| Kensal Green | |
|---|---|
 Church of the Transfiguration, Chamberlayne Road | |
  Kensal Green Location withinGreater London | |
| Population | 14,915 (2011) (Kensal Green ward) |
| OS grid reference | TQ235825 |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | NW10 |
| Postcode district | W10, NW6 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| 51°31′51″N0°13′29″W / 51.5308°N 0.2248°W /51.5308; -0.2248 | |
Kensal Green, also known as Kensal Rise, is an area in north-west London, and along with Kensal Town, it forms part of the northern section ofNorth Kensington. It lies north of the canal in theLondon Borough of Brent, and also to the south, withinKensington and Chelsea. Kensal Green is located on theHarrow Road, about 4.4 miles (7.1 km) miles from Charing Cross.
To the west on Harrow Road liesHarlesden, while in the opposite direction areMaida Hill andWestbourne.Queens Park andBrondesbury are to the north-east,Willesden is to the north-west, andNotting Hill lies to the south.
Kensal Green is best known for theGrade I listedKensal Green Cemetery.
As of June 2014, the area had seen significantgentrification, attracting people from surrounding areas such asNotting Hill andQueen's Park. It was characterised by numerous independent stores, restaurants, pubs and cafes, and was earning a reputation as a "celebrity haunt-meets-Nappy Valley."[1]
In 2009, Chamberlayne Road in Kensal Rise was named the "hippest street in Europe" byVogue magazine.[2] Luxury goods makerMulberry named its handbag Kensal and launched an advertising campaign withCara Delevingne.[3] The area is characterised by numerous independent stores, restaurants, pubs, and cafes. There are also various sports clubs, gyms and health studios such as Moberly Sports Centre and Gracelands Yard, as well as nearby Queens Park. The area also boasts Britain's first independent boutique cinema and social enterprise, The Lexi Cinema. It is staffed by local volunteers and its profits go to an eco-village in South Africa.[4]
It has been home to a number of residents including musiciansPaloma Faith andRita Ora, chefThomasina Miers,[5] film director, DJs and musiciansDon Letts and Mark Rae, actressThandiwe Newton, singerLily Allen, model-turned-authorSophie Dahl, authorZadie Smith,David Cameron's ex-strategy guruSteve Hilton, the actor and writerPhoebe Waller-Bridge andSienna Miller.[6]
It has traditionally been popular with those working in the media and creative industries but those buying properties increasingly include people working in the financial and technology industries, and others moving from nearbyNotting Hill in search of more space. The area also attracts Americans thanks toThe American School in London in neighbouringSt John's Wood, as well as being popular with the French, partly due to aLycée Français opening in Brent's former town hall.[1]
In 2014 residents successfully campaigned to save its local library after it was sold to a developer.[7] More recently, independent local cinema Lexi raised £141,000 from locals and local businesses for a community hub.[8] The hub was also supported by Brent Council and the Mayor of London.
In 2021 residents of Clifford Gardens successfully campaigned against the asphalting of pavements. They set up a petition and managed to get 544 signatures in a week. When the workmen arrived with lorries and rollers on 20 March they were met by a large crowd of parents with children and buggies blockading the street.[9]
Emslie Horniman's Pleasance Park located on Bosworth Road contains tennis courts, five-a-side football pitches and children's playground. Queens Park features tennis courts, golf, a petting zoo and an extensive children's playground. King Edwards Vll park is within walking distance.[10]
Brent Council announced planned improvements to the public realm in 2019 to enhance the pedestrian experience and reduce traffic. The changes include new cycle lanes, various measures to reduce congestion and an improved public realm with new pavements, carriageway resurfacing, community greening schemes and pocket gardens.[11]
Kensal Green station (London fare zone 2) on theBakerloo line is about 20 minutes fromOxford Circus and theWest End. National RailLondon Overground services also operate toLondon Euston, a journey that takes around 15 minutes. Trains also go toWatford Junction.
London Overground'sNorth London Line services also operate out ofKensal Rise railway station (London fare zone 2) and provides regular services toRichmond in the west,Stratford in the east, andClapham Junction in the south.
Extensive bus services also run from the area, including routes18 (Sudbury - Euston),6 (Willesden Bus Garage -Aldwych),52 (Willesden Bus Garage -Victoria station viaNotting Hill andKensington) and452 (Kensal Rise -Vauxhall).
Kensal Green is located on thePaddington Arm of theGrand Union Canal (which passes byKensal Green Cemetery) making it possible to walk and cycle along the canal toLittle Venice, thePaddington Basin,Paddington Station andRegents Canal.
