Edgware
St Margaret of Antioch, Edgware
Edgware Location withinGreater London
Population	58,619 (2011 Census[1] Estimate)
OS grid reference	TQ195925
• Charing Cross	10 mi (16 km) SE
London borough	Barnet Brent Harrow
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	EDGWARE
Postcode district	HA8
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	NW7
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
UK Parliament	Hendon
London Assembly	Barnet and Camden Brent and Harrow
List of places UK England London 51°37′07″N0°16′22″W / 51.6185°N 0.2729°W /51.6185; -0.2729

Edgware (/ˈɛdʒwɛər/) is a suburban town in northernGreater London. It was anancient parish in the county ofMiddlesex east of the ancientWatling Street in what is now theLondon Borough of Barnet but it is now informally considered to cover a wider area, including parts of the boroughs ofHarrow andBrent.^[2] The district is located 9.5 miles (15.3 km) north-northwest ofCharing Cross and has a generally suburban character. The urban-rural fringe includes some elevated woodland on a high gravel and sand ridge along theHertfordshire border with Greater London.

Edgware is principally a shopping and residential area, identified in theLondon Plan as one of the capital's 35 major centres, and one of the northern termini of theNorthern line. It has abus garage, a shopping centre called theBroadwalk Centre,a library, acommunity hospital, Edgware Community Hospital, and two streams,Edgware Brook andDeans Brook which merge and become known as theSilk Stream, itself a tributary of theRiver Brent.

As of 2011, the town had a population of 58,619.^[3]

Edgware is anOld English place-name first recorded in the 970s as Aegces wer, meaning Ecgi's weir. Ecgi is aSaxon name and the weir relates to a pond where his people would catch fish.^[4][5] The name was subsequently applied to the ancient parish of Edgware.

A legal record of 1422 mentions "Eggeswer", in Middlesex, which, being in Latin, may have been written deliberately using an older form of the spelling.^[6] By 1489, and the beginning of theTudor period those writing the name added the "d" and it was Edggeware.

Edgware was anancient parish of 2,089 acres (8.45 km²) in the county ofMiddlesex.

Edgware parish was part of a grouping of parishes calledHendon Rural District (which didn't include Hendon) from 1894.^[7] In 1931 Edgware moved from Hendon Rural District to the separate Hendon Urban District which did include Hendon.

The following year Hendon Urban District became theMunicipal Borough of Hendon. In 1965 the Borough of Hendon merged with theMunicipal Borough of Finchley, the urban districts of Barnet, East Barnet and Friern Barnet to become the newLondon Borough of Barnet.

The Ancient parish formally defined the extent of Edgware for over 800 years, but the district is now sometimes perceived as covering a wider area.

Ancient parishes served one or more manors (occasionally very large manors would be divided into more than one parish). The boundaries of these underlying manors occasionally changed through subinfeudation (sub-division), and parish boundaries might sometimes change with that, but in 1180 the parish boundaries were frozen, so that sub-division of parishes was unusual after that time, usually only occurring in rapidly developing urban areas.^[8]

The ancient parish served by St Margaret's church was bounded to the west by RomanWatling Street with the parish of Little Stanmore beyond it. South ofDeans Brook and Edgware Brook to the south and east wasHendon.Ecgi's Weir, which gave the district its name is likely to have been built on one of these boundary brooks.

The parish appears to have inherited a much older boundary along these brooks, as these are described as part of the boundary of an estate in neighbouring Hendon.^[9][10]

The parish's northern boundary with the parish of Elstree, was also that of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. Middlesex's northern boundary was, in this area, marked by a 20 kilometrehedge of great antiquity. When still unfragmented, the hedge extended from the River Colne (Middlesex's western boundary) toBarnet Gate Wood.^[11] This boundary of Middlesex with Hertfordshire was inherited, in part, by the newGreater London in 1965.

