ENFIELD, a township of Hartford county, Connecticut, U.S.A., in the N. part of the state, on the E. bank of the Connecticut river, 20 m. N. of Hartford. It has an area of 35 sq. m., with three villages—Thompsonville, Hazardville and Enfield. Pop. (1890) 7199; (1900) 6699 (1812 foreign-born); (1910) 9719. Its principal manufactures are gunpowder, carpets, brick, cotton press machinery, and coffin hardware. In Enfield and its vicinity much tobacco is grown. First settled in 1679, Enfield was a part of the township of Springfield, Massachusetts, until 1683, when it was made a separate township; in 1749 it became a part of Connecticut. At a town meeting on the 11th of July 1774 it was resolved that “a firm and inviolable union of our colonies is absolutely necessary for the defence of our civil rights,” and that “the most effectual measures to defeat the machinations of the enemies of His Majesty’s government and the liberties of America is to break off all commercial intercourse with Great Britain and the West Indies until these oppressive acts for raising a revenue in America are repealed.” A Shaker community was established in the township in 1781, at what is now called Shaker Station.
See Francis Olcutt Allen, History of Enfield (Lancaster, Pa., 1900).
ENFIELD, a market town in the Enfield parliamentary division of Middlesex, England, 11 m. N. of London Bridge, on the Great Northern and Great Eastern railways. Pop. of urban district, (1891) 31,536, (1901) 42,738. It is picturesquely situated on the western slope of the Lea valley, with a considerable extension towards the river, mainly consisting of artisans’ dwellings (Churchbury, Ponder’s End, and Enfield Highway on the Old North Road). Great numbers of villas occupied by those whose work lies in London have grown up; and many of the inhabitants are employed in the Royal Small Arms factory at Enfield Lock. The church of St Andrew is mainly Perpendicular, but has Early English portions; it contains several ancient monuments and brasses, and flanks the market-place, with its modern cross. Enfield Palace fronts the High Street; it retains portions of the building of Edward VI., but has been greatly altered. The grammer school, near the church, was founded in 1557. The New River flows through the parish, and Sir Hugh Myddleton, its projector, was for some time resident here. Middleton House, named after him, is one of several fine mansions in the vicinity. Of these, Forty Hall, in splendidly timbered grounds, is from the designs of Inigo Jones; and a former mansion occupying the site of White Webbs House was suspected as the scene of the hatching of Gunpowder Plot. The parish is of great extent (12,653 acres).
An Anglo-Saxon derivation, signifying “forest clearing,” is indicated for the name. Enfield Chase was a royal preserve, disafforested in 1777. The principal manor of Enfield, which was held by Asgar, Edward the Confessor’s master of horse, was in the hands of the Norman baron Geoffrey de Mandeville at the time of Domesday, and belonged to the Bohun family in the 12th and 13th centuries. It came, by succession and marriage, into the possession of the crown under Henry IV., and was included in the duchy of Lancaster. There were, however, seven other manors, and of these one, Worcesters, came to the crown in the time of Henry VIII., whose children resided at the manor-house, Elsynge Hall. Edward VI., settling both manors upon the princess Elizabeth, rebuilt Enfield Palace for her. She was a frequent resident here not only before but after her accession to the throne. About 1664 the palace was occupied as a school by Robert Uvedale (1642-1722), who was also an eminent horticulturist, planted the magnificent cedar still standing in the palace grounds, and formed a herbarium now in the Sloane collection at the British Museum. The town received grants of markets from Edward I. and James I.
ENFILADE (a French word, from enfiler, to thread, and so to pass through from end to end), a military term used to express the direction of fire along an enemy’s line, or parapet. This species of fire is most demoralizing and destructive, since, from its direction, very few guns or rifles can be brought to bear to meet it. If any considerable body of men changes front, it immediately lays itself open to enfilade from the enemy whom it originally faced. Against entrenchments, or the parapets of fortifications, enfilade is still more effective, as the enemy is deprived of the protection given by his works and is no better covered than if he were in the open. Banks of earth, built perpendicular to the line of defence (called traverses), are usually employed to protect parapets or trenches against enfilade.
ENGADINE (Ger. Engadin; Ital. Engadina; Ladin, Engiadina), the name of the upper or Swiss portion of the valley of the Inn, which forms part of the Swiss canton of the Grisons. Its length by carriage road from the Maloja plateau (5935 ft.) at its south-western end to Martinsbruck (3406 ft.) at its north-eastern extremity is about 59 m. It is to be noted that up to and including St Moritz (6037 ft., the highest) all the villages (save Sils-Baseglia) at its south-western end are higher than the Maloja plateau itself. The uppermost portion of the valley contains several lakes, which, as one descends, gradually diminish in size, those of Sils, Silvaplana and St Moritz. But both the Maloja plateau and the south-western half of the lake of Sils belong to the commune of Stampa in the Val Bregaglia, and are included in the Bregaglia administrative district, so that, from a political point of view, Sils is the first village that is included in the Engadine. The rest of the Engadine forms the districts of the Upper Engadine with eleven communes, and of the Inn (i.e. the Lower Engadine), subdivided into the Ob Tasna, Remüs, and Unter Tasna circles, and containing twelve communes.
In 1900 the total population of the Engadine was 11,712, of whom 5429 were in the Upper Engadine and 6283 in the Lower Engadine. In point of religion 8594 were Protestants (4923 in the Lower Engadine and 3671 in the Upper Engadine), and 3086 Romanists (1728 in the Upper Engadine and 1358 in the Lower Engadine), while there were 12 Jews in the Upper Engadine and 2 in the Lower Engadine: in the Upper Engadine the majority in each commune was Protestant (the Romanists strongest in St Moritz), as also in the case of the Lower Engadine, save Tarasp and Samnaun, where the Romanists prevail. In point of language 7609 inhabitants (5010 in the Lower Engadine and 2599 in the Upper Engadine) spoke the curious Ladin dialect (a survival of a primitive Romance tongue), and 2221 German (1265 in the Upper Engadine and 956 in the Lower Engadine). The capital of the Upper Engadine is Samaden (967 inhabitants), and that of the Lower Engadine, Schuls (1117 inhabitants). In 1908 there were no railways in the Engadine, save about 8 m. (from the mouth of the tunnel past Bevers and Samaden to St Moritz village) of the railway pierced (1898-1902) beneath (5987 ft.) the Albula Pass (7595 ft.), which now affords the easiest means of access from Coire to St Moritz (56 m.); but many railways in and to the Engadine have been planned. The valley is reached by many passes (over which excellent carriage roads were constructed 1820-1872). The Maloja (5935 ft.) is the route from Chiavenna and the Lake of Como to the Upper Engadine, which is also reached from Coire by the Julier (7504 ft.) and the Albula Passes (7595 ft.) as well as from Tirano in the Valtellina by the Bernina Pass (7645 ft.). On the other hand, the Lower Engadine is accessible from Davos over the Flüela Pass (7838 ft.) and from Mals at the head of the Adige valley (or the Vintschgau) by the Ofen Pass (7071 ft.), while from Martinsbruck, the last Swiss village, a carriage road leads up to Nauders (5 m.), whence it is 27 m. by road down the Inn valley to Landeck on the Arlberg railway, or 17½ m. over the Reschen Scheideck Pass (4902 ft.) to Mals in the Vintschgau.