Enfield Museum
What Visitors Say
Friendly space. The museum could be expanded to include more historical information and present day demographics. This would make it more enjoyable and usable.
Nice little museum that I can spend over an hour in. But why is it still closed? It originally closed because of COVID but the pandemic is over now. It would have got 5 stars if lazy Enfield Council did their job and opened it.
This is a tiny museum, so don't run across London to see it, but if you're around pop in. Exhibitions change every few months or so. There is also a bigger exposition upstairs in Dugdale Centre that is kind of related to this museum. They are both inside the Dugdale Centre.
I did not like it, the guide did not know the story, everything did not go according to plan, it was very frustrating.
A small museum focusing on toys between the 1950's to the 1990's. It's free and worth a visit for a trip down memory lane. Many old classics here.
Highlights
Royal Small Arms Factory & the Lee–Enfield
Explains how the Enfield Lock factory (founded 1816) shaped British service weapons, notably the Lee–Enfield rifle used across two world wars.Look for factory marks and training pieces that show how interchangeable parts made rapid wartime production possible.
Industry & innovation section
New River & London’s Thirst
Models, maps and artefacts tell how the 1613 ‘New River’ channel crossed Enfield to supply clean water to a growing London.Trace the artificial river’s course on a period map, then match it to modern place-names you might recognise.
Early-modern Enfield case
Lightbulbs at Ponders End
Material from the Ediswan works at Ponders End links Enfield to early British electric-lamp manufacture and lighting design.Compare carbon-filament to later tungsten examples—tiny filament changes, big differences in brightness and life.
Manufacture in the borough
First Cash Machine
Ephemera and imagery mark Enfield Town as the site of the world’s first automatic cash dispenser (1967).Spot period adverts explaining how to use an ATM—then cutting-edge public technology.
Modern Enfield showcase
Opening Hours
Fun Facts
The ‘Enfield’ in Lee–Enfield isn’t just a name: trialling, tooling and proofing for the rifle family were centred on the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock.
The New River—completed in 1613—still flows through the borough on a partly open course; historic valves and measuring plates in displays show how its output was managed.
At Ponders End, the Ediswan plant helped Britain move from carbon to tungsten filaments—examples in cases illustrate the step-change in efficiency.
Barclays Bank in Enfield Town launched the first automated cash machine in 1967—museum graphics tie the global ATM story back to a single high-street branch.
