Capel Manor Gardens (also known as Capel Manor Horticultural and Environmental Centre)

Capel Manor Horticultural and Environmental Centre is on part of an earlier manor acquired in 1486 by Sir William Capel, whose family was later involved in the creation of Kew Gardens. In the C16th the manor was surrendered to the Crown and then went through a number of private owners. In 1812 the estate was sold off in lots, the house eventually purchased in 1840 by James Warren, whose family owned the property until 1932. The last private owner was Lt Col Sydney Medcalf who was interested in horticulture and horses, planting numerous evergreen shrubs. After 1958 the estate and gardens became neglected but, at the suggestion of local horticulturist Frances Perry, it was acquired by Enfield Council in 1968 and opened as an agricultural college. The original C17th garden has been much overlaid but some of the trees in the grounds probably date from the C18th. Theme gardens have been created by the college to trace the history of gardens and gardening.

Sources consulted:

Revd George Hodson (Church History) and Edward Ford (General History), 'A History of Enfield in the County of Middlesex including its Royal and Ancient Manors, the Chase and the Duchy of Lancaster, with Notices of its Worthies, and its Natural History, Etc. Also an account of The Church and the Charities, and a History of the New River' (Enfield Press, printed by J H Meyers, 1873); Janet Rushton 'The History of Capel Manor' (1993); Bridget Cherry & Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England: London 4: North (Penguin, 1998); Arthur Mee 'The King's England: London North of the Thames except the City and Westminster' (Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 1972); Capel Manor leaflets; The Paul Drury Partnership for the London Borough of Enfield, 'Forty Hill Conservation Area Character Appraisal', 2009