HAND-BOOK FOR THE USE OF VISITORS TO HARROW ON THE HILL; CONTAINING A TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE PARISH OF HARROW AND THE GRAMlVIAR SCHOOL FOUNDED BY JOHN LYON: WITH A DIRECTORY, COMPRISING THE RESIDENCES 01l' THE NEIGHBOURING GENTRY, TRADESMEN. ETC. EDITED BY THOMAS SMITH, AUTHOR OF AN HISTORICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF THE PARISH OF ST. MARY-LE-BONE. LONDON: W. N. WRIGHT. BOOKSELLER TO THE QUEEN. 60, PALL MALL. J. S. CROSSLEY. HARROW. 1850. ADVERTISEMENT. THE Editor· of this little work during a visit to a friend at Harrow a few months since, was surprised to find that there was no distinct publication devoted to the history of a place. that none can visit with in­ difference. and which has ever been regarded with affectionate veneration, in after life, by all who have been educated at its far-famed School. An attempt to supply this deficiency is now made; the Editor has endeavoured by a careful inspection, . and reference to the best authorities, to render the work not only interesting to the casual visitor, but useful to the inhabitants of Harrow and the neigh­ bourhood. The disadvantages, that a person not constantly • resident on the spot always meets with in an attempt of this kind, have been greatly relieved by the valuable assistance afforded by Mr. William Winkley, Jun. Vestry Clerk. The Editor is at a loss to acknowledge, as it deserves, the liberal treatment he has had the honour to receive from those Gentlemen to whom he_applied for information. The Wood-Engravings are from original Drawings by Mr. Frederick Skill, Assistant Drawing-Master, at King's College. CONTENTS. Road from London to Harrow _-- .. Page 1 The Parish - .. .. .. .. -_ .. 8 • Early History.. - .. --- .. - 11 Views from Harrow.. .. .. .. __ - 23 The Church - .. .. --__ - 26 Sepulchral brassesl Tablets and Tombs in the Church . 32 Harrow School --- .. _ .. _ - 43 The School Buildings - .. .. .. .. .. 53 Monitor's Library - .. :- - .. _ - 55 Harrow School Chapel - .. - .. _ .. 60 The Head Master's House.. .. _- .. • 62 Archery --- .. -__ .. .. 63 Head Masters.. .. .. .. .. _ .. - 65 Under Masters --- .. .. _ .. .. 6'1 Vacations - .. .. • .. __ .. 69 Scholarships and Annual Prizes -__ .. - 70 Royal Visits ---- .. .. .. - 71 Eminent Harrovians --- .. __ - '14 Rental of the School Lands, 1590 _ .. .. - 85 Local Charities .. .. .. .. _ .. .. - ib. Water Supply - .. - .. - .. .. .. 89 Highways. Police, &c. .. .. ___ - 91 Parish Registers - - -__ _ .. 92 The Union - .. .. .. .. .. .. - 94 The Board of Health --- _ _ _ - ib. Modes of Conveyance to Harrow _ .. .. .. 95 Inns and Houses of Entertainment ___ - 97 Postal Arrangements --_ .. • .. 98 Pinner .. •••-•__ .. ib. Miscellanea -- .. -___ - 101 Directory .. .. - .. --_._ .. 106 HARROW -ON - THE - HILL. ROAD FROM LONDON TO HARROW. A MORE pleasant drive can scarcely be imagined than that which this road affords, at a short dis­ tance from London. It commences from the Edg­ ware Road at about half a mile from the spot where Tyburn gate formerly stood at the west-end of Ox~ ford street; and crossing the Green at Paddington, passes the Church of that Parish, called St. Mary's. This church was built between the years 1788 and 1791, having been consecrated on the 27th of April in the latter year. It is a small quadrangular build­ ing ofyellow brick with stone dressings, having a Doric portico in the South front, and a small cupola on the top; the cost of its erection was about £6000. Over the South entrance- within the pediment of the por- tico, is the following inscription; AOSA EN Y'.PI~TOI~ (8)Eil KAI EnI I'H~ EIPHNH .EN ANepnnOI~ EY.IlOKIA. * The Road turning to the right crosses the Pad­ dington Canal. From the summit of the bridge to the .. "Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth peace, good will towards men. - LUKE, ch. ii. v. 14. B 2 ROAD FROM LONDON right formerly was seen Hampstead and Child's Hill in the distance: in the. foreground, the Regent's Canal, a branch of the Paddington Canal leading to the City; Maida Hill and Vale, the buildings about St. John's Wood, with pasture land extending to Kilburn. The spire of Harrow church was also dis­ tinctly seen. This charming view is now, however, intercepted by a number of villas, which have been erected on the north and south hank of the Regent's Canal. To the left of the bridge are the Canal wharfs, the Terminus and extensive works of the Great "VVestern Railway, St. Mary's Hospital, and the tasteful buildings which have -recently been erected at Pad­ dington and Bayswater; in the foreground. is the beautiful gothic church of the Holy Trinity· built in 1846. and the thick foliage of the trees in Ken­ sington Gardens, bounds thehorizonto the south-west. From this bridge the road proceeds by an easy sweep through Westbourne Green. In the hollow to the right is a nursery ground, with a maze of more than ordinary intricacy: to· the left formerly stood the house called "VVestbourne Place. once the re­ sidence of the Venetian Ambassador, afterwards pur­ chased by S. P. Cockerell. Esq. and lastly by Gen­ eral Lord Hill, the gallant companion of the Duke of Wellington. The works of the Great Western . ~ailway have completely altered the whole surface of the land in this neighbourhood. _• Westbourne Place has been pulled down. and the grounds in which it stood, being intersected by the Railway is now covered with buildings, called West- TO HARROW. 