The area of Edgware was consistent and in the 1930s measured as 3.26 square miles (8.4 km²).^[12]

Both Barnet and Harrow have electoral wards named Edgware. The ward in Harrow was calledSouth Stanmore until 2002.^[13] Electoral wards are regularly altered to ensure a consistent number of electors per ward across a local authority area.

Edgware is part of theHA postcode area, named after nearbyHarrow, of the Londonpost town.^[14] More specifically Edgware is part of the HA8 postcode locality, associated with Edgware, but which covers a much wider area includingBurnt Oak,The Hale,Canons Park, and parts ofQueensbury. In this way HA8 take in part of the boroughs of Barnet, Harrow and Brent. Postcode areas are an operational convenience for the Royal Mail, and not intended to define districts.

Some eastern streets are in theNW postcode area.

TheRomans made pottery atBrockley Hill, thought by some to be the site ofSulloniacis.

Edgware does not appear in theDomesday survey of 1086. A manorial centre has, since at least 1216, beenEdgwarebury Farm.

Edgware Road follows the same line as the ancientWatling Street, an important Roman Road, and used in the medieval period by pilgrims. The Road was improved by the Edgware-Kilburnturnpike trust in 1711, and a number of the local inns functioned as a stop for coaches. By 1867 a railway line had been built between Edgware andFinsbury Park and a station was built.James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos built a stately home calledCannons in nearby Little Stanmore, around 1713 for £250,000 (equivalent to £47,023,810 in 2023) and was by far the wealthiest resident in the vicinity at that time.

By the 17th century Edgware had a small market selling cattle driven from other parts of England and fattened and sold locally. Local trades included butchers, tailors, colliers (charcoal sellers) and brewers. The market was held every week but petered out in 1790s.^[15]

Edgware was associated with the highwaymanDick Turpin. The infamous scene of his worst incident, which happened on 4 February 1735, was when five gang members, including Turpin, broke into a farmhouse owned by Joseph Lawrence, called Earlsbury Farm. Lawrence was at least 70 (so considered fairly old) and yet Turpin et al. beat him with their pistols and tortured him by setting him on a fire whilst naked, before announcing that they would amputate his legs. While this was going on, the leader of the gang took a servant girl upstairs and raped her.^[16]

Industry played a minor role in the economy of Edgware. There was a cattle and pleasure fair from 1760s to 1860s with horse racing between 1834 and 1855.^[17] Ribbon development along this part of the A5 road included development in the parish of Edgware to the east of the road, and Little Stanmore to the west of it.^[12]

Gravel pits were probably being worked by 1802 and certainly by 1834, partly at least by the labour of the able-bodied poor as a parish employment, and in 1963 gravel was still being extracted on the eastern side of the parish. In 1831 there were no persons engaged in manufacturing in the parish, and in fact there were no industries until in 1900 the firm of Chas. Wright Ltd., manufacturing engineers, moved fromClerkenwell: employed for the UK government inWorld War I and after this it struck 2,000,000Mons or 1914 Stars andVictory Medals. Its largest production inWorld War II was for the metal parts of respirator filters: making 94½ million between 1937 and 1943. In 1963 the company was chiefly engaged in the manufacture of car registration plates. There were 70 workmen employed, together with an office staff of 30. The firm of A.E.W. Ltd., founded in 1923 and established in Edgware in 1927, at the start of the 1970s employed 50 people and manufactured laboratory and industrial electric ovens and furnaces.^[17]

This place, from its situation within an easy distance of the metropolis, and the excellence of the road to it through an almost uninterrupted succession of elegant villas and agreeable scenery, has become the residence of numerous opulent and respectable families.

