ruislip, northwood and eastcote local history...

RUISLIP, NORTHWOOD AND EASTCOTELocal History Society

Journal 1999

CONTENTS

Re! Author Page

Committee Members 2

Lecture Programme 1999-2000 2

Editorial '"-'9911 Catlins Lane, Eastcote Karen Spink 4

9912 The Missing Link: A Writer at South Hill Farm Karen Spink 7

99/3 HaIlowell Rd: A Street Research Project Denise Shackell 12

99/4 Plockettes to Eastcote Place Eileen M BowIt 16

99/5 Eastcote Cottage: The Structure Pat A Clarke 21

99/6 A Middlesex Village: Northwood in 1841 Colleen A Cox 259917 Eastcote in the Thirties Ron Edwards 29

99/8 The D Ring Road Problem RonEdwards 3299/9 Long Distance Rail Services in 1947 Simon Morgan 35

99/10 Ruislip Bowls Club: The Move to Manor Farm, 1940 Ron Lightning 37

99111 RNELHS: Thirty-five Years RonEdwards 38

Cover picture: South Hill Farm, Eastcote by Denise Shackell

Designed and edited by Simon Morgan.LMA Research: Pam Morgan

Copyright © 1999 individual authors and RNELHS.

Membership of the Ruislip, Northwood and Eastcote Local History Society is open to all who areinterested in local history. For further information please enquire at a meeting of the Society orcontact the Secretary. Meetings are held on the third Monday of each month from September to Apriland are open to visitors. (Advance booking is required for the Christmas social.) The programme jar1999-2000 is on page 2.

An active Research Group supports those who are enquinng into or wishing to increase ourunderstanding of the history of the ancient parish of Ruislip (the present Ruislip, Northwood andEastcote). Its members are largely responsible for the papers in this Journal, and for other Societypublications which are produced from time to time.

RUISLlP. NORTHWOOD AND EASTCOTE

Local History Society 1 Journal 1999

RUISLlP, NORTHWOOD AND EASTCOTELocal History SocietyRegistered Charity no. 288234

COMMITTEE 1998-1999

Membership Secretary

Programme Secretary

Editor

Minutes

Leonard Krause

Colleen Cox

Eileen Watling7 The Greenway, Ickenham,Middlesex DB 10 8LS

Irene Furbank

01923 836074

01895478927

01895 673534

President

Chairman

Secretary

Acting Treasurer

Alison Ferguson

Simon Morgan

Mary Pache

Robert Bedford

Eileen M Bowlt

Carol Butler

KayHolmes

Susan Toms

Tony Jones

01895636047

01895635628

01923 827188

01895635890

01895637396

01895 638060

01895 632939

01895633880

01895 637134

01895634683

LECTURE PROGRAMME 1999-2000

1999

20 September The Archaeology of the Jubilee Line James Drummond-Murray

18 October AGM, followed by: Pubs in Pinner Ken Kirkham

15 November Food and Fuel for the Jim GallowayMediaeval London Market

20 December The History of the River Thames Police Stephen Davies

200017 January The really, really old History of our Area Dr Robert Symes

21 February Research Group presentations

20 March Erno Goldfinger and 2 Willow Road Derek Middleton

17 April The Compass Theatre Michael Palmer

Meetings are on Mondays at 8.15 pm and are held at St Martins Church Hall, Ruislip.

RUISLIP, NORTHWOOD AND EASTCOTE


EDITORIALMore Scholarship, PleaseThere can never have been a time when interestin the past was as great as today.

In the 1960s the Festival of Britain and otherinfluences had spawned an era of 'modernism',and there was almost revulsion for thingshistorical. Our local councils got away withdemolishing Eastcote House and Hayden Hall,our two most important houses, and the 13thcentury Moor Hall Chapel in Harefield withvery little public opposition.

Since that cultural abyss, there has been agradual revival of interest in history,culminating in the present multi-million pound'heritage' industry. As we approach the end ofthe millennium, this enthusiasm is being furtherfuelled with reviews and analyses of key eventsin the past 1000 years. Much of this is popularand even lightweight activity such asnewspapers and radio shows electing persons ofthe millennium (my vote goes to Simon deMontfort, by the way, with General GeorgeMonk a close second).

Unfortunately, in the desire to serve up the pastin an accessible and profitable way, accuracyand scholarship suffer. Many recent films, from'Braveheart' to Titanic' have been rightlycriticised for taking liberties with knownhistorical record, resulting in an uncriticalpublic taking away with them a distorted versionof events. The same is true, to a lesser degree,of television documentary-style history, which isfrequently more concerned with revisionism ormaking a point than in providing a balancedroundup, when there is more than one point ofVIew.

A recent trend is to attempt the actual recreationof the past - the last word in presenting history'on a plate'. Open-air museums rescueendangered buildings and industrial sites, andimport objects and equipment from elsewhere toshow them as in their heydays. English Heritagehas recently gone even further in commissioningreproduction furniture for the 1930s interiors ofEltham Palace. And the ultimate must be thetelevision series, 1900 House - actually gettingpeople to live for 3 months as if in that time.All these activities are in danger in falling intothe same trap as befell the Victorian churchrestorers. A reconstruction can only ever be oneinterpretation. This approach is fine if this

limitation is made clear, and if information onthe assumptions made and the sources used isavailable. However, there is rarely any suchguidance, and the costumed guides oftenprovided at themed locations are understandablyof variable degrees of knowledge whendeparting from their set scripts. Any error in thereconstruction (at Beamish, for example, thereare significant faults in the signal box equipmentand signalling at the 'railway station') istherefore likely to be accepted as historical factor, at least, as best current understanding.

There is a danger that the pendulum ofmodernism versus retrospection will swing backthe other way to a new era of ignorance anddisdain for the past. There is some evidencethat this is indeed cyclical. The mid-Victoriansdiscovered a deep interest in their heritage,applying this to the restoration of churches andother buildings and to their styles ofarchitecture. With the passing of the centuryand the social and political upheavals of theFirst World War, this mood had changed tobecome more forward-looking. The pioneeringRuislip Town Plan of 1910 won general favourdespite proposing the demolition of all historicbuildings except for St Martin's Church.

By the 1930s middle England looked again tothe past for its sense of identity, perhaps inanswer to the rigors of economic depression,with 'Jacobethan' revival housing being all therage. Eastcote House and Moor Hall Chapelwere both 'saved' and restored during thisperiod and entrusted to the council forpreservation, only to be destroyed 30 years later.

The recent proposed 'slimming down" ofconservation areas by Hillingdon Council (in theface of opposition from this ·Society and others)and concerns over the preservation of the ManorFarm area are perhaps signs that the mood isagain changing.

Individuals and societies such as ours can makea difference, by resisting any trend to 'dumb-down' history and continuing to present it in aninteresting, but scholarly manner. We have aresponsibility to the community to promoteunderstanding of its local heritage, so thatdemocracy (in the form of public pressure) canprevail when it is endangered. At a time whenthe future of our heritage may seem rosier thanever, there are worrying signs that still greatervigilance will be needed.

RUISLlP. NOR1HWOOD AND EASTCOTELocal History SOCiety Journal 19993

CATLINS LANE, EASTCOTEby Karen Spink

In 1998, Hillingdon Council conducted areview of the 25 conservation areas inHillingdon Borough and issued leaflets withmaps showing suggested changes. In EastcoteVillage one of the suggested changes is thatpart of Catlins Lane should be removed fromthe Conservation Area. This affects two parts:some houses surrounding St Catherine's Farmon the east of Catlins Lane, and on the west thehouses beyond Oakwood as far as The Cottage.It is the latter part that this article is concernedwith.

The council's reason for the suggested removalis that: On Caitlins [sic] Lane, the boundaryhas been redrawn at St Catherine's Farm, thepoint which marks a distinct change incharacter, as road becomes country lane.Oakwood would therefore be the last house inthe Conservation Area.1 This removes thehouses known as Harewood, The Moorings,Elmhurst and Dungail, simply on the basis, itseems, of their having a footpath in front ofthem and not being opposite St Catherine' sFarm.

According to the conservation area reviewleaflet, however, conservation areas aredesignated in order to protect those areas whichare felt to possess some special architectural orhistoric interest. It therefore seems appropriateto look at these houses in relation to theirneighbours and also at any architecturalfeatures they may have.

In the nineteenth century, the only dwelling inthe southern part of Catlins Lane was St

oCatherine's Farm (see map 1).- The nameCatlins is a corruption of Catherine's. Oppositethe farm on the other side of the lane is oldenclosure no. 647. An area of 2a lr 3p, it wasowned in 1806 by Mrs Gregory. The 1837Terrier (survey) names Mary Gregory as theoccupier with James Smith as the owner, andthen in 1847 the rate book puts James Smith asboth the owner and occupier of land (2a lr 25p)and barn, with a rateable value of £3.12.6d.This plot of land fits in almost exactly with thepiece of land, parcel no. 319 of 2.484 acres, onthe 1913 OS map, surveyed in 1911 (see map2).3 It is divided into eleven plots, each with a

dwelling on it. In 1913, a sale documentrelating to the sale of seven lots in Eastcote andPinner, including St Catherine's Farm, shows(though not part of the sale) the row of housesin question, and conveniently names most ofthem. A twelfth house, Litcombe, has beenadded at the bottom near Eastcote Road (seemap 3).4 By 1935 other developments hadtaken place in Catlins Lane including TheCottage to the north and other buildings aroundSt Catherine's Farm and on Eastcote Road (see

5map 4).

Catlins Lane is unusual in that the Post Officestill accepts the sole use of house names insteadof numbers. Over the years, however, thenames of the early houses have changed andthis has made it difficult to determine the exactdates and sequence of the building of thesehouses. Information in rate books, directoriesand electoral roll books6 has identified some ofthem, though not always as a person's addressis sometimes referred to only as St Catherine'sLane or Catlin's Lane. The first occupationwould appear to have been in 1903. By 1905 amain sewer running from Cuckoo Hill had afeeder serving Catlins Lane.7

The first house on the left, Litcombe, as hasalready been mentioned, was the last of thetwelve houses to be built, in about 1913. Adetached house, with a red-tile roof, it was builtin the garden belonging to Ingleby. Its wallsare mostly rendered except for several coursesof red brick at the base, which finish with adecorative triangle pattern.

Ingleby, the left of a semi-detached pair, wasowned in 1903 by C. Jacques and its neighbour,Eastfield, was occupied from 1905 by WilliamGregory and subsequently owned by him from1907. William Gregory was councillor forEastcote in 1904 and was RNUDC's first vice-chairman. 8 These two houses are still themirror image of each other, with red brickwork(though over-painted on Eastfield), a grey-slateroof, and sash windows on the first floor.

The next house, Anchorage, a detached red-brick (mostly over-painted) house, wasoccupied in 1913 by Mdme O'flier.9 Its gable

RUISlIP. NORTHWOOD AND EASTCOTELocal History Society 4 Journal 1999

has decorative bargeboards and there areattractive windows, notably a pretty sash on thefirst floor.

Continuing up the lane, Ashover has a largenew extension on the right with a gable whichmatches the original on the left. It is red brick,also with decorative bargeboards and a grey-slate roof. The side walls are of stock bricks.George Cornelius Albon Ellement is known tohave lived here from 1903-1948. He was theelder brother of Thomas Ellement, Pinnercouncillor and builder. George Ellement,renowned locally for his cricket skills, playedfor Pinner and Eastcote Clubs, and was also afounder member of Pinner Football Club(1892).10 A member of the Ellement familylived at Ashover till about 1960.

Braeside comes next, a detached, part red-brick,part rendered house, followed by Westcott, alsopart brick (now over-painted) and partrendered, and with a grey-slate roof. Westcottwas occupied in 1909 by Arthur William Crosswho had moved from Field End Villas in FieldEnd Road.

Oakwood, known as St Catherine's when it wasbuilt in 1904, was one of the largest in the lane.It was apparently built by Mr Jacques, ajobbing builder. It has an interesting circularbay on the left of the front elevation with aconical tile roof and there is a large gable onthe right. The roof is made of different-shapedred tiles laid in a decorative pattern and thereare impressive chimney stacks. This wasprobably first lived in by Edward Powell.

The other large house is Harewood, originallyknown as Elfcote. It has decorative brickworkbetween floors and an attractive doorway anddoor. From 1910-1916 it was occupied byDavid Richard Franks. In 1955 there was ahandwritten board on the grass verge outsideHarewood which said: Motorists! This muddylane is used by pedestrians. 11

The Moorings, formerly The Bungalow, wasowned by G. Jacques, probably from 1906 butdefinitely in 1910 when it was occupied byRalph William Gostick (or Gosted). It wasbuilt by Mr Jacques and the interestingpargeting, a feature of Mr Jacques' buildings,has motifs of plant-forms and birds. Mr T.G.Cross, the local councillor, lived here from

1920 until he moved across the lane to StCatherine's Farm in 1930.

