| Stanmore | |
|---|---|
 Pump at one of theRoman-era ponds at Little Common, which gave Stanmore its name | |
  Stanmore Location withinGreater London | |
| Population | 23,700 (Stanmore Park and Canons wards 2011) |
| OS grid reference | TQ1691 |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | STANMORE |
| Postcode district | HA7 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
| 51°37′05″N0°18′50″W / 51.618°N 0.314°W /51.618; -0.314 | |
Stanmore is part of theLondon Borough of Harrow inGreater London. It is centred 11 miles (18 km) northwest ofCharing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of thehighest points of London, at 152 metres (499 ft) high. The district, which developed from the ancientMiddlesex parishes of Great andLittle Stanmore, lies immediately west of RomanWatling Street (the A5 road) and forms the eastern part of the modernLondon Borough of Harrow.
Stanmore is the location of the formerRAF Bentley Priory station – base of theFighter Command during both world wars – along with its accommodatingBentley Priory mansion, notably the last residence ofQueen Adelaide. Some members of theBernays family were also based here, includingAdolphus Bernays and his son and grandson who were both rectors ofSt John's church; theBernays Institute and Bernays Gardens are public amenities in the centre of the old village.[1]
The district increasingly developed into aLondon suburb during the 20th century, and in the latter half housed theAutomobile Association's regional headquarters. Today it is acommuter town[2] with atube station that is the northern terminus of theJubilee line,[3] and with large green spaces includingCanons Park,Stanmore Country Park,Stanmore Common andBentley Priory which are all in the Stanmore area.
The place earliest documented use of the name comes from a charter of 793, when land in Stanmore was granted toSt Albans Abbey.[4] The Domesday book of 1086 records the two manors of Stanmore asStanmere, the name deriving from theOld Englishstan, 'stony' andmere, 'a pool'.[5][6] There are outcrops of gravel on the clay soil here and themere, which gave the manors their name, may have been one of the ponds which still exist. One possible candidate is a pond on Stanmore Common still sometimes known as Caesars Pond after a battle believed to have taken place in the vicinity in 54BC.[7]
An obelisk on Brockley Hill, in the grounds of theRoyal National Orthopaedic Hospital, marks the reputed site of a battle betweenJulius Caesar's Roman legions and the localCatuvellauni tribe, underCassivellaunus. This battle is said to have taken place duringCaesar's raid in force on Britain, in 54BC.[8] Britain was conquered afterClaudius invaded in 43AD; sometime after this the Romans established a local settlement calledSulloniacis.
A manor called Stanmore is first recorded in 793 AD, and the Domesday book of 1086 describes pre-existing manors (estates) of Great and Little Stanmore as having changed ownership in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest.[7] These estates were subsequently served by theancient parishes of Great and Little Stanmore.
Until the late 19th century, Stanmore was a small rural community. In theMiddle Ages, a monastic community of cell ofAugustinian Canons was established atBentley Priory. It was dissolved in 1536 during thedissolution of the monasteries.[9] One of the really old surviving buildings are the Cottrell cottages built c. 1565. It suggests that the medieval population centre in Stanmore was around the present day Broadway, before the developments among Stanmore Hill in the late 18th.[10]
Between 1713 and 1724, the1st Duke of Chandos builtCannons house in Little Stanmore. Shortly after, in 1729Andrew Drummond, the founder of theDrummonds Bank andJacobite sympathiser, purchasedStanmore House and the Stanmore Park estate as his country residence.[11][12] A new mansion was built for Andrew Drummond at Stanmore Park in 1763: it was designed in neo Palladian style byJohn Vardy andSir William Chambers.Zoffany painted the Drummond family in the grounds. The Drummonds leased Stanmore House to theCountess of Aylesford (in 1815) and later to Lord Castlereagh. The Marquess of Abercorn acquired the estate, along with Bentley Priory, in 1839. In 1848, Stanmore House was sold again toGeorge Glyn, 1st Baron Wolverton. The house was later used as a boys' preparatory school. It was demolished in 1938 and the site was taken over by theRoyal Auxiliary Air Force as the headquarters of Balloon Command.[13] The history of the area is reflected in street names, such as Lady Aylesford Avenue and Abercorn Road. RAF Stanmore Park closed in 1997 and is now a housing estate.
