Edmonton: Protestant nonconformity

PROTESTANT NONCONFORMITY. (fn. 1)

Unlaful religious assemblies were being held at Edmonton in 1662 (fn. 2) and it was said in 1666 that 'the head of the serpent', a reference to religious rebellion, dwelt in Edmonton and Enfield. (fn. 3) In the same year Arthur Jackson, an ejected London minister who had held conventicles, died at Edmonton. (fn. 4) There were 15 nonconformists at Edmonton in 1676. (fn. 5)

Most of the early nonconformists were probably Quakers. Gerard Roberts, a Quaker preacher, held a meeting there in 1669 (fn. 6) and was among those indicted for attending conventicles in Edmonton in 1686. (fn. 7) Others indicted at the same time included Edward Mann, a London haberdasher who had a country house at Ford Green near Winchmore Hill, (fn. 8) and Robert Chair, a Winchmore Hill smith. (fn. 9) George Fox was a frequent visitor and conventicles were held at both Mann's and Chair's houses during the 1680s. (fn. 10) Fox also visited several people in Southgate, including James Lowrey (d. 1726), merchant and coachman, (fn. 11) and Bridget Austell, who kept a school there and at whose house a meeting was held in 1688. (fn. 12) Other Quakers of the 1680s included George Barr, a Londoner who had a house near Bury Street, (fn. 13) and George Keith (fn. 14) and Christopher Taylor, who kept schools in Edmonton. (fn. 15) William Shacker, who had a house in Bury Street ward in 1672, (fn. 16) may have been the Shackler in whose yard a conventicle was held in 1686. (fn. 17) John Butcher (d. 1721), another Quaker, spent his last years at Palmers Green. (fn. 18) Quakerism came to be concentrated at Winchmore Hill, where John Oakley, a merchant tailor, offered his barn for meetings in 1682. A meeting-house was erected there in 1687, when John Freame and Thomas Gould, founders of Barclays Bank, were among those who gave assistance. Wealthy London merchants, especially bankers like the Barclay, Hoare, and Hodgkin families, maintained their connexion with the Winchmore Hill meeting-house, which they helped to rebuild in 1790. (fn. 19)

Isaac Walker was one of the Quaker trustees of 1790 and other brewers, like Jacob Yallowley of Whitbread's (d. 1801), who supported the Winchmore Hill Independent chapel, (fn. 20) were prominent nonconformists in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Three silkbrokers were the trustees of Lower Edmonton Wesleyan chapel in 1853 (fn. 21) but humbler tradesmen formed the bulk of nonconformist congregations and increasingly took control, (fn. 22) as the rich moved out of Edmonton during the 19th century.

Apart from Quakers there were two ejected London ministers, John Jackson, son of Arthur, in Edmonton and one Chantrey, in Southgate, in 1690. (fn. 23) A dissenters' meeting-house had been erected by 1709 (fn. 24) and by 1778 several denominations had their own meeting-houses. (fn. 25) At the end of the 18th century Quakers and Presbyterians each had their meeting-house and the Methodists, who had recently increased, had three. (fn. 26) Two of the Methodist meeting-houses were 'lately erected' in 1790 (fn. 27) but the Methodists' success was not lasting, none of their early meeting-houses surviving until 1851 and one having already disappeared by 1819. (fn. 28)

A statement that Presbyterians had possessed a meeting-house in Edmonton since about the time of the Revolution, may refer to the meeting-house of 1709. It was here that Dr. Richard Price (d. 1791), the radical and moralist, began his ministry in 1744. The meeting-house was probably the chapel on the south-east side of Meeting House Lane (later Church and Bridport roads). A second Presbyterian meeting-house existed by 1803 but the old one had been taken over by the Independents by 1819 (fn. 29) and the second did not survive until 1851.

From the late 18th century Independents (later called Congregationalists) outstripped all the other denominations. They founded a permanent chapel at Winchmore Hill before 1785 and another in Upper Edmonton in 1788 which was enlarged in 1803. A house in Meeting House Lane was used for worship from 1803 until the Presbyterian meetinghouse in the same road was taken over and a house in Chase Side, Southgate, was registered for worship in 1805 (fn. 30) and superseded by a meeting-house erected there in 1806. Other houses were registered in Edmonton in 1807 and 1808, (fn. 31) in Silver Street in 1814, and at Winchmore Hill in 1815. (fn. 32) John Radford, a member of the Winchmore Hill chapel, registered a cottage and a building at Palmers Green in 1839 and 1840 respectively (fn. 33) and when the lease of the chapel expired in 1841 he supplied the site for a new one.