Finally, there is the other semi-detached pair,Elrnhurst, occupied in 1908 by Ernest Edwards,and Dungail, once Ranworth, occupied in 1913by J.N. St Heale.

In conclusion, the existence of a pavement infront of Harewood, The Moorings, Elrnhurstand Dungail would seem an irrelevance indetermining the boundary of the ConservationArea. Historically, all these twelve housesform part of the same parcel of land and werebuilt within a timespan of ten years. They areindividually designed, detached or semi-detached, houses and it would be difficult tosingle out one as having more architecturalmerit than another. The pargeting on TheMoorings and the brickwork of Harewood areas noteworthy as the details on those housesthat the review would keep in the ConservationArea. It is as a row that all twelve houses havevisual merit. To take four of them out of theConservation Area would seem short-sighted,particularly as it is nearly 100 years since thestart of this development.

NoteDespite these recommendations, in March 1999Hillingdon Council removed Harewood, TheMoorings, Elrnhurst and Dungail, as well asThe Cottage, from the Eastcote VillageConservation Area.

ReferencesLetter to Mrs Jean Gibson, 17 November 1998,from Jane Hamilton, Assistant ConservationOfficer, London Borough of Hillingdon1806 Ruislip Enclosure Award and Map. RuislipLibrary25-inch OS Map. Central Reference Library,HarrowSale document. Sale of seven freehold lots i.nPinner and Ruislip, 15 July 1913. Lot 5 (StCatherine's Farm and Lot 7 (la 3r 20p in StCatherine's Lane) were not realised1835 25-inch OS Map. Central ReferenceLibrary, HarrowVarious Street Directories, Rate Books andElectoral Roll Books, 1900-1910. UxbridgeLibraryEdwards, Ron, Eastcote: from Village to Suburb,p22Kemp, WAG The History of East cote p 31The spelling of this name is unclear in the streetdirectoryThe Villager, no. 33. Pinner LibraryRemembered by Mrs T.G. Cross

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RUISLlP, NORTHWOOD AND EASTCOTE


THE MISSING LINK:A WRITER AT SOUTH HILL FARM

by Karen Spink

Baroness Orczy's stories have had a revivalrecently with "The Tea-House Detective" onBBC Radio 4 and a new production of "TheScarlet Pimpernel", starring Richard E. Granton BBCI television. There is a story inEastcote that Baroness Orczy wrote part of'The Scarlet Pimpernel" sitting under the yewtree at South Hill Farm while she was stayingthere. 1 Where this idea came from or why shewould have done so seems somewhat obscure.

Baroness Orczywith her husband, Montagu Barstow

(from her "Links in the Chain of Life ")

Eastcote is not particularly noted for its writersthough it was popular with artists. There wereat least two at the turn of the century: thelandscape painter Hesketh Bell and WalterKemp, a sculptor, living at Field End Villas, 2

and Harrow school pupils were often to be seenwith their art master, William Egerton Hine,around Field End.3 There are also references toactors and actresses living in Eastcote," nodoubt attracted by the increased accessibility ofLondon on the Metropolitan rail:way,firstlywith the opening of Pinner Station in 1885 andthen Eastcote Halt in 1906.

South Hill Farm would seem a strange place forBaroness Orczy to be staying. In 1900, fiveyears before the publication of "The ScarletPimpernel", the tenant farmer of South HillFarm in Southill Lane was Rose Tobutt. In her

mid-forties, she had already been a widow forabout twelve years. She had five childrenranging in age from 15 to 25 and she fannedfour acres of land in Catlins Lane and 21 acresat Southill.5 The farmhouse was large, withseven bedrooms, dressing-room, box room andoffices, two WCs, a stable, coach house and aflower garden.6 As well as running the farm,Mrs Tobutt employed two or three womenmaking pimps (bundles of firewood) which sheregularly took by horse and cart to Uxbridge tosell to shopkeepers.' Not the sort of setting oneimagines for a Hungarian Baroness, thedaughter of Baron Felix Orczy and his wifeEmma (nee Comtesse Wass), who boasted ofher friendships with Franz Liszt, AmoldBennett and Henry Irving.

However, South Hill Farm was not without itsliterary connections, as would be revealed in aletter sent to the Pinner History Society in1998. It was in a bundle of papers found in abarn in Devon by someone who thought theylooked interesting enough not to throwaway. 8

The letter was not from Baroness Orczy, but itwas from South Hill Farm, Dated only"Monday", it was addressed to Mrs Dowdallfrom George L. Calderon, who refers to SouthHill Farm, even though he is obviously not thefarmer. He says he lives in a room where hewrites and goes out to "pick daisies", andsometimes travels to London to copy things outof books. While Mrs Dowdall is addressedformally, the letter is chatty and friendly, andits purpose is probably to thank her for, anddecline, an invitation to visit her and herhusband.

Nothing was known ofMrs Dowdall, nor of thecorrespondent. Could anyone in Eastcote help?The handwriting and the style of the lettersuggest a date somewhere around the turn ofthe century. It did not take long to fmd apromising entry in the Uxbridge Poll Book for1900. Classified under Lodgers was GeorgeLeslie Calderon. He was renting two furnishedrooms for 7s 6d per week from Mrs Tobutt atSouth Hill Farm. The tone of the letter showssomeone who had a way with words andcomparing the signature on the letter with that

RUISLIP. NORTHWOOO!'NO EASTCOTELocal History Society

Journal 19997

reproduced in Percy Lubbock's biographyconfirms that this was the writer and dramatistGeorge Calderon. So, South Hill Farm canclaim an author, though not the one expected.

George Leslie Calderon was born in 1868. Hewas the son of the painter Philip HermogenesCalderon, RA whose own father was Spanish, aformer monk who turned Protestant and cameto England to avoid Spanish orthodoxy, andwhose mother was French from the Basque

It was in this artistic atmosphere that GeorgeCalderon and his five brothers and two sisterswere brought up. George was educated atRugby and Trinity College, Oxford. He wasone of those infuriating scholars who was goodat everything: writing, drawing, languages,mathematics, athletics and playing the piano.He was also entertaining and popular, as wellas good-looking. Yet he never excelled inexams at school and got a second class degree(in humanities). He pursued only those things

that he was passionate about.Nevertheless it was always said thathe would do well.

George Calderon and his Signature(from " ...A Sketch from Memory" by Lubbock)

Pyrenees. Philip was the leader of a group ofpainters known as the St John's Wood Schoolwho specialised in painting historical andbiblical scenes. He was a regular exhibitor ofthe Royal Academy and was elected Keeper in1887. In 1891 he exhibited a very controversialpainting, "St Elizabeth of Hungary's Great Actof Renunciation", which upset many RomanCatholics. The brother of Philip's wife, Clara,was the academician G.A. Storey.

He was called to the bar (InnerTemple) in 1894 when he gave hisaddress as 1 Cloisters, London EC.However, instead of pursuing acareer in law, in 1895 Georgedecided to go to Russia. Withcommissions from several Londonnewspapers, including The Standard,to be their occasional correspondent,and with additional income fromgiving English lessons, he was ableto support himself. He stayed in StPetersburg for two years and returnedto England with a satchel full ofnotes and sketches which he turnedinto articles for various journals. Hecould speak and write Russianfluently.

During his stay in Russia, Georgehad the idea to write a book on thebeginnings of religion: a comparativestudy of customs and languages. Itwas one of the ideas that consumedhim for the rest of his life. He alsobecame interested in the possibilitiesof a universal language, though hewas dismissive of Volapuk andEsperanto. He researched, studied,learned languages and meticulously

filed all his notes. He attended lectures andconferences and involved himself in causes:"peace of the country road" (anti-motor-car ofthe rich), he was Honorary Secretary of theMen's League for Opposing Women's Suffragein 1909, he tried to break the ring of strikers inthe coal strike (1912). He was a member of theBoard of Russian Studies and wrote freelancearticles for The Times Literary Supplement andits predecessor "Literature".

RUISLIP. NORTHWOOO AND EASTCOTE

Local History SocietyJournal 19998

In 1900 (the year of the South Hill Farm letter)Calderon took a job as library assistant at theBritish Museum which made use of hisknowledge of Slavonic languages. A friendand contemporary at Trinity College, LaurenceBinyon, who became a poet and art historian,was already working there and may havehelped him secure this post. However, Georgeleft after three years as he found thisemployment left insufficient time for all hisresearches and writing.

His first published book was"Adventures of Downy V.Green" in 1902. It is anentertaining satire of life mOxford as experienced by anAmerican Rhodes scholar,Downy V. Green, grandson ofthe popular literary characterVerdant Green (written byEdward Bradley, alias CuthbertBede, in 1853-7). The book isillustrated with George' s ownamusing drawings, rather in thestyle of Edward Lear or MaxBeerbohm. It was published inat least three impressions anddrew praise from reviewers. TheDaily Telegraph wrote: "It is oneof the best bits of fooling wehave read for a long time, and itis written by one who knowsOxford perfectly, and has acommand of American slangwhich Mark Twain himselfmight envy..; TIlls book, whichis cleverly illustrated by theauthor, deserves as wide a vogueas its predecessor 'Verdant'. Itshumour is quite as irresistibleand more subtle." The Timeswas even more effusive: ''Wenever remember to have readanything which more compelledlaughter than these too few pages. We have aperfect carnival of American slang... The lineillustrations, which are by the author, are insome cases admirable; we may say comparablewith Mr Kipling's."

look at evolution's "missing link" and pokesfun at London society.

After these two books, George turned to writingplays. His first, ''The Fountain" (performed in1909), a satire on the times, was followed in1911 by "The Little Stone House" and in 1912"Revolt", which dealt with strikes and crowds.Others were "Thompson" and "Geminae" in1913. He translated Anton Chekhov's "TheSeagull" and "Cherry Orchard", and in 1914

Count Ilya Tolstoy's"Reminiscences of Tolstoy".

His compulsive studying andzest for life affected his health.He loved to travel and found thatsea voyages were the best formof rest and recuperation, thoughinevitably he came back withmore notes and journals. Hemade trips to Paris, Lisbon,Marseilles and the CanaryIslands. In 1906, advised to takea restorative sea journey, hewent to Polynesia for severalmonths, also visiting NewZealand. 9

As mentioned earlier, 1900found George Calderon inEastcote. How long he was hereor why he chose to lodge hereinstead of in London is notknown, though his love of thecountryside and fresh air mayhave had something to do with

€ it. 10 However, George leftEastcote in 1900 and marriedKatharine, the widow of ArchieRipley, another good friend fromOxford, who had died two yearsearlier. 11 George and Katharinewere drawn together duringArchie's terminal illness and

after their marriage they set up home withKatharine's mother, Mrs Hamilton, atHeathland Lodge in the Vale of Health,Hampstead. In 1912, Mrs Hamilton nowdeceased, they moved to 42 Well Walk,Hampstead.

He only chuckled

George Calderon 's drawing of'Old Man Downy 'from

"Adventures of Downy V Green ,.

George Calderon followed this in 1904 with"Dwala. A Romance". It opens in Borneo butis mostly set in London. It takes a humorous

What, meanwhile, of Baroness Orczy? Havingfirst attempted a career in music (her father wasa composer and conductor), she decided she


Local History Society Journal 19999

wanted to be a painter and secured a place atWest London School of Art, a branch of SouthKensington School of Art (probably because ofher family's acquaintance with Lord Leighton,the President of the Royal Academy).However, finding study there rather dull, sheattended Heatherleys in Newman Street, Wlwhere "Old" Heatherley ran life classes. It washere she met her illustrator husband, MontaguBarstow. She made friends with severalacademicians and had three pictures insuccessive years hung in the RA, as it happensjust at the time that Philip Calderon was Keeperthere. She married in 1894 and for a while bothshe and her husband worked as illustrators (shefor a children's book, he for magazines), fromtheir studio flat in Holland Park.

In 1899 her son John (Jack) Montagu OrczyBarstow was born, and later the same year thelease on the studio flat ran out. The Barstowsfound new accommodation in Kensingtonwhich would not become vacant till 1901.Having already planned to spend the secondpart of 1900 in Paris to enjoy the GreatExhibition, they took lodgings in London forhalf a year. They stayed with a family fromDerbyshire (a couple with two daughters) in a"London suburb", a bus-ride from the canal atWestbourne Park, and it was here that BaronessOrczy had the idea to become a writer. Thisfamily had some small success having shortstories published, and the Baroness being well-travelled and regarding herself as far moreworldly-wise thought she must be able to domuch better.

While in Paris she wrote six detective storiesfor the "Royal" magazine. These were knownas the "Tea-House Detective Stories". On herreturn to London the Baroness conceived theidea of "The Scarlet Pimpernel". Sheapparently wrote it in five weeks while living inKensington, and no publisher was interested.With her husband's assistance she turned thestory into a play, which was finally put on inNottingham in the autumn of 1903 by the TerryManagement (run by the actor Fred Terry andhis actress wife Julia Neilson). It was a flop.But with some re-writing by Terry, it wasfinall y performed at the New Theatre inLondon in 1905. The Daily Mail wrote: "Theonly good thing about the play is its name".However, despite the critics, the play pickedup, and the novel, published simultaneously,

was a success. It started a prolific career forBaroness Orczy in adventure romances, butnone of her other books had quite the successof "The Scarlet Pimpernel".

