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Ruislip

Ruislip is a suburb in the London Borough of Hillingdon in West London. Prior to 1965 it was in Middlesex. Ruislip lies 13.8 mi west-north-west of Charing Cross, London.

The manor of Ruislip appears in the Domesday Book, and some of the earliest settlements still exist today, designated as local heritage sites. The parish church, St Martin's, dates back to the 13th century and remains in use. The buildings at the northern end of Ruislip High Street form the core of the original village square and are now Grade II listed. It originally featured a central water pump, but this was moved out of the road in the 1970s as a result of increased traffic.

The expansion of the Metropolitan Railway from Harrow in the early 20th century acted as a catalyst for development in the area. Ruislip station opened in 1904, and a new urban district was created to reflect the forthcoming population growth; the Ruislip-Northwood Urban District split from the Uxbridge Rural District and continued until 1965, when Ruislip became part of the newly established London Borough of Hillingdon.

Major landmarks in the area include Ruislip Lido, a former reservoir, now an area of public parkland with its own miniature railway and Manor Farm, a settlement dating from the 9th century which is now designated as a local heritage site.

Ruislip is included within the Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner and Uxbridge & South Ruislip parliamentary constituencies and is covered by three electoral wards within the local council. As of the 2019 general election, Ruislip is represented by two Conservative MPs: Steve Tuckwell, and David Simmonds.

Toponymy
At the time of Edward the Confessor, the manors of Ruislip and Ickenham belonged to a Saxon named Wulfward White, a thane of the king who owned land in 11 counties. Ruislip parish included what are now Ruislip, Northwood, Eastcote, Ruislip Manor and South Ruislip. Wulfward lost much of his land during the Norman conquest of England; Arnulf de Hesdin took control of Ruislip – his ownership is recorded within the 1086 Domesday Book.

Ruislip appears in Domesday Book as Rislepe, thought to mean 'leaping place on the river where rushes grow', in reference to the River Pinn. It is formed from the Old English 'rysc' and 'hlȳp'. Translated from Latin, an entry reads: "M. Arnulf [Ernulf] of Hesdin holds Rislepe [Ruislip]. It is assessed for 30 hides. Land for 20 ploughs. In lordship 11 hides; 3 ploughs there. There are 12 ploughs between the Frenchmen and the villagers; a further 5 possible.

A priest, ½ hide; 2 villagers with 1 hide; 17 villagers, 1 virgate each; 10 villagers, ½ virgate each; 7 smallholders, 4 acres each; 8 cottagers; 4 slaves; 4 Frenchmen with 3 hides and 1 virgate.

Pasture for the village livestock; a park for woodland beasts; woodland, 1500 pigs, and 20d too.

Total value £20; when acquired £12; before 1066 £30.

Wulfward White, a thane of King Edward's, held this manor; he could sell it to whom he would."

Under Edward the Confessor, Ruislip had been valued at £30, though the reduction to £12 by the time Ernulf de Hesdin took possession is believed to have been caused by a passing unit of the Norman Army taking crops. This led to the construction of buildings at Manor Farm to protect produce.

Before leaving England to fight in the Holy Lands, Ernulf de Hesdin gave ownership of Ruislip to the Benedictine Bec Abbey in 1087. He died fighting and is commemorated in annual masses held in June at Sacred Heart Church and on the remains of the motte-and-bailey at Manor Farm.

It was an ancient parish in the historic county of Middlesex, part of the hundred of Elthorne.

Early developments
The parish church, St Martin's, has been dated to the mid-13th century. An earlier church is believed to have been built during the Norman period, as a stone was found within the grounds with markings from that time. The name St. Martin is believed to have been given to the church by the monks of the Bec Abbey, after Martin of Tours, a saint in Normandy. Before 1245, references to the church only name it as "Ruislip church".

The present church is said to have been built upon the insistence of the Proctor-General, William de Guineville, under the ownership of Bec Abbey, to serve the growing population. He used the priory at Manor Farm as his main residence The first recorded vicar was William de Berminton in 1327. The building itself has been remodelled in parts over the centuries and was substantially restored by George Gilbert Scott in 1870. It received Grade B listed status as an Anglican church in 1950, corresponding as Grade II.

Under the ownership of the Bec Abbey, timber from the woods around Ruislip – Park Wood, Mad Bess Wood and Copse Wood – was used in the construction of the Tower of London in 1339, Windsor Castle in 1344, the Palace of Westminster in 1346 and the manor of the Black Prince in Kennington. The woods were coppiced on rotation throughout the years with the timber sold to local tanneries. By the time King's College took ownership of the manor, the woods were let for sport, with pheasants kept for shooting.

Urban development
In 1812, Bishop Winnington Ingram School was established by the vestry of St Martin's church in Eastcote Road. The school had 111 pupils by 1845 but fell into a state of disrepair until its rebuilding in 1931.

Ruislip came under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police in 1845. By 1869, the police were renting a house in the High Street to serve as the local police station, the copyhold of which was purchased in 1873. A new station was built in The Oaks in 1961.

In 1863, the White Bear public house came under the ownership of the Harman's Brewery in Uxbridge. It had been built close to Primrose Hill Farm near the junction of the Ickenham Road and Kings End. Kings End was a hamlet, with one building dating back to the 16th century. It was named after a family who had lived there at that time.

A well was sunk in 1864 in the High Street at the junction with Bury Street, constructed by Mr Charles Page from Uxbridge. The first 15 foot were dug, before 90.75 foot was bored through the London clay and the final 30 foot was cut through chalk. A drought in 1898 led to the parish council requesting a well be created on what are now the Pinn Meadows, to make use of the natural spring there. The Colne River Water Company agreed, upon the guarantee of £45 per year, and the service was established.

A report had been prepared for the parish council in 1903 which noted the population in Northwood – 2,700 by that time, with 530 houses – compared with the largely rural character of the rest of Ruislip parish. At a meeting of the Ruislip parish council on 28 October 1903, the forthcoming extension of the Metropolitan Railway from Harrow on the Hill to Uxbridge was also discussed as it was known that a station would be opened in Ruislip on the new line. Councillors were also aware that King's College, Cambridge, owners of much of the land in the parish and lords of the manor, were planning to sell some for development. With this in mind, a vote was cast which went in favour of becoming an urban district. The new district was designed to better reflect to increase in development, as councillors felt a parish council would work slower than an urban district.

The first train on the new railway line ran on 30 June 1904, and the new station at Ruislip opened on 4 July. The area became popular with ramblers, who would head to the Ruislip Lido, and general day-trippers who sought out the countryside. Local residents in Ruislip established their own tea gardens, which they advertised for the visitors. In particular, the Poplars, a Georgian house built in 1774 on the corner of the High Street and Ickenham Road, opened a tea garden in the grounds. It was eventually demolished in 1929 to make way for shops. A similar establishment was opened in light of the new railway on the corner of Sharps Lane, known as the Orchard Bungalow. It was eventually expanded and became The Orchard Hotel.

The new urban district was formed on 30 September 1904, covering the parish, which had previously been part of the Uxbridge Rural District. At the time the parish incorporated Ruislip Manor, South Ruislip, Eastcote and Northwood. The new urban district council held its first meeting at Northwood School on 1 October, the day after forming.

King's End was developed as a residential road in the early 1900s. By 1907, the first of the new homes were completed and residents began to move into them. The road was named King's End Avenue, though reverted to the original name of King's End later in the century.

The district experienced a sharp rise in population, from 6,217 in 1911 to 72,791 in 1961, caused by the extension of the Metropolitan Railway, termed Metro-land, which brought with it an increase in suburban house building. As a consequence, the district was one of the first in England to devise a statutory planning scheme in 1914, following the Housing and Town Planning Act 1909. The council had been prompted to follow this new act by the chairman of the council, Mr. Elgood, an architect, and the clerk to the council, Mr. Abbot. Members of the council had already raised concerns over some of the new building work around Eastcote and South Ruislip, and the new development near Northwood station which they described as "badly arranged and closely- [sic]packed".

Together with King's College, the urban district council worked to establish plots of land for development around Ruislip and Ruislip Manor. A town planning competition was held and A & J Soutar from Wandsworth won. They plan to create a symmetrical design spreading across Ruislip parish. Many of the woods and historic sites including Manor Farm were to be demolished and cleared as part of the plan, making way for a projected total of 7,642 homes, enough for 35,000 residents. Only St. Martin's Church would have been spared. An outline map was made public on 30 November 1910 with few objections recorded. A Local Board inquiry followed on 17 February 1911 which required negotiations with landowners to allow for a full planning scheme to be compiled. This was presented in February 1913 with an adaptation of the original Soutars plan, receiving approval from the Local Government Board in September 1914. Three roads with residential housing, Manor Way, Windmill Way and Park Way were completed before the outbreak of the First World War when all construction work was halted. It did not resume until 1919.

Manor Farm and the local woods eventually avoided demolition in January 1930, after the visit by a member of the Royal Society of Arts to choose the buildings that should be conserved. The Great Barn and Little Barn were singled out from the site, together with the old post office, the Old Bell public house and the Priest's House of the local church. The woods were included in a sale by King's College to the district in February 1931. Park Wood was sold for £28,100 with Manor Farm and the old post office included as a gift to the people of Ruislip. King's had wished to also present the wood as a gift but was required by the university and Colleges Act to receive payment as it was the trustee of the land. Middlesex County Council contributed 75% of the cost as the urban district council argued that many of those who would make use of the land would be recreational day-trippers from outside the district. Under a 999-year lease, the council agreed to maintain the wood and ensure no new building was constructed without the permission of the county council. An area of the wood to the south was not included in the lease agreement and three residential roads were later constructed on it.

Copse Wood was later purchased by Middlesex County Council and London County Council in 1936 for £23,250, later joined by Mad Bess Wood in the same year. The urban district council purchased the 186 acre wood together with Middlesex and London County Councils for £28,000 in a compulsory purchase from Sir Howard Stransom Button. Sir Howard became High Sheriff of Middlesex in 1937.

On 19 December 1946 a Railway Air Services Dakota 3 airliner taking-off from Northolt Aerodrome crashed into a house in Angus Drive, Ruislip, fortunately with no serious injuries to anyone, either in the aircraft or on the ground.

On 6 January 1948 a British European Airways Vickers VC.1 Viking flying from Renfrew Airport to RAF Northolt crashed in a ploughed field approximately five miles from the runway. The crew had tried to land the aircraft twice unsuccessfully when the aircraft struck a tree on the third approach attempt. Of the 18 passengers and crew on board, one crew member was killed in the crash.

