The sun is shining, the forecast is good, and tomorrow is the Palmers Green Festival. The big day runs from 12 til 7, and there will be food, a fun and entertainment. and nearly 100 stands.
Palmers Green Jewel in the North and Joe Studman of Jaywalks have a stand in the community area. We will be talking about Palmers Green history and people, Joe’s new local history course – the first to be run in the area for more than 30 years – and the new Rock n Roll Enfield oral history project.
But you dont have to talk to us about any of those. We’re just looking forward to meeting you all. Why not pop along and say hello, and pick up one of our Palmers Green Jewel in the North bookmarks?
The Palmers Green festival kicks off on Sunday with the first in a string of events leading up to our Festival Day in Broomfield Park on Sunday 1 September.
Opening the festivities Sunday lunchtime are the Chicago and Memphis Electric Blues Band, playing from 1-5 at the bandstand in Broomfield Park. At 5.30 there is another opportunity to join Joe Studman on a fascinating walk through the history of Palmers Green. Booking is through Jaywalks.co.uk.
On Monday there is a BBQ and live music at the Inn on the Green, and more live music at the Bookafe (Bookafe also have live music on Tuesday). Talkies at the Fox hosts Red Minies on Tuesday evening, featuring short films from students at Middlesex University.
On Wednesday, Baskervilles hosts a summer tea concert with live cellist at 12 and 2, and the Ruth Winston Centre has a pop up cafe and live music from 11.30 to 2.30.
Palmers Green residents are encouraged to share their memories of the area over the last 50 years with Talkies and friends (including Palmers Green Jewel in the North, Jaywalks and the Southgate Photographic Society) on Thursday at the Ruth Winston Centre, and Thursday evening sees wine and cheese tasting also at Ruth Winston.
On Friday you can try line dancing at Ruth Winston from 11-1.30, or hear some classics at The Vintage, St Harmonica’s Blues Club on Friday evening. Skinners Court hosts a garden party on Saturday, and there will be flashmob song and dance courtesy of Centre Stage Performing Arts at Morrisons at 1. Festival Eve sees Talkies hosting singalonga (and optional dressy-uppy) Wizard of Oz at Burford United Reformed Church.
And of course, Sunday is festival day itself, with music, food, games and over 80 stalls descending on Broomfield Park for an afternoon of neighbourly fun.
For full details of the festival programme, visit http://www.palmersgreenfestival.org.uk/palmersgreenfestival.org.uk/home.html. The festival team still need people to help manage and steward the day, so if you have a few hours and can help, please get in touch via the website.
It’s strange to think that, just over 100 years ago, the farms of Palmers Green were readying themselves to bring in the harvest. The fields and rural lanes may be long gone, but Palmers Green still has more green space than many parts of London. Look carefully and you will sometimes catch a glimpse of an ancient tree in a back garden that looks older than the house itself. It may well be.
The modern day character of the area is often attributed to the actions of one man – John Donnithorne Taylor. Born in 1798, Taylor was one of the famous Taylor Walker brewing family of Limehouse and acquired Grovelands on the death of his uncle, Walker Gray in 1839. Four years later, he sold out his interests in the brewery and settled to private life in the country and pursuit of his two loves, hunting and property acquisition.
Or did he? There seems to have been rather more to the story: shortly before, Taylor’s wife, Elizabeth, had left him, citing adultery. Taylor then refused to allow her to return to the marital home, and when the courts found in her favour, Taylor appears to have resigned from the company and even temporarily fled the country to avoid taking Elizabeth back.
Taylor was determined to prevent any disturbance to the sylvan surroundings and rural character of his estates (though he was quite happy to pull down the rustic cottages near The Woodman which were interrupting his view). By his death in 1885 the Grovelands estate had expanded threefold to over 600 acres, and included much of the frontage onto Green Lanes, the whole of the present day Lakes Estate and roads to the north – nearly one sixth of the borough of Southgate.
J D Taylor: “stop shaking yer carpets or I’ll buy your house!” image reproduced by kind permission of Enfield Local Studies Archive
Taylor appears somewhat haughty and stern in some photographs we have of him. Certainly, Herbert Newby describes him as a strong personality. After being unable to prevent the coming of the Great North Railway, Taylor habitually snubbed Palmers Green station, instead taking a pony and trap to Colney Hatch station (now New Southgate) whenever he wanted to go into town.