There is no reason to believe that any of thewriting was done in Eastcote. It is notinconceivable, though, that she might haveknown or visited Eastcote. Her son Jack wentto prep school in Stanmore Park, followed byHarrow School, though by this time the familyhome was in Bearsted, near Maidstone, Kent.

Took them 'found the sight.!

from 'Adventures of Downy V Green'

Is it a fond hope to think that there might havebeen a small creative circle at Eastcote?Possibly. However, Baroness Orczy and herillustrator husband moved in artistic andtheatrical circles and may have crossed pathssomewhere else with the Calderons. BaronessOrczy wrote several plays early in her career asdid George Calderon, and being something ofan illustrator himself, George may have knownMontagu Barstow. Intellectually there is notmuch to compare George with the Baroness.



It was unfortunate for Calderon' s career thatthe Great War intervened. George did not see itthis way. Though there was no call, at the ageof 45, for him to go to the front to fight, he wasdetermined that he should. He was anadventurer, moreover it was the 'right' thing todo. So with much determination he set aboutfinding the means. He realised the mostobvious way to get there was as an interpreter.So he brushed up his languages and learned toride (essential for a war interpreter, he had beentold). At first refused and then within 24 hoursaccepted by the Inns of Court OTC, within sixweeks of the outbreak of war in August 1914George was in camp on Salisbury Plain as aninterpreter with the Royal Horse Guards (theBlues). He went with them to Flanders andduring the 1st Battle ofYpres he talked his wayinto the 2nd Royal Warwickshire Regiment as acombatant officer. He had not been with themfour hours when he was shot in the leg by asniper and sent home to England.

By January 1915 he was passed fit and wasgiven a commission in the 9th Battalion Oxfordand Bucks Light Infantry. A popularcompanion and a good leader, he spent fourmonths in barracks and could well have stayedin England, leaving the fighting to youngermen, but it never occurred to him to doanything other than return to the front. In Mayhe was sent to the Dardanelles where hebecame attached to the 1st Kings Own ScottishBorderers. His letters home were full ofmentions of the beauty of the area, the smells ofthe wild plants and the sound of the nightjars."Last night I was rather wakeful, and heard agreat noise of fighting, rifle and cannon. It wasone of the most beautiful nights I ever saw; afull moon shining on the waters to right and leftof me, a clear starry sky, and a landscape ofhills and woods and distances like an earlyVictorian steel engraving. In the contrast ofscene and war the scene far outweighs the war,which only plays an accompaniment. ,,12 Theletters express a fondness for his companionsand his humour always comes through. On 1stJune the soldiers were expecting an attack sothey spent the night prepared. "It is aconsolation," he wrote, "to think that if I sleepin my boots there can be no centipedes in themin the morning.,,13

On 4th June, George's platoon was amongthose that led the British attack. Close to a

Turkish trench, he was seriously wounded, andwas never seen again. He was 46 years old. Inhis last letter home, written on 3rd June, he hadwritten: "I only hope that the Turks willrecognise the regiment; then they'll fly forByance yelling 'Allah, it's them Scots again!'and nobody will find out that I'm a timid littlepenman from London."

South Hill Farm may not be able to claim thefamous author Baroness Orczy, but for a shortwhile it was home to a promising writer andman of ideas with huge potential. Had GeorgeCalderon survived the war his name might wellhave become a more familiar one.

And what of the recipient of his letter fromSouth Hill Farm? She was the Hon. MrsDowdall, the fourth daughter of the 16th LordBorthwick, and wife of Harold ChalonerDowdall, a barrister, who was Lord Mayor ofLiverpool in 1908-09. The future JudgeDowdall and George Calderon were at Rugbyand Trinity together. Though an aristocrat,Mary Dowdall did not take Liverpool societyseriously, as is shown in her tongue-in-cheeketiquette book "Manners and Tone of GoodSociety". Her bohemian behaviour endearedher to Augustus John and his family, and aswell as becoming Augustus' s patron she wasthe confidante of his wife, Ida. Mrs Dowdallacted in repertory theatre, causing something ofa scandal by "taking the boards" on GoodFriday, and was noted for walking barefootthrough the mud, claiming it was good for themind. She put this to good effect when writingher novels and magazine and newspaperarticles.

AcknowledgementMy thanks to Jim Golland of the Pinner HistorySociety who passed the letter on to me andsuggested that the author might be the dramatistGeorge Calderon. I am also grateful for hisassistance with other pieces of information.

Notes and ReferencesIn 1999 there is a very large old yew tree in front ofSouth Hill Farm1891 Census, Ruislip Library. Poll Books, UxbridgeLibraryKemp, WAG. The History of East cote. WilliamEgerton Hine taught at Harrow School, 1892-1922Ibid. Nancy Price lived at Field End House and DeniseOrme at Mistletoe Farm1891 Census and 1902 Rate Book, Ruislip Library

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RUISLlP. NORTHWOOD AND EASTCOTELocal History Society Journal 199911

6 26 June 1880. Property to letnotice, BuckinghamshireAdvertiserKemp W.AG, The History oJEastcote, p68: AG.Bedford memories.The letter is the property of EA Kendail, whosepermission to reproduce it has not been forthcoming.Tahiti. Impressions of the South Seas by GeorgeCalderon was published posthumously in 1921Men and Memories. Recollections of WilliamRothenstein. 1900-1922. "He [Calderon] and I wentfor long walks over the Heath, discussing art, ethics,literature, politics, religion, folk-lore - there wasnothing about which Calderon could not theorisebrilliantly."George and Katharine were married in the parish ofWestminster in the last quarter of 1900. MarriageRegister Index, Family Records Centre. Katharinewas living with her mother in Golden Square, Wl atthe timeLetter dated 30 May 1915. George Calderon - ASketch from Memory by Percy LubbockThese centipedes, mentioned in an earlier letter, were"as fat as my fountain-pen, six to eight inches long"

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BibliographyORCZYBaroness Emmuska Magdalena Rosilia Orczy (1865-1947) married 1894 Montagu Barstow ( -1943)

Chambers Biographical Dictionary 1997Times Obituary 1943 and 1947Who was Who 1941-50Harrow School Register"Links in the Chain of Life" by Baroness Orczy.Hutchinson & Co (Publishers) Ltd, 1947

"The Scarlet Pimpernel" by Baroness Orczy. Hodder &Stoughton, 1905

CALDERONPhilip Hermogenes Calderon (1833-1898)George Leslie Calderon (1865-1915)

Oxford Historical Register 1220-1900Oxford University Yearbook 1890Who Was Who 1897-1915Law List 1895Times Obituary 1915Concise Dictionary of National BiographyThe Dictionary of Art"George Calderon - A Sketch from Memory" by PercyLubbock, Grant Richards Ltd, London, 1921"Men and Memories - Recollections ofWilliamRothenstein, 1900-1922". Faber & Faber Ltd, 1932"The Adventures of Downy V. Green - Rhodes Scholar atOxford" by George Calderon with illustrations by theAuthor. Smith, Elder & Co, 15 Waterloo Place, London,1902"Dwala - A Romance" by George Calderon. Smith, Elder&Co, London, 1904"The Adventures ofMr Verdant Green" by CuthbertBede, BA (Edward Bradley), 1853-57

DOWDALLHon. Mary Frances Harriet Borthwick (1876-1939)married 1 July 1897 Harold Chaloner Dowdall (1868-1955)

Who's Who 1914 and 1939Times Obituary 1939 and 1955"Augustus John: A Biography" by Michael Holroyd,Heinemann,2 Vols 1974, 1975,revised 1994

HALLOWELL ROAD, NORTHWOODA Street Research Project

by Denise Shackell

PurposeTo discover when the houses were built, theirstyle, what other type of buildings were erectedand to note changes from 1900 to 1998.

LocationHallowell Road is situated between GreenLane, to the north, and Northwood High Street,to the south, near to the Iron Bridge, (whichcarries the Metropolitan Railway acrossRickmansworth Road, between NorthwoodHills and Northwood Stations).

NameThe road got its name from the great-grandsonof Admiral Sir Benjamin Hallowell (1760-

1834) who had succeeded to the Carew estatesat Beddington, Surrey in 1828 after the death ofhis cousin, Mrs Anne Paston Gell, on conditionthat he assumed the family name of Carew. Hewas given the names Frank Murray MaxwellHallowell Carew (1866-1943).

BackgroundCarew bought the Eastbury estate of 265 acresin 1887, when he was 21 years old, not to liveon but to develop for profit. The land on whichHallowell Road was developed was part of thisestate. He laid out the roadways, named them,divided the area into building plots to sell; hefixed a minimum cost for the houses to beerected on them. The price range for housesbuilt in Hallowell Road was £750 for a

RUISLlP, NORTHWOOD AND EASTCOTELocal History Society 12 Journal 1999

detached house or £1300 for a pair of semi-detached houses. All the roads were namedafter himself, his sons or his wife.

MethodThe first task when starting my summary of theroad, in 1998, was to go to there to make a listof the numbers and names, if any, of thehouses, the types of houses, for example,detached, semi -detached, or terrace, andwhether any were divided into flats. I alsonoted any open plots and evidence of modemroads, new houses, or buildings and wherethere were any businesses still operating.

Street DirectoriesI was working from the present day backwards.I already owned a Kemp's Directory of RuislipNorthwood for 1977. These books werepublished from 1939-1979. My 1977 book hada good scale map of the area, together with listsof roads with house numbers, but no housenames, with the surname and the initials of theoccupier living there. I listed these on a chartwith the house numbers down the left-hand sideand the year at the top of the chart. I addedfurther dated columns as I found more streetdirectories for other years. From Kelly'sDirectory of Pinner, Hatch End andNorthwood, 1938, I got a second list, and fromRawlinson's Directory of Northwood, Eastcoteand Ruislip, the occupiers in 1923.

There is a directory for 1915-16 Northwoodprivate residences and a separate commercialdirectory. The names are listed alphabetically,with surnames, full Christian names andaddresses. It does not give house numbers, butdoes include house names and, in thecommercial section, types of businessoperating. There was a grocer andphotographer. From my previous information Iwas able to establish that these businessesoperated from numbers 26 and 41, respectively.

Cross ReferencingThe house names and numbers in my presentday survey enabled me to match names to thosehouses on my 1977 list that had only numbers.I was able to match the house names in theKing's Gazette Almanac, 1904 in the sameway. This ensured that the occupier's namewas assigned to the correct house.

Because the 1904 Almanac was not verydetailed it was difficult to match some names toparticular houses. Sometimes I could match thesurname, together with the initials, where nohouse name was given, because the occupierhad remained the same from 1915-1923. Thistime there were ten names that I could notmatch to particular houses. The names weredifferent from 1915, and no house names wererecorded

Rate BooksThe next useful record was the 1902 rate book,for the parish of Ruislip, which lists name ofoccupier, name of owner, description ofproperty rated, such as house and garden,cottage and garden, house and yard, buildingland, stabling yard etc. situation of property,street name, and estimated extent.

In Hallowell Road the plots measured from twopoles (one pole equals 5Yzyards square) to onerood, (one rood equals 5Yzyds x 220 yds or 'l4acre). In fact there was a wide range of sizes:nine were twelve poles, the biggest plot wasone rood (or 40 poles).

From both the old records and the modemsurvey I knew what churches were in the road:St John's (built 1914) at the top (Green Laneend) on the west and St Mathew's (built 1923)further down on the same side. At the bottom(High Street end) of the road there had been aMethodist church (built 1903) which was laterconverted into a synagogue. Its quite large plotis now covered by modern shelteredaccommodation, James Court, belonging toHillingdon Borough.

NewspapersAdvertisements in newspapers are useful.There were seventeen businesses advertising in1910: a nurse, a milliner, a shoe smith, anironmonger, a house decorating supplier, awood dealer, a builder and decorator, a butcher,an artificial teeth institute, a photographer, acoal merchant, a surveyor, a paperhanger, acarpenter, a dressmaker, a silver plate cleanerand a motor engineer. There was a parade ofshops near St Matthews church. I went back onfoot to see whether the present houses showedevidence of once having been shops orbusinesses. Several of them did have bigwindows and one still had a builders yardbehind it.

RUISlIP. NORTHWOOD AND EASTCOTELocal History Society Journal 199913

FindingsFrom the documents I have looked at I havegained information about the houses that werein the road, the names of the families who livedin the road, in 1923, 1938, 1954 and 1977. Ifound that some had lived there for forty ormore years. At some houses I suspected that,because of the same surname recurring but withdifferent initials, children stayed when theirparents had died or left. It was possible toestablish when churches had first started in theroad, and when permanent buildings forworship were finally built. The first businessesthat were listed in the directories were in 1902,only four being named in the documents that I

road is lined on both sides, from top to bottom,by vehicles. The effect of this is to reduce thewidth of road, for those using it as athoroughfare, making the road no wider than acountry lane, without passing places.