Wesleyan Methodists registered a house in Board Lane in 1814 (fn. 34) and a room in Bury Street in 1826. The latter was superseded by a chapel built in Lower Edmonton in 1829. A group of Wesleyans registered a house at Winchmore Hill in 1843 (fn. 35) and erected a chapel there in 1847. The meetinghouse in Meeting House Lane, Upper Edmonton, which had been used by Presbyterians and Independents, was taken over by the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion between c. 1819 and c. 1839. (fn. 36)

Two later Baptist chapels were established during the early 19th century, although Baptists themselves registered only one house, in 1830. (fn. 37) Ebenezer chapel in Claremont, registered as a Calvinistic Independent chapel in 1818, was serving Strict Baptists by the end of the century. Providence chapel in Vicars Moor Lane, Winchmore Hill, registered as Independent in 1825, belonged to the local Udallite sect. It was always based on Calvinist principles and was described as Strict Baptist by 1867.

Several meeting-places were registered by unspecified Protestant dissenters in the early 19th century: a house in Southgate in 1825, (fn. 38) houses at Palmers Green and Bourne Grove, Southgate, in 1826, (fn. 39) at Bowes Farm in 1828 (fn. 40) and at Palmers Green in 1829, (fn. 41) a barn in 1829, (fn. 42) a schoolroom in Southgate in 1850, (fn. 43) and a room at Bowes Farm for those holding evangelical or Calvinist doctrines in 1841. (fn. 44)

In 1851, out of a population of 9,708, the nonconformist chapels of Edmonton had a total attendance on census Sunday of 2,012. The Independents, with 1,613 attendances, formed 80 per cent of that total and were by far the largest denomination. The Wesleyans had 180 attendances (9 per cent), the Independent Calvinists 161 (8 per cent), and the Quakers 58 (3 per cent). The chapels were concentrated in and around Fore Street, particularly Upper Edmonton, and at Winchmore Hill. (fn. 45)

There was little change during the next three decades, when Independent chapels at Lower Edmonton Green and eastern Edmonton, a chapel for Evangelical dissenters at Lower Edmonton, and a room for Primitive Methodists near the Tottenham border were opened and closed. 'Episcopalian' dissenters registered Christ Church in Coach and Horses Lane in 1853 (fn. 46) and Baptists opened a chapel in Lower Edmonton, extending their activities to Palmers Green and the middle-class suburb of New Southgate. In 1880 the chapels were still concentrated as they had been in 1851.

The greatest activity by all denominations was between 1880 and 1914, a period of rapid growth, especially in working-class housing. Quakers opened a meeting in Southgate in 1904 and a mission at Winchmore Hill in 1907. The Independents, by now called Congregationalists, extended their Winchmore Hill chapel in 1883 and 1913 and began missions in Bury Street in 1881 and in Church Street in 1899 although they lost their Chase Side chapel in 1890. Their Claremont Street chapel was closed but mission services were held in at least three places in Lower Edmonton during the 1880s and 1890s and a new chapel was built in Knights Lane between 1883 and 1914. Congregationalists started to meet at Palmers Green in 1907 and erected a chapel there in 1914.

Baptists enlarged the Lower Edmonton chapel in 1885 and rebuilt the Udallite chapel in Winchmore Hill in 1888. They replaced the New Southgate chapel by another twice its size in 1901 and expanded to Southgate in 1884, taking over the abandoned Congregational chapel at Chase Side in 1894. A Baptist mission was started in Palmers Green in 1878, where a chapel was built in 1905, and a chapel opened in Winchmore Hill in 1907. For a short time in the 1880s and early 1890s the Baptists ran a mission hall in Marsh Side in eastern Edmonton and in 1896 they opened a chapel in Bowes Park, although it soon passed to the Methodists.

The Methodists too made progress. Wesleyans built a chapel in Eaton Park, between Winchmore Hill and Palmers Green, in 1880 and replaced it in 1912. They built Central Hall in Lower Fore Street in 1911 and reached Southgate in 1891 and New Southgate in 1886. By 1904 they had taken over the Baptist chapel in Bowes Park, replacing it by a new chapel near by in 1907. Primitive Methodists began a mission in 1900 which resulted in a chapel in Hertford Road in 1902. They also built a chapel in New Southgate in the 1890s and began to meet in a new area, Bush Hill Park, in 1903. A Presbyterian church was built in Palmers Green in 1914.

Evangelical missions flourished in the late 19th century. The Salvation Army concentrated its work in New Southgate from 1886, and in old Edmonton where a mission was started in 1889. In the 1880s mission halls were opened by the Brethren in Bounces Road, eastern Edmonton, by the Gospel Union in Upper Edmonton, and by the London City Mission in Victoria Road. Halls were founded for general evangelical purposes at Tanners End c. 1890 and in 1913. Spiritualists began to meet in Lower Edmonton at the end of the 19th century.