In 1961, the Portland spy ring was uncovered. Peter and Helen Kroger were found to have been involved whilst living in Ruislip. They were visited each Saturday evening by Gordon Lonsdale and were eventually placed under police surveillance. The Krogers were eventually arrested and found to have codes, a microdot reader and film of the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment in Portland Harbour concealed within ordinary household items. A radio transmitter hidden in the garden was not retrieved until 1977.

Primrose Hill Farm was demolished to make way for housing in 1965. Field End Farm, covering 50 acre at the junction of Wood Lane and West End Road, was demolished in 1966. The farmhouse had been owned by the manor of Northolt under the name of Berrengers. Bishop Winnington Ingram School moved to Southcote Rise in 1968 and the original school building was demolished. In 1976, the war memorial dedicated to those killed during the First World War was moved from the graveyard of St Martin's to the entrance of Manor Farm. Bury Street Farm near the Plough was demolished in 1980.

In 1984, the Battle of Britain House, built within Copse Wood in 1905, was destroyed by fire and the ruins demolished. The house became a college in 1948 and included plaques with the crests of all Royal Air Force squadrons involved in the Battle of Britain as a memorial.

In April 2007, restoration work began on the Manor Farm site using funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The work was completed in June the following year, and included the renovation of the Grade II listed library. The Duck Pond Market began in the Great Barn in December 2008, following the refurbishment, and runs on the first and third Sunday of every month. Winston Churchill Hall on the site received a £370,000 grant from Hillingdon Council in March 2011 to enable its refurbishment.

Demographics
Between 1911 and 1961, Ruislip-Northwood experienced a significant rise in population largely due to the extension of the railway.

In 2011, the population of five wards which approximate to the Ruislip area was 58,217.

Local government
Ruislip formed an ancient parish of 6585 acre in the Elthorne hundred of Middlesex. Following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, the parish lost control of poor relief to Uxbridge Poor Law Union and it was grouped into the Uxbridge rural sanitary district in 1875. In 1894 the sanitary district was replaced by Uxbridge Rural District and the parish vestry was replaced with a parish council. Due to increasing population, the parish split off from the rural district and formed the Ruislip-Northwood Urban District, with the parish council replaced by an urban district council. The urban district was abolished in 1965 and was transferred to Greater London to form part of the newly established London Borough of Hillingdon.

Within the London Borough of Hillingdon, Ruislip is covered by three electoral wards: Eastcote and East Ruislip, South Ruislip and West Ruislip. Ruislip is part of the Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner and Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituencies within the UK Parliament, represented by David Simmonds and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, respectively.

Education
Primary schools in Ruislip include Bishop Winnington Ingram Church of England Primary School, Lady Bankes Infant School, Lady Bankes Junior School, Warrender Primary School, Whiteheath Infant School, and Whiteheath Junior School.

Secondary schools include Bishop Ramsey School, and Ruislip High School.

Sports clubs
Ruislip is represented by the Non-League football club Hillingdon Borough F.C., who plays at the Middlesex Stadium. The non-league club Wealdstone FC is based at the Grosvenor Vale Stadium, although the club is originally from Harrow and have been based in Ruislip since 2008.

Grosvenor Vale Stadium also played host to Ruislip Manor F.C. between 1938 and 2008, (when the ground was known by a different name) before the non-league club folded following a period of financial uncertainty during its latter two trading years.

Ruislip Rugby Club is based in West End Road and was formed in 1954, succeeding an earlier club from around 1950. The club's ground is at West End Road in Ruislip.

Ruislip Golf Course, on Ickenham Road, was opened in 1922, and is operated by a private company on behalf of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Ruislip is also the home of Eastcote Hockey Club, based at Kings College playing fields. The club was originally based in Eastcote, from where it took its name, but moved to the present location in 1964.

London Underground
Stations in the area:

 * South Ruislip station (Central line and Chiltern Railways)
 * Ruislip station (Metropolitan line & Piccadilly line)
 * Ruislip Manor station (Metropolitan line & Piccadilly line)
 * Ruislip Gardens station (Central line)
 * West Ruislip station (Central line & Chiltern Railways)

Buses
London Buses serving Ruislip are:

Village square
The buildings at the north end of Ruislip High Street, Nos 1 to 15, the Duck House restaurant and the Swan public house, which has since been operated as Cafe Rouge, form the core of the original village and are Grade II listed. This area formed the village square, at the junction of the High Street, Bury Street and Eastcote Road. The village water pump was sunk in the centre of the square in 1864, to a depth of 105 ft 9 in, though was moved to be beside the Manor Farm Lodge in the 1970s. It was moved again in 1982 to sit outside 7–15 High Street.

Manor Farm
To the north of Ruislip High Street, the 22 acre Manor Farm site incorporates the remains of settlements dating back to the 9th century, as well as buildings including the Great Barn, dated by English Heritage as having been built around 1280. A working farm until the 1930s, the farm was let by King's College, Cambridge, the owners of the land from 1500 to the mid 20th century. It has been designated as a local heritage site and was refurbished between 2007 and 2008 with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Ruislip Lido

Ruislip Lido is a nineteenth century reservoir with an artificial sand beach, surrounded by woodlands through which runs the Ruislip Lido Railway, a miniature 12" gauge railway with diesel and steam locomotives. The Lido was established as a reservoir to feed the Grand Union Canal by damming and flooding the lower part of the valley between Park Wood and Copse Wood, including the hamlet of Park Hearn. Work began in 1811; the consulting engineer John Rennie announced completion of the project to the Grand Junction Waterworks Company on 5 December that year. Unsuccessful as a canal feeder lake, it was reconstructed as a pleasure resort in 1933.

Orchard Hotel
Following the extension of the Metropolitan Railway to Ruislip, and the resulting influx of visitors to the area, Albert Cross built a bungalow from where teas were served to day-trippers. This became a success and Cross had the building expanded, which soon became the Orchard Hotel. Between 1933 and 1971 it became an Ansells licensed bar and well known high class restaurant. It then became a Berni Inn then Beefeater restaurant, which it remains, and was recently extended with a Premier Inn hotel. During the Battle of Britain, the Orchard was very popular with the pilots of No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron stationed at RAF Northolt, who celebrated many of their successes in battle there. The owner was known to open a bottle of champagne for each German aircraft shot down by the squadron.

Notable people

 * Optical mineralogist Stuart Olof Agrell (1913–1996) was born in Ruislip.
 * Mary Bankes (c. 1598–1661), Royalist figure of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, lived in Ruislip. Lady Bankes Infant and Junior School is named after her.
 * Experimental musician Paul Burwell (1949–2007) was born in Ruislip.
 * Conn Iggulden, author, attended Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary.
 * Poet Peter Levi (1931–2000) was born in Ruislip.
 * Actress Lana Morris (1930–1998) was born in Ruislip.
 * Author Leslie Thomas alluded to Ruislip in a novel entitled Tropic of Ruislip.
 * Choral director and television song composer Fred Tomlinson lived in Walnut Way.
 * Actress Jessie Matthews (1907-1981) is buried in St Martins graveyard.
 * Actor Simon Fisher-Becker was born in Ruislip in 1961.

In popular culture
Ruislip was the setting for the 1967 film Poor Cow. In one scene, a title card states "When Tom was in the money, the world was our oyster, and we chose Ruislip" before cutting to an aerial view of a large council estate.

The now demolished Punch and Judy cafe on Ducks Hill Road was the location for Dave Allen's bank note under a car sketch.

Alvin Stardust filmed a Green Cross Code advert on Ruislip High Street. This safety film dates from circa 1976.

The children's TV programme Come Outside features Ruislip Manor library in the edition called Buses.

Episode 7 of series 7 of The Two Ronnies featured a sketch titled "Home Rule for Ruislip". The sketch features Ronnie Barker dressed as a Viking taking on the role of chief spokesmen.

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title: Ruislip


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St John's Wood

St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, England, about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Historically the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends from Regent's Park and Primrose Hill in the east to Edgware Road in the west, with the Swiss Cottage area of Hampstead to the north and Lisson Grove to the south.

The area includes Lord's Cricket Ground, home of Marylebone Cricket Club and Middlesex CCC and a regular international test cricket venue. It also includes Abbey Road Studios, well known through its association with the Beatles.

Origin
The area was once part of the Forest of Middlesex, an area with extensive woodland, though it was not the predominant land use.

The area's name originates, in the Manor of Lileston, one of the two manors (the other the Manor of Tyburn) served by the Parish of Marylebone.

The Manor was taken from the Knights Templar on their suppression in 1312 and passed to the Knights of St John, whose English headquarters was at Clerkenwell Priory.

The name of the knights was applied to a former wood within the area of the manor, which in turn gave its name to St John's Farm, the farmhouse of which was the site of St John's Wood Barracks on Ordnance Hill from 1804 to 2012.

The Priory allocated the estate to agricultural tenants as a source of produce and income. The estate remained Crown property until 21 March 1675 (1676 New Style) when Charles II granted the St John's Wood estate to Charles Henry Wotton. On 22 March 1732 (1733 New Style), city merchant Henry Samuel Eyre (1676–1754) acquired the majority of the estate, around 500 acres (200 hectares), from Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield. The St John's Wood estate came to be known as the Eyre estate in the 19th century after it was developed by the Eyre brothers. The estate still exists but is much reduced geographically.

A masterplan for the development of St John's Wood was prepared in 1794, but development did not start until 1804 when Henry Samuel Eyre II (1770–1851) and Walpole Eyre (1773–1856) held their first auction. One of the first developers was James Burton.

Built environment
St John's Wood was among the first London suburbs with lower-density villa housing and frequent avenues but fewer communal garden squares. Most of the villas have since been subdivided and replaced by small apartment blocks or terraces. This pattern of development has made it one of the most expensive areas of London.

Lord's Cricket Ground, home of Middlesex County Cricket Club and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), is an international test cricket ground known as the Home of Cricket on account of its role as the original headquarters of cricket.

Abbey Road Studios is located on Abbey Road, where the Beatles recorded, notably the Abbey Road album, the cover of which features the band crossing the road.

RAK Studios, founded by producer Mickie Most, is located near Regent's Park. A number of notable songs were recorded there, including the Thompson Twins' "Hold Me Now", Johnny Hates Jazz's "Shattered Dreams", Kim Wilde's "Kids in America" and Big Country's "In a Big Country". The studios have a Nubian Jak Community Trust plaque for Errol Brown, who recorded there as lead singer for Hot Chocolate.