— S. Lewis,A Topographical Dictionary of England, 1848^[18]

Edgware had few residents for its size but saw some prosperous commerce: in 1870, for instance, there were sixinsurance agents in the village. The opening of the Great Northern Railway branch in 1867, however, seems to have had little effect on the expansion of the village, and plans to extend the railway met with strong local opposition. A Bill to establish a line from Watford to Edgware, brought before Parliament in 1896 and 1897, was opposed by residents, and it was said that the real harm of the railways was the opening up of building sites 'which are quickly covered with architectural atrocities'. In this time the parish had begun to display a tendency to split into an opulent north and a workaday south, separated by an agriculturalbuffer zone. By 1896 several large houses had been built in the Elstree area or along the Elstree–Barnet road, while the old village gained the post office, the infants' school, the station, and the Railway Hotel. The southern part of the parish was unable to repel the tide of suburban development, but the threatened distinction was to a large extent averted by the quality of buildings between the two world wars.^[17]

The first (non-tube connected) railway accompanied a brief decline in population. By the mid 19th century the area was almost entirely for the purpose of hay production. In 1939 the overground railway passenger service ceased to run, and goods traffic ceased by 1964. A tram service began in 1904.^[15] In 1921 the population was 1,516. Although much suburban development was encouraged by the opening of thetube station in 1924, the area was already attracting developers like George Cross to the area by 1919. The conurbation increased as far north as the Edgware Way. In 1932 the parish became a part ofHendon Urban District. The shopping district around Station Road developed to include the Ritz Cinema, which opened in May 1932. Following several name changes the cinema was eventually demolished in 2001 and replaced by a large gym, apartments and aCaffè Nero. TheEdgware Town F.C. was founded in 1939 after a predecessor team in 1915.^[15]

Ageneral hospital on Burnt Oak Broadway dates back to aninfirmary that was added at aworkhouse from the Hendon Board of Guardians in 1865, with an all new site adjacent to it built and opened with 175 beds in December 1927 as Redhill Hospital. It was extended greatly byMiddlesex County Council in the late 1930s. It became part of theNational Health Service in 1948 and was renamed Edgware General Hospital.^[19]

Post-war development has been restricted by theMetropolitan Green Belt, sparingurban sprawl into the Scratch Wood and Deacons Hill areas apart from theM1 motorway. By this time the population was more than 17,000. In 1990, the Mall Shopping Centre, originally called the Broadwalk Shopping Centre, replaced the former Edgware Town station pulled down in 1961.

Following a review in 1994, Edgware General Hospital was controversially closed by the Conservative government ofJohn Major in April 1997 despite public opposition.^[20] After the Labour Party election victory the closure was upheld, leading to further outcry from the public. Eventually a review and lengthy consultations took place with local campaigners and authorities, which resulted in the building of acommunity hospital.^[21][22] Some of the General Hospital site was demolished and Edgware Community Hospital, which cost £38 million, opened in its place in February 2005.^[20]

Edgware was identified in 2008 as a major centre for preferred development in the London Plan.^[23]

In the mid-2010s, many new apartments have been built on Green Lane.^[24]

Edgware town centre lies about 200 feet (60 m) above sea level. Much of Edgware is steep, particularly aroundEdgwarebury Park (aSite of Nature Conservation Interest) and theBroadfields Estate.

TheEdgwarebury Brook (not to be confused with theEdgware Brook), is a tributary of Deans Brook. TheDeans Brook andEdgware Brook, which form the historic southern boundary of the area, merge and take the nameSilk Stream in the vicinity of Edgware Hospital (known as Redhill Hospital till 1948). The Silk Stream is a tributary of theRiver Brent, which it meets atBrent Reservoir.

Open spaces in the area includeEdgwarebury Park andStoneyfields Park.

Major roads in the vicinity include the A5, theA41 road (Watford Bypass) and theM1 motorway. The A5 Road (originally the Roman Watling Street) runs from central London by way of Edgware and ontoWroxeter in Shropshire. The Road is known as theHigh Street,Stone Grove andBrockley Hill as it runs along the Edgware/Little Stanmore parish boundary; immediately south of that boundary it is known asBurnt Oak Broadway. Further south it is known asEdgware Road, meaningthe road to Edgware.