The percentage of people attending nonconformist chapels nonetheless declined between 1851 and 1901, when the population multiplied six times, to 61,892, but attendances at chapels rose only three times, to 7,277. Edmonton had become a dormitory for predominantly workingclass Londoners who were not church- or chapelgoers. In the better-off suburbs, like New Southgate, most people were churchmen or women.

Among Protestant nonconformists the Congregationalists, with 3,203 attendances, still maintained their lead in 1903, although it had dropped from 80 to 45 per cent of the total. The Baptists, with 1,625 attendances, accounted for 22 per cent and the Methodists, with 1,291 attendances, for 18 per cent. The Salvation Army had 719 attendances (10 per cent), general evangelical missions had 307, and the Brethren had 77. The Quakers had 55 attendances, almost the same as in 1851, but they formed less than 1 per cent of the total. (fn. 47)

Had a religious census been taken since 1903, it would almost certainly have shown a further decline. In the period between the World Wars chapels moved from the old centres of population to the new suburban estates. The Methodists closed a chapel in New Southgate in 1936, replaced their chapel in Chase Side by one in the Bourne in 1929, and opened new chapels at Grange Park in 1921 and at Oakwood in 1939. The Baptists opened a new chapel in New Southgate in 1926 and replaced their chapel in Chase Side by one in Oakwood Park in 1935. There were no important developments among the Congregationalists but the Brethren expanded, registering halls in Victoria Road c. 1920 and Croyland Road in 1926, a chapel in Bowes Park in 1934, and a room in Bury Street in 1938. New sects appeared during the 1920s and 1930s. Spiritualists opened a church in Linnell Road in 1929 and a house in Green Lanes in 1941. Christian Scientists registered a house in Palmerston Road in 1937, the Seventh Day Adventists registered a hall in Bounces Road in 1937, and Pentecostalists opened a mission room in Cowper Road c. 1930. In 1929 another mission hall, in Hertford Road, was registered for undesignated Christians.

Since 1945 there has been a steady contraction. In New Southgate the Baptist chapel in South Road closed in 1954 and the Quaker meeting-house in 1969. The Methodists closed Ripon Road chapel in 1964 and Central Hall in Fore Street in 1971, and in 1972 they amalgamated Bowes Park with Trinity chapel, Wood Green. The Congregationalists amalgamated their Upper and Lower Edmonton chapels in 1959 and although the Brethren opened a permanent chapel in Bury Street in 1951, their chapel at Bowes Park was taken over by Elim Pentecostalists in 1955. The Jehovah's Witnesses opened a Kingdom Hall in 1952 but despite a large immigrant population few new chapels opened, perhaps because many newcomers worshipped in Tottenham.

Society of Friends.

A meeting-house was built at Winchmore Hill in 1687 to replace the barn used since 1682. It was ruinous in 1787 and in 1790 a new meeting-house was built on the same site, in what was later known as Church Hill. (fn. 48) It is a plain building of buff-coloured brick, described in 1819 as neat and substantial, and stands in a burial-ground which contains the remains of Dr. John Fothergill (d. 1780), the physician and botanist. (fn. 49) In 1819 the meeting-house accommodated 250 people although the congregation then consisted of fewer than 15 families. (fn. 50) On census Sunday 1851 the accommodation had contracted to 160, probably because a gallery had been removed. The attendance was then 42 in the morning and 16 in the afternoon. On census Sunday 1903 the attendance was 32 in the morning and 23 in the evening. From 1907 until 1954 the Quakers ran an adult school mission hall in Church Hill, Winchmore Hill. (fn. 51)

A Quaker meeting opened in 1904 at the institute in High Road, New Southgate, and closed in 1969. (fn. 52)

Congregationalists.

The Congregationalist chapel in Compton Road descends from two previous chapels in Winchmore Hill. (fn. 53) The earliest, known as the Independent Old Meeting, existed by 1785 and was a wooden building with round-headed windows at one end and shuttered windows along the side, probably near the modern Branscombe Gardens. When the lease expired in 1841 John Radford gave the Independents a new site in Hoppers Road, (fn. 54) where the second chapel was opened in 1844. (fn. 55) The old chapel was pulled down in 1848. The Hoppers Road chapel, built in white brick in a Gothic style, accommodated 300 people and was attended on census Sunday 1851 by 80 people in the morning and 125 in the afternoon. The 1850s, however, brought financial difficulties and attendances reduced to five or six. The Great Northern Railway Co. planned to build a railway through the Hoppers Lane site and in 1869 it purchased the chapel. A temporary chapel was leased in 1871 and the third chapel, apparently an adaptation of the temporary building, opened in Compton Road in 1874. (fn. 56) A schoolroom was added in 1878 and extended in 1881 and there was accommodation for 320 in 1908. (fn. 57) Church membership rose until attendance on census Sunday 1903 was 186 in the morning and 136 in the evening, although by 1938 attendances had dropped to 19.