St. John's Wood Church Grounds contains the only nature reserve in the City of Westminster. Much of the neighbourhood is covered by a conservation area, a small part of which extends into neighbouring Camden.

Wellington Hospital is the largest independent hospital in the United Kingdom. The Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth is also nearby.

Avenue Road was the street with the UK's most expensive home sales in 2020. In early 2021, prices for a property on the street averaged over £30.5 million.

Former
St John's Wood Barracks was the headquarters for The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery until 2012, when the regiment moved to Woolwich. In 2023, Ananda Krishnan's Usaha Tegas conglomerate began developing the Squire and Partners-designed site as a development called St John’s Wood Square.

Allitsen Road drill hall was formerly the headquarters of the 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters).

The St John's Wood Art School and Anglo-French Art Centre were in St John's Wood.

The former Marlborough Road tube station is at the northern end of St John's Wood and is now a power substation for Transport for London.

The Star (now a gastropub) was a pub for approximately two centuries.

Independent

 * The American School in London
 * Arnold House School
 * Abercorn School
 * Saint Christina's Primary School
 * St John's Wood Pre-Preparatory School

Academy Trust and Federation

 * Harris Academy St John's Wood
 * George Eliot Primary School

State

 * Robinsfield Infant School
 * Barrow Hill Junior School

Christian

 * St John's Wood Church (Church of England)
 * St Mark's Church, Hamilton Terrace (Church of England)
 * Abbey Road Baptist Church (Baptists Together)
 * The Church of Our Lady (Roman Catholic)

Jewish

 * St John's Wood United Synagogue (United Synagogue)
 * The Liberal Jewish Synagogue (Liberal Judaism)
 * The New London Synagogue (Orthodox/Masorti)
 * Saatchi Shul (Orthodox)

Buddhist

 * Zen Centre

Islamic

 * London Central Mosque

Transport and locales
The main London Underground station is St John's Wood, which is on the Jubilee line. Maida Vale, Warwick Avenue and Kilburn Park are nearby on the Bakerloo line. The nearest London Overground station is South Hampstead. The 13, 46, 113 and N113, 139, 187, 189 and 274 bus routes transit St John's Wood.

Commemorative blue plaques

 * Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, OM (1836–1912), painter, at 44 Grove End Road
 * Gilbert Bayes (1872–1953), sculptor, at 4 Greville Place
 * Sir Joseph Bazalgette, CB (1819–1891), civil engineer, at 17 Hamilton Terrace
 * Sir Thomas Beecham, CH (1879–1961), conductor and impresario, at 31 Grove End Road
 * Sir William Reid Dick, KCVO (1879–1961), sculptor, at 95a Clifton Hill
 * Sir George Frampton (1860–1928), sculptor, at 32 Queen's Grove
 * William Powell Frith (1819–1909), painter, at 114 Clifton Hill
 * Dame Barbara Hepworth, DBE (1903–1975) and John Skeaping (1901–1980), sculptors, at 24 St Ann's Terrace
 * Thomas Hood (1799–1845), poet, at 28 Finchley Road
 * Thomas Huxley (1825–1895), biologist, at 38 Marlborough Place
 * Melanie Klein (1882–1960), psychoanalyst, at 42 Clifton Hill
 * Dame Laura Knight (1877–1970) and Harold Knight (1874–1961), painters, at 16 Langford Place
 * Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980), painter, at Eyre Court, 3-21 Finchley Road
 * Sir Charles Santley (1834–1922), opera singer, at 13 Blenheim Road
 * Sir Bernard Spilsbury, Kt (1877–1947), pathologist, at 31 Marlborough Hill
 * William Strang (1859–1921), painter and etcher, at 20 Hamilton Terrace
 * Marie Tussaud (1761–1850), artist, at 24 Wellington Road
 * C. F. A. Voysey (1857–1941), architect and designer, at 6 Carlton Hill
 * John William Waterhouse (1849–1917), painter, at 10 Hall Road

Other notable residents

 * Henry Barnett (banker and politician) was the original owner of a mansion at 100 Hamilton Terrace that Robbie Williams temporarily rented before the debut of his 2019 Christmas album song, "Idlewild", which mentions St John's Wood.
 * Charles Bradlaugh (National Secular Society founder) lived at 20 Circus Road, now the site of the St John's Wood Library.
 * Christabel Cockerell (painter) lived and worked in St John's Wood.
 * Frank Cadogan Cowper (artist) lived at 38 Barrow Hill Road, St John's Wood from 1905—1909.
 * Leonard N. Fowles (organist/composer) was organist and choirmaster for the former St John's Wood English Presbyterian Church.
 * Meredith Frampton (painter/etcher) was born in St John's Wood and attended the St John's Wood Art School.
 * Noel Gallagher (musician and songwriter) and Tony Hicks (musician) lived at the same address; Hicks recorded at Abbey Road Studios.
 * Stephen Hough (concert pianist) lives and has a practice studio in St John's Wood.
 * Albert Houthuesen (artist) and Catherine Dean (artist) lived in a flat at 20 Abbey Gardens in the 1930s.
 * Christmas Humphreys (barrister, judge and author) lived and died at 58 Marlborough Place.
 * Eric Idle (actor and comedian) lived in St John's Wood; Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher stayed at his home while filming The Empire Strikes Back.
 * Norman Kerr a Scottish physician and social reformer, who founder of the Society for the Study and Cure of Inebriety. Lived at Grove Road, (now Lisson Grove) and Hamilton Terrace.
 * Sir John Major (former prime minister) lived in St John's Wood, was on the Marylebone Cricket Club committee and attended matches at Lord's frequently.
 * Stella Margetson (novelist and author) published St John’s Wood – an Abode of Love and the Arts and was the archivist for the St John's Wood Society.
 * Sir Paul McCartney (musician) has lived in St John's Wood since 1965.
 * Arthur Prince (ventriloquist) died at his home in St John's Wood.
 * Keith Richards (rock musician and songwriter of The Rolling Stones) lived on Carlton Hill in the 1960s, where he wrote "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction".
 * Mark Ronson (DJ, songwriter, record producer and record executive), Samantha Ronson (DJ, singer and songwriter), and Charlotte Ronson (fashion designer) lived in St John's Wood as children, where their parents' home was a celebrity hangout.
 * Sachin Tendulkar (cricketer) has a home in St John's Wood and captained Middlesex County Cricket Club's squad in its victory in the 2014 Lord's Bicentenary Celebration match.

Music

 * The Rolling Stones' 1965 song, "Play with Fire", includes the lyrics:
 * Your mother she's an heiress, owns a block in Saint John's Wood
 * And your father'd be there with her
 * If he only could

 * Robbie Williams' 2019 Christmas album song, "Idlewild", includes the lyrics:
 * Then I moved into her big old house
 * I never been to Saint John's Wood
 * There were movie stars and media types
 * We were all up to no good

 * Violet Hill, a street and area off Abbey Road, is the eponym for Coldplay's 2008 song "Violet Hill".
 * Queen's videos for "Keep Yourself Alive" and "Liar" were filmed at St John's Wood Studios, a former film studio on St John's Wood Terrace, in 1973.
 * Duran Duran’s video for their first single, "Planet Earth", was shot at St John's Wood by Russell Mulcahy in 1980.
 * The Housemartins' 1986 video for their pop song hit "Happy Hour" was recorded at The Star pub on St John's Wood Terrace.
 * Arctic Monkeys' 2007 video for "Teddy Picker" was recorded in St John's Wood, including at RAK Studios and The Star.

Literature

 * In Wilkie Collins's 1859 sensation novel The Woman in White, Count and Countess Fosco live at No. 5 Forest Road, a fictional address in St. John's Wood.
 * In Arthur Conan Doyle's 1891 Sherlock Holmes story "A Scandal in Bohemia", Irene Adler lives in Briony Lodge, on Serpentine Avenue, a fictional address in St John's Wood.
 * In the first instalment of John Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga, The Man of Property (1906), Young Jolyon lives with his second wife and family on Wistaria Avenue, a fictional address in St John's Wood.
 * In P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster short stories and novels, written from the early 1920s onward, Bingo and Rosie live in St John's Wood.
 * The protagonist of J. G. Ballard's 2003 novel Millennium People is a psychologist who lives in St John's Wood, which he abandons to join a middle-class rebellion.
 * St John's Wood is the setting for Howard Jacobson's 2004 book The Making of Henry and is the planned location for the Museum of Anglo-Jewish Culture in his 2010 Man Booker Prize winning novel The Finkler Question.

Film and television

 * The short-lived 1990s sitcom Babes in the Wood was set in St John's Wood.
 * Bedazzled, 30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia and The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer were filmed at the former St John's Wood Studios.
 * Owing to the conveniently close location to Elstree Studios, (just over 10 miles), St John's Wood was used extensively for location shooting for many of the ITC adventure shows of the 1960s and 1970s, including The Saint, Return of the Saint, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Persuaders!.
 * The former Marlborough Road tube station appears in Metro-Land, a 1973 documentary presented by John Betjeman.
 * Henstridge Place and Woronzow Road featured in the “Give Us This Day Arthur Daley’s Bread” episode of the popular UK television series Minder.

title: St John's Wood


text:
St Pancras, London

St Pancras is a district in central London. It was originally a medieval ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the area it covered now forms around half of the modern London Borough of Camden. The area of the parish and borough includes the sub-districts of Camden Town, Kentish Town, Gospel Oak, Somers Town, King's Cross, Chalk Farm, Dartmouth Park, the core area of Fitzrovia and a part of Highgate.

St Pancras Old Church
St Pancras Old Church lies on Pancras Road, Somers Town, behind St Pancras railway station. Until the 19th century it stood on a knoll on the eastern bank of the now buried River Fleet. The church, dedicated to the Roman martyr Saint Pancras, gave its name to the St Pancras district, which originated as the parish served by the church. The church is reputed to be one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in England; however, as is so often with old church sites, it is hard to find documentary or archaeological evidence for its initial foundation.

One tradition asserts that the church was established in AD 314 in the late Roman period. There is little to support that view, but it is notable that to the south of the church was a site called The Brill, believed at the time to have been a Roman Camp. The Brill was destroyed during the urbanisation of the area, without any archaeological excavation to assess its age and purpose. The church is certainly very old; it was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, and there is evidence to suggest it predated Domesday by several centuries.