Until the 20th century there were no major rises in the population of Edgware. In themanor of Edgware in 1277 there were eight free tenants (excluding the Grand Priory of Clerkenwell) and 52 customary tenants (assumed to all be men); the survey from which these figures are taken, however, includes lands appurtenant to the manor lying in Kingsbury. In 1425–26 the manor of Edgware had three free and 29 customary tenants in the parish, and in 1525–26 the numbers were two or three free and 26 customary tenants. In 1547 there were 120 (adult or teenage)communicants in the parish. In 1597 there were between 60 and 70 houses in the parish, and 44 more in the village of Edgware but on the west side of Watling Street and therefore in the parish ofLittle Stanmore. In 1599 there were six free and 25 customary tenants of the manor within Edgware. In 1642 in theCivil War theprotestation oath of 1641 was taken by 103 adult males. In 1664 there were 73 houses in the parish, but thehearth tax of 1672 gives only 66. During the 18th century the average numbers both of baptisms and burials declined gently but steadily; in the period 1717–26 the average number of baptisms was between 15 and 16 a year and the average number of burials 20, but by 1801–10 the figures were 11 and 9, respectively. There were said to be 69 houses in the village in 1766 and 76 houses in 1792. At the first census in 1801 the population was 412. Throughout the 19th century numbers rose slowly, except for the years between 1851 and 1871; the censuses of 1861 and 1871 show successive declines of 7 percent, attributed in 1871 to migration and to the absence of direct trains to London.^[12]

Ten years later the losses had been more than made good, and in 1901 the figure of 868 had been reached. By 1921 the population had grown to 1,516, but the great infilling of the southern part of Edgware after 1924 caused the most spectacular increase. In 1931 the population was 5,352; this had increased to 17,513 by 1951 and to 20,127 by 1961.^[12]

As well as Christian and subsequent settling of other religious groups, Edgware's development coincided with that of its Jewish community,^[25] currently forming the largest single religious group.^[26] In the 2001 Census, 36% of Edgware residents give their religion as Jewish, 28% Christian, 9% Hindu and 5% Muslim.^[27] The Jewish community in Edgware has constructed its ownEruv.^[28]

Edgware has a strong Jewish character, and also has significant Hindu and Muslim minorities, mostly of Indian origin.^[29]

According to the 2011 census:

• Edgware ward of Barnet was 60% white (47% British, 12% Other White, 1% Irish). 13% was Indian and 7% Black African. 33% of the population was Jewish, 28% Christian and 11% Muslim. The most spoken foreign language is Gujarati.^[30]
• Hale ward of Barnet (east from the centre) was 59% white (45% British, 12% Other, 2% Irish) and 10% Indian. 39% was Christian and 19% Jewish. The most spoken foreign language is Gujarati followed by Persian and Romanian.^[31]

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Argonaut Games once had its head office in Edgware.^[33] They were in Argonaut House, now known as Cavendish House. The computer gameWorms was designed there and contracts came from Nintendo.^[34]

Green Shield Stamps was also headquartered in Edgware until its closure in 1991. It occupied Premier House^[35] who commenced its development in 2014 into 121 residential flats, now subject to dispute by current residents over the Grenfell type of cladding used in the development. Premier House residential is known as Premier Place.^[36]

Local news in Edgware is provided by the weekly printed or online boroughwideTimes series.

• London Academy
• Beit Shvidler Primary School
• Holland House School
• Broadfields Primary School
• Deansbrook Primary School
• Krishna Avanti Primary School, Harrow
• North London Collegiate School
• Rosh Pinah Primary School
• Edgware Junior School
• Canons High School

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Like most parts of northwest London, Edgware is served very well by theLondon Underground and there are four stations serving the area:

• Edgware (Northern line)
• Burnt Oak (Northern line)
• Canons Park (Jubilee line)
• Queensbury (Jubilee line)

Fifteen dayLondon Buses serve Edgware, along with three night services, three school services, and two non-TfL routes operated byUno.

Edgware Cricket Club, based at Canons Park, play Saturday and Sunday League cricket during the summer months.^[37]Edgware Town F.C. is a football club that represents Edgware, but they are currently based inKingsbury.

