Osidge


Osidge is a district in the London Borough of Barnet, between Brunswick Park and Southgate, just west of the border with the London Borough of Enfield. It may be loosely defined as the part of postal district N14 that is in Barnet. Osidge has no formal border and is entirely enclosed within the electoral ward of Brunswick Park, East Barnet; however Oak Hill Park forms a natural boundary to the North and Pymmes Brook to the West, with the A111 to the East and the Piccadilly line to the South/East.
The two main roads in Osidge are Osidge Lane and Hampden Way, which meet at a roundabout called Hampden Square. Around the roundabout are three parades of shops and the Osidge Arms pub. South and west of this roundabout is an area of green belt land, crossed by Pymmes Brook and leading down to New Southgate Cemetery; an adjacent road, Whitehouse Way, provided the backdrop to scenes from Mike Leigh’s film Secrets and Lies.

History

The name is Anglo-Saxon, possibly meaning 'hedge belonging to someone named Osa' or deriving from 'hawe's ege' referring to the Old English 'hawe' and the boundary of the Southaw wood. It was first recorded in 1176, in a charter from Henry II to the Abbot of St Albans referring to the abbot's woodland property there. The area was variously named as Huzeog, Hossegge, Huzeseg, Hwzeseg, Ousage, Ouzage, Owsage and Ussage. The land was sold after the Dissolution of the Monasteries and a large house was built and parkland laid out. A condition of tenure was that the woods should supply faggots for the burning of heretics. In 1614 the estate passed by marriage to Robert Berkeley, and in 1652 the house became the residence of four generations of the Hadley family. Following the death of John Hadley in 1744 the house was demolished and the estate sold. A new Osidge House was built by 1808 and later occupied by the Lambert and Bosanquet families, being purchased by David Bevan for his eldest child Louisa Bosanquet. After her death the estate was rented and later purchased by Thomas Lipton.
The 1868-1883 ordnance survey map of Middlesex shows Osidge as a small rural estate centred around the manor house, adjacent to Chase Side and Blind Lane ; across the county line within the parish of East Barnet, in the Hundred of St Albans/Hertfordshire, Osidge fell under East Barnet Valley Urban District in 1863, renamed East Barnet Urban District in 1935. The area remained rural well into the twentieth century with only a small number of dwellings on its borders until suburbanisation in the early 1930s. Osidge was given formal status as an electoral ward covering an expanded area bounded by Pymmes Brook, Oakhill and the Southgate border, and in 1965 the district was transferred from Hertfordshire to the London Borough of Barnet. Osidge was one of several Barnet wards abolished for the 1968 local election, becoming part of the expanded Brunswick Park ward.

Notable residents

Education

Osidge is served by Hampden Way Nursery, Osidge Primary and Ashmole Academy - as well as the nearby East Barnet Day Nursery and Monkfrith and Brunswick Park primary schools. Osidge Primary School made the news in 2005 when chef François Nouaillat, horrified by the quality of the school meals given to his sons, took over the school kitchen.
Osidge also has a library, situated on the border with Brunswick Park.

Leisure

The 5th East Barnet Scout Group are based on Osidge Lane. Adjacent to the scouts hut is the Veterans Hall, which was home to the Monkfrith Boys Club, operational between 1964 and 2003. The Club hosted live music in the 1980s-1990s, including the debut performance of Barnet band Omega Tribe in 1981.

Religious facilities

Osidge is served by three C of E parish churches just outside the district: the northern part by St Mary the Virgin, East Barnet, Diocese of St Albans, and the central and southern parts by St Andrew's Southgate and Christ Church, Southgate Green, both Diocese of London.
The Christian Communion International has a church on Osidge Lane, in the former Veterans Hall.

Osidge and Southgate

Osidge is not seen as a separate locality by most local residents but is regarded as part of Southgate; addresses are occasionally given as Osidge, Southgate. This is technically incorrect, as the area lies outside the pre-1965 Borough of Southgate and the current parliamentary constituency of Enfield Southgate. There are several probable reasons for this confusion. Firstly, they are largely in the same postal district, N14. Secondly, Osidge is close to Southgate tube station and to Southgate's main commercial hub on Chase Side. In addition, Osidge House - for centuries the most prominent dwelling in the district - has main access from Chase Side, a road forming part of the border of Edmonton Hundred, Middlesex, with Southgate its nearest village. St Andrew's Southgate is the closest parish church to Osidge House, and its origins are as a chapel-of-ease to Christ Church, Southgate; in 1902, The London Gazette reported on the granting of a Baronetcy to Thomas Lipton, the first and only 'Baronet of Osidge' giving his address as "Osidge, in the parish of Southgate." The history of Osidge has therefore been covered by local historians of the Southgate area, while being recorded officially in histories of East Barnet.
Despite this association, a 1992 Boundary Commission Report rejected proposals to incorporate most of the Osidge area into Enfield borough, partly on grounds of objections from Barnet council, local schools and residents that "the Osidge community identified itself with Barnet".