History
Childs Hill took its name from Richard le Child, who in 1312 held a customary house and "30 acres" of its area, believed to be on the ancient long-held borders within Hendon rather than Hampstead, the area having always whilst rural been so split. [4] The earliest known use with the word Hill is in 1587. [5] Today, the apostrophe in the name is optional. [4] In the 18th century, Childs Hill was a centre for brick and tile making, supplying material for building Hampstead. The Castle Inn, since demolished, dated from this period: the first record of it is in 1751.
The land drains steeply from east to west. It reaches over 259 feet (79 m) above mean sea level in the east at the top of residential Platts Lane where Hampstead Heath starts. From 1789 to 1847 the east of Childs Hill hosted an optical telegraph station. In 1808 this became one of a line of telegraph stations stretching from the Admiralty to Great Yarmouth, erected as part of Britain's national defences. Only the name, Telegraph Hill, remains; it has been covered with housing (the Telegraph Hill south-east corner of Childs Hill is now inside the boundary of the London Borough of Camden).
An Act of Parliament in 1826 enabled Finchley Road giving a new road to the north other than two further east through hillier and higher, sometimes narrow urban lanes, which met at Highgate; it was completed by 1829. It had a tollgate at the Castle Public House. The road has a double-width bypass skirting Childs Hill. In the early 1850s a Colonel Evans speculatively built "The Mead", where brickworks had been, [n 1] renamed Granville Road, the street name today. By the 1870s laundries were a major local industry. The last, the Initial Laundry in Granville Road, closed in 2006.
Housing
Childs Hill has streets of leafy semi-detached and relatively plain terraced housing. It is also characterised by four high rise blocks of flats and some blocks of mid-rise apartments.
The first block of the four was built by the building company Tersons for the Metropolitan Police in about 1956. These were homes for police families. Orchard Mead House, on the Finchley Road, later became Quarters/homes for armed/other emergency Services families for a short time before moving into the private sector.
The second and third blocks, in Granville Road were built in about 1960, by the local borough as housing in the local community. The fourth block, presumed to be the same, was built some time later.
Amenities
Childs Hill has a public library, as well as a square park, Childs Hill park, which also contains the Childs Hill Bowls Club, several shops and restaurants, small businesses, offices, primary schools and two churches (All Saints C of E with Primary School and Childs Hill Baptist).
At the Western extreme on the Hendon Way, is the Palm Hotel, formerly the Garth Hotel. Alexei Sayle's short story Barcelona Plates goes into some detail as its protagonist stays there for a while, noting, amongst many other features, the idiosyncratic design of the building, an amalgamation of suburban houses.
It has an off-centre park, Basing Hill Park. Golders Hill Park borders the east of its area; over half of it is included in two purely Childs Hill census output areas though it borders too Golders Green. Another park, Clitterhouse Recreation Ground is just over the usual borders of the area.
Cricklewood is an area of London, England, which spans the boundaries of the London Borough of Barnet to the east, and the London Borough of Brent to the west. The Crown pub, now the Clayton Crown Hotel, is a local landmark and lies 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Charing Cross.
Finchley is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, 7 mi (11 km) north of Charing Cross. Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and Hendon.
Golders Green is an area in the London Borough of Barnet in England. It began as a medieval small suburban linear settlement near a farm and public grazing area green, and dates to the early 19th century. Its bulk forms a late 19th century and early 20th century suburb with a commercial crossroads. The rest is of later build. It is centred approximately 6 miles (9 km) north west of Charing Cross on the intersection of Golders Green Road and Finchley Road.
Hampstead is an area in London, England, which lies 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Charing Cross, forming the northwest part of the London Borough of Camden, a borough in Inner London. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsize Park to the south and is surrounded from the northeast by Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland.
Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Greater London since 1965. Hendon falls almost entirely within the NW4 postcode, while the West Hendon part falls in NW9. Colindale to the northwest was once considered part of Hendon but is today separated by the M1 motorway.
The London Borough of Barnet is a local authority area on the northern outskirts of London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It is the second largest London borough by population with 389,344 inhabitants as of 2021, also making it the 17th largest district in England. The borough covers an area of 86.74 square kilometres (33 sq mi), the fourth highest of the 32 London boroughs, and has a population density of 45.8 people per hectare, which ranks it 25th.