Shops: There were no fridges or freezers in1900, and indeed were not in common use untilafter the Second World War. This meant thatfresh foods were purchased every day,encouraging shops to open near to people'shomes. In the middle of the century there wasa change. In Green Lane, to the north ofHallowell Road, several large parades of shopswere built. These provided the shopping needs

The Parade and Wesleyan 'Tin Chapel', Hallowell Road c 1905

studied. There were seventeen thriving in1910, by 1938 there were twelve, by 1998 therewere only two

ChangesIn the period that has been covered by thisresearch, 1900-1998, I found the followingchanges.

Houses: In the early part of the century a fewhouses were already divided into flats. In 1998several more had become split into flats. Thehouses had been built without garages; carswere not owned by the social classes whowould have lived in these properties. In aphotograph of Hallowell Road of 1905 the roadis completely free of traffic. Bicycles werepopular, as revealed in another photograph.The situation is very different in 1998. The

of the people who lived in the streets nearby.The demise of the 'corner' shop began.

In 1998 more changes have taken place. Mostfamilies now living in Hallowell Road owncars. Large supermarkets have opened, andpeople are prepared to travel several miles totheir favourite store. People can do all theirhousehold shopping for the week or longer inone big store. Cars are essential to get thebulky purchases home. The common practiceof the shopkeepers before the war, to provide adelivery service to the home for foods, becameunusual presumably because of car ownership.

As a result, only two businesses remain inHallowell Road: a builder and, appropriatelyenough, a motor maintenance workshop.



ConclusionIt has been possible to establish:• the number, and names of households which

lived in Hallowell Road at various dates,• the lengths of time that individual families

have lived in particular houses,• the number of businesses that thrived

between 1910 and 1938;• the development of purpose-built parades of

shops, which took trade away from this road;• the ownership of family cars, which enabled

people to get to distant shopping areas andcontributed to the closure of the shops inHallowell Road.

Comparing these documents with the modernsurvey has given an insight into a way of life

that changed considerably during the ninety-sixyears investigated.

SourcesBowlt, Eileen M, The Goodliest Place in Middlesex,

Hillingdon Borough Libraries, 1989.Kemp: Official Directory of the Districts of Ruislip,

Northwood and Eastcote 1977, The Kemp Group Ltd.Kelly's Directory of Pinner, Hatch End, and Northwood,

1938.Rawlinson 's Directory of North wood, Eastcote and

Ruislip: Occupiers in 1923, Private Residences andCommercial directory 1915-16

King's Gazette Almanac, Retrospect for the years 1898-1929, King and Hutchinson

Ruislip Parish Rate book, 1902: Uxbridge Library.Head, Barry (auth & pub): The Northwood Book vol IIMaster Atlas of Greater London, Geographer's A-Z Map

Co Ltd.

House Name 1977 1954 1938 1923 1915-161 Monerey Ferroussat Rev. Dr. LumleyM.M MrsBoyle I AuvialLG.P3 Hamilton AJ.S. Hamilton AJ. Hamilton Arthur J.S. Hamilton AJ.S.5 Victoria Dyson H.DIS Flat DysonH. Cotmore Miss I CotmoreF.5a StrongN.A7 Braemar Birch.C Kemp.Mrs Kemp.W9 Lelant Terry.J.H Desbougher Miss I Desbougher.L.EllHart WoodL.V McLean Rt Richardson Jlla Hancock Mrs. BamesG.E Barnes G.Ellb Woodman Bertie

I13 Broomhall Richards N.A PulfordI.B Green S.L15 Ardsley Kennedy AE Kennedy M Story Wm. G Bowker Mrs C.M15 Doley E

I17 Kilmun Carpenter R Jenkins N.G Jenkins Oliver King Mes. AS K190akley Swain M.J Stevenson J. McKechnie R.M19a Pockock E. Overy K.F21 St Cecilia Milward F.J.M ParkerH.S Burrough Leslie R ClowW

tailor (l...23 Devonia Hawkins D.K heating, Hawkins D.H Moore Chas Rt MooreC.R ttss « Csan. & vent. eng.25 Ferndale Harrington P. Eldridge E.H Odell Mrs. Steven Odell S.A

Miss M. SRN Dist.Nurse

27 St Margarets Moore A BrownF.E Brown Geo. BrownG.F27a Byrne J.F Brown Geo. & Sondecorators

29 Hilbre Flynn J. Phi lips S.G. Stanbra Jos. E. Stanbra J.E.T. Rose Marie MissCostumier31 Lindhurst Reeves DJ, Garner L. Rowell H.W33 Delamere Godrnan R.A & Co Godman R.A & Co Brown Miss K.M. Knight Miss S.solicitors solicitors

33 Oswald Miss C.P. OswaldJ.35 Craighill SommerP.H. Ford E. Ford Miss E. Ford Miss E.37 Cardigan Vacant BurkeL.J.

IHaddon Chas. Cherry Miss E.W. Cherry Miss

Dressmaker39 Keeler AE. Rowell M. LeggeC.C.41 StMary's Paganini F. WestonA.W. I WestonAW. Weston Miss F. Weston Alf. Wn.Photographer Photographer Photographer43 Clucas I.J. Burr F.J.L. Burr Fred. J L. Smythe F.R.43a BurrF.J.L.45 Handel Hse Reakes G. Willows on F.J Willowson Frank J. Willowson Fr. J Rawson Bottom

F.A.Musicteacher45 ReakesJ.A

47 Williams D Fowler AJ. Fowler Geo. F.J. Fowler G.F.J.49 Brookfield Norton KL. WatsonH.E. Lowe AS.51 Belle Vue DoyleB.T. Yorke H.J. Yorke Henry J. YorkH.J.53 Overton BalIW. WhybrowAH Palmer Mr. E. Frith E55 vacant Bennett H.570akridge Jaques P.A Marley J. Marley J. Marley J.59 Royside Vost P.H Brading F. W. Beading F.W. Elphick L.S. Brown Geo. Frank

House decorator61IvyHolme NeviIl D.C.E. WeightF.J. White Mrs. AB. BeerH.E. Beer Herbert Ed.63 BodieKT. Cater M. Cater Joshua Hy65 Newborn Z.C. Smith F. HaIsey Robt. H.67 Fulwell W. Fulwell Wm

Hallowell Road: Example occupancy table for part of the east side of the road

RurSLlP. NORTHWOOD AND EASTCOTELocal History Society

Journal 199915

extension to the 16th century Moss Cottagenext door. In both cases he was probablyintending the modem houses to be compatiblewith their elderly neighbours.

11The 1902 rate book .shows that EastcoteCottage and Eastcote Place had changed handsand were both then owned by Major ErnestSullivan, but the name, Eastcote Place, had notyet come into use. The street directory" for1902 shows Major Sullivan living at EastcoteHill and that for 1904 as New-House, EastcoteHill. The new name is in use by 1907 when C.Murray was living there.

During these years there is no record of anyoneliving in the old house (could it have been usedfor staff") When the estate was put up forauction in 1909, the catalogue was entitledEastcote Place with four different photographsof the new house, but only one of Eastcote

. Cottage. Eastcote Place was described as: "Amost picturesque and comfortably arrangedhouse, designed by an eminent architect, placedin the centre of the property, approached by along carriage drive shaded by chestnut treesthrough well-timbered undulating park land."The way in was along a winding drive, from theentrance beside the old Methodist Chapel inField End Road. The house had ten bed anddressing rooms, two attic rooms, two fittedbathrooms, principal and secondary staircases,lounge and garden halls, four reception roomsand ample domestic offices, including aservants' hall.

Eastcote Cottage 1909Eastcote Cottage was clearly inferior by thistime and has simply become a pretty old

creeper-clad cottage on the property said tohave originally been the farmhouse. Theentrance hall had old panelled walls and tiledfloor. There were two sitting rooms each fittedwith a slow combustion stove; a pantry withsink and cupboard, a kitchen with range anddresser, a scullery, larder and Wc. Upstairsthere were six bedrooms and a bathroom, and alobby with a sink.

The Andersons13

John Anderson and his wife, Winnifred EthelDunbar Anderson appear to have bought it.They were in possession by 1914, possiblyearlier, but there is a gap in the rate books andstreet directories for this period. They seem tohave lived at Eastcote Place, but let EastcoteCottage, where a Lt Col Meyer was living in1916, a Louis Chaplin in 1924 and WingCommander RFS Morton of the RAF in 193814

.

John Anderson (1852-1924) was born inScotland, but his mother took him to Australiaat the age of four, where his father, a sea-captain, had already gone and was running apassenger and goods boat service. This provingunsuccessful as his crewmen constantlydeserted to try the gold fields, he removed thefamily to Singapore, where he became harbour-master and his wife ran a Young Ladies'Seminary. When John was 24 he joined thefirm, Scott, Guthrie & Co, shipping agents, andeventually became sole partner in 1892. Hedeveloped the interests of the firm, particularlyinvesting in rubber plantations and thus madehis fortune. A new company was floated in1903, Guthrie & Co. He advanced socially aswell, becoming Consul-general for Siam inSingapore and a member of the Legislative

Council of the StraitsSettlements.

Fig 3: Eastcote Place 1909

His first wife had died after onlythree years of marriage, but hemet and married Winifred EthelDunbar Pope, a barrister'sdaughter, in January 1901, whileon business in London. 'HonestJohn' , as he was known inMalaya, was knighted in 1912for services to Singapore,especially as President of theCommission on the use ofopium. (He managed to ensure

Journal 1999RUISLlP. NORTHWOOD AND EASTCOTE

Local History Society 18

Year Property name Owner Occupier1565 Plockettes John Readinge1615 Pluckets Ralph Hawtrey1806 RalphDeane1837 Ralph Deane1843 RalphDeane John Ashley jun1852 Francis Henry Deane1857 Francis Henry Deane JohnMiIner1860s Francis Henry Deane George Calvert1871 Francis Henry Deane Andrew Kingsmill1889 Eastcote Cottage Horace Johnson Horace Johnson1894 Eastcote Cottage -David Johnson David Johnson1896 Eastcote Cottage Millicent Ada Bevan1898 Eastcote Cottage Mrs Hart Dyke1899 Eastcote Cottage AH. Aslunan1902 Eastcote Cottage Major Ernest Sullivan1914 Eastcote Cottage Lady Anderson Col Charles Meyer1924 Eastcote Cottage Lady Anderson Louis Chaplin1938 Eastcote Cottage Lady Anderson Wing Commander RFS Morton1954 Eastcote Cottage Lady:Anderson Keith Anderson1959 Eastcote Cottage RK. Carradine1966 Eastcote Cottage A Gibson A Gibson1998 Eastcote Cottage Mr & Mrs Philips Mr & Mrs Philips

Owners and Occupiers of Eastcote Cottage

the supply of good quality opium.)

There were four children of the marriage, adaughter, Wynfreda Dunbar (1902-36) andthree sons, John Scott (1903-42), AlastairDouglas (1907-47) and Keith (1912-78).Wynfreda became engaged to FrancisGoldborough Hogg in 1923 and after themarriage they lived at Eastcote Lodge whichadjoined Eastcote Place on the west .. John Waskilled by Japanese troops in an ambush inMalaya and Alastair's life was curtailed by TBwhich developed during his war service. Bothare commemorated on the stepped memorialcross beside the main path in the new part of StMartin's graveyard, where the rest of the familyare buried. Sir John Anderson died in 1924,but his widow continued to live at EastcotePlace except for a period during the .SecondWorld War, until her death in 1960. During thewar she moved to Cookham and wasresponsible for her grandson Donald Hogg,then at Harrow School.

Soon after taking over the estate John Andersonapplied to the RNUDC for permission to extendEastcote Cottage 15, but the actual plans are nolonger available and the extension mentioned inPat Clarke's article is earlier, being shown onthe photograph in the 1909 auction catalogue.The 1935 OS map shows the house forming acontinuous line up to the driveway to EastcotePlace apparently having been extended as far as

a coach house with flats above, where thegardener and chauffeur lived. For a long time,from the 1930s to the 19505, Robert Macormacwas Lady Anderson' s chauffeur and in the1930s Gilbert Absolum was the gardener.Their flats are referred to in Kelly's Directoryof 1938 as Gate End, an appropriate nameconsidering the position.

Second World War16

South-east England was the area of FighterGroup Number 11, of which Sector Z wascontrolled from Northolt Aerodrome. TheOperations Room was moved from Northolt totwo shops beside Ruislip Manor Station in May1940 and later to Eastcote Place. In April 1944an Allied carrier command post was set upthere, acting mainly as a telephonic co-ordination centre. Parties are said to have beenheld in the very comfortable surroundings forairborne troops about to go into action.

