The first reference to New Southgate is in the 1850s. Much of New Southgate was once the hamlet of
Betstile centred on a crossroads at which stood Betstile House and Betstile Lodge; Betstyle has been perpetuated since the early 20th century with Betstyle Road and Betstyle Circus. North and east parts were known as Betstyle and as a natural progression fell into the
Municipal Borough of Southgate (1881-1965); Southgate had recently grown from a broad hamlet of South Street and others in the parish of
Edmonton. From 1851 Southgate constituted a district chapelry under Edmonton which replaced the semi-private Ward Chapel at
Arnos Grove built in the 17th century — immediately north-east of Betstyle. West parts from 1409 until the 20th century were frequently referred to in title deeds as Colney Hatch. Development was tightly constrained. It was estimated the hamlet had 12 of 78 taxable houses in the narrow parish in 1795; but 33 inhabited houses in Colney Hatch are recorded in 1801. This co-parent parish extended a total of west,
Friern Barnet. Maps show the name Colney Hatch, interchangeably with New Southgate, coming to cover the more developed hamlet Betstyle, in the chapelry of
Southgate within the parish of
Edmonton; the refined hamlet and grand asylum outweighed the initial stigma in official maps and deeds, but less so in social organisations and in the naming of the railway station, the line of which resembles the historic split between the two parishes and later districts including today's boroughs. The crossroads of Colney Hatch had Halliwick manor house standing north of some cottages on the south-west corner; The White House and The Orange Tree Inn on the north-west side near to Brook House; The Priory, north-east with Woodlands, Greenbank, and Springfield to the north to which were added the Hermitage and several cottages on the south-west corner by 1783.
St Paul's Church, New Southgate was consecrated in 1873, taking part of its parish from
Christ Church, Southgate and part from
St James the Great, Friern Barnet, the latter transferring land east of the
Great Northern Railway. The extant ecclesiastical parish boundary likewise traverses the boroughs of
Enfield and
Barnet while additionally a small portion is within the
London Borough of Haringey, Bounds Green Ward.
Friern Hospital Many tens of acres were bought and used by the second county lunatic asylum for
Middlesex, as maps of before
World War II show. The later mental health hospital on the site closed in 1993. It was redeveloped into two housing estates, Princess Park Manor and Friern Village in New Southgate.
Churches The Anglican church in New Southgate is the first locally. It originated in 1870 in a mission to the new district of Colney Hatch by the assistant curate of the church built seven years previously in Southgate. ==Notable residents==