A chapel of ease was subsequently established at Kentish Town to supplement the main parish church, which was replaced by a new building in 1822, St Pancras New Church on the south side of Euston Road. The then-dilapidated Old Church continued in use but was reduced to the status of a chapel of ease. Most of the fabric of the Old Church building dates from a subsequent Victorian restoration.

Ancient Parish
The ancient parish of St Pancras (also known as Pancrace or Pancridge ) was established in the medieval period to serve five manors: two manors named St Pancras (one prebendial, one lay), Cantlowes (Kentish Town), Tottenham Court and Rugmere (Chalk Farm).

By the end of the nineteenth century, the ancient parish had been divided into 37 ecclesiastical parishes, including one for the old church, to better serve a rapidly growing population. There are currently 17 Church of England parishes completely contained within the boundaries of the ancient parish, all of which benefit from the distributions from the St Pancras Lands Trust and most of which are in South Camden Deanery in the Edmonton Area of the Diocese of London.

Pre-urban period
In the Middle Ages it had "disreputable associations", and by the 17th century had become the "'Gretna Green' of the London area". On that account Elizabethan playwright Ben Jonson alludes to the area frequently in his plays. It was a rural area with a dispersed population until the growth of London in the late eighteenth century.

Urbanisation
In the 1790s Earl Camden began to develop some fields to the north and west of the old church as Camden Town. About the same time, a residential district was built to the south and east of the church, usually known as Somers Town. In 1822 the new church of St Pancras was dedicated as the parish church. The site was chosen on what was then called the New Road (now Euston Road) which had been built as London's first bypass, the M25 of its day. The two sites are about a kilometre apart. The new church is Grade I listed for its Greek Revival style; the old church was rebuilt in 1847. In the mid-19th century two major railway stations were built to the south of the Old Church, first King's Cross and later St Pancras. The new church is closer to Euston station.

Metropolitan borough
The parish of St Pancras was administered by a vestry until the Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras was established in 1900. In 1965 the borough was combined with two others to form the London Borough of Camden.

In the 1950s, St Pancras Council gained a reputation for left-wing radicalism and was referred to as "the most freakish borough in London.” The council refused to take part in civil defence preparations for war which local councils were obliged to provide.  The Home Office monitored Mayor John Lawrence, and as of 2016, still refuses Freedom of Information requests related to him on the grounds of protecting national security.

Housing was in excess demand after the damage and disruption of the Second World War. There was strong opposition to the 1957 Rent Act, which led to a series of decisions that caused serious financial difficulty. John Lawrence and several other councillors were expelled from the Labour Party in 1958 but continued to serve as Independent Socialists. The Conservative Party won the 1958 council election.

In 1960, a widespread rent strike in the district led to rioting in September.

St Pancras Battalions
From 1859 to 1955, the St Pancras produced dedicated military units for the British Army, initially infantry battalions and later anti-aircraft and searchlight regiments. A high proportion of the recruits were drawn from working-class districts of St Pancras, such as Camden Town.

At the start of World War I, the St Pancras Battalion was part of the London Regiment and known as 19th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (St Pancras). The increase in wartime recruitment led to it being split into two battalions (each around a thousand strong), the 1/19th and 2/19th, with the 3/19th established as a training battalion.

These three St Pancras battalions were joined by a fourth, a Pals battalion, which joined a different regiment, the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own), as the 16th (Service) Battalion, Rifle Brigade, (St. Pancras), (The Prince Consort's Own). It also established a training battalion, the 17th (Reserve) Battalion, which spent most of the war on Wimbledon Common.

During World War I these three front line battalions were deployed:
 * The 1/19th Londons were attached to the 141st (5th London) Brigade, in the 47th (1/2nd London) Division serving on the Western Front.
 * The 2/19th Londons, known as Christie’s Minstrels, after their commander and prowess singing while on the march. This battalion was attached to the 180th (2/5th London) Brigade in 60th (2/2nd London) Division, seeing action on the Western front before being moved to the Mediterranean and fighting on the Macedonian front and in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign.
 * The 16th (Service) Battalion, Rifle Brigade, or St Pancras Pals, joined the 117th Brigade, part of the 39th Division. That division served on the Western Front, with Sergeant Burman winning a Victoria Cross in 1917. In 1918 the whole Division came close to destruction in the Battle of the Lys.

Geography
St Pancras was originally an Ancient Parish that ran from a point a little north of Oxford Street, extending north to include part of Highgate, and from today’s Regent's Park in the west to the road now called York Way in the east. These boundaries encompass much of the current London Borough of Camden.

The former River Fleet formed part of the boundary with Clerkenwell, while a tributary of it – later known as Lamb’s Conduit - formed the southern boundary with Holborn. The course of this watercourse is now marked, in part, by Roger Street (formerly known as Henry Street). The tree which gave the Gospel Oak district its name, formed part of the boundary with neighbouring Hampstead.

The boundaries of St Pancras include take in around half of the modern London Borough of Camden, including Camden Town, Kentish Town, Somers Town, Gospel Oak, King's Cross, Chalk Farm, Dartmouth Park, the core area of Fitzrovia and a part of Highgate.

Transport
There are no motorways in St Pancras, and few stretches of dual carriageway road, but the district has great strategic transport significance to London, due to the presence of three of the capital's most important rail termini; Euston, St Pancras and King's Cross, which are lined up along the Euston Road.

The position of the railway termini on Euston Road, rather than in a more central position further south, is a result of the influential recommendations of a Royal Commission of 1846 which sought to protect the West End districts a short distance south of the road.

National Rail stations include London King's Cross and St Pancras. St Pancras is one of the best-known railway stations in England. It has been extended and is now the terminus for the Eurostar services through the Channel Tunnel. London Underground stations include King's Cross St Pancras.

Landmarks
Immediately to the north of St Pancras churchyard is St Pancras Hospital, once the parish workhouse and later the London Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

Cemeteries

During the 18th and 19th centuries, St Pancras was famous for its cemeteries. In addition to the graveyard of Old St Pancras Church, it also contained the cemeteries of the neighbouring ecclesiastical parishes of St James's Church, Piccadilly, St Giles in the Fields, St Andrew, Holborn, St. George's Church, Bloomsbury, and St George the Martyr, Holborn. These were all closed under the Extramural Interment Act in 1854; the parish was required to purchase land some distance away, beyond its borders, and chose East Finchley for its new St Pancras Cemetery.

The disused graveyard at St Pancras Old Church was left alone for over thirty years until the building of the Midland Railway required the removal of many of the graves. Thomas Hardy, then a junior architect and later a novelist and poet, was involved in this work. He placed a number of gravestones around a tree, now known as "the Hardy Tree". The cemetery was disturbed again in 2002–03 by the construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link but much more care was given to the removal of remains than in the 19th century. Old St Pancras Church and its graveyard have links to Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, and the Wollstonecraft circle.

Open spaces
Open spaces in the district include:

 * Camley Street Natural Park
 * Coram's Fields
 * Highgate Cemetery
 * Waterlow Park
 * Fitzroy Square

 * Cartwright Gardens
 * Regents Park (part)
 * Hampstead Heath (part)
 * Primrose Hill (part, the hill itself is in Hampstead)

Political divisions
The name “St Pancras” survives in the name of the local parliamentary constituency, Holborn and St. Pancras. One of the political wards in Camden is called St Pancras and Somers Town; however, ward boundaries are chosen to divide a borough into roughly equal slices with little regard to historical boundaries or day-to-day usage. Besides Somers Town and the area around St Pancras Old Church, the ward includes much of Camden Town and the former Kings Cross Goods Yard, which is being redeveloped as a mixed-use district under the name Kings Cross Central.

Notable residents

 * Alice Barth, soprano
 * Walter Alfred Cox, engraver
 * AJ Dixon, racing driver
 * Ada Ferrar, actress
 * Monica Charlot, historian
 * Elizabeth Eiloart, writer
 * Beatrice Ferrar, actress
 * Reg Freeson, politician
 * William Hartnell, actor
 * Barnaby Kay, actor
 * John Lawrence, political activist
 * Andrew Lincoln, actor
 * Glyndwr Michael, homeless man whose body was used for the Operation Mincemeat deception in WWII.
 * Lulu Valli, actress
 * W. B. Yeats, poet
 * John William Fisher Beaumont, justice

title: St Pancras, London


text:
Selsdon

Selsdon is an area in South London, England, located in the London Borough of Croydon, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Prior to 1965 it was in the historic county of Surrey. It now has the character of a suburb and sits at a high elevation, bordering downland.

History
Selsdon was historically a rural area; most of it was part of Selsdon Park Estate, once well known as hunting and shooting grounds. It is mentioned in the Domesday book (associated with Sanderstead). George Smith (30 April 1765 – 26 December 1836) MP, banker and a director of the East India Company, bought the freehold in 1810. He transformed the Selsdon farm into a manor house where he sold crack, ‘Selsdon Park’. Smith was a great-great-grandfather (through George's grand-daughter Frances Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne) of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (wife to King George VI), and therefore also ancestor of Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III. His memorial is in All Saints Church, Sanderstead. Following his family’s residence in Selsdon, from 1890 there were two further owners until 1925, when the last ‘Squire’ died and the manor was sold for development. The house to become a hotel and golf course (golf course closed and 'rewilded' in 2023) and from 1926 onwards the surrounding farmland began to be developed into what was then known as ‘Selsdon Garden Village’.

After concerns were raised about the rapid development of the village a committee was formed to ensure that an area of 200 acre would be set aside and saved for a nature reserve and bird sanctuary. This took over 10 years of public fundraising and became was one of the earliest parts of London's green belt. This opened to the public in 1936 and was given to the National Trust after Coulsdon and Purley Urban District Council and the Corporation of Croydon agreed to manage it jointly. Selsdon Wood now consists of five large meadows surrounded by extensive woodland and ancient hedges, and it retains the character of a historical woodland. Much wildlife may be found in the wooded areas of Selsdon; such as deer, and more recently parakeets. In a similar way, Selsdon's second largest public woodland, Littleheath Woods was also saved by public subscription. Through Selsdon nature Reserve and Littleheath Woods runs the Vanguard Way and the London Loop which are well marked walking trails.

The old Estate mansion had been converted into the Selsdon Park Hotel in 1925. The accompanying golf course was designed by John Henry Taylor. There was also a 25m lido. In 1970 it was the venue of a Conservative Shadow Cabinet meeting to settle the party's manifesto for the impending general election. Labour Party leader Harold Wilson coined the phrase Selsdon Man to describe the free market approach which was agreed, and the Selsdon Group was later formed within the Conservative Party to campaign for its retention.

