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14
tion of these bodies. Under the latter Act the County Council may itself acquire
open spaces and undertake the management of them—but they have not yet
done so.
Pymmes Park (53 acres) was purchased in i8gg for ^36,000, towards which
the Middlesex County Council contributed £9,000. A garden has been laid out
after the old English style within one of the walled enclosures adjoining the
old Elizabethan mansion. The artificial lake provides scope for boating or
skating. As, in the course of time, Edmonton becomes more densely populated,
Pymmes Park will be an increasingly valuable factor in the good health of
the people.
During 1913 five new shrubberies have been formed and planted in
Queen Anne's Gardens, Bush Hill Park. New trees have also been planted
and the dead ones renewed in the several streets which have been "made-up"
during the year. The total number of trees planted and maintained in our
streets at the ratepayers' expense is now about two thousand.
The Recreation Ground in Church Street (20 acres) was presented to the
Council by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in December, 1901, and affords
room for cricket pitches and football grounds of the rising generation.
Other spaces of service in their special way are the Sewage Farm of
235 acres, and the General Cemetery of 30 acres (which cost £20,590, and was
consecrated in 1884). The Hebrews' Cemetery, in Montagu Road, was
extended from 10 to 15 acres in 191:0. It was opened in 1884, and approved
by the Home Secretary for the burial of persons of the Jewish faith only.
This restriction has now been withdrawn as regards a portion of the land
which has been sold to a private company, who have formed another general
cemetery adjoining.
Waste lands and possible building sites are not mentioned in detail, but
they contain area enough for 100,000 more inhabitants. Some of them are at
present utilized as brickfields or market gardens, but others are ranged over by
the so-called "gipsy" or vagrant.
ALLOTMENTS.
A piece of land has been laid out situate at the south end of Brookfield
allotments, which was originally intended for use as a depot, whereby 18
more plots of land, or about acres, were obtained for allotment purposes.
Moreover, several private owners have turned their vacant land into allotments.
Yet there still remains a large number of applicants unsatisfied.