Pickett's Lock or Picketts Lock is an area of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...

, in the

London Borough of Enfield The London Borough of Enfield () is a London borough in North London. It borders the London boroughs of Barnet to the west, Haringey to the south, and Waltham Forest to the southeast. To the north are the districts of Hertsmere, Welwyn Ha ...

. It is bordered by

River Lee Navigation The Lee Navigation is a canalised river incorporating the River Lea (also called the River Lee along the sections that are navigable). It flows from Hertford Castle Weir to the River Thames at Bow Creek; its first lock is Hertford Lock and i ...

to the east, Pickett's Lock Lane to the south, Meridian Way A1055 to the west and the

Ponders End Ponders End is the southeasternmost part of Enfield, north London, centred on the Hertford Road. Situated to the west of the River Lee Navigation, it became industrialised through the 19th century, similar to the Lea Valley in neighbouring Edm ...

industrial area to the north. The area takes its name from

Pickett's Lock Pickett's Lock or Picketts Lock is an area of Edmonton, in the London Borough of Enfield. It is bordered by River Lee Navigation to the east, Pickett's Lock Lane to the south, Meridian Way A1055 to the west and the Ponders End industrial area to ...

, a lock on the nearby River Lee Navigation.

History

Historically the land was

marshland A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

and the hamlet here was known as Marshside. During the twentieth century the land was used for sand and gravel extraction which helped to form the waters known as the Blue Lakes. Picketts Lock

The area was used by local people for outdoor pursuits such as

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles c ...

angling Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techni ...

, and ferreting, and is described in Terry Webb's book ''An Edmonton Boy'': "My playground, the River Lea has now been changed into part of the Lee Valley Regional Park; it's been changed into an official playground but it's not the same with things being done for you." After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the lakes were used for landfill. The former gravel workings were a key site for investigation of

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed ...

interglacial An interglacial period (or alternatively interglacial, interglaciation) is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age. The current Holocene ...

deposits.Ellison R.A. et al. 2004, ''Geology of London: Special Memoir for 1:50,000 Geological sheets 256 (North London), 257 (Romford), 270 (South London) and 271 (Dartford) (England and Wales)'', British Geological Survey, Keyworth, During the late 1960s the area was acquired by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA) to form part of the

Lee Valley Park Lee Valley Regional Park is a long linear park, much of it green spaces, running through the northeast of Greater London, Essex and Hertfordshire from the River Thames to Ware, through areas such as Stratford, Clapton, Tottenham, Enfiel ...

. The Pickett's Lock Sports Centre designed by the Williamson Partnership with J.M.V Bishop of the (LVRPA) It was described in the ''Buildings of England'' as being "three large white functional boxes arranged around a central swimming pool, linked by generous circulation areas. Made a little less bleak by additions of 1993-4: restaurant, cafe and cinema, and an entrance block by

Fitzroy Robinson & Partners Fitzroy Robinson & Partners was one of the UK's largest firms of architects. It was based at Devonshire Street in London. History The firm was established by Herbert Fitzroy Robinson in 1956. Public buildings designed by the firm included 102 Pet ...

". Also included were a nine-hole golf course and outdoor sports facilities and was completed by 1973 as the largest centre of its kind in Europe. One of the earliest International Events held at the centre was the first World Age Group

Trampoline A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame using many coiled springs. Not all trampolines have springs, as the Springfree Trampoline uses glass-reinforced plastic rods. People bounce ...

Championships which were organised by Ted Blake. In later years, land including a disused sewage farm to the north of the centre was used to extend the golf course, and includes a man-made water known as Ponders End lake .

National Athletics Stadium

It was announced on 24 March 2000UK running track directory
Retrieved 7 March 2008 that the site known then as the Lee Valley Leisure Centre was to be the location of the National Athletics Stadium. Shortly afterwards, on 3 April 2000, it was also announced that the site would be the venue of the

2005 World Athletics Championships The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland (6 August 2005 – 14 August 2005), the site of the first IAA ...

. The proposed stadium had a capacity of 43,000 and an original cost of £87m and included new training facilities for athletes as part of the design the High Performance Centre. The project was completely abandoned by the Government in October 2001 on the grounds of increased costs and inadequate transportation links. Ultimately, the UK had to forfeit the right to host the 2005 World Athletics Championships. However, the LVRPA,

Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded par ...

and

UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (sport), athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics o ...

went ahead with plans to create the most modern athletics training venue in the south of England on the site to be known as the Lee Valley Athletics Centre which was formally opened in 2007 and forms part of the Lee Valley Leisure Complex. The original 1973 Pickett Lock Sports Centre closed in 2002 and was demolished in 2004.

In popular culture

The now demolished Picketts Lock Sports Centre is featured in the BBC comedy ''

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' is a British sitcom broadcast on BBC1, created and written by Raymond Allen (scriptwriter), Raymond Allen and starring Michael Crawford and Michele Dotrice. It was first broadcast in 1973 and ran for two series, inc ...

'', with

Michael Crawford Michael Patrick Smith, (born 19 January 1942), known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English tenor, actor and comedian. Crawford is best known for playing both the hapless Frank Spencer in the sitcom '' Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' a ...

roller-skating in and around the centre.Some Mothers Do 'Av 'Em video
Retrieved 16 April 2008

References

External links

London High Performance CentrePicketts Lock bid ScrappedMPs Attack Picketts Lock FiascoUK National Athletics Stadium
{{LB Enfield Geography of the London Borough of Enfield Sport in the London Borough of Enfield Lee Valley Park Edmonton, London