Park of the week

47. Hilly Fields Park

I often find that people add a superfluous S to the end of my surname so I made sure that This park in Enfield really is called Hilly Fields rather than Hilly Field, who sounds like she might be a character in Malory Towers. Hilly Fields Park is a natural park in Enfield with fields, meadows, and woods. It’s been described as one of the most interesting grassland areas in the borough.  There are many mature large old, pollarded trees and oaks. These are scattered over rough grassland, which contains a large range of plants and is home to butterflies.

The northern boundary of the park is formed by the Turkey Brook, which rises at Potters Bar, and eventually reaches the River Lee Navigation (a canal incorporating the River Lee) at Enfield Lock. The banks of the brook are dotted with hornbeam and scrub trees. Towards the east end of the park, at the top of a slope planted with trees that include oaks and conifers. The park is a Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation.

The area it now occupies used to be known as Park Farm. The local authority bought 62 acres of the farmland, as part of their policy of acquiring land for public open space as the area was being developed for housing and they opened Hilly Fields as a public park in 1911. In 1921, because brass bands were becoming very popular. a wooden bandstand was built. Audiences fell to much lower levels in the nineteen thirties due to competition from cinema and radio and in the Second World War, bandstand entertainment was not promoted at all. Eventually the bandstand became derelict, but it was restored in 2001, using funds from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Bandstand events are held in the summer. 
It is quite hilly and it’s a popular place for sledging when the snow comes. 

The London Outer Orbital Path, usually known as the London Loop, runs through the park. This is a 150-mile signed walk along public footpaths and through parks, woods and fields around the edge of Outer London, sometimes described as  “the M25 for walkers”. 

Hilly Fields Park doesn’t have toilets or a café. Nor does it have a playground, but for once Jack didn’t seem to mind. There was so much space to walk in that I had to take note of landmarks, so we didn’t get lost. My sense of direction hasn’t improved since we got lost at the Hill House Pergola (see Park of the Week 3). I think that might make a good T shirt slogan.

Judith Field

Hilly Fields Park, Phipps Hatch Lane, EN2 0AG