Northwood, London

Northwood was first recorded in 1435 as Northwode, formed from the Old English 'north' and 'wode', meaning 'the northern wood', in relation to Ruislip.Mills, Anthony David (2001). Dictionary of London Place Names. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-280106-6}}

In the Domesday Book of 1086, the Northwood-embracing parish of Ruislip had immense woodland, sufficient to support one parish with 1,500 pigs per year, and a park for wild beasts (parcus ferarum).

The hamlet of Northwood grew up along the north side of the Rickmansworth-Pinner road which passes across the north-east of the parish. Apart from this road and internal networks in areas of scattered settlement to the east and west, Ruislip had only three ancient roads of any importance of which Ducks Hill Road was the only one in the Northwood hamlet. This followed the course of the modern road from its junction with the Rickmansworth road in the northwest corner of the parish. It then ran south through Ruislip village as Bury Street and continued through the open fields as Down Barns Road (now West End Road) to West End in Northolt.{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22442 |title=Ruislip: Introduction |editor-first1=T F T |editor-last1=Baker |editor-first2=J S |editor-last2=Cockburn |editor-first3=R B |editor-last3=Pugh |first1=Diane K |last1=Bolton |first2=H P F |last2=King |first3=Gillian |last3=Wyld |first4=D C |last4=Yaxley |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1971 |work=A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner |access-date=27 November 2012 }}

Northwood had a manorial grange in 1248, which may have occupied the site of the later Northwood Grange. The monks of the Bec Abbey who lived at Manor Farm in Ruislip in the 11th century owned this grange. A few cottages at Northwood are mentioned in the 1565 national survey. Two hundred years later the shape of the hamlet, composed of a few farms and dwellings scattered along the Rickmansworth road, had altered little except for the addition of Holy Trinity church. Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury had {{convert|568|acres}} of Ruislip cleared of forest.

Northwood, however, elevated and separated from the rest of the parish by a belt of woodland, took until the 19th century to form a village — {{convert|350|acres}} in the manor of St. Catherine's were inclosed under the Ruislip Inclosure Act 1769 (9 Geo. 3. c. 67 {{small|Pr.}}) privatizing land which lay west of Ducks Hill Road, including West Wood (now Mad Bess Wood) which was common ground. A further {{convert|3000|acres}} of Ruislip parish were inclosed by the Ruislip Inclosure Act 1804 (44 Geo. 3. c. 45 {{small|Pr.}}). The character of the area in providing for Northwood and Northwood Hills to have the majority of open spaces as opposed to housing land was begun by transfers of open space land to the public as early as 1899.{{#tag:ref|Nearly {{convert|100|acres}} between Copse and Park woods and the Rickmansworth Road were leased by Kings College to the Northwood Golf Club in 1899. Gravel Pits, an area of {{convert|14|acres}} adjoining the golf course to the north-west in the angle of Ducks Hill and Rickmansworth roads, was scheduled by the urban district council in 1905 for preservation as an open space. Between 1905 and 1953 the council acquired a further {{convert|660|acres}} for open spaces, including the area laid down in 1929 as Haste Hill Golf Course (1927), King's College Fields between Park Avenue and the Pinn (1938), Poors Field between Copse Wood and Ruislip Lido (1939), and Breakspear Road (1949). Permanent preservation of the Manor Farm site and Park and Copse woods was assured by their transference to the Middlesex County Council and the urban district council in 1932 and 1936 respectively.|group= n}} The open nature of the district attracted three hospitals to move or establish in this part of the parish: Mount Vernon Hospital, St. Vincent's Orthopaedic Hospital and Northwood, Pinner and District Hospital.{{#tag:ref|Or colloquially: Northwood and Pinner Hospital in Pinner Road, Northwood|group= n}}

File:Houses in Northgate, Northwood - geograph.org.uk - 111167.jpg

A land survey of Northwood conducted in 1565 by King's College, Cambridge, the new lords of the manor of Ruislip, recorded ten houses and several farms.Bowlt 2007, pp.59–60