3 bourne Villas. From the great change that has taken place, travellers to Harrow now prefer entering the " Harrow Road at Westbourne Green, after passing through the many magnificent streets, squares and terraces, all trending from the west end of Oxford Street, and the Uxbridge Road, towards this point; thereby avoiding the Edgware Road, and the crowd of vehicles conveying goods or pa88engers to and from the Railwav terminus. " The road now crosses the Canal a second time by a bridge, at Westbourne Green; just before the bridge is reached,. on the right, resided Mrs. Sid­ dons, the celebrated tragic actress; here for many years she enjoyed the comforts of retirement from the turmoil of theatrical life. Having crossed the bridge, on the left is a fine building, the Lock Hospital; this charity has lost a munificent Patron in the person of the late Duke of Cambridge; one of the wards is named after him, the Cambridge Ward. Hence the road runs parallel with the line of the Canal, as far as Kensal Green skirted on the left side for the most part by handsome houses; the rear of these look over N otting Hill, Kensington and the intervening country bounded by the Surrey Hms. To the right for the space of half a mile along the road, the open fields, with the Churches of Hamp­ stead, Highgate, and the woody scenery ofthat neigh­ 18~O! bourhood are to be observed. The Cemetery at Kensal Green is three miles from Oxford Street; it contains forty-eight acres, and lies between the Canal and the road fOf about • 4 ROAD FROM LONDON a quarter of a mile. It is beautifully laid out and . planted with trees, shrubs and flowers, in the style of the Cemetery of Pere la Chaise at Paris, which it rivals in the beauty of its embellishments and costliness of its monuments. There are Chapels for the performance of the Burial Service, and catacombs extending along the wall calculated to contain about 2000 coffins. It is one of the earliest, and considered in a commercial point of view, most successful speculations of the kind. Many persons of the highest rank are interred here, among whom may be mentioned His Royal Highness the Duke of l:::iussex, 1843, H. R. H. the Princess Sophia, 1848; Duchess of Argyle, &c. &c. The North Western Railway passes under the Harrow Road at Kensal Green in a slanting direction from Kilburn, and proceeds from above the boun­ dary wall of the Cemetery, along the fields ~o the left. Before the establishment of the Cemetery, a public­ house called the Plough,* with a few straggling cottages, stood upon the Green, principally to the right of the road; these, and a small farm-house, were all the buildings then existing. It is now a town. with a population whose spiritual wants * In proof of the former loneliness of this spot, we extract the following from a Magazine of)774: - Last night four per­ sons, who had the appearance of coalheavers, or draymen. went to the house of Anthony Hemmings, who keeps the Plough at Kensal Green, on the Harrow road, and after drinking some time, suddenly jumped up, and presented pistols at the said Hemmings, his wife. and two men in the house; and after robbing them of what they had about them, ransacked the • house and carried off all the money and plate. • TO HARROW. 5 have required the erection of a large church: thus exhibiting the strange inconsistency of the <mtcry for extra-mural interment, and depositing the dead, as a sanitary precaution, at a distance from the habitations of the living; yet, as soon as . possible after the establishment of such a place, a large town is erected close to it ! A short distance beyond the fourth mile stone the road crosses Harlesdon Green, a moderately populous village, with some neat specimens of detached cotta­ ges, and some fine old farm-houses. From this .Green two roads branch off; that on the right leads to the Edgware Road; and the one on the left crosses the Canal in the way to Acton and Brentford. At the fifth mile stone Willesden Lane is passed, and the interesting Saxon church and Village of Willesden are seen on the right.