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4
DESCRIPTION AND TOPOGRAPHY OF THE
DISTRICT.
THE Urban District of Southgate is formed by a number of
hamlets, previously—and some of them even now—called
"villages.'' It is partly situated on what is sometimes
called the Northern Heights, about eight miles from London,
and is rapidly becoming essentially suburban in character.
The District comprises an area of 3,596 acres, and may
be said to consist of three valleys, running from west to east,
the northern areas being somewhat higher than the southern,
and the whole consisting of very undulating ground dipping off
to a rather flat area on the eastern boundary, adjoining the
Edmonton district. The highest Ordnance level is on the
Enfield Road, and is 302 feet; while the lowest is near
the south-eastern boundary, and is 61 feet.
The subsoil consists of various clays with large pockets
of gravel and sand. On the south side is a bed of brick
earth overlying a deep bed of gravel, which forms excellent
building land, on which a building estate has recently been
opened. Beneath these strata are beds of London clay, black
sand, and chalk, more or less water bearing, and from which
the deep wells and borings of the New River Company derive
their supply.
The District may be roughly divided into four localities :
(1) Southgate, (2) Winchmore Hill, (3) a large part of New
Southgate and Bounds Green, and (4) Palmers Green and a
large part of Bowes ; hitherto more or less distinct localities,
but which, by continually and rapidly growing and extending,
are gradually overlapping and becoming merged one into the
other, more especially the two latter.
The District may, however, now be more conveniently
dealt with in the two county divisions of North and South
Southgate, the dividing line of which passes from the
Edmonton boundary in Hedge Lane, along Hedge Lane,
and up Bourne Hill to Chase Side Corner, Southgate. This
is a more or less natural boundary line, with the major part of
Southgate and Winchmore Hill, the more rural part of the
District, on the north side of the line, and Palmers Green,
Bowes Park, and New Southgate, the more urban part of the
district, on the south side.
For the purposes of local administration the District has
recently been divided into four wards, which correspond
roughly with the four localities above mentioned, two wardi
in North Southgate and two in South Southgate.