| Ponders End | |
|---|---|
 Tower blocks at Alma Road | |
 The Harvester Navigation Inn, seen from the towpath of the River Lee Navigation | |
  Ponders End Location withinGreater London | |
| Population | 15,664 (2011 Census) |
| OS grid reference | TQ 353 959 |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ENFIELD |
| Postcode district | EN1, EN3 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
| 51°38′46″N0°02′46″W / 51.646°N 0.046°W /51.646; -0.046 | |
Ponders End is the southeasternmost part ofEnfield,northLondon, England, aroundHertford Road west of theRiver Lee Navigation. It becameindustrialised through the 19th century, similar to theLea Valley in neighbouringEdmonton andBrimsdown, with manufacturing giving way to warehousing in the late-20th century. The area features muchsocial housing, with streets also lined with suburban terraced housing from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
As a result ofimmigration, the area has become the mostethnically diverse part of Enfield, with the majority of the population having anethnic minority background at the2011 census. As of 2021[update] the area was experiencing large-scale regeneration, with the high-rise Alma Road Estate undergoing demolition and redevelopment.[1]Ponders End had a population of 15,664 as of 2011[update].
Ponders End is marked on theOrdnance Survey map of 1822. It was recorded in 1593 asPonders ende meaning the "end or quarter of the parish associated with the Ponder family" from theMiddle Englishende. JohnPonder is mentioned in a document of 1373; the surname is believed to mean a "keeper of, or dweller by, a fish-pond or mill-pond".[2]
Ponders End once was rural Middlesex, but in 1840 theNorthern and Eastern Railway (now part ofGreater AngliaNational Rail) station opened, which slowly attracted development to the area.
All but a southern belt of the district was inEnfield, as the south lay in Edmonton. Theseparishes diverged into civil and ecclesiastical parishes at a split of functions in the 1860s, which saw the final secularisation of government, the disestablishment of thevestries following the increase inPoor Law Unions in the hundred years before.[3]
Through the 19th century the area became industrialised, due to its straight road and waterway network up and down theLea Valley, including the 17th centuryRiver Lee Navigation.[3] The first major firm to arrive was Grout, Baylis & Co, who were established inNorwich in 1807 ascrape manufacturers, the material being used forwidows' weeds. They opened a dyeing and finishing plant in Ponders End two years later. Crape went out of fashion by lateVictorian times, and the factory closed in 1894. The buildings were taken over by the United Flexible Tubing Company.
In 1866 the London Jute Works Company established a factory on the Navigation in a desolate area known locally asSpike Island. Many of the new employees came fromDundee, the traditional centre of thejute industry inScotland. The jute works closed in 1882, to be replaced by theEdiswan factory. Over the years the factory was enlarged, eventually covering 11.50 acres (4.65 ha), and employing many people, notably girls, from the area. Ediswan producedelectric lamps, and the factory was colloquially known asThe Lamp. They also manufactured appliances for theshipping andaviation industries, mechanical pianos and butter makers.
To the south ofPonders End Lock a factory makingwhite lead was built in 1893. Further south of that factory, the Cortecine works producedfloor-cloth and carpet backing. By 1906 over 2000 people were employed in local factories. Another major industry in the late 19th century washorticulture. Tomatoes and cucumbers were the principal produce, but flowers and fruit were also grown in the manyorchards andgreenhouses to the north of the locality.[4] DuringWorld War I, a hugemunitions factory, the Ponders End Shell Works, was built in Wharf Road. The factory building was sold after the war. Further factories were built in the 1930s alongside the newly-builtGreat Cambridge Road.[5]
As of 2009 little remains of manufacturing, and much of the area has given way to warehousing and residential developments. Aesicapharmaceutical manufacturers (formerly Thomas Morson Ltd)[6] closed its plant in 2011.[7]Wright's Flour Mill, the oldest working industrial building in the borough remains, some of its buildings having been constructed in the 18th century.[5]
On 7 August 2011 Ponders End was thescene of copy-cat riots which spread fromTottenham to neighbouring districts.[8]
In Spring 2017,Camden Town Brewery completed a new facility in Ponders End on the western bank of the Lee Navigation.[9]
In August 2020,Beavertown Brewery opened "Beaverworld", a new brewery on a six-acre plot on the western bank of the Lee Navigation, creating up to 150 jobs.[10]
Elevations range from 21 metres (69 ft) to 13 metres (43 ft) above sea level, uniformly dropping from west to east. Two north-south railway lines enclose the residential parts of the area, bounded east and west by estates of warehousing, industrial and commercial use
Its northern and southern limits are along Hertford Road atThe Ride andThe Boundary pubs (north to south). Its loosely defined east and west limits coalesce around Wharf Road in the east and theSouthbury station or Kingsway in the west.[14]
London Bus Routes 191, 279, 349, 491, 377, 121, 307, 313 and N279 serve the area.
The 191 Bus stop Oasis Academy Hadley used to be called Falcon Road, but when Oasis Academy was built, the bus stop's name changed. Similar to Ponders End Stn/Oasis Academy Hadley which was just called Ponders End Station.
The 2011 census showed that 45% of the population was white (26% British, 17% Other, 2% Irish), 16% Black African and 8% Bangladeshi.[16]
The local newspapers are, as of 2011:
Ponders End is part of the Enfield North constituency, represented byFeryal Clark (Labour).[18] At Enfield's last local elections in2022, the ward elected two Labour councillors by a large margin.[19] It was previously a three-member ward, which had elected Labour councillors by wide margins going back to 2002.[20]
Critchley & Simmons released an album titledPonders End in 2017, inspired by the area where they first met.[28]
MusicianJah Wobble was inspired to write his (2005) albumMu by his experiences in theLea Valley and Ponders End.[29][30]
It's as close as London gets toNew Jersey. But it's one of my favourite places for walking, through the Lee Valley. It gets beautiful in that urban way, but then you go through soap factories up near Ponders End. It's got a wonderful, dislocated, alienated feeling
— Jah Wobble
"Ponders End Allotments Club" is a track from the (1975)Chas and Dave albumOne Fing 'n' Annuver.[31]
[...] Countryside's [...] regeneration scheme [...] is transforming the Alma estate in Ponders End with over 1,000 new homes and over 71,000 sq ft of new community facilities over 10 years. To date, three phases of the Alma regeneration project have been completed with 310 homes (97 of which are Council homes) handed over.