In 2020 the Government gave final approval to theHigh Speed 2 (HS2) train link running from London toBirmingham. This will bring a major HS2 andCrossrail interchange station atOld Oak Common, within walking distance from Kensal Green. It is expected to open in 2026 and will providehigh-speed rail across London and to theMidlands, as well as direct connectivity with theHeathrow Express airport rail link and trains toWales and theWest of England.[12] It will be the largest new railway station ever built in the UK.[13]
The educational charity Ark, founded by venture capitalist Arpad Busson, runs three state primary schools in the area, including Ark Franklin in Harvist Road, which replaced Kensal Rise primary in September 2013. In 2024 Ark Franklin received a letter from the Minister of Education congratulating the school for being in the top 2% for early years performance. As of 2020, the following state primary schools are judged to be “good”: Ark Franklin;[14] Princess Frederica CofE[15] in College Road; andKenmont Primary School[16] in Valliere Road which was built in 1883–84 to a design by the architect byEdward Robert Robson for theSchool Board for London and has beenGrade II listed since 1984.[17]
Three state comprehensive schools are judged to be “good”,[when?] includingQueens Park Community School in Aylestone Avenue, andCapital City Academy in Doyle Gardens.
There is a small choice of local private schools. The primary schools are Seacole (co-ed, ages four to 11) in Bosworth Road and The Lloyd Williamson School (co-ed, six weeks to 11) in Telford Road. Bales College is a very smallindependent co-ed secondary school andsixth form college, catering for ages 11 to 20 on Harrow Road.[18] Many parents use the private schools in nearby Belsize Park and Hampstead.[10]
Kensal Green Cemetery is the first of the 'Magnificent Seven' cemeteries in London. It is the resting place of members of the royal family, includingPrince George, Duke of Cambridge, and scores of figures in history includingIsambard Kingdom Brunel,Charles Babbage, andWilliam Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 5th Duke of Portland. Architects buried there include,Decimus Burton,Philip Charles Hardwick, andJohn Shaw Jr.From the Arts are playwright,Harold Pinter, actorMario Fabrizi,William Makepeace Thackery, andAnthony Trollope.The family plot of engineersMarc Brunel andIsambard Kingdom Brunel is also here.Queen frontmanFreddie Mercury, actorAlan Rickman, and actressIngrid Bergman were cremated in the West London Crematorium, which is located within the grounds of the cemetery.
Cemetery directors and The Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery (a charity) lobbied the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage for funding to help preserve historical monuments at the site. The 2015 project, which involved repairs to the grade one listed Anglican Chapel and the boundary wall, was estimated to have cost more than £10m.[19]
The cemetery is listed Grade I on theRegister of Historic Parks and Gardens.[20] Many buildings and memorials are recorded in theNational Heritage List for England aslisted buildings.
Originally part of one of the 8manors within the district ofWillesden, Kensal Green is first mentioned in 1253, translating from old English meaningthe King's Holt (King's Wood). Its location marked the boundary between Willesden and the then Chelsea & Paddington, on which it remains today. It formed part of one of 10manors, most likely Chamberlayne Wood Manor, named after Canon Richard de Camera (of the Chambers).[21] In the 15th century the thenArchbishop of CanterburyHenry Chichele (1414–1443), acquired lands in Willesden and Kingsbury. In 1443 he foundedAll Souls' College, Oxford and endowed it with the same lands in his will. As a result, most of Willesden and Kensal Green remained largely agricultural until the mid-1800s, well into theVictorian era. In 1805, the construction of theGrand Junction Canal passed through the district to join theRegent's Canal atPaddington. As the combinedGrand Union Canal, this allowed passage of commercial freight traffic from theMidlands toLondon Docks, and hence onwards to theRiver Thames. There were twodairy farms in Kensal Green by the early 1800s, which expanded greatly after the 1864Act of Parliament which made it illegal to keep cattle within theCity of London. Although by the late 1800s residential development had greatly reduced the farmland, still in the 1890s many sheep and pigs were raised in the district. One of the farms later became aUnited Dairiescreamery, supplied bymilk trains fromMitre Bridge Junction.[22]
St. John's Church was built on the corner of what is nowHarrow Road andKilburn Lane in 1844 and was extensively refurbished in 2017 and fitted with new bells in anticipation of the 175th anniversary in 2019. The church was followed by a school, now Bales College, and more inns including The Plough on the opposite corner of the junction. In 1832Kensal Green Cemetery was incorporated by Act of Parliament and opened in January 1833. This led to a revaluation of the surrounding lands, and in 1835 ecclesiastical commissioners were appointed by the Crown, who reported in 1846 that: "the larger portion of the Prebendal Estates possess, in our opinion, a value far beyond their present agricultural value."[21]
