Description
Enfield UDC opened Ponders End Recreation Ground in the 1920s, having purchased 8 acres of land for its creation. The name Ponders End may have derived from a family by the name of Ponder who lived here in the C14th, probably so-called for being keepers of a pond. It is a small recreation ground with some formal planting at the entrance on the High Street, which has railings and London planes. Beyond the small area of formal flower beds and shrubberies is a modest bandstand surrounded with a partial circle of hedging with some roses, beyond which are sports facilities.
Practical Information
| Site location | High Street/Cromwell Court, Ponders End, Enfield |
|---|---|
| Postcode | EN3 4DA |
| What3Words | ///remedy.banks.drain |
| Type of Site | Public Park |
| Borough | Enfield |
| Open to Public | Yes |
| Opening Times | 8am Mon-Sat / 8.30am Sundays to dusk (refer to Council website for seasonal details) |
| Facilities | Children's playground, basketball court, tennis court, cricket/football pitches, toilet (outside park railings) |
| Public Transport | Rail: Southbury; Ponders End. Bus: 313 |
| Research Updated | 1 April 2011 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
Earliest references to the name Ponders End for the hamlet here date from the late C16th. In the 1880s, as Edmonton increasingly became an important industrial centre, the area began to be built over to create housing for the working population. An incentive was the cheap train fares offered to workers if they arrived before 7am.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ353958 |
|---|---|
| Size in hectares | 5.25 |
| Site Ownership | LB Enfield |
| Site Management | Place Shaping and Enterprise, Parks Business Unit |
| Dates | 1920s |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | Enfield |
| In Conservation Area | No |
| Tree Preservation Order | Not known |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | No |
| Other LA Designation | Included in Local Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Public Open Space |
Gallery
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Nearby parks and gardens
Durants Park is named after Durrants, a sub-manor of the Enfield Estate dating from the C13th. From the early C15th Durants was owned by the influential Wroth family and James I reputedly visited frequently. In the C18th Sir Thomas and Lady Stringer lived here, whose son William married a daughter of the infamous Judge Jeffreys. Fortifications on an outbuilding were said to have been erected for his protection. In 1910 this and the remains of the moated manor house, Durants Arbour, were demolished. In 1903 Enfield UDC had bought c.14 hectares of estate land for a public park. The park initially had a bandstand and drinking fountain, but by the 1930s facilities for tennis, bowling and putting, and an athletics track were provided.
Hertford Road Cemetery opened in 1880 on land acquired by the Enfield Burial Board and was developed as a separate entity from the adjacent churchyard of St James. The C19th Cemetery Lodge is a two-storey brick building, now largely destroyed by fire, having been sold by auction in the late 1990s. After the Burial Board was wound up in the 1920s, the cemetery was later owned by LB Enfield, and the Lodge used by the Parks Superintendent and then as a Parks store.
St James' Church was built in 1831, when a new church was needed to serve the growing parish of Enfield. Originally a Chapel of Ease, St James's became a district church in 1833. It was damaged in a fire in the mid C20th and later restored. The churchyard, which adjoins Durants Park and Hertford Road Cemetery, was extended in 1861 and is now closed to burials. There are a number of good trees, gravestones and tombs, mainly C19th.