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Parades through The Town held to
help raise funds for the war effort also
served to boost public morale. The
Home Guard were led by the Enfield
Central Band during War Weapons Week
in May 1941 when Enfield raised £755,319.
Events held during the week included
musical entertainment and folk dancing
in the vicarage gardens. There was a dramatic performance of Twelfth Night at
Produced by Enfield Local Studies Library & Archive.
First Floor Thomas Hardy House, Dugdale Centre,
39 London Road, Enfield EN2 6DS
Telephone: 020 8379 2724 Email: [email protected]
Victory Parade 1946
The dead of both World Wars are
commemorated at Enfield War Memorial
on Armistice Day every year. On 26th
September 1943, when Enfield had yet
to face the terror of the Flying Bombs
and Long Range Rockets, a service of
thanks giving was held. Services and
parades were held all across the country to
celebrate the defeat of Hitler’s plans to invade Britain. It was known as “Battle of
Britain Sunday”. The Gazette reported that Enfield had paid tribute to “The Few”.
Enfield Town
The bench on the corner at the junction
of Willow Road and Peartree Road
commemorates the work of the Civil
Defence services during WW2 and the two
wardens who died there. Just before 10pm
on the night of 15th/16th November 1940
a parachute mine fell killing Dr Karsten, a
German Jewish refugee, his wife and his
mother. A nine year old boy died at Chase Farm hospital on the following day.
The two wardens who died were Frank Jones and Stanley Greenway. Two more
wardens were seriously injured in the same incident
War Memorial Chase Green
Open trench shelters were dug on the Library Green in 1938 at
the time of the Munich Crisis. They were not well received; not
only did they flood but they presented a hazard for people out
at night. By 1939 the government insisted that local authorities
must provide covered shelters for 10% of their local populations.
The trenches on the Library Green were covered over and the
excavated soil piled on top. Eventually these shelters were lined
and fitted with duck boards and slatted seats, though they
remained damp and uncomfortable. The shelters were at first kept locked with
the keys held at the nearest Air Raid Wardens’ Post; fortunately that was located
nearby on the corner of Sarnesfield Road.
Sketty Road, George Spicer School
➐ Hertford Road Police Station/Tyberry Road On 6th July 1940 the 25th Ponders
End Annual Fete and Gala in Durants
Park went ahead. The event had been
started by a committee formed in WW1
and registered under the War Charities
Act as a means of raising money to
provide comfort for wounded soldiers in
Edmonton Military Hospital. This annual
event became one of the most important athletic fixtures in the country with
thousands of spectators and Olympic athletes like Jack Lovelock taking part.
It provided aid to local charities such as the Enfield War Memorial Hospital,
Enfield Children’s Care Committee and St. John’s Ambulance. There were
many inter-club athletic events all followed by a variety show in the band
stand, with music, dancing, ballet and dramas. In summer of 1942 the event
was advertised under the banner of ‘Holidays at Home’.
Pill box and Anti-Tank blocks,
Tyberry Road railway bridge
Detail from bomb damage
map showing crash site
Still from a film of athletics in Durants Park
➏ Durants Park
railway bridge
In Hertford Road to the north of the
Tyberry Road junction the old Police
Station (No.120) still stands. On the
roof of this building was the air raid siren
known by the lighter hearted as a ‘wailing
winnie’. In Tyberry Road, to the north of
the railway bridge on the eastern side of
the railway line, the remains of a pill box
and anti-tank blocks can be found. In the summer of 1940 when the invasion
of Britain seemed imminent, defences in the form of a series of anti-tank
stop lines were constructed. A stop line to cover the northern approaches to
London extended between Rickmansworth and the coast of Essex
➑ Mapleton Road – V2
After the Blitz the number of air raids
lessened until the summer of 1944 when
the first Flying Bombs, the V1s, arrived;
in September came the Long Range
Rockets or V2s. These weapons were
designed specifically to terrorise the
population. In March 1945 a V2 Rocket
fell in Mapleton Road leaving a crater 25ft
by 15ft. Mobile search lights were brought in and search dogs used to locate
the casualties. Nine houses were completely destroyed, one hundred and
eight seriously damaged and seven hundred and sixty seven affected by the
blast. Seven people were killed and over a hundred others injured.