Newby tells another story about Taylor’s horse being startled one day by the landlady of The Fox shaking out her carpets. Following Taylor’s remonstrations, the landlady declared she would shake her carpets when she liked. Taylor is said to have replied “Yes, but not where you like,” and promptly bought the inn, giving her notice to quit. Perhaps he mellowed, for in later years he could often be seen in a peasant’s smock digging up weeds, for all the world looking like a farm hand.
Taylor was attempting to hold back a tide stronger than he, and it was only a matter of time before the spell would be broken. On his death, his estate passed to his son, and then in 1901 to his grandson John Vickris Taylor. With London encroaching, the land was hugely valuable, and in 1902 the whole estate was put on the market in a series of lots. Some of the land was eventually bought by the Borough to become Grovelands Park, but most fell to speculative builders who began to build ‘artistic’ residences for the discerning customer wishing to escape to the fresh air of London’s northern heights.
Palmers Green was no longer, in the words of Leigh Hunt in the 1820s, a place ‘lying out of the way of innovation’. For a time, the old and the new coexisted. It must have been a strange sight, to see country people using public transport alongside smart city folk, the harvest still being gathered, and a thatched cottage still in the high street. By the first world war, Palmers Green’s transformation into a modern suburb was largely complete.
This article first appeared in Palmers Green life http://www.palmersgreenlife.co.uk/
Have you ever wondered about a plant or creature you have encountered in your garden or on your travels around the area?
The Natural History Museum has launched a database which allows you to search for native flora and fauna by postcode. Produced by Flora for Fauna for the museum, the postcode database contains around 90% of all plants in the UK and the animals, birds and insects that depend on them (which are also searchable by postcode).
Petty Whin (genesta angelic) creative commons
The website throws up a few surprises for N13, including badgers, pigmy shrews, golden eagles and red squirrels,* though museum points out that some data is historic, and is based on 10k squares, so though you may now wish to dedicate your weekend to hunting for the Petty Whin in PG, it may no longer be growing in the area or relate to a wider area than just humble N13. There is also a reminder that it is illegal to remove plants from the wild (and information on suppliers if you really must have a Fool’s Parsley).
You can also limit your search to garden-worthy plants – the site encourages users to plant native species wherever possible – they are the backbone of our native ecology, and stand a better chance of surviving than some of the more exotic plants you might find in your garden centre.
If you are interested in plants and animals, there is so much more on the site, including a plant identification service whereby you can ask the experts to identify a plant you have discovered in your garden or on your travels. There is also some lovely botanical art, and fascinating features on a range of topics, including country cures (foul tasting fun for all the family).
Small tortoiseshell taken by James Hearton (reproduced under a creative commons license)
Is it my imagination, or are there a few more butterflies this year – but less variety? This afternoon I had my first sighting of a peacock butterfly on a Buddleia in Old Park Road. They are the ones with the circles on the wings. Intrigued, it seemed like the perfect afternoon to take part in the Big Butterfly Count.
If you want to have a go, it’s very simple: choose a sunny day, like today, sit yourself outside for 15 minutes, and count the largest number of butterflies you see simultaneously of each type. You can be anywhere – in the park, in your garden, on holiday in the UK.
If you are out for a walk the rules are slightly different – just count what you see rather than the largest number of a each type present at the same time (its to avoid double counting if you are in one place – but that shouldnt be a problem if you are on the move). You can even submit more than once if you like, and there is a downloadable app so that you can even do it on your phone.
Counting butterflies is a useful way of assessing the health of our environment, say organisers Butterfly Conservation. Butterflies react very quickly to changes in the environment, which means that they are a good indicator of biodiversity, and an early warning of other potential losses – a way of taking the pulse of nature. The count also provides valuable information on population trends and where action needs to be taken.
If you don’t know a butterfly from a bootstrap, there is a handy downloadable chart here. Log your results at https://www.bigbutterflycount.org/species. And why not share them with your neighbours via this site by leaving a reply at the bottom of this article?
A new film has been launched this week to promote Broomfield Park. Created, directed and produced by Christine Lalla, who grew up in Palmers Green, the intention is to support the efforts of local groups to restore the house, water garden and stable yard, by showing Broomfield’s unique history and heritage.
The film features historic clips and local people speaking about their memories and connections with the house and park including Kate Godfrey, Ralph Hutchings, and Janet Iorns, grandaughter of Broomfield’s first head gardener, William Ellis.
For more information about work to conserve and restore the house and park, visit http://www.friendsofbroomfieldpark.org/ and http://www.broomfieldhouse.org/
For more information about the festival programme, visit the festival website
