Discovering Old Boundaries
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Appendix Z DISCOVERING OLD BOUNDARIES Trying to understand the location of old boundaries in modern-day Harrow is difficult. A detailed study of Ordnance Survey maps — either in hard copy, as published in the Godfrey Edition of Old Ordnance Survey Maps, or online courtesy of the National Library of Scotland — can help, but sometimes more modern development has obscured the routes of old roads or obliterated features that would help identify former boundary locations. However, the various editions of the Register of Electors can assist (with the maps) in pinpointing old boundaries: for obvious reasons the individual polling districts (or specific sections of polling districts) within the Registers could not cross those boundaries. This Appendix provides details of twelve case studies of old boundaries: 1. The 1894-95 Wealdstone Urban District Boundary 2. Westwood Avenue and Wood End Avenue - Harrow-on-the-Hill UD / Uxbridge RD 3. Mount Park Road and South Hill Avenue - Harrow-on-the-Hill UD / Uxbridge RD 4. Cavendish Avenue and Wood End Road; Fernbank Avenue and Rosebank Avenue - Uxbridge RD / Harrow-on-the-Hill UD / Greenford UD / Wembley UD 5. Boundary Through the ‘Nash’ Estate - Harrow-on-the-Hill UD / Hendon RD 6. The Southern Boundary of Little Stanmore Parish - Hendon RD / Kingsbury UD 7. Carmelite Road and Pinner Park Gardens - Wealdstone UD / Hendon RD 8. Bonnersfield Lane and Northwick Park Road - Harrow-on-the-Hill UD / Wealdstone UD 9. Kenton Road and Woodgrange Avenue - Wealdstone UD / Wembley UD 10. Fernbrook Drive - Harrow-on-the-Hill UD / Hendon RD 11. Locket Road - Wealdstone UD / Hendon RD 12. Byron Road, Wealdstone - Wealdstone UD / Hendon RD References and Notes 1. The 1894-95 Wealdstone Urban District Boundary As explained in the Introduction to this book, Wealdstone Urban District was created in December 1894 as a result of the Local Government Act of 1894 and Local Government Board Order no. 31,845. The district had irregular and scattered boundaries that varied “in length from four to five miles between three long arms.” On 1 October 1895, following Local Government Board Order no. 33,399, a small part of Harrow-on-the-Hill UD (north of the centre of Hindes Road) was transferred to Wealdstone; but a large area of Wealdstone UD (including portions of Greenhill south of the centre of Hindes Road, as well as the ‘arm’ towards Dabs Hill, Roxeth), was transferred to Harrow-on-the-Hill. No map has yet been found that shows the boundaries of the ‘original’ Wealdstone Urban District — such a map would reveal, in particular, the ‘shape’ and extent of the south-western ‘arm’. However, the 1896 Register provides a listing of 156 parochial electors, and their addresses, who transferred to Harrow-on-the-Hill following the 1895 Order, thereby providing an indication of the original boundaries of Wealdstone. The following roads (or parts of roads) and locations were involved: Springfield Road, Amersham Road, St. Kilda’s Road, Headstone Road, Roxborough Road, Pinner Road [i.e. roads in the ‘western’ part of modern Greenhill]; Grove Farm, Roxeth [on the north side of Northolt Road, near the junction with today’s Park Lane]; Perkins Farm, Roxeth [location uncertain]; Tithe Farm, Roxeth [on Eastcote Lane, near the crossroads with today’s Alexandra Avenue]; Land at Dabb’s Hill, Roxeth [on the south side of Eastcote Lane, near the junction with today’s Carlyon Avenue]. Following the Order, only four electors transferred to Wealdstone, all with Station Road addresses. The land transferred included Greenhill Farm (see Map 7). 2. Westwood Avenue and Wood End Avenue - Harrow-on-the-Hill UD / Uxbridge RD These two roads in South Harrow were developed in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It will be remembered that the Middlesex (Harrow-on-the-Hill Urban District) Confirmation Order no. 72,899 196 transferred land from the Northolt Parish of Uxbridge Rural District to Harrow on 1 October 1928; arising from this Westwood Avenue and Wood End Avenue, once built, straddled the old boundary. The OS 1935 sheet X.15 for Middlesex and the 1931 Registers were particularly helpful in revealing where the boundary was, as detailed in the Map 9 and the Table: Map 9: Extract from 1935 25-inch OS map of Middlesex, sheet X.15, in the region of Westwood Avenue and Wood End Avenue, reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland. The long-dash line marks the boundary between the Parliamentary divisions of Harrow and Uxbridge, the legacy of the boundary between Harrow-on-the-Hill UD and Northolt Parish (Uxbridge RD). The dotted line to the north of the railway track marks the southern boundary of Harrow-on-the-Hill UD from 1 October 1928. Road and House Numbers Before 1.10.1928 After 1.10.1928 Westwood Avenue: Harrow-on-the-Hill UD No change 3-27, 