Mapleton Road March 1945
Enfield WW2
Heritage Trail
the Convent School and competitions for school children with entries displayed
in the Post Office. During Tanks Week in October 1942 the girls of St Andrew’s
School raised enough money for a tank to be given the school’s name. Another
parade was held for the Wings for Victory campaign in May 1943; though Enfield
had already raised enough funds for several Spitfires, one of which bore the
name, Enfield. The Enfield Gazette regularly reported on the exploits of the Enfield
Spitfire. The final parade was the Victory Parade held on 8th June 1946.
Tank crew visit Ripaults to meet
the workers (mainly women) who
built their tank January 1943
with Carterhatch Lane. A pill box and antitank blocks were constructed just to the
north of this junction. The Great Cambridge
Road was not the busy dual carriageway
it is today and there were fears, at the
time, that enemy aircraft would use it as a
landing strip. To prevent this cables were
strung across the road between poles.
War Memorial
Ponders End Fire Crew 1940
➓ Enfield Playing Fields
Preparations for war began in 1938. In
September notices were issued informing
people where and when to collect their
gas masks. Among the local schools
and halls identified was George Spicer
School. Wardens were in charge of
fitting the masks but it was a lengthy
procedure. People waited in queues for
up to four hours but by the end of Sunday 25th September half the residents
had had their gas masks fitted. In May 1940 the gas masks had to be
upgraded to cope with a new gas, arsine, and pillar boxes were painted with
a special paint which changed colour when exposed to poison gas.
Two Brewers, Ponders End September 1940
Willow Road
High Street bomb site in 1955.
Nos 188-196 still standing
In August 1939 a searchlight and battery
of anti-aircraft guns was established on
Enfield Playing Fields. Mary Comyns
recorded in her diary that at first she
watched the flashes of anti-aircraft shells
exploding in the night sky but later the
guns were firing more shells to the minute,
explosions were louder and bigger and
more shrapnel was flying about so that it was not safe to go out while the barrage
was on. On the Donkey Lane car park there was a camp for Italian prisoners of
war who were put to work on the railways. The camp was also used at different
times by German prisoners of war and Polish and American servicemen. When
the Home Guard was stood down at the end of 1944 the official parade was held
at the Enfield Stadium.
Ponders End Fire Station stood on the
site of Vincent House. In 1938 local men
from all walks of life were recruited to join
the newly formed Auxiliary Fire Service
(AFS). These new recruits were trained to
a very high standard to work alongside
the established crews. Their main piece
of equipment was the trailer fire pump
Sketty Road
To view images to supplement the walk
please download from this QR Code or
visit www.enfield.gov.uk
The shops in the Ponders End High
Street were badly damaged on the night
of the Two Brewers bomb but they were
to suffer further bombing in the following
weeks. On the night of 1st October 1940
another bomb fell in the High Street
causing major damage. The Air Raid
Hertford Road Cemetery contains graves from both world wars. There are 22
burials from WW1 and 50 from WW2. Most of the WW2 burials are in a plot to
the left of the main path; the remainder are scattered throughout the cemetery.
➎ Durants Road
Late in the afternoon of 30th August
1940, during the Battle of Britain,
residents watched as a Messerschmitt
10 was shot down by a Royal Air Force
between the houses in Durants Road and
The Ride. The German plane crashed into
greenhouses belonging to Rochford’s
Nurseries. The formation of German
planes was made up of approximately 14
blocks of 6 bombers with 30 fighters behind. The battle lasted 5-10 minutes
and then the skies cleared. Twelve enemy aircraft were destroyed by the 9
Hawker Hurricanes which suffered no damage at all. The Squadron Leader
was Douglas Bader. For security reasons no reference to the battle over
Enfield was allowed to be published until the following February.
