Hadley Wood: a railway estate in the Green Belt
Hadley Wood stands on part of the old Enfield Chase, a royal hunting ground. The Great Northern Railway’s main line ran through the land from 1850, but there was no station. A farmer called Charles Jack changed that. He took on the estate in 1854, began pushing for a station from 1880, and helped pay for it. Hadley Wood station opened in 1885.
Houses followed quickly. By 1896 Crescent East and the south side of Crescent West were built. The north side of Lancaster Avenue was finished by 1914. William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, lived at 33 Lancaster Avenue from 1903 to 1912. St Paul’s Church opened in 1911.
These first houses are late Victorian and Edwardian. Crescent West has tile-hung upper floors, paired bay windows and big dormers. Crescent East is mostly semi-detached pairs in red brick with slate roofs. Lancaster Avenue has rendered upper storeys and is the most uniform group. Nos. 34 to 40 Crescent West are a white rendered terrace with sloping buttresses in the manner of the architect Voysey.
Hadley Wood has since grown to almost 1,000 homes, set among Green Belt farmland and woodland. Many of the newer, larger detached houses sit back on driveways behind gates.
Totteridge: a village in the London Borough of Barnet
Totteridge lies a short drive to the south west, but it is in a different borough. It is part of the London Borough of Barnet, having moved from Hertfordshire into Greater London in 1965. Much of it became a conservation area in 1968.
The village runs along one main road. Totteridge Common is the western part, Totteridge Green the middle, and Totteridge Lane the eastern end towards Whetstone. St Andrew’s Church stands on a site with a chapel recorded from 1250. Its churchyard yew is thought to be about 2,000 years old. Totteridge is known for spacious detached houses in a green setting. Some old estates, such as Copped Hall and Poynters Hall, were pulled down between the wars.
Driveway gates for Hadley Wood and Totteridge
Gates made ready for automation
If you want your gates opened by motor, we design for that from the first drawing. The frame is forged strong enough to stay true after years of opening and closing. The hinges, stops and fixing points are planned around the motor you choose. We then work with automation specialists, who fit and wire the motors, sensors, keypads and intercoms. You get a hand-forged gate and properly installed electrics, without having to manage two trades yourself.
Matching the gate to the house
A gate for an Edwardian house on Lancaster Avenue should not look like a gate for a new build on a large plot. For the older houses we keep the design light, with simple bars and a gentle arch. Enfield’s appraisal points out that some replacement walls here have poor quality steel railings and gates. A forged gate in proper proportion avoids that. For larger detached houses in Totteridge or on the edges of Hadley Wood, we can draw grander pairs with scrollwork, collars and a centre panel.
Pedestrian gates and railings
A matching side gate for people on foot is often useful beside a driveway pair. We also forge front railings on low walls, and garden railings where a boundary should stay open to the trees.
Building work around the gates
A heavy pair of gates needs solid piers. In the conservation area, Enfield notes that front gardens have lost much of their planting to parking, and many front walls have been replaced. Our team builds new brick piers with proper footings, sized to carry the gates without sagging. We build the walls either side, set the threshold and make good the drive edge. For automated gates we lay ducts through the piers and under the drive, ready for the specialist.
Inside the house we also make staircase balustrades and entrance canopies, and our team can form the stair opening and make good around them.
Planning in Enfield and Barnet
The Hadley Wood Conservation Area was designated by Enfield in 1989. A conservation area is a place the council protects for its history and character. Here an Article 4 direction removes some normal building rights, such as altering boundary walls, so planning permission is needed. Separately, national rules mean a gate or wall over 1 metre next to a road used by vehicles usually needs planning permission anywhere.
For Totteridge, the council is Barnet, and its conservation area has been in place since 1968. If a house is listed, listed building consent, which is permission to change a protected building, will be needed too. Always check with the right council before you order.
How a commission works
You can choose a pattern from the craftsman’s design album and adapt it. Or we draw a fully bespoke design in CAD. Nothing is forged until you approve the drawings.
Each gate is hand-forged in our own workshop, drawing on 20 years of hand-forging experience. Our London team installs.
Request a quote with our short online form, or give us a call.