Trent Country Park, near Cockfosters, EN4, covers about 170 hectares of green belt land. It is bounded by Cockfosters Road on the west, Hadley Road on the north, farmland and a golf course to the east, and Enfield Road to the south.
In addition to the country park which is open to the public, it also houses the main campus of Middlesex University. Trent Park also includes also some farmland, a golf course, and a riding school. Concerts are held in the park from time to time in summer.Not all of the old gardens survive, and there is only a limited amount of horticultural interest outside the college grounds. Among theses is the Water Garden, and its surrounding rhododendron plantings, to be found north of the house.
The park contains a set of woods, and large areas of meadow grass. These are now largely maintained for their conservation value. A set of trails have been signposted through the woodland.Trent Park (the mansion) is the most important of these. There are other important buildings, such as the orangery. There are also a number of monuments, and some ancient features.
Probably the best known of the ancient features is Camlet Moat, in the north of the park. This is regularly mentioned in ghost stories. It may have been a defensive moat around a house.The many monuments include an impressive obelisk, in the north of the park and with a vista to it from the house. There are numerous other monuments. Many of the original architectural features are within the present college grounds; these include the house and the orangery.
Originally Trent Park was part of the Enfield Chase, a royal hunting forest, with commoner's rights over it. This use declined and pressures for farming and other development increased into the 18th century. Some of the original Chase eventually became built up land. A reduced hunting park was established as Trent Park, with Richard Jebb as owner. It included the original building, from the 1780s, that later became the Mansion, and some outlines of the modern decorative landscape.
Some of the landscape design is attributed to Humphrey Repton. It is sometimes also attributed to Capability Brown, though the latter seems to be without solid evidence. Much of the current woodland is due to tree planting that took place through the 19th century. Among the most striking 19th century features, is the avenue, about 700 meters lined with lime trees. Another is the set of lakes, formed by damming of a stream.After many changes of ownership during the 19th century, it eventually came into the hands of Edward Sassoon and his son Philip in 1912. He was responsible for much of the modern landscape, including opulent gardens, the import of monuments and statues, and changes to the avenues. Most of these gardens, like earlier ones, have now gone.
The estate was taken over by the government during World War 2 as a POW camp. It then became part of a teacher training college. In 1973, much of it was opened to the public as Trent Park by the GLC.The park is managed by the London Borough of Enfield. Contact 020 8449 2459. Part of the estate is however now part of the Trent Park campus of Middlesex University and some of this is not open to the public.