Winchmore Hill chapel bought Bury Street iron mission room in 1881 and ran it as Belmont mission room until 1904, when it was replaced by a mission hall which had been erected on the Red Ridge estate in Church Street in 1899. Attendance on census Sunday 1903 was 32 in the morning and 43 in the evening. It was still standing in 1937. (fn. 58)

Edmonton and Tottenham or Snells Park Congregational chapel (fn. 59) derived from an Independent chapel which was opened on the east side of Fore Street, near the Tottenham boundary, in 1788. The building was enlarged in 1803 and in 1820 consisted of a chapel and vestry within a burial-ground. (fn. 60) A schoolroom was added in 1838. When John Snell's estate was sold in 1848, the Independents purchased a plot on the site of his mansion, between Langhedge Lane and Park Road (later Snells Park), for a larger chapel. The new chapel, built of yellow brick faced with stone and terracotta in a Gothic style to a design by Francis Pouget, was opened in 1850. (fn. 61) With accommodation for 850 people, it was twice the size of the old chapel. On census Sunday 1851 590 people attended in the morning and 498 in the evening, the highest figures for any nonconformist chapel, and in 1903 305 people attended in the morning and 432 in the evening. The old chapel continued in use as a schoolroom until the late 1960s (fn. 62) and in 1903 it was attended by 88 people in the morning and 220 in the evening. Lectures were given there in the 1870s, leading to a secession and the foundation of Lower Edmonton Congregational church in Knight's Lane. The two congregations reunited to form Edmonton Congregational church on a new site in 1959, although the Edmonton and Tottenham chapel continued to be used for worship until it was sold to the council and demolished c. 1965. (fn. 63)

There were several charities belonging to Edmonton and Tottenham Congregational chapel. By will proved 1866 Ann Smith left £200 and by will proved 1886 Jemima Stewart Barclay left £1,000, the income to be used for poor members of the congregation. Edward Chapman by will proved 1902 bequeathed £250 stock and Clarissa Cecilia Child by will proved 1923 left £500 to provide coal and Arthur James Howard bequeathed £200 stock, the interest to be distributed by the minister to 12 deserving poor at Christmas. In 1967 all the charities were transferred to the Edmonton Congregational chapel and in 1968 their total income amounted to £104. (fn. 64)

Edmonton and Tottenham Congregational chapel ran Olive Branch, Queen's Road, and Lower Edmonton chapels. Other missions were held at St. George's hall, New Road, from 1879 until 1896, (fn. 65) at the Angel assembly room (fn. 66) and at New hall in Knight's Lane from 1883 until 1896, (fn. 67) and in a room on the south side of Angel Road, just west of its junction with Dyson's Road, from c. 1884 until after 1937. (fn. 68) On census Sunday 1903 the Angel Road mission was attended by 149 people in the morning and 127 in the afternoon. The Gospel Union mission at Snells Park, usually regarded as undenominational, was listed as Congregational in 1903, when it was attended by 249 people in the morning and 432 in the evening.

A meeting-house in Chase Side, Southgate, opposite the Crown inn, was registered by Independents in 1806. (fn. 69) In 1851 112 people attended in the morning and 170 in the evening. As there were then only 120 sittings the congregation decided to raise a mortgage but numbers declined and in 1890 the chapel and its contents were sold by the mortgagee's order. The chapel was taken over by the Baptists. (fn. 70)

Independents who had used a room in Meeting House Lane since 1803, (fn. 71) had by 1819 moved into the Presbyterian meeting-house from which the road (later Church Road) took its name. The chapel, on the south-east side of the road, just north of Snells Park, (fn. 72) may have been St. John's chapel in Meeting House Lane, which served various sects before it was taken over by the Church of England before 1839. (fn. 73)

Olive Branch chapel, on the north side of Claremont Street, was erected in 1845 as a branch of Edmonton and Tottenham chapel and had 60 free sittings and an afternoon attendance of 38 in 1851. It was still run as a mission of Edmonton and Tottenham chapel in the late 19th century but had closed by 1893. (fn. 74)

