Arnos Park

Broomfield Park

Waterfall Road

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Aldermans Hill

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Princes Avenue

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Tottenhall Road

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Bowes Road

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Bus Routes121, 329, 34,298, W6, 102

This heritage trail was produced for the Enfield at War Project thanks to Heritage Lottery Funding. It is an easy going walk that takes between 1½ to 2 ½ hours to complete.

At the beginning of the Second World War it was believed that as the Borough of Southgate was largely residential, with little industry, it would be reasonably safe from aerial attacks. However hundreds of bombs and thousands of incendiary devices fell in the district during the war; it also suffered from 8 V1 Flying Bombs and 5 V2 Rocket strikes. 139 people died and 287 people were seriously injured as a result of these bombing incidents. 256 houses and other buildings were completely destroyed. (This walk will focus on just a few of these bombing incidents).

➊ Princes Dance Hall BombingOn the evening of 16th March 1941 a cluster of bombs fell in Tottenhall Road and Princes Avenue. This was the locale of the Princes Dance Hall and, incredibly, although the function room was in full swing and packed with people, only two people were killed on the premises; one being an Air Raid

Precaution (A.R.P.) volunteer. Tragically, however, a double decker bus travelling past was also caught in the bomb blast killing another 41 people and wounding 66 more; 40 seriously. A Fireman, who witnessed the scene on the bus, remarked the victims were still standing or sitting and reading their newspapers exactly as they might have been before the bombs fell. 150 shops were affected by the blast, 14 were destroyed outright and 14 more had to be demolished later. This was the highest number of deaths across all of Enfield as a result of a single bombing incident.

➋ Bus Garage Ammunition Store & Seal Laundry

The Home Guard, or ‘Dad’s Army’ as it was also known, provided protection for important sites such as factories, gas works, electricity buildings, water works, Anti-Aircraft guns, and also controlled some local

road junctions. In March 1943 at a Southgate Borough Council meeting a local battalion of the Home Guard requested that the ‘Strong Store’ at the London Transport Passenger Board (L.T.P.B) Garage was converted into an ammunition store. A pill-box and machine-gun post at the junction

of Hoppers Road and Hedge Lane with Green Lanes would presumably have been supplied by this ammunition store. Adjacent to the Bus Garage was the Seal Laundry. On 17th July 1941 Southgate Civil Defence were authorised to provide three 150-gallon metal tanks for the potential decontamination of civilian clothing poisoned by a gas attack. Clothing if exposed to gas had to be boiled for varying lengths of time depending on the type of material

➌ Palmerston Crescent & Oakthorpe Road In the early hours of 26th September 1940 the junction of Palmerston Crescent and Green Lanes sustained major damage due to high explosive bombs. Two civilians were trapped in wreckage. Both roads were blocked for 3 days before they could be cleared. Just over two weeks later,

on 20th October, another bomb fell just across Green Lanes in Oakthorpe Road damaging several houses and a gas main.

➍ Southgate Town Hall & Southgate Fire Station In early 1941 the basement of the Town Hall, Green Lanes was turned into the Civil Defence headquarters and a base for the local Women’s Voluntary Service (W.V.S.). After the Princes Dance Hall bombing the W.V.S. were left with the unenviable task of sorting the personal effects of the casualties. There was a mortuary next to the Fire Station but a new, bigger one with a small chapel was built by the New River because it soon

became apparent that they would be dealing with be many more fatalities. W.V.S. members also staffed a mobile canteen donated to Southgate by the Hollywood Film Colony. The fire station was situated behind the Town Hall and was the centre for the Auxiliary Fire Service during the war.

They had their own magazine entitled ‘Fireworks’ which covered local information & news, poetry, jokes, and stories. (The magazine is available for viewing at Enfield Local Studies).

➎ V2 strike on the Railway lineA look northwards along the railway line from the bridge on Broomfield Avenue reveals Palmers Green Station. It was just to the north of the station on the night of 26th October 1944 that a V2 Long Range Rocket landed in front of a stationary train. It caused 53 casualties including one fatality; 36 people who lived nearby

were made homeless. The strike created a crater 60 feet (18 metres) in diameter and 30 feet (9 metres) deep. An eyewitness recalled that the railway line snapped and curved upwards into the shape of the letter ‘C’. The recovery squad managed to fill the crater and re-lay the track so that the trains could run again after only 36 hours.

➏ Broomfield Park Gardens of RemembranceThe Garden of Remembrance to remember the fallen of WW1 was built on a former rifle range. The cairn is made up of 527 stones, each representing a local serviceman’s life lost during WW1. It was opened in July 1929 by the Admiral of the Fleet, Earl Jellicoe. On 6th November 1949 the names of 446 of the fallen of World War II including 139 civilians were unveiled on bronze plaques.

➐ Broomfield Park & HouseAs early as 1938 Southgate Council felt sufficiently well prepared to arrange an A.R.P. display which was filmed and used for training purposes. Open trenches that had been dug earlier in the park were converted into communal shelters by lining and roofing them with concrete; in total

there was shelter space for 850 people within the park’s grounds. The piece of land to the west of the putting green and between the avenue of trees was given over for allotments; the iron railings were later removed for the war effort. In March 1942 land on the Powys Lane side was requisitioned for a searchlight to spot enemy planes at night time. The museum objects at Broomfield House were moved to safe storage and the building appropriated for Civil Defence. An emergency hospital with an ambulance station opened for air raid casualties. In 1945 after the war had finished the Park was the venue for the A.R.P. stand down ceremony.

