs Laura Goulden, the first headmistress of Hazelwood School), a brother of Mrs Pankhurst. Mr Goulden is rescued from angry residents by the  police, and taken home to Radcliffe Road, where protestors proceed to pelt his house with eggs.

Extensive alterations to the Town Hall, including the addition of a clock tower

1916

3 September – a wood-framed Shutte Lanz SL11 airship is brought down over Cuffley, just behind The Plough by 2^nd Lt William Leefe Robinson, who is awarded the Victoria Cross.

A second airship, this time a Zeppelin L31 crashes on 1 October in Potters Bar, having first been hit as it flew over the City of London by pilot W J Tempest, who is awarded the DSO.

1918

End of the First World War

1920

The Palmadium cinema opens its doors for the first time on Christmas Eve

1925

Broomfield Museum opens in Broomfield Park

1927

Arrival of ‘the talkies’ in UK cinemas

1931

Palmers Green’s population reaches 55570 in 14,750 houses

1933 

Piccadilly Line extends to Southgate

Southgate becomes a municipal borough, entitling it to a mayor and aldermen and councillors, who met in the council chambers

1935

Intimate Theatre is opened by John Clements (later Sir John Clements) in St Monica’s Church Hall

1938 

Trams replaced by trolley busses

Tatum Park is opened

1939 

Germany invades Poland; Second World War begins

1940  

Library opens behind the Town Hall on 6 April

1941  

At 8.45 on 5 March a bomb explodes in Tottenhall Road, and a second bomb hits the Princes Dance Hall on Green Lanes.  127 people are inside and several are injured but there are only two fatalities. However, a further 41 are killed on a passing bus caught in the blast. 14 shops are  destroyed and a further 17 have to be demolished.

There is outcry on the discovery that meat roll served at local Britsh Restaurants (run by the council) has been adulterated with horse meat and that the council’s catering officer is in possession of unfeasibly large supplies of custard powder, probably intended for the black market. Police swarm the Town Hall at Palmers Green and there are calls for the council to resign. They dont, but the catering officer is successfully prosecuted

1944  

On 26 October 53 people are injured when a V2 rocket falls in front of a train standing at the platform at Palmers Green. The crater left by the explosion is 60 feet wide and 30 feet deep. Trains are running again after two days.

1945

Second World War ends.

1961

The Palmadium cinema closes

1965 

Following the Local Government Act of 1963 Palmers Green becomes part of the London Borough of Enfield

1966 

January – Skinners almshouses destroyed by fire

1967 

Queens Cinema closes

1976 

Railway electrified

1984

An electrical fault starts a fire on the ground floor of Broomfield House, destroying the roof and further water damage following the collapse of the roof.

1987 

The buildings and grounds of Southgate County School are converted into flats and 35 houses. The westerly end of the public footpath through the old Clappers Green Farm is blocked.

1993-4 

Two further fires at Broomfield House

2002

Grouts the drapers closes its doors for the last time.

2012

The first Palmers Green Festival is held. Talkies Community Cinema is launched. Palmers Green Jewel in the North limps into life.