2-24 Harrow-on-the-Hill MCC ED Wood End Avenue: Harrow Parliamentary division 1-27, 2-32 Westwood Avenue: Northolt Parish, Hendon RD Harrow-on-the-Hill UD 29-47, 26-68 Hayes MCC ED Hayes MCC ED Wood End Avenue: Uxbridge Parliamentary Uxbridge Parliamentary 29-91, 34-78 division division The 1930 Register showed a degree of confusion in the Registration Officer’s department at Middlesex Guildhall: all occupied properties in Westwood Avenue and Wood End Avenue were placed in the Roxeth polling district. This error had no consequences at the 1931 Harrow-on-the-Hill UDC election (28 March) as all local government electors in the two roads were eligible to vote in that election. The discrepancy would have been problematic at the earlier Middlesex County Council election on 2 March 1931: the higher number properties, on the Northolt side of the old RD/UD boundary, should not have been entitled to vote in the Harrow-on-the-Hill electoral division (although luckily this division was not contested). The Hayes electoral division was contested, by three candidates, and the electors concerned may have been denied an opportunity to vote at that election. The copy of the Register provided by the London Metropolitan Archives bore no annotation or mark to indicate that the error had been detected; however, other copies of the Register would have existed, so it cannot be said whether arrangements were in place at the election for managing the effects of the mistake. The faulty 1930 Register came into force on 15 October 1930 and was valid until 14 October 1931 (see Appendix X). The 1931 Register, in force from 15 October 1931, showed the error had, by this time, been detected: the higher number properties in Westwood Avenue and Wood End Avenue had been placed in the appropriate polling district (Northolt). This correct Register was therefore ready to be used at the Parliamentary General Election held on 27 October 1931 and avoided electors in the two roads voting in the ‘wrong’ division. 197 3. Mount Park Road and South Hill Avenue - Harrow-on-the-Hill UD / Uxbridge RD Map 5 has already shown the boundary in this area at the time of the publication of an 1897 Ordnance Survey map. The 1928 Register of Electors recorded the voters of properties in these two roads that were transferred from Uxbridge RD to Harrow-on-the-Hill UD on 1 October 1928. They formed a specific section of the Northolt polling district of the Uxbridge Register, and totalled 56 electors. All were qualified as Parliamentary electors (in the Uxbridge division), and of these 51 were local government electors (for Harrow-on-the-Hill UD and the Hayes electoral division of the MCC). The following unnumbered properties (some of which can be seen in the OS mapping of 1935) were in Northolt Parish, Uxbridge RD, prior to the transfer and therefore provide a guide to where the original boundary (Map 10) ran: Mount Park Road: Ingleby, Ingleby (The Garage), Broomfield, Broomfield (Gardener’s Cottage), Oakhurst, St. Margaret’s, Ravensholt, Penketh, The Hut, Salem End. South Hill Avenue: The Cottage, The Lodge, Herons Ghyll, Hill End, Rosemead, Bamford Cottage, Meadowside, Little Pottery, Skaill, Dunsmore, Brakelond, Oakmead, Orley Farm School, Orley Farm School (Garage), The Poplars. Map 10: Extract from 1935 25-inch OS map of Middlesex, sheet X.15, in the region of Mount Park Road and South Hill Avenue, reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland. The long-dash line marks the boundary between the Parliamentary divisions of Harrow and Uxbridge, the legacy of the boundary between Harrow-on-the-Hill UD and Northolt Parish (Uxbridge RD). It has already been mentioned in case (2) (page196), that the 1930 Uxbridge Register should also have contained electors from Westwood Avenue and Wood End Avenue, but due to compilation errors they were placed in the 1930 Harrow Register. The 1931 Register correctly included Westwood Avenue and Wood End Avenue in the Northolt polling district with Mount Park Road and South Hill Avenue, making a grand total of 300 electors, of whom 221 were local government electors. (This section of the polling district appears to have formed a ‘detached’ portion of the Hayes MCC electoral division.) 198 4. Cavendish Avenue and Wood End Road; Fernbank Avenue and Rosebank Avenue - Uxbridge RD / Harrow-on-the-Hill UD / Greenford UD / Wembley UD Map 4, from 1897, has already shown the complicated boundaries between the Harrow-on-the-Hill, Wembley and Greenford Urban Districts. The land opposite the junction of Ridding Lane with Greenford Road was to become the site of London Underground’s Sudbury Hill station, which opened on 28 June 1903. On 1 March 1906, about 200 yards further north along Greenford Road, the Sudbury Hill Harrow mainline railway station was opened: it was one of three stations on a new stretch of track from Neasden Junction to Northolt Junction.