Etymology and History
"Canons" refers to the canons or monks of the Augustinian priory of St Bartholomew in Smithfield, London, who owned the manor of Stanmore before the Reformation. Canons Park is largely located on the site of Cannons, a magnificent early 18th century country estate built between 1713–25, by James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos. A few years after the Duke's death in 1744 the big house was demolished and the estate was divided and sold in parcels; the last, the original house-site, transformed into ambitious Edwardian gardens then put on the market in 1929, was bought by the North London Collegiate School in 1929 for the sum of £17,500. Although the original Cannons mansion no longer exists, the later building on the site, erected by the gentleman cabinet-maker William Hallett in 1760, now houses the School. A large portion of the original gardens of the Cannons estate now form the public pleasure gardens of Canons Park. The modern park includes the Memorial Gardens, a folly known as 'the Temple' (not to be confused with a different folly of the same name within the North London Collegiate School grounds) and an orchard.
Canons Drive, in Edgware follows the original path of the entrance to the Cannons estate, retaining the two large pillars which acted as gateposts where it met the Edgware Road. The remains of a second, raised, carriageway running from Cannons can be traced through Canons Park in the direction of Whitchurch Lane. A 7-acre (28,000 m2) lake and separate duck pond also formed part of the original Cannons Estate and survive within the boundaries of the Canons Drive residential area.
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