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| Trent Park |
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Trent Park is on land formerly part of the royal hunting forest of Enfield Chase which in 1777 was divided up by Act of Parliament with the consent of George III. The edges of the Chase were given to neighbouring parishes and farms and the remaining area divided into lots and leased as farmland. The Act also ruled that the deer in the forest should continue to be protected by of the ancient park laws. As a result, a small part was made into a miniature hunting park, and was given to the King's doctor Dr Richard Jebb, together with a knighthood, in.1780. This was a reward for saving the life of the King's brother, the Duke of Gloucester, at Trento in the Austrian Tyrol. A deer park was laid out and Sir Richard Jebb converted one of the old Enfield Chase hunting lodges into a villa known as Trent Place, after the place in Austria where the cure took place. The estate went through many owners after Sir Richard's death, and was renamed Trent Park in the 19th century. In 1939, the house was used as an Interrogation Centre for enemy airmen, and an officers' prison of war camp during World War II. In 1947, the house became the Trent Park Teachers Training College, later Middlesex Polytechnic in 1974 and then Middlesex University in 1992. In 1968 most of the land became a public park, Trent Country Park, which was officially opened in 1973. After the closure of the GLC in 1986 the park became the responsibility of the London Borough of Enfield. |
