Clay Hill is a small area of Enfield

London Borough of Enfield

The London Borough of Enfield is the most northerly London borough and forms part of Outer London. It borders the London Boroughs of Barnet, Haringey and Waltham Forest...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England. It is located to the north of Enfield Town

Enfield Town

Enfield Town is the historic town centre of Enfield, formerly in the county of Middlesex and now in the London Borough of Enfield. It is north north-east of Charing Cross...

. Mainly a residential area which almost borders Crews Hill

Crews Hill

Crews Hill is a village located in the northern outskirts of Greater London and 12 miles north of Charing Cross. It forms part of the London Borough of Enfield and is probably best known for its large number of garden centres and nursuries which, at summer weekends, give it almost a "resort"...

 to the north and forms part of London's Green Belt

Green belt

A green belt or greenbelt is a policy and land use designation used in land use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighbouring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges which have a linear character and may run through an...

. Places of interest include Clay Hill House, Whitewebbs Park, Hillyfields Park and Forty Hall

Forty Hall

Forty Hall is a manor house of the 1620s in Forty Hill in Enfield, north London. The house, a Grade I listed building, is today used as a museum by the London Borough of Enfield. Within the grounds is the site of the former Tudor Elsyng Palace.-Location:...

.

Etymology

Clay Hill is recorded as Clayhyll 1524, Clayhillgate 1636, apparently self-explanatory, 'hill with clay soil', with -gate which refers to gate of Enfield Chase

Enfield Chase

Enfield Chase is an area in the London Borough of Enfield, North London. It was once covered by woodland and used as a royal deer park. While it is no longer officially a 'place', the Church of England Parish of St Mary Magdalene, Enfield Chase, officially holds that title, which was effectively...

. However the local name Claysmore, earlier Clayes More Grove 1610, is to be associated with the family of William atte Cleye (that is 'at the clayey place') 1274, John Clay 1420. Clay Hill may derive from a surname rather than the word clay.

History

Whitewebbs has longstanding links with the Gunpowder Plot

Gunpowder Plot

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.The plan was to blow up the House of...

, as Guy Fawkes

Guy Fawkes

Guy Fawkes , also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.Fawkes was born and educated in York...

 and his fellow revolutionaries are known to have used a safe house in Whitewebbs Lane, Enfield. The claim as to location of this safe house is held by the Rose and Crown Public House which was extended into what would have been cottages at the time. He is also reputed to have drunk at the King and Tinker pub, known then as The White Hart.

External links

• / pubs.com The King and Tinker public house