Clay Hill is an area of Enfield, London, England. It is located to the north of

Enfield Town Enfield is a large town in north London, England, north of Charing Cross. It had a population of 333,587 in 2021. It includes the areas of Botany Bay, Brimsdown, Bulls Cross, Bullsmoor, Bush Hill Park, Clay Hill, Crews Hill, Enfield Hig ...

and is mainly a residential area which almost borders

Crews Hill Crews Hill is an elevated and green-buffered former hamlet grown into a small village-size community on the northern outskirts of London centred north of Charing Cross. It forms part of the London Borough of Enfield and economically has many g ...

to the north and forms part of London's

Green Belt A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...

. Prior to 1965 it was in the historic county of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. Places of interest include Clay Hill House, Whitewebbs Park, Hillyfields Park and

Forty Hall Forty Hall is a manor house of the 1620s in Forty Hill in Enfield, north London. The house, a Grade I listed building, is today used as a museum by the London Borough of Enfield. Within the grounds is the site of the former Tudor Elsyng Palac ...

. The North Enfield Cricket Club ground is located within the Clay Hill area, at the top of Hilly Fields Park.

Etymology

Clay Hill is recorded as ''Clayhyll'' (1524), ''Clayhillgate'' (1636); apparently self-explanatory, 'hill with clay soil', with -''gate'' which refers to gate of

Enfield Chase Enfield Chase is an open space in the London Borough of Enfield, North London. Historically, the name applied to a large common occupying the western part of the ancient parish of Enfield, extending from Monken Hadley in the west to Bulls ...

. However, the local name Claysmore, earlier ''Clayes More Grove'' (1610), is associated with the family of William ''atte Cleye'' (that is 'at the clayey place') (1274), ''John Clay'' (1420). Clay Hill may derive from a surname rather than the word ''clay''.

History

Whitewebbs has links with the

Gunpowder Plot The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was an unsuccessful attempted regicide against James VI and I, King James VI of Scotland and I of England by a group of English ...

, as

Guy Fawkes Guy Fawkes (; 13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was born and educate ...

and his fellow conspirators are known to have used a safe house in Whitewebbs Lane, Enfield. The claim as to location of this safe house is held by the ''Rose and Crown'' public house, which was extended into what would have been cottages at the time. Fawkes met with

Robert Catesby Robert Catesby ( – 8 November 1605) was the leader of a group of English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Born in Warwickshire, Catesby was educated at Oxford University. His family were prominent recusant Catholics, a ...

at the original Whitewebbs House which was located on the site of what is now Guy's Lodge Farm opposite the ''King and Tinker'' public house.

Demography

Clay Hill is part of the large Chase ward, which also covers

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal language, Dharawal: ''Kamay'') is an open oceanic embayment, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point a ...

and

Bulls Cross Bulls Cross is a road and Hamlet (place), hamlet in Enfield, London, Enfield, England, on the outskirts of North London, north London, forming part of the Metropolitan Green Belt. Although it now lies within the ceremonial county of Greater Lond ...

. The 2011 census showed that 77% of the ward's population was white (64% British, 11% Other, 2% Irish). 5% was Black African and 3% Black Caribbean.

Nearby places

Forty Hill Forty Hill is a largely residential suburb in the north of the London Borough of Enfield, England. To the north is Bulls Cross, to the south Enfield Town, to the west Clay Hill, and to the east Enfield Highway. Prior to 1965 it was in the hist ...

* Gordon Hill *

External links

Pubs.com The ''King and Tinker'' public house

References

Places in Enfield, London Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Enfield Places formerly in Middlesex {{London-geo-stub