DevelopmentKeith Anderson worked in Guthries from 1936,first in Malaya and Singapore and after the warat the head office in Dorking. He probablylived at Eastcote Cottage from 1946 for whichdate an electricity meter reading card found atthe house shows his name. The street directorynames him during 1954-5, but by 1959 R.KCarradine had taken possession and was theowner when A. Gibson took it over in 1966.

RUISLIP. NORTHWOOD AND EASTCOTE

Local History SocietyJournal 199919

allowed to remain and is still standing todelight us today. Mr and Mrs Philips boughtthe house from Mrs Gibson and moved induring 1998, and we hope they will be happythere.

ReferencesKing's College Muniments: R36 fo126.British Library: Add MS 9367 fol 36.London Metropolitan Archive: DRO 19 E31l andEnclosure Map,LMA DRO 19 E3/2.LMA: DRO 19 E2128-34.LMA: DRO 19 E2/39.

LMA: MLR 1889 26 571LMA: MLR 189431 186LMA: MLR 189624 938

10 Uxbridge Library: Ruislip etc. Sale Catalogues 1.11 Uxbridge Library: Ruislip Parish Rate Books12 Uxbridge Library: Street Directories (Lucy & Birch)13 Details of the Anderson family come from notes made

by and kindly lent by Jim Golland.14 Uxbridge Library: RNUDC Rate Books and street

directories.15 Uxbridge Library: RNUDC Minutes,

15 Jan 1912.16 Edwards, Ron: Eastcote from village to suburb.

Hillingdon Borough Libraries 1987.

Fig 5: Eastcote Cottage 1909

._-----_._-------_._----_ .._-----------_._-_.-

EASTCOTE COTTAGE: THE STRUCTUREby Pat A Clarke

GeneralThe house consists of a northern part, four bayslong and timber framed with brick infill, and asouthern extension of late 19th century orsubsequent date, built in brick. The southernpart was not examined.

The northern part has a pitched roof of tiles,gabled north and south. There is a full-lengthextension along the eastern side, beneath threeeast-west gabled roofs. Along the western sideis a full-length single storey lean-to extensionof brick, which itself has a further westward,single storey extension of brick, roofed by threelittle westward facing gables.

Bays 1 and 2Bays 1 and 2 are the oldest part of the building,having a roof of collar and clasped purlinconstruction. The rafters are well trimmed,halved and pegged together, and have 'rafterholes' near their bases. They are clean. Cross-frame 3 was originally closed, and iscompletely unweathered on the north face. Thewall posts of bays 1 and 2 have large jowls atthe top, the tie beams are waney edged but verydeep, and the wind-braces and upward braces inthe walls are curved. These are thecharacteristic types of roof and wall



shelf. The hearth walls are of brick but I didnot note their detail. In my opinion bothpanelled chimney-pieces are later importationsto this house, though I think they are otherwisegenuine, save that the northern contains workof two different periods. The timber jambs arealso later introductions.

The eastern extensionThe eastern extension is of a later period. Theroof timbers suggest a date between about 1680and 1750; the timber is slighter and less neatlyworked than in bays 1 and 2, and the rafters areroughly carp entered together at the top. Thenorthern end of the extension contained anupper and a lower room, both heated - the stackin the northern wall almost certainly had ahearth at the ground floor also, but is tooheavily concealed to be dated. The pivot for ahinge in a post in the east wall upstairs near thestair head suggests a door and an earlier roomdivision. There are a couple of late 18th orearly 19th century doors upstairs in this and theolder parts. While the newel posts are ofsquare, flat-headed, late 17th style, thebalusters and handrail are Victorian or later.The dado panelling of the lower wall is lateVictorian or Edwardian, though of early 17thcentury style.

Development and dateIn my opinion the sequence of developmentwas as follows.

Phase 1- between 1530 and 1580.The house was built of three bays, possiblymore, but very unlikely. The clean roof timbersshow that there was no open hall in bays 1 or 2.The condition of cross frame 3, and the lengthby which the purlins and wall plates projectbeyond it into bay 3, show that this phaseoriginally extended at least one bay furthernorth, but that this bay has been demolished.The heating must have been in the now missingthird bay, making this an end hall house,though not an open hall house, as the cleantimbers prove. The heating may have been bymeans of a smoke bay, or by a timber stack oflath and plaster. A smoke bay - often an endbay, and shallower than the others - wasvirtually a tiny open hall. It might have a bayto itself, or be contained within a larger one.Alternatively there might have been a hearthand chimney of lath and plaster built against thenorth wall of the missing bay, with a large hood

of timber above, like a huge chimney, with thefumes being gathered and led away throughthis. Both were fairly short-lived transitionaldevelopments between the open hall and thebrick chimney stack, and were superseded inmost cases by a brick stack built on the samespot. With either arrangement there would inthis house have been three rooms below andtwo above, plus the possibility that. there was ausable space around the upper part of thesmoke hood, if used. The staircase might havebeen anywhere.

SMOKE11000

Phase 2: between 1600 and 1650.Bay 3 was dismantled and a brick stack withfour hearths, and probably an oven, was built,enclosed within its own short bay, while afurther bay was added to the north of the stackto create two new rooms. The entrance wasprobably in the eastern (street) side of thehouse, directly opposite the new stack, withaccess from it to either side of the house. In ahouse of this plan the staircase was traditionallyon the other side of the stack but here thatposition would have been precluded by theoven, if it was of one build with the stack. Thegreater wear on the lintel of the southern hearthindicates that the kitchen was in its traditionalplace at the middle of the house, in this casebay 2.

Phase 3: between 1680 and 1750.This comprised the eastern extension. There isno reason to suppose that the whole is not ofone build, but I have not examined it seriouslyon this point. It provided at least two moreheated rooms at the northern end and may wellhave contained an entrance and staircase at thecentre. The upper access doorway opposite thestack belongs to this phase.



Phase 4: late 19th century and laterThe addition of the large brick extension at thesouth is of late 19th or early 20th century date(the OS map of about 1898 might be helpful onthis point). In my opinion this phase alsoincluded the addition of the western lean-to, allthe dormer windows along the western side ofthe house, the repositioning further to the southof the wall between the ground floor rooms inbays 1 and 2, the reopening of the ground floorhearths (which had almost certainly beensuccessively reduced in size), the reopeningand repair of the oven, the introduction of thepanelled chimney pieces and the Dutch tiles,the creation of the ornamental shelf in theeastern side of the stack, and the introduction ofthe dado panelling in the present staircase hall.I will not try to suggest a date for therefashioned surround of the upper southernfireplace, the most westerly extension, theremoval of the eastern ground floor wall of bay4 (the fireplace west of this was probablyremoved at the same time as the wall), or theinsertion of the brick infill.

The original status of the houseThere is no reason to suppose that the premises,as first built, were any different from those ofother yeomen and smallholders in theneighbourhood. The chimney pieces are far toogrand to have been original - they are onlyappropriate to gentry or above. The fireplacelintels show the hard use to have been expectedin the kitchen (especially) and the parlour of aworking country cottage. If this house, oncecalled Plocketts, is correctly identified as theone vacated by John Dean in 18351

, then theexistence of register stoves in his two mainlower rooms is conclusive proof that the Dutchtiles came later, and by implication the chimneypieces also. The register stove was a late 18thcentury development in the improvement ofdomestic heating, and could only be used in anenclosed hearth, not in the present inglenooks.However, Dean's house did not have as manyrooms as this house had in 1835, for I am surethat the eastern extension was built well before1835.

Reference and Note1 Bowlt, Eileen M, A Cottage at Eastcote 1835,

RNELHS Journal, 1997Eastcote Cottage, 2 Field End Road, Eastcote,owned by Mr. & Mrs. Philips, grid ref. TQ 106 886,was visited by P. A. Clarke and 1. S. Golland on22.10.1998.

Glossaryaxial in line with the length of the house or wingbay portion of a building between the principal

postsbeam a major horizontal timberchamfer surface formed by cutting off an edgeclasped purlin a purlin supported by a collarcollar transverse timber connecting rafterscrossframe the framework dividing one bay from

anothergirding plate plate in a wall at the level of an upper

floorhall see 'open hall' belowjowl the thickening of a post at the toplintel horizontal beam over a fireplace, door or

windowparlour see 'open hall' belowplate a horizontal timber, usually at the top of a

wallpost a substantial vertical timber forming part of

the main frameworkpurlin a longitudinal timber in a roof slope,

supporting raftersqueen struts a pair of struts between tie beam and

collarscarf joint between two timbers meeting end to endstep stop a stop where there is a step, or change of

plane, between the chamfer and its endstop decorative ending of a chamferstud a less substantial or minor timber in a walltie beam main transverse timber connecting the

tops of wallstruss framework across a roof at bay intervalsupward brace brace running from a vertical timber

upwards to a horizontal onewall plate the horizontal timber forming the top of

the wall framewaney an irregular timber surface, part of the tree's

original outer surfacewind brace a brace within the plane of a roof,

usually between a purlin and a principal rafter

open hall house.In an open hall house the principal living room, thehall, had a hearth near the middle of the floor, and asa result the room was left open to the roof to allowsmoke and fumes to escape through a louvre, orchinks, in the roof. At one or both ends of the hallwas a two storied section, or bay, whose rooms wereunheated. A passage with a door at each endcrossed the house between the hall and one of theend bays - it might lie within hall or wing. In thefanner case the hall would be protected fromdraughts by a screen dividing it from the passage.In the bay on the other side of the cross passagewere service rooms, most conunonly a pantry and abuttery for food and drink respectively. Beyond theother end of the hall were private rooms for theowner.



A MIDDLESEX VILLAGE: NORTHWOOD IN 1841by Colleen A. Cox

For most of the 19th century N orthwood was asmall village in the northern part of the parishof Ruislip, "an accidental aggregation of housesfar from church or school" according toRebecca Soames, wife of Nathaniel Soames ofNorthwood House. It was bounded in the southby Ruislip Woods, to the east by Pinner, to thewest by Harefield and to the north by theMiddlesex county boundary (see Fig I below).Until the coming of the Metropolitan Railwayin 1887 the population of the village neverexceeded 266. Although the turnpike roadfrom Harrow to Rickmansworth ran through the

'TMJ;GA~P.

time was John. Grigg. He was a shoemakerwho lived in Bury Street, Ruislip and laterbecame the parish clerk. The census was takenon June 12th, 1841. Grigg appears to havebeen a well-organised man with neat legiblewriting who followed an orderly route throughthe village which made it possible to identifythe position of many of the cottages. Furtherclarification was sometimes obtained byreference to the Ruislip Terrier of 1837. Thisgave the names of the owners and occupiers,the size of the holding and their location byreference to the 1806 Enclosure schedule.

ElR&.EM 11LANE IfFIll. fI

11,f11

D.'(//illr'"11

I<IUoIF""I'.."

Fig 1:Northwood, circa 1841

village, the travellers on the road do not appear John Grigg visited the three farms on Duck'sto have been tempted to settle there. There was Hill Road north of Mad Bess Wood, divertedno church until Holy Trinity was built in 1854. along Jacket's Lane and then continued upBefore this the Reverend Christopher Packe of Duck's Hill to the junction withSt. Martin's Church in Ruislip reportedly rode Rickmansworth Road near The Gate beerhouseover on horseback to conduct services in a and the toll bar. At this point he turned eastspecially licensed chapel in one of the buildings along the road to Kewferry Farm andat Northwood House (now known as The Northwood House. He then turned on to GreenGrange). Lane and visited three farms before returning to

Rickmansworth Road near the True Lover'sKnot public house, the grocer's shop and thekiln cottage and farm. After this he seems tohave visited Gatehill Farm and cottages beforemoving to the eastern boundary and toll bar onPinner Road. Finally, he called on several

Information about the inhabitants is obtainedfrom the decennial censuses the background towhich has been described in a previousjournal'. This article is based on the 1841census. The enumerator tor Northwood at this


Local History Society ,,"

25 Journal 1999

WomenMenAge

70 plus

60 to 69

50 to 59

40 to 49

30 to 39

20 to 29

10 to 19

o to 9

40 30 20 10 0 0 10Fig 2: Age/sex pyramid/or Northwood in 1841

cottages in the lane now known as Hill's Lanebefore finishing at Northwood Farm andreturning to Ruislip across Poor's Field.

In 1841 there were 47 inhabited houses inNorthwood and one unoccupied. The totalpopulation was 245 with 126 men and 119women. Their ages ranged from three-day-oldAlfred Lawrence, son of John, an agriculturallabourer who lived near the top of Duck's HillRoad, to 75- year-old John Gregory who wasliving with William Woodward and his familynear The Gate beerhouse. The age pyramid(Fig.2) reveals a slight excess of males overfemales in those under 20 years, the reversebetween 20 and 30 years but after that asymmetrical decline in both sexes until theseventies. This was a common pattern duringthe 19th century and is different from the latter

20 30 40

part of the 20th century when there are manymore people in the older age groups.