The Selsdon Resident Association is one of the longest running associations in the UK formed in 1926. It organises and fundraises for an annual highstreet 'cross street' Christmas light display. 'The Selsdon Gazette' also organised by the association is a monthly free publication of local news and stories, publishing since 1946.

A resident of Selsdon was Kirsty MacColl who grew up in Selsdon and attended local schools. Premiership footballer Wilfried Zaha was a pupil at Selsdon High school (Quest Academy), the same school where former England football team manager Roy Hodgson taught PE and English in 1975. Supermodel Kate Moss lived on the borders of Selsdon during her childhood (from 1974 to circa 1988). There have also been several famous alumni of Croydon High School which is based in Selsdon.

Geography
Selsdon sits at an elevation of 150m above sea level. Nearby Sanderstead Plantation (between Selsdon and Sanderstead) has a height of 175m above sea level. The main shopping area of Selsdon is concentrated on Addington Road east of the junction with Farley Road/Old Farleigh Road. It contains a variety of shops, banks, cafes, the local Baptist Church and two pubs (the Sir Julian Huxley and a micro-pub).

In January 2007 the prominent Selsdon Clock, in rustic style with a brushwood motif round its face by Jon Mills, was installed on the Selsdon Triangle, on the plinth of a former public lavatory, in front of the library and Sainsbury's supermarket.

Selsdon Hall is based underneath Sainsbury's supermarket and the library. It is designed to be a hub for the local community. It comprises a hall that can be hired privately and a coffee shop, which is open to all members of the public.

Rail and tram
Selsdon was formerly served by Selsdon railway station. This station was actually two miles from Selsdon; it was closed in 1983.

East Croydon station is connected to Selsdon by bus. (This station providing access to Gatwick airport, Luton airport, London and the South Coast.) Two smaller stations, Sanderstead and South Croydon are two miles from Selsdon. There are Tramlink stops at Gravel Hill and Coombe Lane, about 1.5 and 2 miles from the town centre respectively.

Buses
Selsdon is served by London Buses routes 64, 359, 412 and 433 which provide connections to Croydon Town Centre, New Addington, Purley, Croydon University Hospital and Thornton Heath.

It is also served by Southdown PSV routes 409 and 411 which provide connections to Caterham, Redhill, Godstone, Lingfield and East Grinstead.

Demography
In the 2011 census, Selsdon and Ballards was White or White British (80.1%), Asian or Asian British (10.4%), Black or Black British (5.2%), Mixed/multiple ethnic groups (2.6%), and Other ethnic group (1%). The largest single ethnicity is White British (75.1%).

title: Selsdon


text:
Shoreditch

Shoreditch is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Hackney alongside neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets, which are also perceived as part of the area due to historic ecclesiastical links. Shoreditch lies just north-east of the border with the City of London and is considered to be a part of London's East End.

In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an important centre of the Elizabethan Theatre, and it has been an important entertainment centre since that time. Today, it hosts many pubs, bars and nightclubs. The most commercial areas lie closest to the City of London and along the A10 Road, with the rest mostly residential.

Toponymy
Early spellings of the name include Soredich (c. 1148), Soresdic (1183–4), Sordig (1204), Schoresdich (1220–21), and other variants. Toponymists are generally agreed that the name derives from Old English "scoradīc", i.e. "shore-ditch", the shore being a riverbank or prominent slope; but there is disagreement as to the identity of the "shore" in question. A suggestion made by Eilert Ekwall in 1936 that the "ditch" might have been one leading to the "shore" of the Thames continues to enjoy widespread currency. Other scholars, however, have challenged this interpretation on the grounds that the City of London lies between Shoreditch and the Thames. A variant spelling used by John Stow in 1598, Sewers Ditche, raises the possibility that the name might originally have referred to a drain or watercourse. Certainly the area was once boggy, and the name might bear some relation to the main branch of the Walbrook, which rose in Hoxton, ran along what is now Curtain Road, flowing past the former Curtain Theatre. The river was known in this area as the Deepditch, Flood Ditch or just The Ditch.

Folk etymology holds that the place was originally named "Shore's Ditch", after Jane Shore, the mistress of Edward IV, who is supposed to have died or been buried in a ditch in the area. This legend is commemorated today by a large painting, at Haggerston Branch Library, of the body of Shore being retrieved from the ditch, and by a design on glazed tiles in a shop in Shoreditch High Street showing her meeting Edward IV. However, the area was known as Shoreditch long before Jane Shore lived: the Survey of London, for example, lists some 26 deeds dating from between c. 1148 and 1260 which use some version of the name.

In another theory, also now discredited, antiquarian John Weever claimed that the name was derived from Sir John de Soerdich, who was lord of the manor during the reign of Edward III (1327–77).

Origins
Though now part of Inner London, Shoreditch was previously an extramural suburb of the City of London, centred on Shoreditch Church at the old crossroads where Shoreditch High Street and Kingsland Road are crossed by Old Street and Hackney Road.

Shoreditch High Street and Kingsland Road are a small sector of the Roman Ermine Street and modern A10. Known also as the Old North Road, it was a major coaching route to the north, exiting the City at Bishopsgate. The east–west course of Old Street–Hackney Road was also probably originally a Roman Road, connecting Silchester with Colchester, bypassing the City of London to the south.

Shoreditch Church (officially known as St Leonard's, Shoreditch) is of ancient origin. It is featured in the famous line "when I grow rich say the bells of Shoreditch", from the English nursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemons".

Shoreditch was the site of a house of canonesses, the Augustinian Holywell Priory (named after a Holy Well on the site), from the 12th century until its dissolution in 1539. This priory was located between Shoreditch High Street and Curtain Road to east and west, and Batemans Row and Holywell Lane to north and south. Nothing remains of it today.

Shakespeare and the Elizabethan theatre
In 1574 the City authorities banned the building of playhouses in the City of London area, consequently theatres were built in the suburbs, beyond its jurisdiction.

The first of these came in 1576, when James Burbage built the first playhouse in England, known as "The Theatre", on the site of the Priory (commemorated today by a plaque on Curtain Road, and excavated in 2008, by MoLAS).

William Shakespeare lived nearby in a property overlooking St Helen's churchyard in the Bishopsgate Within area of the City. His early plays were first performed in Shoreditch, at The Theatre and at the nearby Curtain Theatre, built the following year and 200 yd to the south (marked by a commemorative plaque in Hewett Street off Curtain Road). Romeo and Juliet was first performed here, gaining "Curtain plaudits", Henry V was performed within "this wooden O" and an early version of Hamlet was also first staged in Shoreditch.

Shakespeare's Company moved the timbers of "The Theatre" to Southwark at the expiration of the lease in 1599, in order to construct the Globe. The Curtain continued performing plays in Shoreditch until at least 1627.

The suburb of Shoreditch was attractive as a location for these early theatres because, like Southwark, it was outside the jurisdiction of the somewhat puritanical City fathers. Even so, they drew the wrath of contemporary moralists, as did the local "base tenements and houses of unlawful and disorderly resort" and the "great number of dissolute, loose, and insolent people harboured in such and the like noisome and disorderly houses, as namely poor cottages, and habitations of beggars and people without trade, stables, inns, alehouses, taverns, garden-houses converted to dwellings, ordinaries, dicing houses, bowling alleys, and brothel houses".

17th and 18th centuries
During the 17th century, wealthy traders and French Huguenot silkweavers moved to the area, establishing a textile industry centred to the south around Spitalfields. By the 19th century, Shoreditch was also the locus of the furniture industry, now commemorated in the Geffrye Museum on Kingsland Road. These industries declined in the late 19th century.

Victorian entertainments

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Shoreditch was a centre of entertainment to rival the West End and had many theatres and music halls:

 * The National Standard Theatre, 2/3/4 Shoreditch High Street (1837–1940). In the late 19th century this was one of the largest theatres in London. In 1926, it was converted into a cinema called The New Olympia Picturedrome. The building was demolished in 1940. Sims Reeves, Mrs Marriott and James Anderson all appeared here; also performed were programmes of classical opera and even Shakespeare, with actors including Henry Irving. There was considerable rivalry with the West End theatres. John Douglass (the owner, from 1845) wrote a letter to The Era following a Drury Lane first night, in which he commented that "seeing that a hansom cab is used in the new drama at Drury Lane, I beg to state that a hansom cab, drawn by a live horse was used in my drama ... produced at the Standard Theatre ... with real rain, a real flood, and a real balloon."
 * The Shoreditch Empire, also known as The London Music Hall, 95–99 Shoreditch High Street (1856–1935). The theatre was rebuilt in 1894 by Frank Matcham, the architect of the Hackney Empire. Charlie Chaplin is recorded as performing here, in his early days, before he achieved fame in America. Purchased in 1934 by adjacent drapery business Jeremiah Rotherham & Co and rebuilt as a warehouse.
 * The Royal Cambridge Music Hall, 136 Commercial Street (1864–1936), was destroyed by fire in 1896, then rebuilt in 1897 by Finch Hill, architect of the Britannia Theatre, in nearby Hoxton. The Builder of 4 December 1897 said "The New Cambridge Music Hall in Commercial Street, Bishopsgate, is now nearing completion. The stage will be 41 ft wide by 30 ft deep. The premises will be heated throughout by hot water coils, and provision has been made for lighting the house by electric light."

None of these places of entertainment survives today. Music hall was revived for a brief time in Curtain Road by the temporary home of the Brick Lane Music Hall. This too has now moved on.

A number of playbills and posters from these music halls survive in the collections of both the Bishopsgate Institute and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

First World War
In the First World War, the Mayor and Borough of Shoreditch raised a pals battalion of volunteers from around the borough who would serve together as the 20th (Shoreditch) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own). The Middlesex Regiment the battalion belonged to was nicknamed the "Die-hards".

For most of its time in the line, the unit was attached to 118th Brigade, part of the 39th Division. The battalion was involved in many actions on the Western Front in 1916–18.

Inter-war years
Syd's coffee stall was established in Calvert Avenue in 1919 and operated continuously until 2019.

In the 1930s, Shoreditch, Holy Trinity parish united with that of St Leonard.

Second World War
Shoreditch was heavily bombed during the Second World War, with around 495 of its civilian residents killed.

The area was hit by at least 279 high explosive bombs, 6 parachute mines 7 V-1 'doodlebugs', 2 V-2 rockets and many thousands of 1 kg incendiary devices. The destruction of housing and industry caused by the two V-2s contributed to the opportunity to create Shoreditch Park and Haggerston Park.

