St Margaret of Antioch

Dear Readers, you might remember my piece about Sequoias earlier this week, when I mentioned that there was reported to be a row of these majestic trees in Edgware, a few miles away from where I live. So, as it’s Easter weekend, how could I resist an expedition to see what’s going on? Plus, I have never actually been to Edgware, even though it’s so close. So, on Saturday we jumped onto a bus to Golders Green and a Northern Line tube to Edgware to see what gives.Well, there’s certainly a lot of independent shops and cafés about, selling all sorts of different cuisines – Indian, Chinese, Lebanese, Afro-Caribbean, Romanian, and lots of others. But we’d just stuffed our faces in East Finchley, so on we went. First up was the rather intriguing church in the first photo. St Margaret of Antioch is the Church of England parish church for Edgware, and was first mentioned in the 13th century, where it was used by the Knights Hospitaller – this was a military order based in the hospital of St John of Jerusalem. These days, it runs the St John’s Ambulance Brigade, and the Saint John Ambulance Brigade in Jerusalem. The tower dates to the 15th century, but the rest of the building has been rebuilt and renovated several times, most recently in the 19th century.

St Margaret of Antioch was one of the saints that Joan of Arc was said to have conversed with. She was born a pagan, but was reared as a shepherdess by a Christian woman after she was disowned by her father for her conversion. Legend has it that she was devoured by a dragon, but that the cross she was carrying irritated the dragon’s innards so much that she was able to make her escape, though exactly how is not entirely clear. She also did battle with a demon in her cell and won by battering him with a brass hammer. She was clearly a woman after my own heart, but alas she was decapitated in the end. She is the patron saint of pregnant women, servant maids, kidney-sufferers and can be invoked against demonical infestations, should you have any.

Saint Margaret of Antioch, with a dragon (Photo by By Postdlf, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2679945)

On we go, past a rather fine stone war memorial, and some buildings that I originally took to be mock Tudor, and which are actually real Tudor, with some of them dating back to the 16th century. Who knew that Edgware had such a rich architectural heritage? They currently house a range of restaurants and bars (one of which was serving flagons of beer though it was only 10 a.m.)  and a driving school.

Actually it’s not so surprising that Edgware has a long history as it’s situated on Watling Street, a Roman road that linked St Albans and the northern cities to London.

And now, we reach Canons Park, a conservation area with a long history. It was originally part of the lands of the Augustinian Priory of St Bartholemew, who also ran St Bartholemew’s Hospital in London. Later, a magnificent house was built in the estate grounds, which now forms North London Collegiate School. The avenue that led up to the entrance still exists, and was planted in 1910 with a variety of magnificent trees. This was the main reason for the expedition, and as they say in Tripadvisor Restaurant reviews, ‘They didn’t disappoint’.

View along Canon’s Drive

We have a mixture of trees here – lots of Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), one California Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), some Dawn Redwoods and a whole variety of cedars and monkey puzzles and goodness knows what else. I was utterly amazed. For those who would like to be able to tell the difference between the Giant Sequoia and the California Redwood, help is at hand below. First is the cone and leaves of the Giant Sequoia – see how the leaves are tiny, in long sprays. The trees themselves also have a more conical, heavily leafed shape than the California Redwoods.

Giant Sequoia leaves and cone.

Cones and leaves of California Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) Photo from https://www.picturethisai.com/wiki/Sequoia_sempervirens.html)

Giant Sequoia

Cedar (not sure what type, possible Deodar)

Giant sequoia

Nearly all of the trees have tree preservation orders (TPOs), but this hasn’t stopped some insurance companies from asking for them to be cut down – I recently signed a petition stating that three of the trees had been blamed for subsidence and were threatened with destruction. I’m pleased to report that two of the trees have now been saved, but the petition is still stating that one tree is under threat (though I do note that the petition is more than two years old, so maybe this is old news). Anyhow, it just shows that even with trees as impressive as these, it still pays to be vigilant.

And let’s not forget a) that these trees are relatively just babies (redwoods can live to 3000 years old), and b) are nothing like at their full height yet – the tallest is a mere 110 feet tall, when they can grow to 380 feet. Plus they were planted before there were any houses here at all. Honestly, councils and insurance companies have to sort this stuff out. Too many trees are cut down purely for financial reasons.

Can anyone else see a face in the trunk below? It definitely looks like an Ent to me….

All too soon, we’re at the end of Canons Drive, peering through the fence into North London Collegiate and wondering what to do next. But lo, what is this?

A leafy path through a little wood on a sunny day? Looks good to me! Let’s see how we get on tomorrow.