By 1881, the population of Northwood had reached 257, with 62 houses recorded from 41 people in 1841. David Carnegie owned the large Eastbury Park Estate in the north of the area in 1881. In 1887, the Metropolitan Railway was extended from Harrow-on-the-Hill to Rickmansworth and Carnegie sold his land to Frank Carew{{#tag:ref|Frank Murray Maxwell Hallowell Carew|group= n}} for development for £59,422.Bowlt 2007, p.65 Northwood station opened in August that year. Carew stipulated the prices for the new housing he had built, with the cottages along the west side of the High Street priced at £120. He had hoped these would be owned by the staff of the larger houses. The High Street itself had been a track leading on from Rickmansworth Road to Gate Hill Farm.Bowlt 2007, p.69 The first shops opened in 1895 on the east side of the road, and included a hairdresser, butchers and a fishmongers.Bowlt 2007, p.70 Carew sold the majority of the estate to George Wieland in 1892.

By 1902, the population had reached 2,500 in 500 houses and running 36 shops. In 1904, the Emmanuel Church opened in Northwood Hills, designed by Sir Frank Elgood, a local architect. It had been built in 1895, originally to serve as a school.Bowlt 2007, p.61 Elgood later served as chairman of the Ruislip-Northwood Urban District Council.

File:Northwood-Pinner Cottage Hospital - geograph.org.uk - 1494380.jpg

Northwood and Pinner Cottage Hospital was built in 1926 as a memorial to the First World War, using donations from the Ruislip Cottagers' Allotments Charity.Bowlt 1994, p.46

Northwood is home to Northwood Headquarters, in the grounds of Eastbury Park, the estate purchased by David Carnegie in 1857. The Royal Air Force took over the site in 1939 for the use of RAF Coastal Command which made use of Eastbury house and also created a network of underground bunkers and operations blocks, at which time the house was used as the leading Officers' Mess, though was subsequently damaged by fire.Bowlt 1994, p.62 The RAF vacated the site in 1969, and it is now the location of the British Armed Forces Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) for planning and controlling overseas military operations, together with the NATO Maritime Command.{{cite web |url=http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/WhatWeDo/DoctrineOperationsandDiplomacy/PJHQ/NorthwoodHeadquarters.htm |title=Northwood Headquarters |year=2011 |publisher=Ministry of Defence |access-date=11 April 2011}}

A new community centre on the town's high street, replacing an older building, was officially opened by the local MP Nick Hurd in September 2012. The new building was named the Kate Fassnidge Community Centre after the Uxbridge landowner who donated some of her land to the borough, and replaced a derelict dining club that had originally been a Ritz cinema.{{cite news |title=New community centre opens in Northwood |last=Proctor |first=Ian |url=http://www.uxbridgegazette.co.uk/west-london-news/local-uxbridge-news/2012/09/19/new-community-centre-opens-in-northwood-113046-31860055/ |newspaper=Uxbridge Gazette |date=19 September 2012 |access-date=21 April 2013}}

{{main|Northwood mid-air collision}}On 4 July 1948 a Scandinavian Airlines Douglas DC-6 on a flight from Amsterdam to RAF Northolt collided with an RAF Avro York coming from Malta over Northwood. Both aircraft crashed, killing all 39 people on both aircraft.{{cite news |title=Families return to air disaster now almost forgotten |first=Barbara |last=Fisher |url=http://www.uxbridgegazette.co.uk/west-london-news/uxbridge-history/2008/07/07/families-return-to-air-disaster-now-almost-forgotten-113046-21305996/ |newspaper=Uxbridge Gazette |date=7 July 2008 |access-date=11 April 2011}}

{{quote box |quoted=true |bgcolor=#FFFFF0 |salign=center | quote = The rural nature of Northwood, with extensive views over the rest of the parish, has attracted much expensive building, particularly in and around Copse Wood Way, along Green Lane and at the northern end of Ducks Hill Road.
^{A History of Middlesex, 1971.}| source = |align=right| width=33%}}

