Hendon - History

History

Hendon was historically a civil parish in the county of Middlesex. The manor is described in Domesday (1087), but the name, 'Hendun' meaning 'at the highest hill', is earlier. There is even evidence of Roman settlement discovered by the Hendon and District Archaeological Society and others; an urn burial of a headless child was found in nearby Sunny Hill Park. The Midland Railway and the Great Northern Railways were built through Hendon in the 1860s. There is evidence of problems of wild horses feeding between the tracks. The underground, at Golders Green arrived in 1907. Much of the area developed into a suburb of London and now the area is mostly built up with some countryside in the Mill Hill area, such as the Copthall Playing fields. Hendon big industry was mostly centred on manufacturing, and included motor and aviation works, and developed from the 1880s. In 1931 the civil parish of Edgware was abolished and its area was added to the great civil parish of Hendon.

Hendon became an urban district in 1894. In 1932 the urban district became the Municipal Borough of Hendon. The municipal borough was abolished in 1965 and the area became part of the London Borough of Barnet.

Hendon’s claim to fame is in flying and Hendon Aerodrome is now the RAF Museum. The area is closely associated with the aviator Claude Grahame-White. Another part of the Aerodrome site is the Hendon Police College, the training centre for the Metropolitan Police. The Metropolitan Police Book of Remembrance is displayed in the entrance of Simpson Hall at the centre. There is also a memorial garden.

It is a former borough and ancient parish. The name means the high place or down, and Hendon's motto is Endeavour. The Burroughs is a civic centre for the London Borough of Barnet, and also the site of Middlesex University Business School.

The River Brent runs trough Hendon. On 30 Nov 2009- The Environment Agency warned residents of a flooding along River Brent from Hendon to Brentford, after a day of notably heavy rain. Several premises were temporally flooded in Brentford and Perivale.