Place Name
Previously Brook Hill Road. It was developed across farmland sometime in the late 19thCentury. The former Brook Hill or Brookhill Farm lay on Cat Hill, on the eastern slopes of the valley of the Pymmes Brook, so the road is named after it. The brook itself is named after William Pymme, a local landowner. It is a minor tributary of the River Lea and mostly flows through urban areas. It is particularly prone to flooding in its lower reaches, and to alleviate the problem, the brook has been culverted in many areas. Part of it is a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II. The source of the brook is underground springs at Hadley Common, which are mentioned in reference to the penultimate battle in the Wars of the Roses at the Battle of Barnet. At this point, it is known as Monken Mead Brook before flowing in a south-easterly direction to merge with the River Lee Navigation at Tottenham. It flows through East Barnet, where it is joined by a small tributary, the Shirebourne brook, before flowing through New Southgate, Arnos Grove, Palmers Green, and Edmonton.
