Brimsdown, Enfield
The borough’s principal commercial zone, now called a Business
Area
Much of Brimsdown is the preserve of industry and – unusually for London – pretty heavy industry too
Brimsdown lies east of Enfield and west of King George’s reservoir and constitutes a large section of the Lee Valley industrial corridor. It was originally called Grimsdown, and nobody is quite sure how the G became a B. Maybe someone just thought the original name sounded a bit … grim.
The station opened in 1884, followed by Brimsdown power station in 1903. The proximity of water, rail and power brought manufacturing to Brimsdown, including Enfield Rolling Mills, which used to receive copper by barge.
Following several factory closures Brimsdown won regeneration funding in the mid-1990s. Modern industry includes Johnson Matthey’s refinery on Jeffreys Road, where silver salts for the photographic and pharmaceutical industries are manufactured using recycled metal. In addition, there are several wholesale and retail warehouses.
The ‘Mossops Creek permissive path’ gives access to the River Lea towpath from Brimsdown. A new footbridge links the walk with Mossops Creek Park on the opposite bank. The creek, which joins the Lee Navigation near the bridge, is thought to have been formed when Mossop and Company extracted gravel here in the second half of the nineteenth century.
There is a residential side to Brimsdown – a patch of mixed housing west of the railway line. At Brimsdown junior school, on Green Street, 60 per cent of the children are from minority ethnic groups and 29 languages are spoken.
David Beckham played football for Brimsdown Rovers’ youth team for two years. The club has since merged with Enfield FC, which now plays its home games at Brimsdown sports ground.