Northwood post town extends into two contiguous neighbourhoods in Hertfordshire named Eastbury and Moor Park. A triangular area of Northwood including the old High Street, Chester Road and Hallowell Road is a place of Local Architectural Special Interest, a restriction to protect the ornate Victorian houses made of high quality brickwork.{{cite web|url=http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk|title=London Borough of Hillingdon – Residents|website=www.hillingdon.gov.uk|access-date=5 April 2018}} Dotted across the area are 22 listed buildings (for their architecture).{{cite web|url=http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/mapsearch.aspx|title=Search the List – Find listed buildings – Historic England|first=Historic|last=England|website=list.english-heritage.org.uk|access-date=5 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424060625/http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/mapsearch.aspx|archive-date=24 April 2012|url-status=dead}}

Elevations range between 177 feet (54m) to 374 feet (114m) AOD, with many ridges and folds in the land creating an undulating terrain.

{{Geographic location

|title = Nearest Settlements

|Centre = Northwood

|North = Eastbury
Moor Park

|Northeast = across Oxhey Woods
South Oxhey

|East = across Pinnerwood Park and Pinner Green, Pinner
Hatch End

|Southeast = Eastcote
Pinner

|South = across two Golf Clubs and Ruislip Woods
Ruislip (specifically Ruislip Common)

|Southwest = across hills and Bishops Wood
Country ParkSouth Harefield

|West = across hills and Bishops Wood
Country ParkHarefield

|Northwest = across Moor Park Golf Course and House
Batchworth

}}

{{Weather box

| width = auto

| metric first = yes

| single line = yes

| location = Northwood (1991–2020)

| Jan high C = 7.8

| Feb high C = 8.4

| Mar high C = 11.2

| Apr high C = 14.3

| May high C = 17.6

| Jun high C = 20.6

| Jul high C = 22.9

| Aug high C = 22.5

| Sep high C = 19.4

| Oct high C = 15.0

| Nov high C = 10.8

| Dec high C = 8.1

| year high C = 14.9

| Jan low C = 2.3

| Feb low C = 2.3

| Mar low C = 3.7

| Apr low C = 5.4

| May low C = 8.3

| Jun low C = 11.3

| Jul low C = 13.4

| Aug low C = 13.1

| Sep low C = 10.7

| Oct low C = 7.9

| Nov low C = 4.8

| Dec low C = 2.6

| year low C = 7.2

| rain colour = green

| Jan rain mm = 67.5

| Feb rain mm = 49.8

| Mar rain mm = 43.2

| Apr rain mm = 47.1

| May rain mm = 51.6

| Jun rain mm = 50.9

| Jul rain mm = 49.6

| Aug rain mm = 56.5

| Sep rain mm = 53.0

| Oct rain mm = 74.1

| Nov rain mm = 75.9

| Dec rain mm = 67.2

| year rain mm = 686.3

| unit rain days = 1 mm

| Jan rain days = 12.0

| Feb rain days = 10.1

| Mar rain days = 9.2

| Apr rain days = 9.3

| May rain days = 8.8

| Jun rain days = 8.6

| Jul rain days = 8.4

| Aug rain days = 9.1

| Sep rain days = 8.5

| Oct rain days = 10.6

| Nov rain days = 12.1

| Dec rain days = 11.5

| year rain days = 118.1

| Jan sun = 52.8

| Feb sun = 69.5

| Mar sun = 112.4

| Apr sun = 164.2

| May sun = 199.5

| Jun sun = 196.8

| Jul sun = 208.7

| Aug sun = 193.1

| Sep sun = 134.6

| Oct sun = 109.0

| Nov sun = 64.8

| Dec sun = 50.8

| year sun = 1556.1

| source 1 = Met Office{{cite web

|url = https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-climate-averages/gcptwusdp