Because the relationship to the head of thehousehold is not recorded in the 1841 census, itis not possible to calculate household or familysize. All that can be calculated is the numberof occupants per house and the distribution isshown (Fig. 3). The mean householdoccupancy was five people.

Occupations were recorded for 65 men and 13women. The most common occupation for menwas agricultural labourer (35) and for women,servant (7). It is likely that the women weredomestic servants who worked inside thehouse. As 6 of the 7 men servants lived withfarmers they were probably outdoor farmservants. The seventh was a fifteen-year-old

enCIIen::Jo.s:::-ooc:

6 -+---

4 -+---

2

o

household size

Fig 3: House Occupancy in Northwood 1841



Farm Size Farmer Owner(acres)

Youngwood 21 Charles Churchill W.H. ShepherdAshby 25 Charles lve Peter BonythonDucks Hill 100 Thomas Tobutt George HemmingsJackets Lane 23 Francis Kimpton MrsHowardMaze Farm 26 Daniel Norton Daniel Norton[near Maze Farm] 13 Maria Warman Daniel HillNew (Park) Farm 132 Joseph Lawrence Misses N oyes & PhripKewferry 72 George Taylor Marquis of WestminsterNorthwood House 230 Nathaniel Soames Nathaniel Soames[Knowles] 96 Daniel Kirby vanousGreenhill 40 Joseph Churchill Nathaniel SoamesGreen Lane 20 John Townsend Nathaniel SoamesKiln Farm 86 Thomas Watson Nathaniel SoamesGatehill 124 William Abey George SoamesNorthwood Farm 96 John Houghton Ralph Deane

Table 1:Farms and Farmers{uncertainnames in brackets}

boy employed by Nathaniel Soames and hemost likely had general household duties.

Five men were involved in the brickmakingindustry and 11 men and one woman weredescribed as farmers. Daniel Kirby, thebrickmaker also leased land and was recordedin 1851 as a fanner. Nathaniel Soames, ofindependent means, presumably employed mento work on 230 acres of the land he owned, andleased another 140 acres for others to farm.The entry. for Daniel N orton is barely legiblebut it is known from the 1851 census that hewas also a timber merchant and that he laterbecame a large landowner in the area. JohnHoughton the land agent at N orthwood Farmmanaged the 186 acres of demesne land leasedby Ralph Deane of Eastcote House. Usingadditional information from the 1837 Terrier, arate book of 1847 and the 1851 census, a list ofthe farms and farmers, owners and estimatedsize of holding has been compiled (Table 1).

Of the remaining males with occupations, twowere licensees, one a grocer, another ashoemaker and the third a sand merchant.Other occupations recorded for women were anurse, a toll gate keeper, a laundress and onedescribed as "Independent". A list of heads ofhousehold has also been compiled andcompared with those in the 1851 census (Table2). Although the enumerator recorded whetheror not the individual was living in the county inwhich they were born, the entries are too faintto be analysed.

Only the most basic needs of food and drinkwere available in the village and it is likely thatother goods and services were obtained fromRuislip, Pinner or Rickmansworth. The onlyindustry other than farming was that ofbrickmaking. The clay, sand and chalk foundlocally provided the raw materials and there is along history of brick and tile making in thearea.

The picture of Northwood which emerges fromthe census tends to confirm Mrs Soames' view.Her husband was one of the largest employersand a significant number of families must havebeen financially dependent on him. He seemsto have used his influence to good effect andtook a keen interest in local affairs. He alloweda room in one of his houses to be consecratedand used as a chapel for church services. Theoverall impression is of a quiet villagerelatively untouched by the turnpike road,although The Gate and the True Lover's Knotmay well have been lively on occasions whenthe men partook too freely of the local ale.

Reference and Sources1 Cox, CA, Ruislip in 1841, RNELHS Journal 1998

1841 census1851 censusRuislip Terrier and Valuation 1837

(LMA DRO 191E)Ruislip Rate Book 1847 (LMA DRO 191E)Bowlt, E.M., The Goodliest Place in Middlesex.

Hillingdon Borough Libraries 1989Cox, CiA, A QUiet and Secluded Spot, RNELHS,

1991



1841 1851Location Name Age Occupation Name Age OccupationDucks Chas Churchill 30 Farmer Chas Churchill 42 FannerHill Chas lve 43 Farmer Chas Ive 43 Fanner

Thos Tobutt 40 Farmer Thos Tobutt 54 FannerJackets Francis Kirnpton 55 Farmer Francis Kimpton 67 FannerMaze Fm Daniel Norton 30 Farmer JaneNash 62 HousekprLodge Chris. Payne 63 Farm bailiff

James Puddefoot 61 GardenerMaria Warman 40 Farmer Thomas Worman 30 Hay binderJohn Lawrence 30 Ag.lab. John Lawrence 42 Ag.labWilliam Morton 35 Shoemaker Williarn Morton 48 CordwainerWilliam Kirby 30 Ag. Lab Williarn Kirby 43 BrickmakerJohn Cooper 55 Ag. Lab George Neal 61 Ag.lab

Park Fm Jos. Lawrence 50 Farmer Jos. Lawrence 69 FannerToll Bar Mary Saunders 50 Toll Gate KprThe Gate JamesMason 35 Beerhouse Kpr Mary Ann Bourne 59 Beerhouse kprRick'wthRd Wm Pritchard 65 Ag. Lab Wm Pritchard 77 Annuitant

Thos. Kirnpton 36 Ag. LabDan'l Lawrence 25 Ag. Lab Dan'I Lawrence 40 Ag.labWm. Woodward 56 Ag. LabJoseph Ratcliffe 70 Ag. LabHenry Allitt 30 Ag. Lab Henry Allitt 40 Ag.lab

Kewferry George Taylor 40 Farmer George Taylor 52 FannerN'wdHse Nat. Soames 50 Independent Nat. Soames 59 Landed prop't'r

AnnBains 70 Laundress AnnBams 81 AnnuitantJohn Shirley 40 N.K. John Shirley 51 Ag.lab

Green Lane Daniel Kirby 70 Brickmaker B. VonDerPlank 47 Fanner/woollendlrJos. Churchill 30 Farmer Jos. Churchill 40 FannerSarah Lawrence 60John Townsend 55 Farmer Ezekiel Hopcroft 46 Fanner

Rick'wthRd Joseph Ricket 65 Ag. Lab Alfred Woodward 30 Sand minerWilliam Clarke 30 Ag, Lab William Clarke 43 Sand dealer

Edward Weatherly 31 Ag.labGeorge Gristwood 48 Ag.labJames Milton 50 Ag.lab

T Lovers Kn't Jas. Weatherly 65 Publican Jas. Weatherly 77 Lic. Vict.James Cotton 26 Police constable

Grocer's William Barnett 45 Grocer Thomas Croft 65 ShopkeeperKilnFann Thos Watson 40 Farmer Edward Kirby 31 Sand miner

JohnKirby 50 Brickmaker John Boys Kirby 63 BrickmakerThomas Croft 56 Ag. LabSarah Chilton 60 Jane Gregory 78 Shopkeeper

Lodge Farm John Smith 63 FannerSarah Townsend 60 Sarah Townsend 73 CharwomanWm. Bonothon 65 Ag. Lab Thomas Evens 28 Ag.lab

SarahLawrence 69 CharwomanDaniel Field 45 Ag. Lab Daniel Field 57 Fanncarter

GatehillFm John Gome 60 Ag. LabWilliam Abey 20 Farmer Joseph Watson 59 Fanner

PinnerRd Thos. Burrows 30 Ag. Lab Thomas Kimpton 43 Ag.labToll Bar John Saunders 55 Brickworker John Saunders 68 Ag.lab

John Field 25 Ag. Lab John Field 40 Ag.labJames Birch 20 Ag. Lab James Birch 35 Rail lab.

James Brown 44 Ag.labEdward Brill 32 Ag.lab

Hills Lane Edward Kirby 35 Sand mercht Richard Damer 28 Brick/tile mkrJames Birch 40 Ag. Lab James Birch 55 Wood dealerJohn Birch 45 Ag. Lab John Croft 30 Ag.lab

John Gomm 22 Ag.labWm Woodward 68 Ag.lab

N'wdFm John Houghton 30 Land Agent Jos. Herridge 31 Fannbailiff

Table 2: Heads of Household in 1841 and 1851



EASTCOTE IN THE THIRTIESby Ran Edwards

Some development in Eastcote had taken placejust prior to and after the First World War,which resulted in the creation of Elm Avenue,Morford Way and Close, Lime Grove, AcaciaAvenue, Oak and Beech Avenues. However,the largest change did not occur until thethirties. This article is based on personalmemones and impressions gained in thatperiod.

We had moved from the outer suburbs of Essexin 1929 to Hillingdon but my parents wishedfor more rural surroundings and their thoughtsturned towards Eastcote. This gives anindication of the type of district prevailing atthe beginning of the thirties. To arrive inEastcote was to be confronted by a verydifferent Field End Road to that which weknow today. The walk north from EastcoteStation was bounded on the left by Dixon 'sNursery, then by a two-storied buildingcontaining a cafe and laundry office. On theright were W H Smith, the newsagent, andChristies coal office in small temporary stylebuildings. This took one as far as the cross-roads formed by Elm Avenue and thebeginnings of North View with its handful ofhouses on the south side developed by theMetropolitan Country Estates Ltd. ElmAvenue, Morford Way and Morford Close werereasonably built up. There was scatteredhousing in the other "tree" roads. The shops onthe western side of Field End Road commencedwith Field End garage, where the presentChinese restaurant stands and finished at thepresent Petra's Hairdressers. These had beendeveloped by W A Telling, as was the IdealCinema on the site now occupied by SteelHouse. The Manor House public house wasbuilt 1929/30.

A development of shops by Rotherham Estates,named Devon Parade, had commenced on theeast side, from North View but excluded thecorner site. It terminated at the presentMidland Bank SIte. More shops were built by TF Nash from the present site of Boots theChemists through to the present Tops andBottoms. Later, two shops housing Sainsburyand Walton's, the fruiterer, were to join thesetwo parades to complete the row. At the bendof the road opposite the Ideal Cinema stood

Devonshire Lodge, erected in the lateVictorian/Edwardian period, which was thenoccupied by Mr Hague. This large detachedhouse with its grounds of approximately twoacres formed quite a feature with its tallsurrounding hedges. I can remember attendinga garden party there with my parents.Continuing northwards one came to the mainareas of development, an estate on the west sidebeing erected by Rotherham Estates Limitedand opposite by T F Nash Limited. The formerhad laid out Meadow Way, Crescent Gardensand Deane Way with the latter having plannedAbbotsbury Gardens, Deane Croft Road, TheChase, Rushdene, Lowlands and DevonshireRoads. Each builder gave a choice of aboutfive or six types of house with varying sizes ofplot. Prices ranged between £825 and £ 1100 soa fairly wide choice was available to theprospective purchaser. Each estate had its"show houses" fully furnished to give an ideaof the finished product.

Between the Ideal Cinema and Meadow Waywas an orchard (commemorated in the name ofthe row of shops which now stands on its site)and between Abbotsbury Gardens and DeaneCroft Road was stabling used by T F Nash. Atthe corner of Abbotsbury Gardens was Nashsestate office, Rotherham's being in DevonParade. Beyond Field End Farm at the cornerof Meadow Way, Rotherham's had commenceda short row of houses. T F Nash built a housefor his own use called Gleneagles (destroyed byenemy action during the war) on the oppositeside. Beyond the Rotherham development wasRuislip House of the Murch family, two late19th century semi-detached cottages and FieldEnd Lodge, now the Tudor Hotel. Griffinhurst,completed during the First World War, wassited on the right hand corner with Bridle Road.The war memorial was still in its originalposition at the intersection of the two roads.

Turning left into Field End Road at thejunction, one came to the part known locally asChapel Hill. On the left hand side of the roadwere Field End House, The Barns and TheRetreat. A barn partly converted for domesticuse stood between the latter two houses. Thenfollowed the late 19th century semi-detachedhouses which still stand, the Methodist Church,



Eastcote Place and Eastcote Cottage. On theright hand side of the road were Park Farm andSigers, the latter being unoccupied. Turningright from Field End Road into Bridle Roadwere two detached houses on the north side asone approached Cheney Street, and then afurther row of detached houses which still standbetween Cheney Street and Francis Road. Theonly property on the south side of Bridle Roadcomprised the original 'tin' church of StLawrence with the asbestos-built vicarage.

