Space to Visit

Durants Park is named after one of the eight sub-manors of the Enfield estate which date from the 11th century when William the Conqueror gave Enfield to Geoffrey de Mandeville. In the early 15th century, the Durants estate was owned by the Wroth family; Sir Thomas Wroth and his son Sir Robert Wroth both held important positions in Elizabethan times. King James I was said to be a frequent visitor to the estate. It was later owned by Sir Thomas Stringer, whose wife Lady Stringer lived here until 1727. Their son, William, married a daughter of the cruel and hated Judge Jeffreys who was known to have visited Durants. The fortifications that could be seen on an outbuilding may have been added to protect him from attack. In 1910 this outbuilding and the moated manor house, Durants Arbour, were knocked down. The site of the moated manor house was to the east of Ponders End High Street. The moat was subsequently filled in and built over. Then in 1903, Enfield Urban District Council bought nearly 14 hectares of the estate lands for a public park. In the 1990s a £15,000 grant enabled the children’s paddling pool to be created with rocks and landscaping around the edge.