|title = Northwood (Hertfordshire) UK climate averages - Met Office

|publisher = Met Office

|access-date = July 5, 2024}}

}}

File:Lime Close - geograph.org.uk - 89705.jpg

Northwood Hills includes Haste Hill and is separated by green buffers on almost all sides, though touches Eastcote Village to the south and had a population of 11,441 in 2008 according to the Office for National Statistics.{{cite web |url=http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/media/pdf/4/f/Northwood_Hills_10.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101214035207/http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/media/pdf/4/f/Northwood_Hills_10.pdf |archive-date=2010-12-14 |url-status=live |title=A focus on Northwood Hills |date=January 2010 |publisher=London Borough of Hillingdon |access-date=23 June 2011}}

The land on which Northwood Hills, Haste Hill Golf Club and most of Northwood now stand was once the Great Common Wood. This covered {{convert|860|acres}} in the 16th century, which residents would use for grazing their livestock and collecting firewood. Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury achieved inclosure from Parliament and sold {{convert|568|acres}} of the wood in 1608 for £4000. The remaining woodland became Copse Wood, part of the Ruislip Woods, a national nature reserve.{{cite web|url=http://getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/frames.htm?mapAction=gaz&gazName=g&gazString=TQ048812|title=OS Maps – online and App mapping system – Ordnance Survey Shop|website=getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk|access-date=5 April 2018}}

Bowlt 1994, p.23

Northwood Hills has intermixed in its area the only social housing estates beyond one street of the area; much of its private housing stock was built during the 1930s by the Belton Estates company led by Harry Peachey while Harry Neal was responsible for building the shopping parade in Joel Street. Its name was chosen in a competition by a woman from North Harrow as the land was split between Northwood, North Harrow and Ruislip parishes.{{cite book |title=Around Ruislip |last=Newbery |first=Maria |author2=Cotton, Carolynne |author3=Packham, Julie Ann |author4= Jones, Gwyn |year=1996 |publisher=The Chalfont Publishing Company |location=Stroud |isbn=0-7524-0688-4 }} The first houses were built in Potter Street.

File:Northwood Hills, Northwood, HA6.jpg

The Namaste Lounge Restaurant (formerly known as Northwood Hills public house and the Northwood Hills Hotel before that) opposite the tube station is accredited as where Sir Elton John first performed professionally.{{cite news |title=Elton John 'may visit' Northwood pub this weekend |last=Matti |first=Siba |url=http://www.uxbridgegazette.co.uk/west-london-news/local-uxbridge-news/2010/05/27/elton-john-may-visit-northwood-pub-this-weekend-113046-26534383/ |newspaper=Uxbridge Gazette |date=27 May 2010 |access-date=15 April 2011}} A picture of the pub appears on one of his album covers.Bowlt, Eileen. M. (1994) Ruislip Past. London: Historical Publications {{ISBN|0-948667-29-X}}

Each May one of the largest Scout Jumble sales in the country is held by 1st Northwood on the land next to their headquarters, the Hogs Back.{{cite web|url=http://www.nescouts.org.uk/1n/|title=1st Northwood Scout Group|website=nescouts.org.uk|access-date=5 April 2018}}

Northwood secondary school and Sixth Form is located in Potter Street (the former name of the school). The Olympic boxer Audley Harrison and Big Brother contestant Nikki Grahame are alumni of the school.{{cite web |url=http://www.northwoodhills.co.uk/our_town.html |title=Our town |publisher=Northwood Hills Residents Association |access-date=15 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725133937/http://www.northwoodhills.co.uk/our_town.html |archive-date=25 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}

Northwood Grange incorporates a 15th-century block with a crown-post roof, a cross-wing of the same date, and a long range of about 1600.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1358385|desc=The Grange|grade=II|access-date=27 November 2012}} This is now the Hall School, Northwood.