The wealthy businessman James Duberley commissionedSir John Soane to design a large mansion house north of the original Bentley Priory in 1775. This house was added to throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by various owners. It was significantly extended in 1788, again by Sir John Soane, forJohn Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn. The Priory was the final home of theDowager Queen Adelaide, queen consort ofWilliam IV, before her death there in 1849. In 1882 Bentley Priory was acquired by the hotel millionaireFrederick Gordon, who turned it into a country house hotel for wealthy guests.[12][9]
Theopera librettistW. S. Gilbert (of theGilbert and Sullivan duo) lived atGrim's Dyke, a country house located between Stanmore andHarrow Weald. In 1911, Gilbert drowned in the pond at Grim's Dyke. He was cremated atGolders Green and his ashes buried at the churchyard of St. John's Church, Stanmore.[14]
The railways first reached Stanmore in 1890 when Frederick Gordon opened theStanmore branch line to improve access to Bentley, in the hope of attracting more affluent customers. Great Stanmore Parish Council stipulated that Gordon's new station building should be of the highest quality, and soStanmore station (later renamedStanmore Village) was designed to resemble a small English church, complete with a spire andgargoyles. Trains were run by theLondon and North Western Railway (LNWR). Gordon also purchased land near the station and laid out a wide avenue—namedGordon Avenue—lined with new superior houses, in the hope of attracting wealthy Londoners to come to live in the country and commute into the city on his new railway. Despite his efforts, Gordon's business ventures at Stanmore were not successful, and in 1899 he sold the railway to the LNWR.[15] Gordon died in 1904 at his Hotel Metropole inCannes. His body was brought back to Stanmore and buried in the family grave at the church ofSt. John's Church.[15]
In the early years of the 20th century, as the population of London grew, Stanmore was affected by increasingurbanisation and the small rural village was rapidly becoming a suburb of London. In December 1932 theMetropolitan Railway (MR) opened a new electric railway with a station atStanmore (now theLondon Underground station on theJubilee line). This rapid, direct route into London presented strong competition for Gordon's old railway (by now run by theLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS)), especially as branch line passengers had to change trains atHarrow & Wealdstone for London services. After years of decline, Stanmore Village station was closed byBritish Railways in 1952.[15]
DuringWorld War II, Stanmore played an important role. Stanmore had an outstation from theBletchley Park codebreaking establishment, where some of theBombes used to decode GermanEnigma messages were housed. Bentley Priory was taken over by theRAF, and in 1940 theBattle of Britain was controlled fromRAF Bentley Priory. RAF Bentley Priory closed in 2009.[16]
In the 1950s the Automobile Association built and opened a four-storey office building on The Broadway which eventually became the AA regional headquarters for London and the South East. A major employer in Stanmore, the centre once handled up to 3,000 calls a day. In 1986 the AA moved a few hundred yards to a new building on The Broadway. The abandoned building eventually became derelict and a target for vandalism, graffiti and the dumping of rubbish.[17] There were plans to build a shopping centre at the site, but they did not go ahead, leaving the building abandoned for several years with its windows broken[18] before it was demolished in 1993.[17] The site lay empty for several years beforeSainsbury's secured its development of a supermarket here, opening at the end of 1999.[19][20]
Bernays Memorial Institute survived demolition[21] and was restored during a period of 18 years until 2009. However, the AA call operating centre closed in 1997 when it moved its base toBasingstoke, and in January 1999 it was announced that the breakdown centre would close with the loss of 140 jobs, ending the firm's long association with Stanmore.[22] After being sold by the AA the building was used byCarpetright and as offices.
The firstparish church was the 14th-century St Mary's, built on the site of a woodenSaxon church, which itself may have been built on the site of a Romancompitum shrine.[23][24] It has now completely disappeared; one tomb survives in a back garden.[23][25]
This building was replaced bya new one built in the current churchyard, consecrated in 1632 and dedicated toSt. John the Evangelist.[23][24] Built of brick and consecrated byArchbishop Laud, it is one of the relatively small number of churches built in Britain between the medieval period and the eighteenth century.[23] By the nineteenth century, this church had become considered outdated and unsafe. After its replacement, its roof was pulled off and it became a ruin.