Edmonton Congregational church in Fore Street, the third Congregational chapel in Lower Edmonton, originated in an Independent chapel registered at Edmonton Green from 1853 until 1866. (fn. 75) A breakaway group from Edmonton and Tottenham chapel, which had met in the old schoolroom, founded Lower Edmonton Congregational chapel in Knight's Lane in 1883. The building, which was still incomplete in 1914, was in the early Gothic style with accommodation for 750 people. (fn. 76) In 1903, with 241 people in the morning and 563 in the evening, it had the largest nonconformist congregation in Edmonton. Soon after 1959 the chapel was replaced by the third and present chapel, Edmonton Congregational church, built on the west side of Fore Street opposite Sebastopol Road. Built in yellow brick and pebbledash, with a stone cross and metal spire, it consists of a dual-purpose main hall and sanctuary, with later additions. The congregation was formed by the amalgamation of Lower Edmonton with Edmonton and Tottenham chapel. (fn. 77)

Queen's Road Congregational chapel, another mission church belonging to Edmonton and Tottenham chapel, was erected soon after 1860 on the east side of Queen's Road, just south of its junction with Town Road. (fn. 78) A brick and slated building with accommodation for 300, it was put up for sale in 1872. (fn. 79)

Palmers Green Congregational church (fn. 80) originated in meetings held in 1907 in a cottage in Hazelwood Lane. Avondale hall in Hoppers Road was hired in May 1909 and four months later a church hall was erected in Fox Lane. A church on the adjoining site at the junction of Fox Lane with Burford Gardens was opened in 1914. (fn. 81) It is a red-brick building with stone dressings, built in a late Gothic style to the design of George Baines and Son of Clement's Inn. (fn. 82) A temporary hall, Burford hall, was added at the back in 1922 and the church was extended in 1929.

Baptists.

Ebenezer chapel, a small brick building on the south side of Claremont Street, Upper Edmonton, was built and registered by Calvinistic Independents in 1818. (fn. 83) In 1851 there were 150 sittings and an average attendance of 90 at the morning and evening services. (fn. 84) On census Sunday 1903, when it was used by Strict Baptists, it was attended by 30 people in the morning and 43 in the evening. (fn. 85) It was rebuilt in 1958 (fn. 86) but had closed by 1972.

Providence chapel was erected in 1825 in Vicar's Moor Lane by John Udall the elder, a member of a Winchmore Hill family which used its grocer's shop as a front for the sale of contraband goods. The chapel was registered by Independents, (fn. 87) and the Udallite sect which worshipped there called itself Independent in 1851 and Calvinistic in 1866. (fn. 88) By 1867, however, it was described as Baptist (fn. 89) and in 1926 as Strict Baptist. (fn. 90) The original chapel had 60 sittings and an attendance on census Sunday 1851 of 38 in the morning and 33 in the afternoon. The chapel was rebuilt in 1888 (fn. 91) in yellow brick with red brick dressings in the Gothic style. Attendance on census Sunday 1903 was 24 in the morning and 31 in the afternoon.

Lower Edmonton Baptist chapel was built in Lower Fore Street by Particular or Calvinistic Baptists in 1861. It stood with a British school near the junction with New Road, in the area later called the Broadway. (fn. 92) A gallery, lecture rooms, and vestries were added in 1885 and there were 400 sittings in 1908. (fn. 93) On census Sunday 1903 the chapel was attended by 151 people in the morning and 387 in the evening. A freehold site was purchased in 1913 to give further accommodation. (fn. 94) The chapel, built in yellow and grey brick in the Gothic style, could seat 450 in 1972. (fn. 95) The Lower Edmonton Baptist chapel was endowed with several charities. After a sale of property in 1897 £442 stock was invested, although by 1921 the Lower Edmonton Baptist poor fund consisted of only £200 stock. Thomas and Sarah Frances Row, by wills proved 1935 and 1936, each bequeathed £200 stock to the minister for distribution among the poor. The income from the total £600 was £15 in 1966. Sarah Row also devised her home to be sold and the proceeds devoted by the minister to providing homes rent-free for two old couples. The income in 1966 was £5. (fn. 96)

New Southgate Baptist chapel, (fn. 97) originally Colney Hatch chapel, was opened by Particular Baptists at the corner of High Road and Grove Road in 1865. (fn. 98) It was a brick building with seating for 310 people, (fn. 99) built in the Romanesque style. It was used as a Sunday school after 1901 when a new church, with seating for 750, (fn. 100) was built in red brick with stone dressings in a Gothic style on the opposite side of Grove Road. (fn. 101) It was the largest Baptist church in 1903, attended on census Sunday by 342 people in the morning and 355 in the evening. Both buildings were damaged during the Second World War but the church was repaired in 1952 and the hall was rebuilt in 1958. The church could seat 420 in 1972. (fn. 102)