{{main|Denville Hall}}

Formerly Northwood Hall, this has since 1925 been a retirement home for actors, actresses and members of other theatrical professions.{{cite web |url=http://www.denvillehall.org.uk/history.html |title=History |website=Denville Hall |access-date=5 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204075851/http://www.denvillehall.org.uk/history.html |archive-date=4 December 2013 |url-status=dead}}

The Tree trunk sculptures are sculpted logs that are placed on Green Lane, diagonally opposite Northwood Station.

The London School of Theology is an English interdenominational evangelical theological college.{{cite web|title=London School of Theology|url=https://lst.ac.uk|website=London School of Theology|access-date=20 September 2017}}

{{main|Northwood Hills tube station}}

This early 20th century built construction was intended to be local landmark but was kept and is now built in neatly to the street façade of the high street.

At the 2021 census, the Northwood ward had a population of 11,310, a slight increase from 2011. The largest ethnic group in Northwood is Whitee (51.5%) followed by Asian (36.5%). The largest religion was Christianity (39.4%), followed by Hinduism (19.5%), Islam (10.9%) and Judaism (4.7%), with 19.1% of the population non-religious. Women made up 52.6% of the population, with men at 47.4%.{{cite web|url=http://citypopulation.de/en/uk/london/wards/hillingdon/E05013574__northwood/|title=Northwood (Ward, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map and Location|access-date=2023-09-05|website=citypopulation.de}}

The area is served by Northwood, Northwood Hills{{cite web |url=http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/stations/1000166.aspx |title=Northwood Hills |publisher=Transport for London |access-date=15 April 2011}} and Moor Park London Underground stations, on the Metropolitan line.

The area is also served by Transport for London contracted bus routes 282, 331 and H11, connecting the area to Ruislip, Harrow, Northolt, Denham, Greenford, Uxbridge and Ealing Hospital.

The area is also served by Arriva Shires & Essex route 328 connecting the area to South Oxhey, Watford, Leavesden and Abbots Langley, and by Red Eagle Buses, which terminate at Mount Vernon Hospital with the R1 to Maple Cross and the R2 to Chorleywood – through Harefield and Rickmansworth.

See the List of schools in Hillingdon.

{{Update|section|date=September 2017}}

File:Town centre street scene Northwood - geograph.org.uk - 28044.jpg

A local residents' association and chamber of commerce joined forces in May 2010 calling for greater recognition of the area.{{cite news |title=Northwood Hills residents try to solve town's identity crisis |last=Matti |first=Siba |url=http://www.uxbridgegazette.co.uk/west-london-news/local-uxbridge-news/2011/05/10/northwood-hills-residents-try-to-solve-town-s-identity-crisis-113046-28667203/ |newspaper=Uxbridge Gazette |date=10 May 2010 |access-date=26 April 2011}} In May 2011, the London Borough of Hillingdon announced Northwood Hills would receive £400,000 in funding for regeneration work.{{cite news |title=£400k cash injection set to improve Northwood Hills |last=Matti |first=Siba |url=http://www.uxbridgegazette.co.uk/west-london-news/local-uxbridge-news/2011/05/27/400k-cash-injection-set-to-improve-northwood-hills-113046-28777646/ |newspaper=Uxbridge Gazette |date=27 May 2011 |access-date=13 June 2011}}

The area is home to Northwood F.C. who play at Chestnut Avenue and play in the Isthmian League South Central Division as of the 2018/2019 season, [http://ntcc.hitscricket.co.uk/ Northwood Town Cricket Club] also play at the same location in the Hertfordshire Cricket League. [http://northwoodcc.co.uk Northwood Cricket Club] play at their Ducks Hill Road ground and are a club in the Saracens Hertfordshire Premier League.

