Park of the week

100. Albany Park

Albany, Albany…the park we went to twice. Don’t ask me how I managed to bypass Jack’s satnav-like memory to tell where we’ve already been. We first went in November 2022 and again a few weeks ago, on our way back from somewhere else that turned out not to have been worth visiting. 

It’s in the east of Enfield and is another King George Field, protected by Fields in Trust since 1935. It was laid out in 1902, on former farmland and allotments that were purchased by the local authority and Trinity College Cambridge. Albany park was probably named to commemorate Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, the youngest son of Queen Victoria, who died in 1884. During World War 2, the railings on Bell Lane were removed for the war effort and the land was used for growing vegetables.

The park has open space with paths, football pitches, tennis and basketball courts, a bowling green, playgrounds (one of which is wheelchair accessible) and a skatepark and a small, wooded area. The Turkey Brook runs along the north side of the park. It rises in Potters Bar, and eventually merges with the River Lee Navigation (a canalised river) below Enfield Lock. The brook is named from the hamlet Turkey Street, which is recorded as early as the fifteenth century as Tokestreete, meaning a hamlet, associated with a family called Toke or Tokey. The former name is in my family. And I thought they came from Latvia.

The brook previously flowed in a continuous concrete channel, but in 2021 it was diverted into a new meander in the park, helping to slow the flow of water and provide new habitats for wildlife. An embankment was built on the other side of the park using the excavated soil so that park will act as a flood storage area if the brook overflows its banks.

There’s no café, toilets, or carpark. We found a space to park on a nearby street.

Judith Field

Albany Park, Hertford Road/ Bell Lane, Enfield EN3 5PA