This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Edgware" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

• Nicolas Anelka — footballer, when playing forArsenal^{[citation needed]}
• Anita Asante — footballer^{[citation needed]}
• John Bercow — formerSpeaker of the House of Commons and MP for Buckingham^[38]
• Boz Boorer — guitarist, producer, co-writer and musical director forMorrissey.^[39]
• Eleanor Bron — actress^{[citation needed]}
• Max Bygraves — singer, comedian and actor^{[citation needed]}
• Paul Chowdhry — stand-up comedian^[40]
• Antony Costa — singer from boy bandBlue^[41]
• Tony Currie — footballer^[42]
• Sope Dirisu — actor^[43]
• Shirley Eaton — actress^[44]
• Steve Ellis — a member of 60s pop groupThe Love Affair, born in Edgware 1950
• Victor Feldman (1934–1984) — jazz musician (1934–1984), was born in Edgware.^[45]
• Vanessa Feltz — TV/radio presenter^{[citation needed]}
• Fenella Fielding (1927–2018) — actress, lived in Edgware in her early life.^[46]
• DayanMichoel Fisher (1910–2004) — former Chairman of the Federation of Synagogues Rabbinate^{[citation needed]}
• Dean Furman (born 1988) — professional footballer, grew up in Edgware.^[47]
• George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) — composer^[48]
• Altaf Hussain Chief and founder of Pakistan'sMQM Party. Resident since 1992.^{[citation needed]}
• Charlotte McDonagh — actress/television presenter/model and singer^{[citation needed]}
• Patrick McGoohan (1928–2009) — lead actor in the 1967 seriesThe Prisoner, lived in a large detached house on The Ridgeway, Mill Hill Village^[49]
• Jane March — actress^{[citation needed]}
• Dave Mattacks — rock and folk drummer, best known for his work withFairport Convention^[50]
• George Michael — pop singer^[51]
• Barry Norman — television presenter and author^{[citation needed]}
• Archie Panjabi —Emmy Award winning actress, known forThe Good Wife^{[citation needed]}
• David Piper — racing driver^[52]
• Angharad Rees — actress^{[citation needed]}
• Richard Russell — owner of UK Record Label, XL Recordings^[53]
• Pat Sharp — disc jockey and television presenter^{[citation needed]}
• Ben Strevens — footballer currently playing forWycombe Wanderers^[54]
• Mitchell Symons — journalist and author^[55]
• Ernest George Trobridge — architect;Blue Plaque at 19 Heather Walk.^{[citation needed]}
• Patrick Vieira — former Arsenal footballer^{[citation needed]}
• William Wilberforce (1759–1833) — slave trade abolitionist, lived on the Highwood Hill estate, Mill Hill (1826–1831)^{[56]: 295, 303}
• Frank Williams — actor.^[57]
• Christopher Wreh — former Arsenal footballer^{[citation needed]}
• Ashley Blaker – comedian and television producer

• 
  Kings Parade, Edgwarebury Lane.
• 
  Edgwarebury Lane
• 
  A41 Edgware Way, located north from Edgware town centre. View from Edgwarebury Lane footbridge.
• 
  Basin Lake, located in Canons Drive to the west of Edgware. It is located in the borough of Harrow
• 
  Grassland in Edgwarebury Park, taken from the A41 Edgware Way/Watford-by-Pass. This is the far north, rural area of Edgware.
• 
  Former track of theGreat Northern Railway line, which closed in 1964. View from Dean's Lane in the east of Edgware
• 
  Rose Garden Close in western Edgware, near Canons Drive. This road consists of large suburban houses, near Lake Grove
• 
  Premier Inn hotel, Edgware

• Ward information
• Barnet Archives and Local Studies
• Victoria County History Edgware Chapter (1971)
• Clive SmithArchived 7 February 2012 at theWayback Machine photo collection

• Edgware
• Areas of London
• Districts of the London Borough of Barnet
• Places formerly in Middlesex
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