Uxendon Farm

Farm in/near Wembley Park, existing until 1932.

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(51.57324 -0.28849, 51.573 -0.288) 
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Farm · * · HA9 ·
MARCH
22
2017
Uxendon was once more important than Wembley.

Uxendon, first recorded in a transaction concerning Hugh of Woxindon in 1257, was a small settlement on the western slopes of Barn Hill. The first part of the name is the same as that in the name Uxbridge and stems either from the Wixan, a 7th century Anglo-Saxon tribe, or from the Celtic for ’water’. The second part is the Old English for
hill.

Medieval Uxendon was very small, but in the 14th or 15th centuries some local people, including the Uxendon family, moved south to form another small community at Forty Green,
where the Sudbury to Kingsbury road crossed the Lidding at Forty Bridge. This settlement was known as Uxendon Forty, Wembley Forty or Preston Forty. The farm at Forty Green was at first called Pargrave’s, and later South Forty Farm.

Uxendon became a sub manor under the authority of Harrow Manor Court.

Richard Brembre, a grocer and Lord Mayor of London, lived at Uxendon. In 1388 he executed 22 prisoners without trial and was later himself executed for this crime. In 1516 the Bellamy family acquired Uxendon through marriage. They remained staunchly Roman Catholic after the Reformation and sheltered Catholic priests. In 1586 Anthony Babington, a principal conspirator in the Babington plot against Elizabeth I, was arrested on their property.

In 1592 Elizabeth’s security services tracked the fugitive Jesuit Robert Southwell to Uxendon. As a result of these arrests the Bellamys suffered considerably in the final years of the 16th century. By 1608 their land was in the hands of the Page family, who had become the leading landowners in the Wembley area.

The Bellamys had already enclosed a small amount of open land. The Pages continued this process throughout the 17th century. In 1655 enclosure of open fields by Richard Page led to changes in the routing of the road east of Preston. This enclosure by the Pages encouraged the general move from arable to meadow in the area in the 18th century.

Nonetheless a significant amount of common land remained to be enclosed at the time of the Enclosure Act of 1803.

By 1732 a new farm, Barn Hill Farm, existed on the summit of Barn Hill. It was no longer there by 1850 and had probably gone by the late 18th century, when Richard Page began building a folly on Barn Hill as part of his improvements at Wembley Park. The folly was still standing in 1820.

In 1829 many of the Page family lands, including Uxendon, went to Henry Young (d. 1869), the junior partner of the Page’s solicitor. There is good reason to suspect that Young obtained the lands fraudulently. In the decades that followed Young’s death numerous persons turned up claiming the ‘Page millions’, but no-one was successful.

The district did not change significantly in the 19th century. This was due to an agricultural depression after the Napoleonic Wars and London’s growing need for hay; both Uxendon and Forty farms had converted to hay farming by 1852. The depression also led to an outbreak of violence in the area around 1828, when desperate agricultural labourers burnt haystacks and threatened local landowners, including the relatively benevolent Lord Northwick.

64 people lived in Preston in 1831 and 57 in 1851. In the same year Uxendon Farm housed 13 people and Forty Farm 10, while three more lived at the top of 302-foot high Barn Hill. In the mid-19th century Uxendon was the venue for steeplechases and well known for its ’sensational water jump’, while Forty Farm was famous for horses.

The Metropolitan Railway was built in 1880. The railway had no effect on development, even after the opening of Wembley Park station in 1894. In 1896 the suggestion that a station should be built serving Preston was rejected because the local population was so small. Indeed even in the early 20th century the area was entirely rural, and the
Wealdstone Brook could be described as "one of the most perfect little streams anywhere, abounding in dace and roach."

By 1900 Uxendon Farm had become a shooting ground (the Lancaster Shooting Club). When the Olympic Games were held in London in 1908 the ground was sufficiently important to be
used for Olympic clay pigeon shooting. Pressure from the shooting club, which was a two mile walk from the nearest station, played a part in the opening of Preston Road Halt in May 1908.

The years after the First World War brought rapid change to Preston. Local farms had specialised in growing hay for London’s thousands of horses, with Uxendon and Forty Farms entirely meadows in 1900. As motor traffic grew, demand for hay plunged, forcing some farms to close while others downsized. In 1907, Wembley had 66 farms but by 1937 only nine remained. The rise of automobiles transformed the agricultural landscape, pushing many old farms out of business and accelerating suburban growth.

Some housing already existed in Uxendon by 1930. Then in 1932, dilapidated Uxendon Farm was demolished for the Metropolitan Railway extension from Wembley to Stanmore, later becoming the Bakerloo and current Jubilee Line. In subsequent years, all of Uxendon was developed except Barn Hill Open Space, purchased by the Council from Preston Farm owners in 1927. Construction of the railway line accelerated Uxendon’s transformation from farmland into suburbs, ushering in an era of rapid residential growth.


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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

None so far :(
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Comment
Wendy    
Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT   

Polygon Buildings
Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings.

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Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT   

Road construction and houses completed
New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only.

Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Comment
Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT   

Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS)
One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc.

I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Comment
Charles   
Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT   

My House
I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s.

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NH   
Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT   

Telephone House
Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000

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Comment
Paul Cox   
Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT   

War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street
Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there.

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Comment
Diana   
Added: 28 Feb 2024 13:52 GMT   

New Inn Yard, E1
My great grandparents x 6 lived in New Inn Yard. On this date, their son was baptised in nearby St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch

Source: BDM London, Cripplegate and Shoreditch registers written by church clerk.

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Comment
Vic Stanley   
Added: 24 Feb 2024 17:38 GMT   

Postcose
The postcode is SE15, NOT SE1

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LOCAL PHOTOS
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Forty Farm, Wembley Forty Farm was situated where the Sudbury to Kingsbury road crossed the Lidding at Forty Bridge. In the 14th or 15th centuries, people, including the Uxendon family from Uxendon Farm, moved south to form another small community at Forty Green. This settlement was known as Uxendon Forty, Wembley Forty or Preston Forty. The farm at Forty Green was at first called Pargrave’s and later South Forty Farm. London’s growing need for hay meant that Forty Farm had converted to hay farming by 1852 and indeed was noted for its horses. The construction of the Metropolitan Railway in 1880 effectively destroyed Forty Green, although South Forty Farm continued into the 20th century. In 1928 the farm became the headquarters of the Century Sports Ground. The ground was built over after 1931. Housing spread along Preston Road and Preston Hill in the three years that followed.
Old London postcard
TUM image id: 1557227472
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In the neighbourhood...

Click an image below for a better view...
Clay pigeon shooting at Uxendon, 1908 By 1900, Uxendon Farm had become a shooting ground (the Lancaster Shooting Club). When the Olympic Games were held in London in 1908 the ground was sufficiently important to be used for Olympic clay pigeon shooting. Pressure from the shooting club, which was a two mile walk from the nearest station (Wembley Park), played a part in the opening of Preston Road Halt in May 1908.
Credit: Alamy images
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Preston Road as a rural lane, looking towards Kingsbury
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Lawns Court This Wembley Art Deco block was built in 1933 on the site of the Holland & Holland Shooting Club.
Credit: Modernism in Metroland
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Uxendon Shooting Club during the 1908 Olympics
Credit: Rapport officiel du CIO, Jeux Olympiques de 1908
Licence: CC BY 2.0




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