Forum topic: "Enfield Town Time Machine No. 1"

Artist and Enfield resident John Salmon (see his YouTube channel here) has put together a fascinating and ingenious slide show of early photographs of Enfield Town, accompanied by sound track of contemporary background noises.

John adds the following written comments:

Experience what life may have been like in Enfield Town once photography was able to record interesting details and events which make our town what it is today.

I’ve been collecting local photographs from the internet for quite some time and was at odds as to what to do with them. I then thought it would be interesting to use them in a way which would both entertain and educate. Therefore I’m hoping this video will inspire other Enfield residents to look deeper into the fascinating history of our borough. Luckily a walk through the backstreets of Enfield Town will show you a lot of our history is still visible to this day.

We are extremely lucky to have been born at a time when the internet has made the exploration of our history so easy now. We have internet sites which can help us find out so much more and people willing to give their time to help purely for the love of the subject and our town.

We have the Enfield Society www.enfieldsociety.org.uk

We have the Enfield Local Studies Library and Archive http://www.enfield.gov.uk/info/1062/l...

There are also Facebook Groups where locals post images and discuss local history and memories.

“Enfield’s past in photos“. https://www.facebook.com/groups/23950...

“Enfield & surrounding areas Photos & Chat”.https://www.facebook.com/groups/15862...

“Edmontons Past” https://www.facebook.com/groups/49517...

I’ve used photos from all these sites without knowing who they may belong to and probably without permission but as you will see this is purely a non profit exercise which I’m hoping will inspire more to become interested in Enfield. I hope you will see an increase to your website and will not mind me using them.

Gary Boudier and the Enfield Local Studies Archive have generously granted me permission to use their images and Craig Ward of the St Andrews Society of Change Ringers has kindly allowed me to use a short recording I made of the St Andrews church bells practice.

If I’ve used any of your material, let me know and I’ll credit you here. Thank you very much.

Just a word. The video is not historically accurate. It jumps from time zone to time zone and I may have got some things wrong but it’s only some entertaining historical fun which I hope people will enjoy and find interesting.

This is hopefully the first of several.  Other areas that John has in mind include Edmonton, Bush Hill Park, Winchmore Hill and Palmers Green.