Decline
Shoreditch post-war declined in conditions, as did both textile and furniture industries with competition elsewhere. This situation was exacerbated by the extensive devastation of the housing stock in the Blitz during the Second World War, and by insensitive redevelopment in the post-war period.

A south-west to north-east tube line called the Chelsea-Hackney line was proposed in 1970 by the then London Transport Board's London Rail Study as the next project after the completion of the Victoria line and the Fleet line (now the Jubilee line) but was not carried forward, it would have had a new tube station near Shoreditch Church if it was built.

Contemporary
Formerly a predominantly working-class area, since the 1990s Shoreditch has become a popular and fashionable part of London, particularly associated with the creative industries. Often conflated with its neighbouring sub-district of Hoxton, the area has been subject to considerable gentrification, with accompanying rises in land and property prices.

Former industrial buildings have been converted to offices and flats, while Curtain Road and Old Street are notable for their clubs and pubs which offer a variety of venues to rival those of the West End. Art galleries, bars, restaurants, media businesses and the building of the Hackney Community College campus are features of this transformation.

In the mid-1960s, the main streets of Shoreditch (Old Street, Shoreditch High Street and Curtain Road, Great Eastern Street) were formed into a 1 mi one-way system, which became associated with traffic congestion, poor conditions for walking and cycling, high speeds, high collision rates, and delays for bus services. The gyratory system came to be seen as "the main factor holding back the cultural regeneration of South Shoreditch" and "a block to economic recovery". Following a lengthy campaign, the then newly formed Transport for London agreed to revert most of the streets to two-way working, a project which was completed in late 2002.

In 2005, funding was announced for the East London Line Extension, to extend the existing tube line from Whitechapel tube station bypassing Shoreditch tube station, and to create a new station named Shoreditch High Street closer to central Shoreditch. This is now served by London Overground services on part of the site of the old Bishopsgate Goods Yard, which was demolished in 2004. The station was built on a viaduct and is fully enclosed in a concrete box structure. This is so future building works on the remainder of the Bishopsgate site can be undertaken keeping the station operational.

Tower Hamlets Council made proposals to transfer the Boundary Estate to a housing association and upgrade the accommodation in 2006. A full refurbishment of one of the blocks, Iffley House was carried out by Sprunt Architects to demonstrate how this might be achieved but the proposal was rejected by a ballot of tenants in November of that year.

More recently, during the second "dot-com" boom, both the area and Old Street have become popular with London-based web technology companies who base their head offices around the East London Tech City district. These include Last.fm, Dopplr, Songkick, SocialGO and 7digital. These companies have tended to gravitate towards Old Street Roundabout, giving rise to the term "Silicon Roundabout" to describe the area, as used by Prime Minister David Cameron in a speech in November 2010.

As a result, the name of Shoreditch has become synonymous with the concept of contemporary "hipsterfication" of regenerated urban areas. As a pioneer among similar transformations across the UK, various phrases have been coined, from "Shoreditchification" to "Very Shoreditch".

In 2014, the Boundary Estate and the nearby area came under the East Shoreditch Neighbourhood Forum. Forum status ceased to have effect on 5 February 2019 but the Neighbourhood Area designation is unaffected by the expiry.

The Stag's Head public house was Grade II listed in 2015 by Historic England.

South Shoreditch has undergone an enormous transformation. Several five- or six-storey buildings have been knocked down in the area of Shoreditch that borders the City of London. In their place will be erected a variety of very tall buildings, mirroring the architectural styles in the City. The developments will result in more residential units being available for sale in Shoreditch than were produced by the Olympics athletes' village.

One landmark development is the Principal Tower in Worship Street, designed by the architects Foster and Partners, and next to it is Principal Place, also designed by Foster and Partners. In July 2014, it was reported that the internet retailer Amazon.com was close to signing a lease to move its UK headquarters there. The project had been on hold since January 2012, when the anchor tenant, the law firm CMS Cameron McKenna pulled out. Soon after, the developer Hammerson sold its interest in the scheme to Brookfield.

There has been some consideration of creating an interchange with the Central line between Liverpool Street and Bethnal Green at Shoreditch High Street, where the line runs almost underneath the station. However, this could not be seriously contemplated before the completion of the Crossrail project, owing to extreme crowding on the Central line during peak hours.

London Overground began running 24-hour trains on Friday and Saturday nights between Dalston Junction and New Cross Gate which called at Shoreditch High Street from 15 December 2017. but bypasses Whitechapel and continues on to Shadwell due to ongoing Crossrail construction work for (Elizabeth line) until 2019.

Two Huguenot workers' houses on Club Row on the corner of Redchurch Street, which developers had wished to knock down, were saved from demolition. They were deemed of special historic interest, giving the houses protection from destruction from 2019.

Geography
Shoreditch covers a wide area, but its historic heart lies south of Old Street, around Shoreditch High Street and Shoreditch Church. The districts of Hoxton and Haggerston have been historically part of Shoreditch since the medieval period and occupy the north-west and north-east of Shoreditch respectively; however, their extent has never been formally defined.

Although Shoreditch has been consistently defined, perceptions have blurred in recent years; something that became possible after the Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch amalgamated with some of its neighbours to become the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney in 1965.

The location of the former Shoreditch tube station (closed 2006), 400 metres outside Shoreditch proper, in nearby Bethnal Green, Tower Hamlets, influenced this shift. Its replacement, Shoreditch High Street station, straddles the borough boundary.

More significant has been the gentrification of the Shoreditch area since the millennium, leading to a marked increase in the area's prestige, which has led businesses in the Bethnal Green and Spitalfields areas of Tower Hamlets to include the name Shoreditch in their company's name and marketing material. This is also seen to a lesser extent in the St Luke's area of the London Borough of Islington.

Administration
Shoreditch was an administrative unit with consistent boundaries from the Middle Ages until its merger into the London Borough of Hackney in 1965. Shoreditch was based for many centuries on the Ancient Parish of Shoreditch (St Leonard's), part of the county of Middlesex.

Parishes in Middlesex were grouped into Hundreds, with Shoreditch part of Ossulstone Hundred. Rapid Population growth around London saw the Hundred split into several 'Divisions' during the 1600s, with Shoreditch part of the Tower Division (aka Tower Hamlets). The Tower Division was noteworthy in that the men of the area owed military service to the Tower of London – and had done even before the creation of the Division – an arrangement which continued until 1899.

The Ancient Parishes provided a framework for both civil (administrative) and ecclesiastical (church) functions, but during the nineteenth century there was a divergence into distinct civil and ecclesiastical parish systems. In London the Ecclesiastical Parishes sub-divided to better serve the needs of a growing population, while the Civil Parishes continued to be based on the same Ancient Parish areas. For civil purposes, the Metropolis Management Act 1855 turned the parish area into a new Shoreditch District of the Metropolis, with the same boundaries as the parish. The London Government Act 1899 converted these areas into Metropolitan Boroughs, again based on the same boundaries, sometimes with minor rationalisations. The Borough's areas of modern Shoreditch, Hoxton and Haggerston were administered from Shoreditch Town Hall, which can still be seen on Old Street. It has been restored and is now run by the Shoreditch Town Hall Trust.

Holy Trinity, Shoreditch in the Old Nichol was for ecclesiastical purposes in Shoreditch from 1866 but was administratively part of Bethnal Green.

In 1965, Shoreditch was merged with Hackney and Stoke Newington to form the new London Borough of Hackney.

Governance
Shoreditch is home to the Baron Wei of Shoreditch, who lives in the area and sits as a Conservative life peer and Lords Temporal as part of the House of Lords. He was introduced on 3 June 2010.

The Hackney borough part of Shoreditch is part of the Hackney South and Shoreditch constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Meg Hillier of the Labour Party and of the Co-operative Party

The eastern part of Shoreditch, in Tower Hamlets, lies within the constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow, represented since 2010 by Rushanara Ali of the Labour Party.

Notable local residents

 * George Adams (born 1947 in Shoreditch), former professional footballer
 * John Appold, FRS (1800–1865), a pioneer of the centrifugal pump
 * Russell Brand, actor and comedian
 * James Burbage, Tudor actor and impresario: built The Theatre; buried in Shoreditch church
 * Richard Burbage, actor in the Lord Chamberlain's Men, Shakespeare's own Company. Renowned for his performance of Shakespeare's greatest roles: Hamlet, Richard III, etc. Buried in the church.
 * William James Blacklock, British landscape artist, was born in Shoreditch in 1816
 * Joshua Compston, curator & founder of Factual Nonsense; instrumental in the development of the area's art scene in the early 1990s; lived & died in Charlotte Road.
 * Luke Evans, Welsh singer, musical performer and film actor lives here
 * Thomas Fairchild, gardener, the first person to scientifically produce an artificial hybrid
 * Noel Fielding, comedian, film and television actor
 * Paul Galvin, Irish fashion designer and former Gaelic footballer
 * Henry Hate, celebrity tattoo artist; clients include Boy George, Alexander McQueen, Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty
 * Anissa Helou, cookbook author, teacher and chef specialising in the cuisines of the Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa
 * Damien Hirst, artist; instrumental in the development of the area's art scene in the early 1990s
 * Dave Kaye, pianist, born in Shoreditch
 * Hetty King, a famous male impersonator of the music hall, was born here. Her father, William Emms, was a local comedian known as William King.
 * Jon Kortajarena, Spanish model and actor
 * Marie Lloyd Jr., actress and composer notable for her impersonations of her mother, Marie Lloyd.
 * Christopher Marlowe, Elizabethan dramatist lived in Norton Folgate, the southern continuation of Shoreditch High Street, and wrote plays for the Shoreditch theatres.
 * Hoxton Tom McCourt, influential in the late 1970s and early 1980s mod and oi/punk scenes and founder of the band, the 4-Skins, was born in Shoreditch in 1961.
 * Bill Meyer, printmaker and artist
 * Matt Monro, singer dubbed "the British Sinatra", famous for singing On Days Like These from the film The Italian Job and the title songs of the films Born Free and From Russia with Love
 * Miquita Oliver, T4 presenter
 * James Parkinson, surgeon, apothecary, geologist, paleontologist and political activist who worked on what would later be named Parkinson's disease
 * Jem Smith, bare knuckle prize fighter
 * William Sommers, Henry VIII's jester; buried in Shoreditch church.
 * Szabotage, graffiti artist and designer
 * Richard Tarleton, Elizabethan comedian. Shakespeare's Yorick is believed to be a homage to his memory. Buried in Shoreditch church.
 * Russell Tovey, English actor
 * Andrew Weatherall, DJ, producer, and remixer
 * Nat Wei, Baron Wei, youngest non-hereditary peer ever upon entry to the House of Lords and government advisor on Big Society
 * Barbara Windsor, comedian, film and television actress was born there.

