Southgate Green marks the old village green which at one time featured fine elm trees; the village was so-called due to its position as the main southern entrance into Enfield Chase. Edward Walford describes Southgate in the 1880s : 'The shops and villas which compose the village border the high road for some distance, or are tastefully grouped round a green, which once was fringed by tall and shady elms. A few of these monarchs of the forest remain. . . ' Once heavily wooded until around the 16th century, Southgate remained a small rural community until the 20th century when the coming of the railway brought accelerated housing development. Today the Green is a series of green spaces divided by roads, within one of which are the old village stocks, now railed off.