It is not easy to visualise the district with thissmall amount of development but in the earlythirties Abbotsbury Gardens was 60%developed, Devonshire Road nearly completeand Lowlands Road 50 % built. Deane CroftRoad was half completed up to just beyond TheChase, the latter only having around 15 houseserected, and four houses only in RushdeneRoad - between Deane Croft Road andAbbotsbury Gardens. There were open fieldsbetween Rushdene Road and Cannon Lane andalso between Lowlands Road and the railway.The Rotherham estate was similarly incompletewith Hawthorne Avenue being unmade forminga mud road in wet weather. This formed thebasis of a protest to the local authority by thoseliving there. The only development south ofthe railway consisted of a few houses in FieldEnd Road and Woodlands Avenue. This areaconsisted of sports fields, the Cavendish Club,the Pavilion (an entertainment centre foroutings), a firing range for clay pigeon shootingand farms.

Initiall y transport facilities were adequate fordemand with trains running from EastcoteStation at approximately half-hour intervals.The new developments called for increasedfacilities as time went on and there were manyprotests to the railway companies. The stationwas served by both the Metropolitan Railwayto Baker Street and the City, and the DistrictLine to Hammersmith and the West End.Because the demand during the day was lightthe Metropolitan ran four coach trains and theDistrict two coach. In the rush hour these wereincreased to seven and six coaches respectively.When we first moved to Eastcote I travelled toschool at Uxbridge and I remember that thetrains at 8.30 and 4 o'clock were almost empty.Nevertheless it was our ambition to travel in theguard's van when permitted, this giving theshort journey the element of difference so much

desired by small boys. There was one never-to-be-forgotten occasion when the driver of aDistrict train opened hIS door to the passengercompartment and allowed us to watch the trackahead whilst the Journey proceeded. Onedisadvantage of travelling by Metropolitanfrom London outside of the rush hour was to bedisembarked at Rayner' s Lane Station which atthat time consisted of wooden platforms andtwo tiny huts serving as waiting rooms - notan attractive proposition in inclement winterweather. Major development at Rayner's Lanewas to develop as the thirties progressed.

A word must be said about the original stationat Eastcote. All were sorry to see it disappearalthough one must admit that it would not havebeen adequate for present day requirements. Itreally was a most attractive station with a longslope leading down from the small bookingoffice on the bridge to the up platform. Asimilar slope ran to the down platform. Eachslope was attractively planted out with shrubs.The up platform had about one third of itslength under cover but the down platform wasserved only by a small hut for waiting. By itsconstruction the station had an inbuiltadvantage - not however planned or I am sureapproved by the railway company. If onewished to travel to town by Metropolitan, anddue to unforeseen circumstances was a littlelate off the mark, it was possible, with somedegree of agility, to see the train entering thestation whilst one was still in the region ofDancer & Green, the greengrocers in DevonParade, and catch that same train, helped by theslope down to the platform and the type ofcarriage which had hand holds by each doorand a running board which enabled one to openthe door after the train had set off. Those daysare far off and we must now time ourselvesaccording to the present conditions.

Eastcote was also served by public roadtransport with two bus services from Pinner toUxbridge via Bridle Road, Ruislip, Ickenhamand Hillingdon. The companies whichoperated these as a half hourly service were theGeneral and the Royal Highlander, later to beamalgamated as one service which became the220 route after the advent of the LondonTransport Act. There was not, however, anyroute to N orthwood. At the beginning of thethirties Northwood Hills did not exist, and at



Ruislip Manor there were houses only north ofthe railway.

There was considerable scope for schoolboyactivity at this time. As mentioned earlier thedistrict was to a great extent rural and thisallowed for exploration - much better in a ruralthan urban area. The woods at Ruislip werecomparatively unpopulated and the reservoirwas a delight with Park Wood on one side andthe common edging the other. One did nothave to go so far afield to find hedgerows,which still existed where Boldmere and itsaccompanying roads now order themselves.The incomplete portions of the Chase, East andWest Towers and Cannonbury Avenue gavewonderful opportunities for birds nesting andthe discovery of other field flora and fauna. Ican remember being scared out of my wits bypartridges flying out of the ground whereBoldmere Road now stands.

There were also many ponds in the immediatelocality and these, of course, held a deepfascination for boys and, I think, also girls.One could experiment with raft building, catcha multitude of water creatures or could just sitand contemplate the water. Most of theseponds were originally used by cattle but therewere also those which had been artificiallycreated by the pulling down of large trees.Whichever kind of pond it contained frogs andnewts. There was a beautiful pond at thejunction of Cheney Street with Bridle Road,which often had ducks swimming on itssurface.

A building site is an ideal place for a boy tolive on, there being so many possible activities,

mostly unofficial. Castles could be erected onthe stacks of bricks, mountaineering feats couldbe achieved on the scaffolding of partly erectedhouses and glorious rides could be had on theminiature trolley system which the builders laidout for the delivery of materials over the estate.The workmen were remarkably tolerant ofinquisitive small boys and would let one in tomany secrets of their trades. If one were luckyone might be allowed to lay a brick or two, andI look with pride on one or two well builthouses and remember that I have assisted insome small way with their construction.

Sigers represented the ideal 'haunted' house inits unoccupied state and many were theconjectures as to the purpose of the icechamber, which was still open in the grounds ofHaydon Hall where they adjoined SouthillLane. Another region of delight was the oldbrickfield site in Cheney Street, which had theadded attraction of two old horse drawn RoyalMail coaches being parked there. How Iwonder did they ever come to be there andwhat was their previous history? One must notof course forget the donkey that lived in a smallfield half way down Cheney Street whoseserenade could be heard over a large part of thedistrict.

These are just a few recollections of the writerfrom the early thirties. There was much changein the latter part of the thirties up to theoutbreak of the Second World War by whichtime Eastcote had assumed much of itscontemporary pattern.

At a Vestry meeting on 13September 1833Proposed with respect to the Building ofa Parish Cage or place of confinement that a specification bemade and tenders received from competent persons for building the same without delay. The Stocks toremain as at present.

6 December 1833The foregoing order of Vestry to build a Parish Cage or place of Confinement having beenreconsidered it was determined that the square of the Groundfloor be of dimensions 7ft. by 5ft. WallBrick 411z thick Arched over the same thickness Deal floor Oak Sleepers Strong Door Frame &Ironwork and that Mr. Kirbys offer to supply materials of Bricks and Lime - at Cost Price fromCowley or elsewhere be accepted when the season permits to have the same erected.

LMADRO 19/Cl/3



THE 0 RING ROAD PROBLEMby Ran Edwards

Most readers will have their opinion of the M25motorway. Some see it as a threat to the outerperimeter districts of London with its potentialencouragement for commercial and domesticexpansion. Others are glad that heavy throughtraffic has been diverted away from local roadsand has relieved living areas of congestion,noise and pollution. Users are grateful for thelinkage between motorways around the capitalprovided they overlook the rush-hour build-ups.Living within a reasonable proximity of themotorway residents of Ruislip, Northwood andEastcote are able to reap the benefits withoutbeing too affected by disadvantages of livingwithin earshot. However, the situation mighthave been very different for our area if theproposed D-Ring Road had come into beingduring the 1950s.

Residents had finished their wartime upheavalsonly to be greeted with a real threat to theircommunity arising from proposed town andcountry planning. The advisory GreaterLondon Plan of 1946 had been drawn up byProfessor Abercrombie to control the outwardsprawl of London, which had acceleratedbetween the wars. The Plan was also intendedto enable residents of Greater London to obtainthe best from the existing situation whichlacked, to some degree, the advantages of goodsocial planning. Cllr J H Mitchell stated in theMarch 1949 issue of the "Aerial" of EastcoteResidents Association:The preamble to the report points out that thedestruction and general dislocation wrought bythe war presents the opportunity, inconsidering future planning, to locatepopulation and industry more logically, toimprove transport facilities, to determine theproper use of land and to limit the size ofLondon.

A Green Belt would be enforced aroundLondon. This would be of great advantage tothose who had moved to areas such as Ruislip,Northwood and Eastcote, as theoretically itwould prevent them from becoming innersuburbs of London.

To assist this new planning policy, transportregulation was required and the Plan envisagedten 'express' arterial roads radiating outwards

with five ring roads: A, B, C, D and E linkingthem. The Ruislip-Northwood area would bebetween two of these new 'express' roads: thefirst towards Gloucester and Cheltenham wouldfollow the route of the existing WesternAvenue (the present A40), and the other toBirmingham and Carlisle would leave Londonvia Wembley and Pinner Hill. Linking thesethrough the locality would be the D Ring Road.The local section was planned to run from thecorner of Northolt Aerodrome (approximatelyby the present Polish War Memorial) throughPinner Green to Grims Ditch at Harrow Weald.The proposed road would cut across Ruislip-Northwood with Eastcote directly in its path.

The road was planned to be dual carriagewaywith cycle tracks and measure some 120 feetwide. It was planned to run partly at groundlevel, partly overhead on an embankment andpartly in cuttings. The route would haveaffected the following roads in South Ruislip:Edwards Avenue, Great Central Avenue,Victoria Road, Station Approach, Long Drive,Angus Drive, and West Mead. In RuislipManor both Melthorne Drive and ExmouthRoad would become cul-de-sacs. In Eastcote,Whitby Road, Southbourne Gardens, BeechAvenue, Linden Avenue, Elm Avenue, AcaciaAvenue and Myrtle Avenue would have beenbridged over or had an embankment cuttingthem. Eastcote Road through the village centreand Joel Street would have the roadwayoverhead on stilts up to Southill Avenue, whichwould have been converted into a cul-de-sac.At the northern end of Joel Street a junctionwith the new road was proposed.

As well as roads being altered in routing andappearance, it was calculated that Ruislip-Northwood would see the destruction of350/400 houses, with government buildings,two schools and several open spaces beingdamaged. It needs little imagination toenvisage the change in appearance to Eastcoteif a dual carriageway partially overhead roadwere to bisect the district. Additionally, it waspointed out that property values wouldplummet. The Urban District Council protestedvigorously against the proposal. An earliertown planning scheme had envisaged increasesin official open space when post war



~;(~ -!Jl t.

~MAD •• (&1,

s"'Il!Jl .IL".!I. _" 0 0'»11 2'::.-I" ii..t ' ••,.•. . ~. §.ji_.

The proposed route of the Dring road (thick shaded line)through Ruislip & Eastcote.The dotted lines indicate the

diversion requested byRNUDe


Local History Society 33 Joumal1999

development took place. Bessingby Road openspace, which measured some 19.9 acres, wouldbe split by the new road. The recently erectedcounty council school in Southbourne Gardenswould be demolished. The temporary housingsite opposite to the school would disappear anda bridge would be constructed over the railway.Eastcote Recreation Ground in LimeGrove/Myrtle Avenue would be destroyed, aswould the High Grove estate where it had beenplanned to site a town hall and further openspace. St Michael's School, where DeeringsDrive now stands, and Haydon Hall open spacewould be destroyed.

By autumn 1949 the RNUDC had firstly,suggested a local re-routing of the proposedroad, which would create less upheaval for thecommunity; secondly, they had refused A JTaylor & Co development plans in SouthRuislip on the proposed route. This broughtabout an appeal to the Ministry from thedevelopers which enabled E S Saywell, DeputyClerk to the Council, the opportunity to statethe Council's case that only a major enquiryinto the total routing through the Council's areawould serve any useful purpose. It wasannounced soon after that the Ministry wereabandoning 60% of the proposed D road route,namely, from Barnet eastwards to the Thamesand then South of the river through toKingston. This left the north-west section fromBamet to Kingston-on- Thames as the basis forthe new road. A public meeting held inSeptember 1949 at Kerswell's Palm CourtRestaurant in Field End Road, Eastcotestrongly supported the protests of the RNUDCand saw the new concept as a by-pass fromBarnet to the Staines Road which would causeconsiderable damage to the community withoutnoticeable local benefits.

In 1952 the Eastcote Association proposedemploying Counsel to put the Federation caseto a future Ministry enquiry but this wasopposed by the Ruislip and Northwoodrepresentatives. It was also advised that theMiddlesex County Council would besubmitting their Draft Development Plan forthe County which would still show the D RingRoad in its original position. The RNUDCwere not being supported either by the MCC orneighbouring local authorities. The Councilengaged a consultant town planner andconsultant engineer to formulate objections and

alternative proposals. It was noted that thedistrict already contained three majornorth/south roads: West End Road, VictoriaRoad and Field End Road and the suggestionarose as to whether either of these could beadapted for use as a through road. MaybeVictoria Road could take traffic from the southand Field End Road flow from the north? Thiswould still have left problems for the shoppingareas of the district. There was considerableopposition from residents near to Victoria Roadto this suggestion and the RNUDC werepetitioned to oppose the road absolutely.

An Official Enquiry commenced on 23 March1953 when Counsel was appointed to representthe views of all of the local residents'associations who had now come to anagreement. It was pointed out that residentsliving within 4001600 yards of the proposedline of the road were apprehensive of thenuisance of noise and access. The building ofelevated sections, a viaduct and pedestrianaccess bridges, the conversion of some roadsinto cul-de-sacs, the destruction of houses, thecurtailment of open spaces, the limitation ofaccess to shopping centres, churches and otherfacilities, and the alteration of the catchmentareas of schools would all have causedfundamental change to the district. In addition,there would be sterilisation of the district for upto twenty years when the road was finallycompleted. House prices would suffer andcompensation payments would only be madewhen the road was taken over. The district,which was now a parliamentary constituency inits own right and had lodged a petition forborough status, would be split between east andwest.

