Minchenden Oak Garden is a public park in

Southgate, London Southgate is a suburban area of North London, England in the London Borough of Enfield. It is located around north of Charing Cross. The name is derived from being the south gate to Enfield Chase. History Southgate was originally the ''South ...

owned by the

London Borough of Enfield The London Borough of Enfield () is a London boroughs, London borough in North London. It borders the London boroughs of London Borough of Barnet, Barnet to the west, London Borough of Haringey, Haringey to the south, and London Borough of Walt ...

. It was formerly part of the estate of Minchenden House, demolished in 1853, and opened as a garden of remembrance in 1934. The park is just in size and is accessed by a gate from Waterfall Road. A key feature of the park is the Minchenden Oak, an 800-year-old tree that is one of the oldest in London. The canopy of the tree was described as the largest in England in 1873.

History

Minchenden House (also known as Minchington Hall), a large brick structure, was built by John Nicholl in 1741 on part of

Sir John Weld Sir John Weld may refer to: * John Weld (merchant) (1582–1623), English landowner and London merchant * John Weld (politician) (1613–1681), English politician {{hndis, Weld, John ...

's former estate of

Arnos Grove Arnos Grove () is an List of areas of London, area of north London, England, within the London Borough of Enfield. It is centred north of Charing Cross. It is adjacent to New Southgate. The natural grove (nature), grove, larger than today, ...

. Nicholl died shortly after completing the house and it was inherited by his daughter Margaret. She married James Brydges, Marquis of Carnarvon who later became the third

Duke of Chandos The Dukedom of Chandos is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England. First created as a barony by Edward III in 1337, its second creation in 1554 was due to the Brydges family's service to Mary I during Wyatt's rebellion, wh ...

. Minchenden served as their country house (the main estate being

Cannons A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder dur ...

Little Stanmore Little Stanmore was an ancient parish of Middlesex which is today the residential area of Canons Park in the London Borough of Harrow, England. Toponymy The name 'Stanmore' means "pond made of stone". Little Stanmore was named to distinguish i ...

). Chandos died childless and the estate passed to the

Marquis of Buckingham Duke of Buckingham held with Duke of Chandos, referring to Buckingham, is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. There have also been earls and marquesses of Buckingham. ...

, it was left to deteriorate and the house was demolished in 1853. It was replaced by a smaller building, Minchenden Lodge (which still stands), and the estate, together with that of

Beaver Hall Beaver Hall was a country house in Middlesex, England. It was set in grounds of around that stood to the east and south of the current Waterfall Road, then known as Waterfall Lane and Church Hill, near the old centre of Southgate. The grounds ...

, which once extended to was rejoined to Arnos Grove.

Minchenden Oak Garden

A surviving portion of the original Minchenden House estate was redeveloped by the local authority (the

Municipal Borough of Southgate Southgate was a local government district of Middlesex from 1881 to 1965. It was part of the London postal district and Metropolitan Police District. Incorporation and development The area was historically part of the parish of Edmonton, which ...

which is now the

) into a remembrance garden. The garden was opened by the Mayor of Southgate and the local vicar on 12 May 1934. The garden contains lawns, hedges, shrubs and trees with flagstone paths and seating; fragments of the former 17th-century

Weld Chapel Christ Church, Southgate, is a Church of England parish church in Waterfall Road, Southgate, London. It describes itself as a " liberal catholic Church of England parish". The building is grade II* listed with Historic England. In 2014 the ch ...

are visible. The garden is entered via an iron gate in a red-brick wall on Waterfall Road, Southgate and is open daily until dusk. It is currently owned by the London Borough of Enfield.

Minchenden Oak

One of the key features of the garden, for which it is named, is the Minchenden Oak. The tree is thought to be 800 years old and a survivor of the ancient

Forest of Middlesex The Forest of Middlesex was an ancient woodland covering much of the county of Middlesex, England, that was north of the City of London and now forms the northern part of Greater London. A path was cut through the forest for the creation of Watling ...

. The oak had previously been

pollarded Pollarding is a pruning system involving the removal of the upper branches of a tree, which promotes the growth of a dense head of foliage and branches. In ancient Rome, Propertius mentioned pollarding during the 1st century BCE. The practice oc ...

for timber, and was already substantial by the time Nicholl's house was built. Because of its association with the estate it became known as the Chandos Oak and was featured in

Jacob George Strutt Jacob George Strutt (4 August 1784 – 1867) was a British portrait and landscape painter and engraver in the manner of John Constable. He was the husband of the writer Elizabeth Strutt, and father of the painter, traveller and archaeologist A ...

's 1826 ''Sylva Britannica'', by which time it measured in girth at a height of off the ground. In 1873

Edward Walford Edward Walford (1823–1897) was a British magazine editor and a compiler of educational, biographical, genealogical and touristic works, perhaps best known for his 6 Volumes of ''Old and New London'' (the first two of which were written by Walt ...

described it as having the largest canopy of any tree in England at in diameter and "still growing". It lost two limbs to a gale in 1899 but by the following year still boasted a canopy of in spread; its girth was measured at .

Minchenden Grammar School Minchenden School was a mixed secondary school situated in Southgate, North London, established in 1919 with 90 pupils. It merged with Arnos School in 1984. History The school was established in 1919 in Tottenhall Road as a mixed secondary sc ...

was renamed after the tree in 1924 and featured it on their school badge. In 1971, some of the oak's major branches were trimmed, but ''Country Life'' magazine described the tree afterwards as still being "magnificent". It was found to have a cracked trunk and internal decay in 2013, and was then described as being "perilously close to death". Works were quickly carried out to reduce the load on the trunk by removing from the crown and the tree was treated with beneficial fungi. The timber created from the pruning was slated for noticeboards and seating for the garden. A renovation of the gardens followed, which included the planting of a

sapling In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

grown from an

acorn The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'' and '' Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne ...

of the oak. The gardens reopened in May 2015 at a formal ceremony presided over by

Richard Chartres Richard John Carew Chartres, Baron Chartres , FBS (; born 11 July 1947) is a retired bishop of the Church of England. He was area Bishop of Stepney from 1992 to 1995 and Bishop of London from 1995 to 2017. He was sworn of the Privy Council in t ...

, Bishop of London.

References

{{Commons category, Minchenden Oak Garden 1934 establishments in the United Kingdom Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Enfield Southgate, London