A new church was constructed in theGothic Revival style from 1849 to 1850.Queen Adelaide's last public appearance was to lay the foundation stone of the new church. She gave the font and when the church was completed after her death, the east window was dedicated to her memory.[26]
Built in the 1840s, Stanmore Hall is aGrade II* listed[27] building built as a gothic castle. Located on Wood Lane near the top of Stanmore Hill, Stanmore Hall was developed by Matthew John Rhodes and was owned by balloonistRobert Hollond and his wifeEllen Hollond, who lived for the rest of their lives at the residence. The interiors were redesigned byWilliam Morris later that century.William Knox D'Arcy resided at the Hall, where he died in 1917. One of the pioneers of the oil exploration business, D'Arcy's funeral was attended by dignitaries and celebrities, carrying his coffin from the hall through the village to St John the Evangelist for service.[28]
After D'Arcy's death Stanmore Hall was sold and no longer used as a family home. During the Second World War it was used byAllied Expeditionary Air Force, and after the war until 1971 it was a nurse's home for theRoyal National Orthopedic Hospital.[29]
Stanmore Hall has been used as a filming location, such as the British filmsFrankenstein Must Be Destroyed,Nothing but the Night, 1960s seriesThe Avengers and later ITV'sThe Professionals.[28][29]
Following neglect, the structure of the building deteriorated, and it received damage by a fire in 1979. Eventually in 1998 the Hall was converted into separate luxury dwellings by a developer.[28][30]
Many of Stanmore's residents commute to jobs in central London, contributing to the affluent character of the area.
Central Stanmore includes a range of shops, pubs and restaurants from small independent businesses to large chains.
Stanmore Park is at the foot of Stanmore Hill and right next to the local library.Bentley Priory Nature Reserve,Stanmore Common andStanmore Country Park are larger parks and nature reserves. Travel and excursion to these places and other attractions such as the Bernays Gardens are promoted by the Stanmore Tourist Board.[31]
Further south is Stanmore Marsh. These 4 hectares (9.9 acres) of wetlands with grassland and woodland ran dry before a restoration project was completed in 2017.[32] Here a tributary of the Stanburn Brook becomes the Edgware Brook when it leaves the marsh travelling east towards Edgware.[33]
On the border with Bushey is Stanmore Cricket Club, one of the oldest in the Middlesex county championship league, which celebrated 150 years in 2003. The club has nurtured two famous cricketers who have played tests for England in the last two decades:Angus Fraser andMark Ramprakash.
Stanmore is home toAvanti House Primary and Secondary Schools, St John's Church of England School,Park High School,Bentley Wood High School,Stanmore College and theNorth London Collegiate School.
The suburb also hosts theRoyal National Orthopaedic Hospital – known as RNOH – which is famed for its spinal unit and paediatric/young adult hip unit.
The population of the London Borough of Harrow ward (Stanmore Park) was 11,229 at the 2011 Census.[34] The Canons ward which covers Stanmore railway station and eastern areas had a population of 12,471 at the same census.[35]
Stanmore has Christian,Muslim,Hindu, Jain, andJewish communities, including its local synagogue,Stanmore and Canons Park Synagogue on London Road (which has one of the largest memberships of any single synagogue in Europe and had the second largest in the UK behind Borehamwood, although more recently has been overtaken by a number of other London synagogues),[36] an Islamic centre, KSIMC of London (Hujjat)[37] and a new Hindu temple[38] on Wood Lane.
The 2011 census showed that in Stanmore Park ward, 56% of the population was white (47% British, 7% Other, 2% Irish) and 20% Indian. 31% was Christian, 22% Jewish, 15% Hindu and 11% Muslim.[39] Canons ward (covering eastern areas) was 52% white (40% British, 10% Other, 2% Irish) and 24% Indian. 26% was Christian, 25% Jewish, 18% Hindu and 11% Muslim.[35]
Stanmore is part of theHarrow East constituency for elections to theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom.
Stanmore is part of theStanmore ward for elections toHarrow London Borough Council.[40]
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The A410 (London Road/The Broadway/Church Road/Uxbridge Road) runs east–west across Stanmore. To the west it goes towardsHarrow Weald andHatch End. To the east it meets theA5 (Brockley Hill and Stonegrove) at Canons Corner roundabout providing a connection to theM1 motorway and Central London. A short distance east of that is a junction for theA41 trunk road. Marsh Lane and Honeypot Lane travel south towardsQueensbury while Stanmore Hill/The Common travels towardsBushey Heath and on toWatford.
Stanmore is the northern terminus of theJubilee line, giving the area directLondon Underground access to Central London. TheStanmore branch line toHarrow & Wealdstone station closed in 1964.
| Route | Start | End | Operator |
| 142 | Brent Cross | Watford Junction | London Sovereign |
| 324 | Elstree | Brent CrossTesco | Metroline |
| 340 | Edgware | Harrow | Arriva London |
| H12 | Stanmore | South Harrow | London Sovereign |
| 79 | Edgware | AlpertonSainsbury's | London Sovereign |
| 107 | Edgware | New Barnet | Metroline |
| 186 | Brent Cross | Northwick Park Hospital | Metroline |
| H18/H19 | Harrow | Harrow | London Sovereign |
| N98 (Night) | Stanmore | Holborn | Metroline |
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