In June a possible change for the proposed roadwas suggested, namely that the route might bemoved to the east and roughly follow theboundary line between Ruislip-Northwood andHarrow from Northolt to Pinner. TheFederation had no time prior to the enquiry toexamine this proposal and had to put their casebased on instant reactions. The Enquiry closedin October and was to consider the originalsuggested route only. In April 1954 it wasadvised that the Minister had received theinspector's report and had decided not toproceed with either route. However, byOctober of the same year it was clear that,although the Minister of Transport had made



the decision not to proceed, the Minister ofHousing and Local Government had not taken adecision on the Draft Plan and the MCC wastrying to preserve the original route.

At that time a local authority could have a'purchase order' served on it if it refused togive planning permission for a specific project,and the owners were convinced that the statusof the land in question was prejudiced. Thecounty council had refused to grant permissionfor a development at Harlyn Drive andChamberlain Way on the original D Ring Roadroute, but the Minister of Housing and LocalGovernment would not support this refusal.The Minister would not comment on the MCCDevelopment Plan but noted that the Ministerof Transport had not approved the route comingthrough Ruislip-Northwood and felt that as

alternative routes had been suggested forconsideration it was unlikely that the projectedroad would be built for some time. The MCCappealed against this decision and a privatehearing was held in December 1955. Althoughthe MCC hoped that the RNUDC woulddiscuss the matter with it to come to abeneficial conclusion to assist their DraftDevelopment Plan, the outcome was clear andby August 1957 the D Ring Road threat haddisappeared from the Ruislip-Northwood area.

AcknowledgementI would like to acknowledge that much of theinformation contained in this article has beengleaned from running reports recorded in the"Aerial" which was published by the EastcoteResidents Association.

LONG DISTANCE RAIL SERVICES IN 1947by Simon Morgan

If you were asked to name the station inRuislip-Northwood which provided the bestrailway connections, you would probably thinkof West Ruislip. Ruislip & Ickenham Station,as it was previously known, was on two mainlines: the Great Western Birmingham route andthe Great Central, and it certainly saw manycrack expresses. However, it saw each oneonly too briefly, as it thundered throughwithout stopping.

In fact, around the time of railwaynationalisation in 1948, Northwood was thestation that offered the widest range of throughtrains to distant destinations. It was consideredthe main intermediate point between Harrowand Aylesbury, and had some trains whichcalled at Northwood as their first stop afterleaving Marylebone (journey time: 30 minutes).The main expresses ran straight through, but aninteresting variety of semi-fast services did stophere. Most called also at Rickmansworth andAmersham, but only Northwood appeared inTable 2: the timetable for the former GreatCentral main line from Marylebone.

In late 1947, the last ever London and NorthEastern Railway timetable shows four principaldown (northbound) trains stopping at

Northwood. On Mondays to Fridays the 8.18& 10.50 am and the 2.24 & 6.36 pm trains allgave a direct service to Brackley and (exceptfor the 10.50) called at Aylesbury on the way.On Saturdays an extra service at 12.55 pm gavea total of five through trains to Brackley.

Most of these services terminated at Woodford& Hinton Station (later Woodford Halse), aquiet spot which became a minor railwaycentre, 10 miles north of Brackley. The8.18 am train continued via Rugby Central toarrive at Leicester Central at 11.47 am. It took3 hours 29 minutes to cover the 90 miles fromNorthwood to Leicester: an average speed ofonly 26 mph.

The 6.36 pm was perhaps the most interestingservice. It managed the fastest journey times ofthe day: 58 minutes to Aylesbury and one hour39 minutes to Brackley. After calling atWoodford & Hinton, the train reversed arounda curve known locally as the 'Nibble' to jointhe pretentiously named East & West JunctionRailway (by then part of the London, Midlandand Scottish Railway). It ran over thiscircuitous and inconsequential line, to arrive atthe only place of any importance on it,Stratford-on-Avon, at 9.26 pm.



A view looking south from the footbridge at Northwoodas a down train of empty milk wagons passes through (c 1950)

On Sundays one could travel as far asNottingham without changing trains, a distanceof 113 miles. The 8.52 am from Northwoodcalled at all maj or intermediate stations,including Rugby, Leicester and LoughboroughCentral, which is now the main station on thepreserved Great Central Railway. It arrived atthe magnificent Nottingham Victoria Station, ofwhich only the clock tower now remains, at12.44 pm.

Passengers wishing to make the return journeyto Northwood had only one major up train. The12.50 pm from Nottingham called at mostintermediate stations and arrived at N orthwoodat 5.52 pm, over one hour slower than theequivalent down service. At other times, theyneeded to change at Aylesbury.

These services from Northwood wereeventually stopped not by the running down ofthe former Great Central in the mid-1960s, butby the conversion to quadruple track of the line

between Harrow and Moor Park. By 1962,Northwood no longer had platforms serving thetracks used by 'main line' trains.

West Ruislip did have its share of trains todestinations no longer served directly, but onlylocal ones. In. addition to the present servicesto Marylebone and to High Wycombe viaBeaconsfield, in 1947 one could get a GreatWestern train direct to Paddington or to EalingBroadway. Passengers could also board mostof these trains at South Ruislip or RuislipGardens Halt. After the Central Line opened toWest Ruislip in November 1948, getting toEaling Broadway required changing atGreenford, but other services remained for awhile.

SourcesBradshaw's British Railways Guide, Sept 1 1947The ABC Railway Guide, August 1950Jackson, D & Russell, 0, The Great Central in LNER

Days- 2, IanAllanLtd, 1986

At a meeting called by the Churchwardensand held in the Vestry Room of the Church on October 2nd 1833To consider of a proper place to pay the Poor as their assembling at the Church on a Friday evening isjudged to be highly improper. It was unanimously agreed that weekly payments to the Poor be made infuture in the School Room of T Col/ett instead of the Vestry Room of the Church and suchremuneration made to him as may be hereafter agreed upon at some future Vestry Meeting.

LMA DRO 19/C 1/3



RUISLIP BOWLS CLUBThe Move to Manor Farm in 1940

by Ran Lightning

After the emergence of an independent RuislipBowls Club in 1923, the club continued to playon the Wood Lane green into the 1930's. ID theyears after the First World War the rapidgrowth in population and residential homesthreatened the heart of the old village centredaround the parish church of St. Martins at theend of the High Street. But the acquisition ofthe historic Manor Farm in by the Ruislip-Northwood Urban District Council in the1930's ensured that at least some of the oldbuildings would be preserved. One of the barnswas converted and opened as a library on 2ndNovember 1937. These developments mayhave influenced the decision of the committeeof the bowls club to inquire about thepossibility of the RNUDC constructing a publicgreen for the use of the club. On 17thDecember 1937 the committee decided to drafta letter for publication, asking for residents'support.

The minutes of the committee meetings revealthe growing impetus to the idea of a new site.Representations were made to the Council for apublic green to be constructed at Manor Farm.The rickyard site between the library and thepond was favoured by the council. Oldphotographs show hayricks in this area.

By the 30th March 1938 a letter had beenreceived from the Council, and in response tothis a sub-committee was authorised to arrangeterms on behalf of the club, the main provisionbeing that of the 6 rinks 3 should always beavailable for matches.

At a committee meeting held on 20th October1938 the secretary of the club announced that asatisfactory conclusion of negotiations with theCouncil had been reached for the constructionof a full size Cumberland turf bowling greenwith a pavilion at Manor Farm and thatcontracts had been placed. As the club sharedthe lease of the Wood Lane site with the tennis

club arrangements were made to terminate thelease and sell off old equipment.

The creation of the new facilities was obviouslygoing on during the early months of the SecondWorld War. At a meeting on 7th March 1940 itwas decided to open the green on the 27th April"subject to the approval of the council". But ata meeting held on the proposed day of openingthe secretary of the club read correspondencefrom the council relating to the official openingof the green. The content of the letter is notknown, and to date no information regardingthe "official" opening of the green has beenfound. The minutes do not refer to an actualofficial opening, but there is no doubt that theRuislip Bowls Club was playing at Manor Farmduring the summer of 1940. On Saturday 11thMay a match was held against Yiewsley onRuislip's "new green, a welcome addition tothe Cumberland turf greens of westMiddlesex.".! From the end of April committeemeetings were held at the Pavilion, ManorFann. The balance of accounts for the year1939-40 refers to the "sale of club propertyfrom the old ground."

The impact of the war overshadowed the earlymonths of the club's season on their new green.It was decided to donate a percentage ofincome from whist drives and 25 per cent ofincome to the Red Cross. An ominous notewas sounded at a meeting held on 21st June1940 when one member questioned whether theclub matches should be continued; but themajority felt that the club should carry on andtry to complete the fixtures "war permitting".ID August, despite air raids, some "pleasantgames" were played, which helped to distractthe bowlers' minds from the war.

ReferencesRuislip Bowls Club:

Minutes of Committee Meetings 1934-1945Minutes of AG.M 's 1933-1957

1 Middlesex Advertiser & Gazette, 17th May 1940

At a Vestry meeting on 14 January 1825The parishioners present agreed that all persons out of employ shall be put to work on the Roads and atthe Gravel Pits instead of expending any mure money in the said Grounds for this season.

LMADRO 19/C1I2[The 'said Grounds' referred to the Poor's Allotment where the unemployed had previously worked.]

RUISLIP, NORTHWOODAND EASTCOTE


RNELHS: THIRTY FIVE YEARSby Ran Edwards

It is not easy to visualise 35 years that havepassed by and to attempt mentally to fill themwith people and events, even those within one'sown expenence.

To set the clock back to 1964, recall thatNovember 1963 had witnessed theassassination of President Kennedy, one ofthose memorable occurrences which peoplehave always registered in their minds. 1964saw the beginning of the United Statesinvolvement in Vietnam, and the governmentof Ian Smith in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) wasabout to break away from British control.

At around this time, Cliff Morrell and I becamedisturbed by the disappearance of thebackground we were familiar with. In EastcoteVillage there were major changes under way.Eastcote Lodge had been demolished in 1962and, following the death of Lady Anderson,there were queries over the future of EastcotePlace. The old Methodist chapel had beendemolished and the village shops were underthreat. The smithy had ceased operation.Overall there were continuing discussions overthe shape of local government with the planneddisappearance of the Ruislip-Northwood UrbanDistrict Council and proposed unification withUxbridge, West Drayton and Yiewsley, andHayes and Harlington within a new borough.Northwood had been undergoing piecemealchange and development throughout the 1950sand this was not showing any signs of a slowdown.

Our thoughts became directed towards thepossible creation of a group which would aimto protect, or at least to record, the historicplaces remaining. During this pre-birth period,we searched for information as to the form anew group should take. Early contacts wereformed with Laurence Morris and W A Kemp;the unique Miss Pollard who had been librarianat Ruislip but lately transferred to Harrow; SirChristopher Cowan, previously Chairman ofthe Middlesex County Council and, from ourUrban District Council, Cllr C A Smith, the

Chairman, and Edward Saywell, the Clerk.Support and encouragement came from localsocieties and associations following a campaignof letters. Advice of great value also camefrom existing local history societies atUxbridge and West Drayton through thepersons ofL Jarvis and A H Cox.

All pointed to it being the right time to press onwith the project and an interim committee wasformed with Sir Christopher as Chairman,myself as Secretary and Cliff Morrell asTreasurer. W A Kemp, Laurence Morris, MissPollard, Howard and Enid Crane and my wife,Doreen acted as committee members. Wedecided to hold a public meeting at ManorFarm Library on 22nd May to launch theSociety. Cllr. Cecil Smith who had justcompleted his term of office as Chairman of theUrban District Council chaired the meeting andLaurence Morris gave a short talk on themeaning and value of local history. Aroundsixty attended the meeting and 45 of thosebecame initial members of the new Society.

The first meeting was held on the 22nd Junefollowed by a local outing on the 5th July. Aconstitution was drawn up, the committeemembership was regularised and a programmeof events set up. Since then, against thebackground of considerable change, bothworld-wide and locally, the Society hascontinued to increase its membership, provide35 years of programme variety and regularoutings which have provided enjoyment andeducation for many people. There have been avariety of speakers from many walks of lifeoffering a range of expertise. The Society hasalso, dare one say, exceeded by far theexpectations of the original members with itsimpressive array of publications and thecontinuing scholarship of the Bulletin. None ofthis could have been achieved without theselfless offerings of personal time by those whohave acted as Committee members and helpersover the years and by those who continue thiswork in 1999.

At a Vestry meeting on October 4th 1833Mr. Houghton proposed to take 100 Loads of Chalk if the Parish Officers [agreed] at one shilling perload LMADRO 19/Cl/3



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