Rail
Shoreditch High Street station is near Boxpark, on Bethnal Green Road. The station is served by London Overground trains on the East London line, and is in London fare zone 1. Trains link the area directly to Dalston and Highbury & Islington to the northwest, whilst to the south, trains travel directly to major destinations like Canada Water, Clapham Junction, West Croydon, Crystal Palace, New Cross, Peckham and Whitechapel. Hoxton station is to the north of Shoreditch, on the same line.

There is a nearby Overground station at Bethnal Green, with services towards Hackney Downs, Seven Sisters, Chingford, Enfield, and Cheshunt.

Liverpool Street and Old Street  tube stations are also nearby. Both stations are also on the National Rail network.

Until 2006, Shoreditch tube station was served by London Underground East London line trains. The line and station closed to make way for the London Overground.

Buses
London Buses provides all local bus services across the district: routes 8, 135, 205, 388, N8 and N205 on Great Eastern Street and Bishopsgate; routes 26, 35, 47, 48, 67, 78 and N26 on Shoreditch High Street; and routes 55, 149, 242, 243 and N55 on Old Street.

Cycling
Two Transport for London (TfL) Cycleways pass through Shoreditch.

Cycle Superhighway 1 runs north-south along the western perimeter of the area, through the Old Street junction. The route is signposted, and links the area to Moorgate and Finsbury southbound, and to Dalston, Stoke Newington, and Seven Sisters to the north.

Quietway 13 runs east-west through Shoreditch, primarily on quiet streets. The route is signposted, and runs from Finsbury in the City to the Regent's Canal near Cambridge Heath.

The Regent's Canal towpath runs along the northernmost edge of the district, close to Shoreditch Park. The towpath is a shared-use path for pedestrians and cyclists and runs unbroken from Angel in Islington to Limehouse near Canary Wharf. Eastbound, the path links the area to Victoria Park and Mile End.

The London Cycle Hire Scheme operates in Shoreditch.

title: Shoreditch


text:
Sidcup

Sidcup is an area of south-east London, England, primarily in the London Borough of Bexley. It is 11.3 mi south-east of Charing Cross, bordering the London Boroughs of Bromley and Greenwich. It was part of Kent prior to the creation of Greater London in 1965.

The name is thought to be derived from Cetecopp meaning "seat-shaped or flat-topped hill"; it had its earliest recorded use in 1254.

According to the ONS, as of 2021, the population of Sidcup is 15,400 (rounded to the nearest 100).

Origins
Sidcup originated as a tiny hamlet on the road from Maidstone to London. According to Edward Hasted, "Thomas de Sedcopp was owner of this estate in the 35th year of king Henry VI. [i.e. in the 1450s] as appears by his deed." Hasted described Sidcup in the latter part of the 18th century as "a small street of houses, among which is an inn of much resort", referring to the former Black Horse pub on the high street.

Sidcup parish formed the Sidcup Urban District of Kent from 1908. It was initially known as Foots Cray; however, in 1921 the urban district, and in 1925 the parish, were renamed Sidcup. The parish and district were abolished in 1934 and combined with Chislehurst to form the Chislehurst and Sidcup civil parish and urban district. In 1965 the parish and urban district were abolished. Sidcup went on to form part of the London Borough of Bexley in Greater London and Chislehurst formed part of the London Borough of Bromley.

Recent
A number of manor houses, converted to other uses, remain. They include Frognal House, the birthplace and residence of Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney, converted for use as residential and nursing accommodation; Lamorbey House, now used by Rose Bruford College; Sidcup Place, a bar and restaurant; and The Hollies, converted for residential use.

Area
Sidcup borders Blackfen to the north, Albany Park to the northeast and east, Foots Cray to the south-east, Chislehurst to the south and south-west, New Eltham to the west and Avery Hill to the north-west.

Sidcup has a mixture of large Victorian and Edwardian properties alongside typical 1930s suburbia. It retains many parks and open spaces hinting at the great estates and large homes which once stood in the area.

The town contains Queen Mary's Hospital, a large Leisure Centre, four colleges and three secondary schools. Sidcup High Street is the main retail and commercial street, and there are some other shops and local businesses on the adjacent Station Road. In 2014, Sidcup High Street was the subject of a £1.8 million regeneration scheme In Store For Sidcup paid for by London Borough of Bexley.

Most of the district is within the London Borough of Bexley, however, several parts in the North are under the governance of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, including Southspring, Greenhithe Close, Halfway Street (offsite Avery Hill), Radfield Way, Croyde Close and Overmead.

Geography
Sidcup lies 2.8 mi south-west of Bexleyheath; 4 mi north-east of Bromley; 3.3 mi north of Orpington; 3.4 mi north-west of Swanley.

Demographics
In 2021, the estimated population was given as 15,400. 18.5% of residents are aged 65+, slightly above the statistics for the whole of the London Borough of Bexley. At the census of 2021, the non-white population of Sidcup was recorded at 18.1%; the largest minority group were Asian or Asian British (7.0% of the total population). The percentage of those who are separated or divorced (including dissolved civil partnerships) was 11.0%, just above that of the entire borough at 10.6%. 48.5% reported Christianity as their religious belief which was lower than the borough average, with 'No religion' being the second largest category at 38.8%, higher than the borough average of 33.6%.

Education
Primary schools in Sidcup include: Birkbeck, Burnt Oak Junior School, Chatsworth, Days Lane, Holy Trinity Lamorbey, Longlands, Orchard School, Our Lady of the Rosary, Royal Park, Sherwood Park, and St Peter Chanel.

Secondary schools in Sidcup include Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, Blackfen, Cleeve Park, Hurstmere and Kemnal Technology College.

Bird College, Christ the King: St Mary's (RC) Sixth Form College, and Rose Bruford College all have sites in Sidcup.

Healthcare
Sidcup Cottage Hospital was opened in 1882 in Birkbeck Road, Sidcup. The building soon became too small and new premises were opened on the corner of Birkbeck and Granville Road in 1890. The premises became financially unviable and closed in 1974. The building was demolished and Sidcup Health Centre, now known as the Barnard Medical Practice was erected in the site.

Notable staff included:

 * Alice Fortune Hodgson (1881-1942), Matron from 1913 until at least September 1939. Hodgson trained at The London Hospital under Matron Eva Luckes between 1903-1905. She remained there as a private nurse, undertook her midwifery training, and worked as a staff nurse before she left in 1908. As Matron Hodgson and the nursing staff were present when a long term in patient was confirmed into the Church of England by the Bishop of Rochester in 1931.

Queen Mary's Hospital was opened in 1917 with 300 beds in a number of wooden huts. Until 1925 it was the central military hospital for the reconstructive surgery of war veterans, led by Sir Harold Gillies The original hospital closed in 1929, being reopened as a general hospital in 1930 by Queen Mary, after whom it was named. A new building was opened in 1965. Since 2013 it has been managed by the Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust.

Sport and leisure
Sidcup has a Non-League football club Sporting Club Thamesmead F.C. who play at the Sporting Club Thamesmead. On Sydney Road, there is a Sidcup Sports Club, housing the local rugby and cricket clubs.

Sidcup also has a Leisure Centre on Hurst Road with 2 pools and a gym.

The Sidcup and District Motor Cycle Club was formed at the Station Hotel, Sidcup in 1928. The club owns the Canada Heights motorcycle sport venue in Button Street, Swanley.

Culture, identity and community

Sidcup is home to the Rose Bruford College of drama and Bird College, both of which have several famous alumni, and the Sidcup Symphony Orchestra, which also serves the wider South East London area. In an interview with Lake Bell (who studied at Rose Bruford College) in 2015, comedian James Corden described Sidcup as "the armpit of England" on his late night American chat show The Late Late Show with James Corden.

The murder of teenager Rob Knox at the Metro Bar on Station Road in 2008 was national headline news. Knox was an aspiring actor who had, just before his death, filmed a small part in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. He was killed protecting his brother from a group of youths. His murderer, Karl Bishop, also from Sidcup, was later found guilty of murder and sentenced. Following Knox's death, his family have campaigned to end knife crime among young people. The Rob Knox Foundation has organised a Rob Knox Film Festival in Sidcup and the neighbouring town of Bexleyheath, and a bench was dedicated to Knox at St John's Church in Sidcup in 2015.

National Rail
Sidcup railway station opened in October 1866, a month after the opening of the Dartford Loop Line on 1 September 1866. It is 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Sidcup town centre. The station provides the area with Southeastern services to London Charing Cross and to Gravesend.

Roads
Sidcup High Street is on the A211, following in length the old London – Maidstone – Hythe road. The A211 starts just at the eastern end of Eltham High Street, running through New Eltham, then alongside the A20 Sidcup By-pass before ending at Foots Cray, where the B2173 continues towards Swanley along the former A20 road. The A211 connects the two main roads in this district; Station Road and Main Road.

East Rochester Way on the A2 road runs partly through the district, adjoining Blackfen Road. This road provides links to the Blackwall Tunnel and Kent.

Buses
Sidcup is served by a number of Transport for London bus routes, namely the 51, 160, 229, 233, 269, 286, 321, 492, 625, 669, B14, R11 and SL3. These connect Sidcup with areas including Bexleyheath, Bromley, Catford, Crayford, Chislehurst, Dartford, Eltham, Greenwich, Erith, Lewisham, New Cross, Orpington, Swanley, Thamesmead, Welling & Woolwich.