➑ Aldermans Hill This parade of shops was hit by high explosive bombs in the early hours of 14th April 1944 killing 3 people and damaging 25 shops and 40 houses.

➒ Northmet House The House was an important wartime centre of operations for North Metropolitan Electricity Supply Company (NORTHMET). In 1938 in preparation for war they oversaw the assembly of emergency stocks of coal and cable and their staff were trained in first aid, fire-fighting and gas protection. They were responsible for laying cables for air-raid warning

bells over the roofs in the centre of London. The company had its work cut out repairing overhead lines and cables damaged in bombing raids. The Meter Testing Laboratories in Friern Barnet Road, New Southgate became involved in the detection of flaws in the plywood used for making

Mosquito aircraft, perhaps bound for the former Co-operative factory in Lincoln Road Enfield which had been given over to manufacturing the wooden planes. A portion of the Northmet Power Supply Company showroom at Lodge Drive, Palmers Green was placed at the disposal of the W.V.S. for use as a general enquiry bureau.

➓ Christ Church – Waterfall RoadInside Christ Church there is a replica of the French tricolour flag. It was presented by the French Government to the Southgate and Wood Green branch of the Royal Air Forces Association and accepted on their behalf by Wing Commander A K Gatward. Alfred Kitchener Gatward was born in Hornsey in 1914 and lived at 27 Meadway, Southgate. During WW2 he was awarded the DSO, DFC and bar. In 1942

Acting Flight Lieutenant A. K. Gatward along with Sergeant G F Fern flew a Bristol Beaufighter over the streets of Paris at the level of third floor windows. They floated a Tricolour down on to the Arc de Triomphe in an audacious morale boosting exercise. Also in the church is the ensign flown by H.M.S. Farndale at the liberation of Singapore. It was presented to the Borough of Southgate by the officers and ship’s company. H.M.S. Farndale was launched on 30th September 1940, and adopted by the Borough of Southgate as a result of their fundraising efforts during Warship Week (28th March 1942). (Please check Church opening hours if you wish to view the flags at http://www.christchurch-southgate.org/)

Ivy Cottage - Waterfall RoadIvy Cottage stood on the patch of green just to the side of Waterfall Close.

On 13th February 1940 as part of the visit and inspection by Sir Ernest Gowers, the Regional Commissioner for Civil Defence for London, a mock emergency was staged. The derelict Cottage was chosen as the scene for an incident where an unexploded bomb dropped within its precincts.

The various Civil Defence personnel were summoned including Auxiliary Fire Services, ambulances, sitting-case cars and stretcher-bearers. Most importantly an untried mobile unit from the Isolation Hospital (now Highlands Village) arrived and within 7 minutes converted a recently completed but unoccupied bungalow close by into a first aid hospital containing an operating theatre and full team of trained nurses. The cottage was demolished later in the war.

Arnos Park Like all the parks in the district, a portion of Arnos Park was requisitioned for War Allotments. On 10th January 1941 an unexploded anti-aircraft shell was found in Arnos Park by the Bowling Green Pavilion close to Brookdale. 58 of these unexploded shells fell in Southgate, and it was not uncommon for damage, injury and even death to be caused by this form of “friendly fire”.

Bowes Road - Council BuildingsThe principle centre for Air Raid Precautions, the Red Cross and St. John Ambulance for Southgate early in the war was based at the present Bowes Road Council premises. From November 1940 there was a "vacation of all uses" for the education offices and swimming

pool, as they were requisitioned for emergency medical operations. From August 1941 there was provision for decontamination in the event of a

poisoned gas attack, a cleansing station and first aid post at the nearby Bowes Road Clinic. A mobile kitchen that could cater for up to 500 people was also based here. The ruins of a bomb shelter that accommodated up to 300 people remains today at the back of the building.

Bowes RoadIn the early hours of 16th November 1940 during the ‘Blitz’, high explosive bombs fell between Brookdale and Arnos Road. They caused Brookdale, Wilmer Way, Palmers Road and Bowes Road to be blocked. The damage was considerable and Bowes Road did not reopen until 21st

December at a time when emergency services’ aim was to reopen roads within 24 hours.

The ‘Bombie’ - New SouthgateThe corner of Grove Road and High Road suffered significant bomb damage during the war, the first incident being on the night of 17th April 1941 when a high explosive bomb caused damage to the Baptist Church and Hall Rest Centre. Then in July 1944 a V1 Flying Bomb caused the destruction of Grove Villa and Woodland Lodge; also hit was the Baptist Church (again) and St. Paul’s Church. St Paul’s Church did not reopen until 1952; and its Church Hall has an engraved

commemoration stone set in the wall. The obliteration of Grove Villa created the bomb site that is still known locally today as the ‘Bombie’. It was never built upon and became a playground for local children; it now also bears a heritage board.

Produced by Enfield Local Studies Library & Archive. First Floor Thomas Hardy House, Dugdale Centre, 39 London Road, Enfield EN2 6DSTelephone: 020 8379 2724 Email: local.history@enfield.gov.uk

Palmers Green to New Southgate WWII Heritage Trail

To view images to supplement the walk please download from this QR Code or visit www.enfield.gov.uk

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