With enough people living locally to create a new parish, in 1844St. John the Evangelist Church in Kilburn Lane was consecrated. The 1851 census records just over 800 people living in the new parish. In the 1860s, Kensal Green manor house, situated where Wakeman Road joinsHarrow Road, was demolished. Rapid increase in residential development followed, firstly with land west of Kilburn High Road, followed by the sale of Banister's Farm leading to the development of Bannister Road and Mortimer Road. Unfortunately at this time Kensal Green was suffering huge social problems and had a reputation of being a slum, with 55% off its residents living in poverty and squalor, despite being neighbours to thriving Queen's Park.The rapid residential development led to local commissioners reporting in 1880 that there was inadequate drainage and sewerage facilities, with most houses having only improved access to what were the old agricultural drains. In that same year, All Souls' College started to develop its lands north-west of Kilburn Lane, including All Souls' Avenue and College Road, with adjacent roads being named after leading Fellows of the college, and the installation of new sewerage facilities across the district. The college donated lands on which to build Kensal Rise Reading Room, to commemorate theDiamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, in 1897. Opened byAmerican authorMark Twain in 1901, it was later extended and renamedKensal Rise Library.[21]
The developments of the streets aroundKensal Rise railway station date from the last 10 years of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th. Although opened in April 1873 as Kensal Green at Chamberlayne Wood, then a remote dead end road; it was renamed Kensal Rise on 24 May 1890. Just north of the station the National Athletic Ground (one of the many early grounds ofQueen's Park Rangers) opened in 1890. The ground which was later renamed the Kensal Rise Athletic Stadium also hosted cycling and athletics competitions before being turned over to housing in the 1920s. For a brief period before 1914 the Aeroplane Building and Flying Society had its headquarters at Kensal Rise and flew test gliders from the site. Kensal Green also boasted the Electric Pavilion Cinema[23] which opened in November 1914 and was located on the corner of Chamberlayne Road and Bannister Road.
The construction of theGreat Western Railway started in 1835, with the first 22.5 miles (36.2 km) of line, fromPaddington station toMaidenhead Bridge station, opened on 4 June 1838. In 1901, its major carriage washing and servicing facilities andlocomotive depot were developed atOld Oak Common, bringing further employment and more immigrants to the district. The first major immigrant population had beenIrish people fleeing theGreat Irish Famine, and then post-World War I. InWorld War II, due to the railway facilities, the district suffered greatly from GermanLuftwaffe bombing.[21]
After the war, the area became a refuge for the firstAfro-Caribbean born contingent. In the 1960s the college disposed of many freeholds, while retaining land in Willesden. Since the 1980s, the Irish-born community has reduced in size, although the legacy of their presence remains, not least in the number of Irish pubs and organisations and the many thousands with Irish ancestry who continue to populate the area. According to statistics from the 2001 census, the area has a very high proportion of young residents (28.4% 25–44 years old) and a very high educational level (30.7% hold a first degree or better).[24]
As of June 2014 the area had seen significant gentrification as people had been priced out of surrounding areas such as Notting Hill. In 2015 it was described as 'celebrity haunt-meets-Nappy Valley'.[1]
The largest ethnic group in Kensal Green ward according to the 2011 census was White British, 26%. The second largest was White other, 18%, followed by Black Caribbean, 12%.[25] Neighbouring Queen's Park ward, which also covers eastern areas of Kensal Green, was 30% White British. The College Park ward, which covers the southern areas of Kensal Green, was 31.6% white British, 18.4% White other and 21.1% Black.[26] Kensal Green ward has the highestLatin American population in London.[27]
Kensal Green is part of theQueen's Park and Maida Vale constituency forelections to theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom, represented byGeorgia Gould from theLabour Party since2024.[28]
Kensal Green is part of theHarlesden and Kensal Green ward for elections toBrent London Borough Council.
On 7 December 2006 at 11.00 am, atornado struck Kensal Green.[29] Up to 150 houses were damaged, and six people were injured, one requiring hospital attention. Residential roads were closed off and residents had to seek temporary accommodation. Traffic was also diverted, causing disruption. The cost of the damage was estimated to be at least £2 million.
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