Enfield Rifles and the River Lea

A year or so ago  we moored  by Enfield lock on the River Lea, in London and explored the

The Royal_Small_Arms_Factory in Enfield.  



Much of the factory and the workers cottages are still there, and, although slightly compromised by modern development still has a lot of interesting red brick buildings,







So I was quite interested when Michael Portillo  started his exploration of the 'Great Railway Journeys' in Enfield.  This, ofcourse, was his old constituency before that famous defeat by Stephen Twigg in the 1997 election.



This is quite an ideal TV format because essentially, Portillo simply uses the Bradshaw Guide to create a narrative, hops on a train and interviews a few historians and the like in places along the Railway line.



I don't normal watch these programmes but I had the TV on while  rearranging my front room to make way for a French 19th Century 'Boat' Bed. I had just watched Clare Balding cycle along Offa's Dyke, on a Dawes Bike. I discovered that my Dawes Bike has a proud history and that in the 1960's we had a Cyclist who won 8 Tour de France stages. 



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawes_Cycles



Anyway back to Diane Abott's friend - he told me that  the Enfield factory was the first factory in Britain to adopt new mass production methods of  manufacture - in this case machine making parts to put together  as a Rifle. The idea came from the US - Springfield Rifle I believe.



On this day my father also told me about his visits to speedway at Rye House - another place my boat has been moored.  for further details have a look at this:   http://thefludes.blogspot.co.uk/

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