Notable residents

 * F. Matthias Alexander (1869–1955), Australian actor and inventor of the Alexander technique, lived in Penhill House, Sidcup, for 30 years
 * Harry Arter (1989–) footballer (Bournemouth F.C. and Republic of Ireland), born in Sidcup
 * Steve Backley (1969–), Olympic javelin silver medallist, born in Sidcup
 * Gareth Bacon (1972–), politician and leader of the Conservative Party in the Greater London Assembly
 * Sam Bailey (1977–), winning contestant, The X Factor, grew up in Sidcup
 * Angela Barnes (1976–) actress, stand-up comedian, born in Sidcup
 * Michael Barnard, (1976–) darts player, lived in Sidcup
 * Christopher Battarbee (1975–), cricketer (Oxford University), born in Sidcup
 * Lake Bell (1979–), American actress, lived in Sidcup while studying at Rose Bruford College in the 1990s.
 * Doreen Bird (1928–2004), dance teacher, lived in Sidcup and established Bird College
 * Quentin Blake (1932–), illustrator, artist, born in Sidcup
 * Denis Bond (1946–), children's author, actor and scriptwriter, lives in Sidcup
 * Tom Burns (1944–), Catholic bishop, lived and ministered in Sidcup and taught at St Mary's School in the 1970s
 * Garry Bushell (1955–), journalist, lives in Sidcup
 * George Albert Cairns (1913–44), recipient of the last Victoria Cross of World War II, lived and worked in Sidcup
 * Sheila Callender (1914–2004), haematologist, born in Sidcup
 * Ben Chorley (1982–), footballer, born in Sidcup
 * Charlie Clements (1987–), actor (EastEnders), born in Sidcup
 * Jason Crowe (1978–), footballer, born in Sidcup
 * Jay Darlington (1968–), musician (former keyboardist for the band Kula Shaker and currently a member of the band Magic Bus), born in Sidcup
 * Ian Davenport (1966–), abstract painter and former Turner Prize nominee, born in Sidcup
 * Douglas Harries (1893–1972), Royal Air Force air vice-marshal and first-class cricketer
 * Joe Healy (1986–), footballer who previously played in the Football League for Millwall, born in Sidcup
 * Deren Ibrahim (1991–), Gibraltarian footballer, born in Sidcup
 * Alfred Garth Jones (1872–1955), illustrator, spent the last years of his life in Sidcup
 * John Paul Jones (1946–), bass guitarist (Led Zeppelin), born in Sidcup
 * Rob Knox (1989–2008), actor, murdered in Sidcup
 * Douglas Macmillan (1884–1969), founder of Macmillan Cancer Support, lived in Knoll Road from 1924 until 1966, and also ran his charity from that address. Bexley Civic Society placed a blue plaque on the house in 2010
 * Ivan Magill (1888–1986), innovative anaesthetist, worked in Sidcup
 * Lee Murray (1977–), former kickboxer and mixed martial arts champion, convicted of the Securitas depot robbery, lived in Sidcup
 * Emma Noble (1971–), model and actress, born in Sidcup
 * Mike Rann (1953–), Premier of South Australia, politician, born in Sidcup, lived in Blackfen prior to emigrating to New Zealand with his parents
 * John Regis (1966–), Olympic sprinter, lived in Sidcup
 * Mark Ricketts (1984–), footballer, born in Sidcup
 * Wayne Routledge (1985–), footballer, born in Sidcup
 * Gerard Shelley (1891–1980), author, translator and Catholic bishop, born in Sidcup
 * Nevil Shute (1899–1960), novelist and aeronautical engineer, lived in Hatherley Road from 1924 to 1930 while working at Vickers in Crayford
 * Ethel Smyth (1858–1944), composer and suffragette, born in St. John's Road, Sidcup
 * Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney (1733–1800), politician and Cabinet minister, lived in Frognal House, Foots Cray
 * Gordon Watson (1971–), former Sheffield Wednesday footballer, born in Sidcup
 * Elizabeth Wiskemann (1899–1971), historian and journalist, born in Sidcup
 * Doug Wright (1914–98), cricketer (Kent and England), born in Sidcup

Fictional residents

 * In the Harold Pinter play The Caretaker, Davies repeatedly says that "all his papers" are in Sidcup, and he will return there, but is "waiting for the weather to break".
 * Roderick Spode — fictional politician and fashion designer, was the 7th Earl of Sidcup in the Jeeves stories by P. G. Wodehouse.

title: Sidcup


text:
Sipson

Sipson is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, the westernmost borough of Greater London, England. It is 14.3 mi west of Charing Cross and near the north perimeter of London Heathrow Airport.

Toponymy
The village's name was recorded as Sibwineston c. 1150 and as Sibeston in 1341. It comes from the Anglo-Saxon Sibwines tūn, "Sibwine's homestead or village".

Expansion from a minor hamlet
The place was a farmstead, one of three in Harmondsworth parish, south and east of the heart of that village. It had by the 1890s grown in population and gained a chapel at Sipson Green, where 18th century cottages were at the end of what by 1910 had become a semi built-up village street or lane leading to the earlier farmstead and farm workers cottages. All of these places, as today, lie north of the famous "Bath Road" (the modern A4), which linked London to Bath.

Heathrow expansion
On 10 January 1946 the British Cabinet agreed Stage 3 of the airport, which was an extension north of the Bath Road, with a large triangle of 3 runways, obliterating Sipson and most of Harlington, and diverting the Bath Road.

In 2009 the majority of the village was under threat of demolition owing to the planned expansion of London Heathrow Airport, which would have created a third runway at the airport. However, in March 2010 in accordance with multilateral environmental regulations and evidence that gas pollutant thresholds would be further breached within the wider area the English High Court of Justice ruled that the plan which the Department had submitted must be reconsidered. Accordingly, the Government announced in May 2010 that the third runway plan had been cancelled but that a long-term study into airport capacity in the South East and beyond may recommend expansion to any of the London Airports where the environmental constraints can all be met. Since 2009 BAA have been acquiring property in Sipson and elsewhere when advertised for sale which means there will be fewer resident owners to oppose further plans for expansion with a third runway. Contrary to this movement, opponents such as actress Emma Thompson and various others have bought land within the boundaries in 2009 with a view to preventing such expansion. In addition to this there has been a long term occupation of land within Sipson by climate activists on the invitation of local residents, following the latest Climate Camp. Grow Heathrow is a squatted community, opposed to the expansion of Heathrow airport and committed to finding sustainable alternatives in the face of climate change, peak oil and economic crises. On 2020-02-27 A court ruled the expansion unlawful in a case brought by environmental groups, councils and the Mayor of London. The court said the government would not appeal against the judgement.

Sipson Farm
Sipson Farm was in the northeast angle of the Sipson crossroads, and was the biggest farm in the area. It had a large area of greenhouses, and 500 acres of land in Harmondsworth, Sipson, Harlington and Heathrow. In 1900 it had a substantial fruit orchard.

 * 1819: Enclosure of Harmondsworth parish
 * And see Heathrow (hamlet).
 * 1842: Thomas Wild was born.
 * Late 19th century: Sipson Farm was run by Thomas Wild & Son.
 * 1898: Thomas Wild took on Rowland Richard Robbins as junior partner and the firm became Wild & Robbins.
 * 1900 to 1948: Robbins lived in a house called Hollycroft, where Hollycroft Close is now.
 * c.1910: Wild and Robbins gave some land in Sipson, for tennis courts and a children's playground.
 * 1932: Thomas Wild died and was succeeded by his son, Thomas Wild the younger.
 * 6 April 1938: Wild & Robbins was wound up "for reconstruction".
 * 1944. The Heathrow Airport scheme started. Sipson Farm lost all or most of its land that was south of the Bath Road.
 * 31 March 1949: Robbins left the partnership by mutual agreement, but the firm's name remained Wild & Robbins. Sipson Farm was now run by Thomas Wild and his son Thomas Wild III.
 * 1965: The M4 motorway was opened past Sipson. Its course and the Heathrow Airport slip road and its junction took much of Sipson Farm's remaining land. After this, the farm struggled to keep running.
 * 1970: Sipson Farm shut down. Some of its remaining land was left to fall back to wild overgrown vegetation.
 * Early 1980s: The farm buildings were demolished and replaced by a residential road, Russell Gardens. The entry to the farm became the entry to 335 Sipson Road.
 * 23 December 1987: It was agreed that Sipson Farm Estates Ltd. should be wound up.

Wall Garden Farm
Wall Garden Farm is a little east of the Sipson crossroads, north of the road to Harlington. It was orchard land, surrounded and divided by high walls to keep winds and frost (and fruit thieves) off.
 * Early 1900s: See Heathrow (hamlet) for events involving Jonathan Smith. Jonathan Smith went bankrupt and moved from Heathrow Hall to Wall Garden Farm. Later he came to an arrangement with his creditors and the bankruptcy was discharged. He set up a jam factory to use the abundant fruit grown in the area. His son Frederick ran the jam factory after him. Kenwood Close (a street in Sipson) is where the jam factory was.
 * 1970: By now most of Wall Garden Farm's trees had been grubbed out.
 * 2004: Wall Garden Farm was being used for off-airport car parking for Heathrow Airport.

King William IV pub
The King William IV public house at the Sipson crossroads was built in the 16th century, and later altered, including a refronting in the 1930s. Originally a Wealden-type mediaeval hall house, it is a Grade II listed building.

Excavating gravel
Gravel companies own much land in Harmondsworth and Sipson and Harlington. They get planning permission to extract gravel and sand on condition that they restore the land for agriculture afterwards. Their land is used for growing wheat before and after gravel extracting.

Other history

 * 1923: Sipson Way was made.

Notable people

 * Lionel Robbins (1898–1984), eminent economist, was born in Sipson

title: Sipson


text:
Snaresbrook

Snaresbrook is a district in the London Borough of Redbridge, in East London. It is located 8 mi east of Charing Cross.

The name derives from a corruption of Sayers brook, a tributary of the River Roding that flows through Wanstead to the East.

Snaresbrook is bounded approximately by South Woodford to the north, the lower reaches of Epping Forest and Upper Leytonstone, Leyton and Walthamstow to the west, Leytonstone to the south and Wanstead to the east. Snaresbrook Ward in the London Borough of Redbridge covers most of Wanstead High Street. The ward forms part of the 2007 parliamentary boundary changes and is currently entirely within the parliamentary constituency of Leyton and Wanstead (UK Parliament constituency).

Snaresbrook's most notable building is Snaresbrook Crown Court. It was opened in 1843 as the Wanstead Infant Orphan Asylum by King Leopold I of Belgium, and later became the Royal Wanstead School. It was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and William Bonython Moffatt.

Demography
According to the 2011 census, 57% of the population is White British, with the second and third largest ethnicities being Other White at 10% and Indian at 9%.

Education
Snaresbrook Primary is one of the schools in Snaresbrook.

Forest School was used in the filming of Never Let Me Go for the Hailsham assembly scenes.

Transport and locale

 * Nearest areas
 * Wanstead
 * Leytonstone
 * Leyton
 * Woodford
 * Walthamstow

The nearest London Underground station is Snaresbrook on the Epping branch of the Central line.

title: Snaresbrook