Woodridings, Harrow
An early commuter estate situated between the River Pinn and Uxbridge Road in south-west Hatch End, no longer identified on most maps
Woodridings Close, Hatch End (Photo: John Salmon)
Following the arrival of the railway, the first 50 houses were laid out on former farmland here in 1855. Borrowing an Italianate design lately used in Swiss Cottage and St John’s Wood, the properties were intended to attract families who wanted a grand residence but could not afford a more exclusive address.
The large red brick semi-detached houses with their ostentatious façades and gentrified names were set well back from the road. Most homes had two or three servants, often drawn from nearby Pinner. Milk was delivered from Woodridings Farm, on the other side of Uxbridge Road, until the land was developed in the mid-1920s.
Chandos Villas was the first marital home of Isabella Beeton, who in the late 1850s wrote here the articles that became Beeton’s Book of Household Management. The house was destroyed by a direct hit in the Blitz and a shopping parade now stands in its place.
Admiral Nelson’s daughter Horatia and two of her married sons bought three houses on the Woodridings estate.
Postcode area: Pinner HA5
The picture of Woodridings Close, Hatch End, on this page is adapted from an original photograph, copyright John Salmon, at Geograph Britain and Ireland, made available under the Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Licence. Any subsequent reuse is hereby freely permitted under the terms of that licence.