The chapel in Palmers Green (fn. 103) grew out of a mission started in 1878 by John Knight in cottages in Hazelwood Lane. On census Sunday 1903 the mission was attended by 29 people in the morning and 36 in the evening. In 1905 a chapel was built on a slope on the west side of Green Lanes near Deadman's bridge. (fn. 104) The chapel, of brick with a plaster and wood facing, stood on pillars over a hall and was enlarged by the addition of a new hall in 1969. There was seating for 325 in 1972. (fn. 105)

Oakwood Park chapel (fn. 106) derived from earlier chapels in Chase Side, Southgate. Local Baptists, encouraged by the preacher, Charles Hadden Spurgeon, bought a site in Chase Road in 1884, where they erected a corrugated iron building, and in 1894 moved to the former Congregational chapel in Chase Side. (fn. 107) Attendance on census Sunday 1903 was 87 in the morning and 110 in the evening. The chapel, a brick building, was demolished in 1936 after the congregation had moved to Merrivale in Oakwood Park. (fn. 108) The site had been given by a builder, C. W. B. Simmonds, and a new chapel, of red brick with stone dressings and originally called Oakwood Park Free church, was opened in 1935. (fn. 109) After the Second World War, a hall was built next to the church, which seated 350 in 1964. (fn. 110)

St. George's chapel, a stock-brick building in a Gothic style in Russell Road, Bowes Park, was founded in 1896. (fn. 111) It was registered by Baptists in 1897 (fn. 112) but had passed to the Methodists by 1903.

Winchmore Hill chapel (fn. 113) originated in the union of local Baptists worshipping in a private house with a congregation which had used the 17th-century Glasshouse Yard (Islington) church. A builder, Edmondson, gave a site at the junction of Compton Road with Green Lanes, where a chapel was opened in 1907. (fn. 114) The building, in red brick with stone dressings, was designed in the late Gothic style by W. Hayne. A hall was added in 1966 and the chapel seated 425 in 1972. (fn. 115)

South Road chapel in New Southgate was registered by the Old Baptist Union from 1926 until 1954. (fn. 116)

A Baptist mission hall opened at Marsh Side between 1886 and 1893 but had closed by 1896. (fn. 117)

Methodists. (fn. 118)

Lower Fore Street (W) chapel (fn. 119) originated in a group of Wesleyans who met in a room in Bury Street in 1826. (fn. 120) In 1829 they erected a plain brick chapel with 110 sittings on the eastern side of Lower Fore Street, where the average congregation was said to be 70 in 1851. (fn. 121) In 1860 the foundation stone was laid of a chapel for 250, on the same side of the street, (fn. 122) designed in brick with stone dressings by Charles Laws. The old chapel was demolished and in 1864 Sunday school buildings were erected behind the new one. On census Sunday 1903 the attendance was 179 in the morning and 138 in the afternoon. In 1911 a new Central hall with accommodation for 1,250 was opened south of the chapel. (fn. 123) The chapel was demolished in 1929, when new Sunday-school buildings were erected, (fn. 124) and the Central hall in 1971, after which date services were held in the Sunday school. (fn. 125)

Winchmore Hill (W) chapel (fn. 126) is the third Methodist chapel in the area. From 1847 until 1866 the Wesleyans worshipped in a chapel at the southern end of the village. The chapel, which accommodated 80 people, was attended on census Sunday 1851 by 30 in the morning, 40 in the afternoon, and 40 in the evening. (fn. 127) The foundation stone of a second chapel was laid in 1880 west of Green Lanes, on ground adjoining Eaton Park. (fn. 128) On census Sunday 1903 the attendance was 50 in the morning and 54 in the evening. A third chapel, of red and yellow brick with stone dressings and accommodating 700, opened in 1912 next to the second chapel, which continued in use as a church hall.

A room at no. 1 Snells Park (P) was registered for worship by Primitive Methodists from 1854 until 1866 when they moved to White Hart Lane (Tottenham). (fn. 129)

New Southgate (W) chapel (fn. 130) traced its origins to meetings held in a mission room in Palmers Green Road from 1886 until 1896. (fn. 131) In 1898 the Wesleyans opened a chapel in High (formerly Betstyle) Road. (fn. 132) Built in red brick with stone dressings in a Gothic style, it has accommodation for 300 people and five schoolrooms. It held the largest Methodist congregations on census Sunday 1903, 189 people in the morning and 170 in the evening.

