ENFIELD, a market town and urban district in the Enfield parliamentary division of Middlesex, England, I I m. N. of London Bridge, with stations on the Great Northern and Great Eastern sections of the L.N.E. railway. Pop. of urban district (1931) 67,869. Enfield lies at the northern extremity of the county, ex tending westward from the Lea and Stort Navigation, and com prises the four local divisions known as the Town, in the centre, with the Chase on the west, and Green Street and Bull's Cross (with Ponders End, Enfield Highway and Enfield Lock) along the Old North Road on the east. It has grown rapidly as a residential and industrial area; many of the inhabitants are employed in the Royal Small Arms factory at Enfield Lock. The church of St. Andrew, mainly Perpendicular, with Early English portions, con tains several ancient monuments and brasses. Enfield Palace, fronting the High Street, retains portions of the building of Edward VI. The grammar school for boys, founded in is now enlarged and modernized, with the county school for girls, under the joint control of the county and district councils. The New River flows through the parish, and Sir Hugh Myddleton, its projector, was for some time resident here. Enfield Chase, once a royal preserve, was disafforested in 1777, and largely en closed thereafter. Several fine mansions in splendidly timbered parks remain, as Trent Park, Forty Hall and White Webbs. Forty Hall is from the designs of Inigo Jones; White Webbs was suspected as the scene of the hatching of the Gunpowder Plot. The urban council has control of over 200 ac. of parks and open spaces, including Hilly-fields (65 ac.), Bush Hill (27 ac.) and Enfield Town (23 ac.) parks.
An Anglo-Saxon derivation, signifying "forest clearing," is indicated for the name. The principal manor of Enfield, which was held by Asgar, Edward the Confessor's master of horse, was in the hands of Geoffrey de Mandeville at the time of Domesday, and belonged to the Bohun family in the 12th and 13th centuries. It came, by succession and marriage, into the possession of the crown under Henry IV., and was included in the duchy of Lan caster. Of the other manors, Worcesters came to the crown in the time of Henry VIII., whose children resided at the manor house, Elsynge Hall. Edward VI., settling both manors upon the princess Elizabeth, rebuilt Enfield Palace for her. She was a frequent resident here before and after her accession to the throne. About 1664 the palace was occupied as a school by Robert Uvedale (1642-1722), who was also an eminent horticulturist. The town received grants of markets from Edward I. and James I.