Mapleton Road March 1945
➍ Ponders End Fire Station
➋ Ponders End High Street
which was towed behind a requisitioned car or van. During the blitz the local
fire brigades as well as the AFS men were called upon to deal with fires in
central London. The incompatibility of the equipment between the different
brigades led to the formation of the National Fire Service (NFS) in August
1941.
Queensway/Southbury Rd – Wartime Industries
The area between Ponders End High
Street and the Great Cambridge Road was
full of factories built for the new electrical
and wireless industries, the cutting edge
technology of their day. In 1939 under
Government direction many of these
factories converted to war production.
Belling & Lee originated in Queensway
before moving to larger premises on the Cambridge Road where they made high
voltage radio components urgently needed for aircraft. Also in Queensway were
the radio makers Haynes. In Lincoln Road, beside the railway bridge, Haywards
made parts for the Mulberry Harbours used on D Day as well as Bailey bridges.
The Co-op Furniture Factory also in Lincoln Road made parts for Mosquito aircraft
and, at the junction of the Cambridge Road with Southbury Road, Express Motors
switched from building motor vehicles to aircraft construction, making wing and
tail sections for Halifax bombers. Belling’s in Southbury Road was taken over for
the production of radar components, hand and rifle grenades and airfield landing
lights. All of these factories and their buildings have now gone. The only surviving
building is Ripaults, opposite Southbury Road station where electric cables for
aircraft, tanks and trucks were made.
Home Guard Stand Down
Parade December 1944
On the night of 30th September 1940
twelve high explosive bombs, three oil
bombs and a number of incendiaries fell
in Enfield. The Two Brewers public house
on the corner of Ponders End High Street
and South Street received a direct hit.
The Order of Buffaloes (a society similar
to the Freemasons) was holding a lodge
meeting in the pub and when they heard the siren they moved into the cellar
thinking they would be safe. However, the bomb fell through the roof and
exploded in the public bar; with the full force being felt in the cellar below. Fire
fighters and rescue teams worked through the night to free the injured and
recover the dead. Twenty people died and it is believed that not all the bodies
were recovered. A memorial to those who died was opened on the site, 74
years after the event, in September 2014.
Shopping in Enfield Town with gas masks
➊ Two Brewers Memorial Garden
➌
On Tuesday 8th May 1945 people
gathered by their radios to hear Prime
Minister Winston Churchill broadcast to
the nation that the war in Europe was
over. The residents of Sketty Road put
out their flags and celebrated.Street
parties were held all over the district. The
report in the Enfield Gazette of 11th May
claimed that that night the sky was lit by the glow of a thousand community
bonfires all of them it said, were ‘centres of rejoicing’.
Willow Road November 1940
Digging trenches on the Library Green
Wardens’ Log Book records that the buildings were in such a dangerous
condition the road had to be closed between Lincoln Road and Queensway.
Single lane traffic was reinstated on the following day but the High Street was
not fully reopened until 3 days later
In 1946 it was estimated that the total number of bombs of all types (including
incendiary devices) that fell during the war in the Enfield District was 5692. Its
industrial base and proximity to other industries in Edmonton and the Lea Valley
made it an obvious target for German bombers. It suffered from 22 V1 Flying Bombs
and 10 V2 Rocket strikes.109 people were killed, 271 seriously injured and 419 were
slightly injured. Hundreds of houses and other buildings were destroyed with many
more damaged. (This walk will focus on just a few of these bombing incidents).
Sketty Road VE Day party 1945
Thanksgiving Day 1943
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 2½ hours
to complete.
➒ Great Cambridge Road
The line of secondary defences behind the anti-tank stop line that covered the
approaches to north London crossed the Great Cambridge Road at the junction