The chapel at the Bourne (W), (fn. 133) which replaced an earlier chapel at Chase Side, originated in 1885 when Wesleyans met in a cottage at no. 1 Ada Villas, Chelmsford Road. They later met in a shop and marquee in Chase Side and in an iron building formerly used as a Congregational Sunday school. In 1891 they erected an iron chapel in Chase Side, west of the Baptist chapel, (fn. 134) which on census Sunday 1903 was attended by 52 people in the morning and 58 in the evening. The iron chapel was sold to St. Andrew's church, Southgate, as a church hall in 1929 and the congregation moved to a new chapel and Sunday school, built of red brick with stone dressings at the corner of the Bourne and Queen Elizabeth's Drive in 1929. (fn. 135) A new Sunday school was used from 1937.

Springfield Road (P) chapel was erected at the corner of Springfield Road and Cross Road in New Southgate between 1892 and 1896 (fn. 136) and registered by Primitive Methodists from 1908 until 1936. (fn. 137) It was attended by 22 people in the morning and 39 in the evening on census Sunday 1903.

The Ripon Road (P) chapel, at the junction of Ripon and Hertford roads, grew out of Primitive Methodist meetings held in a mission house in St. Mary's Terrace from 1900 until 1902. (fn. 138) The iron chapel was built in 1902 and attended on census Sunday 1903 by 82 people in the morning and 85 in the evening. It was officially closed in 1964. (fn. 139)

Bush Hill Park chapel (P) (fn. 140) originated in meetings held by Primitive Methodists in a house in Wellington Road in 1903. In 1905 they erected Emmanuel assembly hall, a plain red-brick building with stone dressings, at the corner of Wellington and Edenbridge roads. (fn. 141) A red-brick chapel was erected on adjoining land in 1940 (fn. 142) and a small hall was added after the Second World War.

St. George's chapel (W) in Russell Road, Bowes Park, had been taken over from the Baptists before census Sunday 1903, when it was attended by 88 people in the morning and 85 in the evening. The Methodists may have continued to rent the chapel (fn. 143) until 1934, when it passed to the Brethren, (fn. 144) but it is more probable that it became an undenominational mission after Bowes Park chapel opened in 1907.

Trinity-at-Bowes chapel (fn. 145) was built on the site of Bowes Park (W) chapel at the corner of Bowes and Palmerston roads in 1973. Bowes Park chapel, a redbrick and stone building with accommodation for 950, was built in 1907 and adjoining Sunday schools with 9 rooms were erected in 1909. (fn. 146) In 1969 Bowes Park amalgamated with Trinity chapel, Wood Green, to form the church of Trinity-at-Bowes. The old chapel was demolished in 1972.

Grange Park chapel (fn. 147) in 1938 replaced an earlier chapel on the corner between Old Park Ridings and Park Drive. The site had previously formed part of an orchard and the first chapel, erected in 1921, (fn. 148) was often called 'the church in the orchard'. The new building, designed by C. H. Brightiff and described as the best of its kind in the county, (fn. 149) was enlarged between 1970 and 1973.

Oakwood chapel (fn. 150) originated in meetings held in a shop in Bramley Road from 1939 until the opening of a hall in Westgate Avenue in 1950. (fn. 151) From 1939 Laing's estate office had been used for some church activities and in 1953 it was purchased under the name of Lonsdale hall, to serve as a youth centre until its sale in 1963. A chapel was built next to the hall in 1959 and new buildings for church activities were erected near by in 1964.

Brethren.

Belmont hall mission room opened on the south side of Bounces Road between 1882 and 1886 (fn. 152) and was attended by 6 people in the morning and 71 in the evening on census Sunday 1903. It closed when Croyland Road gospel hall, a plain redbrick building, opened in 1926. (fn. 153)

St. Matthias mission hall in Victoria Road was taken over from the Church of England between 1917 and 1922 (fn. 154) and used by the Brethren until after 1938. (fn. 155)

St. George's chapel in Russell Road, Bowes Park, previously used by Baptists and Methodists, passed to the Brethren in 1934 and was acquired from them in 1955 by Elim Pentecostalists. (fn. 156)

Bury Street chapel originated in meetings over a shop in Bury Street Parade in 1938. Brethren planned a hall in Bury Street in 1939, a temporary hut was erected after the Second World War, and in 1951 a permanent brick chapel was opened. (fn. 157)

Amberly hall in Fox Lane, Palmers Green, was registered in 1946 by Brethren who had been at Wood Green since 1937. (fn. 158)

Salvation Army.

New Southgate hall (fn. 159) originated in meetings held by the Salvation Army in two small houses at the southern end of Palmers Road, opposite the Beehive inn, in 1886. A red-brick citadel on the southern side of Garfield Road replaced the earlier centre, which since 1888 (fn. 160) had been designated a barracks, in 1895. (fn. 161) On census Sunday 1903 it was attended by 34 people in the morning and 103 in the evening.