Northwood was part of the ancient parish of Ruislip and became part of the Ruislip-Northwood Urban District in 1904.{{cite vob | population=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_TOT_POP&u_id=10129771&c_id=10001043&add=N | area=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_AREA_ACRES&u_id=10129771&c_id=10001043&add=Y | access-date=10 March 2010 | name=Ruislip parish | url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10129771&c_id=10001043 | map=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/boundary_map_page.jsp?first=true&u_id=10129771}} The urban district was abolished in 1965 and merged with others to become part of the London Borough of Hillingdon in Greater London. Northwood has three elected local Councillors: Cllr Scott Seaman-Digby (first elected 1998), Cllr Richard Lewis (first elected 2002) and Cllr Carol Melvin (first elected 2008).Carolynne Cotton, 1994

The Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner is currently David Simmonds, who was elected in the December 2019 general election with 55.6% of the vote.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/politics/constituencies/E14000906|title=Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner parliamentary constituency – Election 2019|work=BBC News}} The current voting constituency was created from the former Ruislip-Northwood and parts of the Harrow West constituency, for the 6 May 2010 general election.

• Dame Joan Plowright (1929-2025) lived in Northwood at the time of her death.
• Author Julian Barnes grew up in Northwood.{{Cite web |date=2008-03-01 |title=Julian Barnes: Life as he knows it |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/donotmigrate/3671554/Julian-Barnes-Life-as-he-knows-it.html |access-date=2024-06-13 |website=The Telegraph |language=en}}
• Double agent George Blake (1922–2020) lived in Northwood after escaping from Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
• Actress Kathleen Byron (1921–2009) lived in Northwood at the time of her death
• Television and radio presenter Fearne Cotton was born in Northwood and attended Haydon School, Northwood Hills
• Sir William Dickson (1898–1987), former head of the British armed forces, was born in Northwood
• Former Big Brother contestant Nikki Grahame (1982–2021) was born and raised in Northwood
• Scientist Louis Harold Gray (1905–1965) worked at the Mount Vernon Hospital and died in Northwood in 1965.
• Artist Roger Hilton (1911–1975), post-war pioneer of abstract art, was born in Northwood
• Film director Derek Jarman (1942–1994), whose credits include Jubilee and The Tempest (1979), was born in Northwood
• George W. Jones, printer and type designer, buried at Holy Trinity Church
• Actor Geoffrey Keen (1916–2005) lived in Northwood at the time of his death
• Actress Betty Marsden (1919–1998) lived in Northwood at the time of her death
• Actor David Quilter was born in Northwood
• Actor Arnold Ridley (1896–1984), best known as Private Charles Godfrey in BBC sitcom Dad's Army, lived in Northwood{{cite web|url=http://spartacus-educational.com/FWWridleyA.htm|title=Arnold Ridley|website=spartacus-educational.com|access-date=5 April 2018}}
• Actress Patsy Smart (1918–1996) lived in Northwood at the time of her death
• Character actor Geoffrey Toone (1910–2005) lived in Northwood at the time of his death
• The singer Elena Tonra grew up in Northwood.[http://www.scotsman.com/what-s-on/music/british-band-daughter-on-matters-of-life-death-1-2818924) "Scotsman interview"] Aiden Smith, 'British band Daughter on matters of life & death', Scotsman on Sunday, 3 March 2013
• Theatre director and co-artistic director of performance company Clod Ensemble, Suzy Willson, was born in Northwood.

{{Reflist|group=n}}

{{Reflist|2}}

• Bowlt, Eileen. M. (1994) Ruislip Past. London: Historical Publications {{ISBN|0-948667-29-X}}
• Bowlt, Eileen. M. (2007) Around Ruislip, Eastcote, Northwood, Ickenham & Harefield. Stroud: Sutton Publishing {{ISBN|978-0-7509-4796-1}}
• Cotton, Carolynne. (1994) Uxbridge Past. London: Historical Publications {{ISBN|0-948667-30-3}}
• Mills, Anthony David (2001). Dictionary of London Place Names. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-280106-6}}

{{Commons category|Northwood, London}}

{{Commons category|Northwood Hills}}

• [http://www.northwoodhills.co.uk/ Northwood Hills Residents Association]

{{LB Hillingdon}}

{{Areas of London}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Areas of London

Category:Districts of the London Borough of Hillingdon

Category:Places formerly in Middlesex

Category:District centres of London

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