East Finchley is an area in North London, immediately north of Hampstead Heath. Like neighbouring Muswell Hill, it straddles the London Boroughs of Barnet and Haringey, with most of East Finchley falling into the London Borough of Barnet. It has the greenest high road in London.
Hendon Football Club is a semi-professional football club representing Hendon in the London Borough of Barnet, but playing their home matches in Kingsbury in the London Borough of Brent. They are currently members of the Isthmian League Premier Division and play at Silver Jubilee Park in Kingsbury.
The River Brent is a river in west and northwest London, England, and a tributary of the River Thames. 17.9 miles (28.8 km) in length, it rises in the Borough of Barnet and flows in a generally south-west direction before joining the Tideway stretch of the Thames at Brentford.
Finchley Road is a designated 4.5-mile (7-kilometre) arterial road in north-west London, England. The Finchley Road starts in St John's Wood near central London as part of the A41; its southern half is a major dual carriageway with high traffic levels often frequented by lorries and long-distance coaches as it connects central London, via the A41 Hendon Way, to the M1 motorway at Brent Cross and other roads at that interchange.
Hendon was an ancient parish of around 8,250 acres (33 km2) in Middlesex, on the border with Hertfordshire. As well as Hendon itself, the parish included Childs Hill, Golders Green and Mill Hill. In 1879 the parish was made a local government district. Such districts became urban districts in 1894. In 1931 the urban district absorbed the neighbouring parish of Edgware, and the following year the urban district was incorporated to become a municipal borough. The borough was abolished in 1965 when the area was transferred from Middlesex to Greater London and became part of the London Borough of Barnet.
Temple Fortune is a place in the London Borough of Barnet to the north of Golders Green. It is principally a shopping district used by residents of the Hampstead Garden Suburb. Between here and Golders Green, at Hoop Lane are two cemeteries – Golders Green Jewish Cemetery and Golders Green Crematorium. Religious buildings include the Catholic Church of St Edward the Confessor, St. Mary & Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church, and North Western Reform Synagogue.
Finchley and Golders Green is a constituency created in 1997. It is represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Sarah Sackman of the Labour Party.
The Edgware, Highgate and London Railway was a railway in North London, England. The railway was a precursor of parts of London Underground's Northern line and was, in the 1930s, the core of an ambitious expansion plan for that line which was thwarted by the Second World War. Parts of the line were closed in the 1950s and have since been removed.
The London Borough of Barnet, located on the northern periphery of London and having much of the area within its boundaries in the Metropolitan Green Belt, has many parks and open spaces. In addition there are large areas taken over by cemeteries and golf courses, and part of Hampstead Heath.
The Dudding Hill Line is a railway line in west and north-west London running from Acton to Cricklewood. It is roughly 4 miles (6.4 km) long, with a 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) speed limit, and semaphore signalling. The line has no scheduled passenger service, no stations, and is not electrified. It is lightly used by freight trains and, very occasionally, passenger charter trains.
The Dollis Valley Greenwalk is a footpath route in the London Borough of Barnet in London, England, between Moat Mount Nature Reserve in Mill Hill and Hampstead Heath. The route is designed to act as a link between the Capital Ring and the London Loop, and between the many green spaces and wildlife corridors along the way. It is approximately 10 miles (16 km) long. It mainly follows the Dollis Brook and is one of the many parks and open spaces in Barnet.
The North and West London Light Railway (NWLLR), formerly known as the Brent Cross Railway, is a proposal for a light rail system in North and West London in the UK. It was put forward by the London group of the Campaign for Better Transport and by the Coalition for a Sustainable Brent Cross Cricklewood.
The London Borough of Camden was created in 1965 from the former area of the metropolitan boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St Pancras, which had formed part of the County of London. The borough was named after Camden Town, which had gained its name from Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden in 1795. Since the 17th century, many famous people have lived in its various districts and neighbourhoods.
Hendon and District Archaeological Society (HADAS) is an amateur archaeological society based in the London Borough of Barnet, England, and is registered as a charity with the UK Charity Commission.