Edmonton citadel corps in Fore Street first met in the North Middlesex hall in Upper Fore Street in 1889. Although the registration of the hall was not cancelled until 1896, (fn. 162) the corps moved to its main centre, the citadel in Fore Street, where there was accommodation for 550 people, in 1892. (fn. 163) On census Sunday 1903 it was attended by 145 people in the morning and 437 in the evening.

Other halls were registered by the Salvation Army at no. 95 Fore Street from 1908 until 1914 (fn. 164) and at no. 338 Hertford Road from 1909 until 1910. (fn. 165)

Other denominations.

The meeting-house in Meeting House Lane, Upper Edmonton, was used by the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion between c. 1819 and c. 1839. (fn. 166)

Christ Church in Coach and Horses Lane was registered by 'Episcopalian' dissenters from 1853 until 1896. (fn. 167)

Lower Edmonton chapel was registered by Evangelical Protestant dissenters from 1854 until 1866. (fn. 168)

Upper Edmonton Free church (fn. 169) originated in undenominational mission meetings held in the 1880s by Christopher King, a former clown, in a hall behind a shop in Fore Street and later in the Angel assembly rooms. After King's departure the congregation, in conjunction with the Gospel Union, erected a temporary iron hall for 400 people on leased land at the junction of Langhedge Lane and Grove Street in 1889. (fn. 170) The hall, listed among Congregational missions in 1903, (fn. 171) was replaced in 1912 by an iron Sunday-school building (fn. 172) and in 1913 by a brick people's tabernacle, designed by Frank Bethell. (fn. 173) In 1952 a new Sunday school replaced the old one, which had been destroyed by fire in 1939.

The London City Mission opened Hyde mission hall on the east side of Hyde Lane (later Victoria Road), north of its junction with Chauncey Street in 1888. (fn. 174) On census Sunday 1903 it was attended by 66 people in the evening. (fn. 175) It was taken over by the Church of England, as St. Matthias mission room, in 1905 and later by the Brethren. The London City Mission opened another Hyde mission hall at no. 26 Sunnyside, south of the original hall, in 1906. (fn. 176) It was still there in 1937. (fn. 177)

An evangelical mission hall had been erected on the north side of Statham Grove, off Bull Lane, by 1890. It was attended on census Sunday 1903 by 49 people in the morning and 140 in the evening and was still there in 1937. (fn. 178)

St. George's Presbyterian church (fn. 179) originated in meetings in Avondale hall of a group which had moved to Palmers Green from Wood Green. In 1914 a brick and stone church in a Gothic style opened in Fox Lane. (fn. 180) A church hall for the Sunday school was opened at the back in 1927.

Tanners End Free church, on the south side of Statham Grove, began as a mission hall for undesignated Christians in 1913. (fn. 181) Known as Tanners End mission in 1937, (fn. 182) its name was changed to Tanners End Free church in 1948. (fn. 183)

Edmonton Spiritualist National church, (fn. 184) originally Tottenham and Edmonton Spiritualist church, (fn. 185) grew out of meetings held at Beech hall near Cedars Road in Lower Edmonton and also in Tottenham and Stoke Newington in the early 20th century. The chapel, a brick building consisting of a hall and ante-room with accommodation for 175 people, opened in Linnell Road in 1929. It was enlarged after 1945 and in 1972 accommodated a total of 230 people. The Temple of the Trinity Lodge for Spiritual Healing (fn. 186) grew out of meetings held by the National Christian Spiritualist church in High Road, Wood Green, from 1938. In 1941 the group moved to no. 95 Green Lanes, Edmonton, (fn. 187) a former branch of Lloyds Bank, where it bought the freehold in 1972.

Lower Edmonton mission, held in rooms at no. 436 Hertford Road, was registered by undesignated Christians in 1929. (fn. 188)

A Pentecostal mission room in Cowper Road, off Upper Fore Street, opened between 1926 and 1933 (fn. 189) and survived in 1938. (fn. 190)

Elim Pentecostal church, originally St. George's chapel in Russell Road, Bowes Park, was taken over from the Brethren in 1955. (fn. 191)

There was a Seventh Day Adventist hall at no. 18 Bounces Road in 1937. (fn. 192) Advent church, a plain yellow-brick building in Cuckoo Hall Lane, was registered by Seventh Day Adventists in 1939. (fn. 193)

In 1939 Christian Scientists registered the rear of no. 131 Palmerston Road, Bowes Park. (fn. 194)

In 1952 members of the overcrowded Enfield congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses purchased a former club building, no. 303 Galliard Road, which they registered as Kingdom hall. The building was enlarged in 1970-1 to seat 150 people and the average attendance at meetings in 1972 was 125. (fn. 195)