COUNTRY PARK OR BUST - A WALK INTO LOCAL HISTORY

COUNTRY PARK OR BUST - A WALK INTO LOCAL HISTORY

A stroll along the quiet lanes of Harrow Weald and Stanmore including a circumnavigation of Stanmore Country Park, a visit to a huge unexplained hole in the ground, and culminating in a navigation around Stanmore golf course via a footpath crossing the old rattler railway.

As with all walks on this blog, you start your journey by turning on to College Avenue and heading downhill towards the Duck in the Pond pub.

After appox 100 yards take the first left on to College Hill Road and immediately turn right on to The Avenue. Continue along the pleasant suburban road until you reach the junction with  Kenton Lane when you turn left and then immediately right on to the Highway.

Proceed along the Highway and start to ascend the step hill with 1930's "Metroland" house's to each side of the quiet roadway.  At the end of the road, and upon reaching the summit, you can pause for a breath and look back upon a vista of suburban sprawl interspersed by the spire of St Mary's church and the green swath at Harrow on the Hill.

We continue through the traffic barriers at the end of the road, and continue along a pleasant footpath between large, spacious and attractive 1980's built detached housing . We continue along the properties private estate road and arrive at a  junction with one of Harrow Weald's more wealthy roads, Gordon Avenue.

Gordon Avenue was originally laid out at the end of the 19th century by the proprietor of the hotel that occupied the Bentley Priory site. Built as an access road for the railway station at the terminus of the "Rattler" extension to the Euston  - Birmingham railway line. As with the road, the railway extension line was built largely at the expense of the hotels wealthy proprietor Frederick Gordon.

The land the road and accompanying house's are built on formerly formed part of the substantial and beautiful "Stanmore Park Estate" owned by the founder of "Drummond's Bank "Andrew Drummond, and later owned by George Glynn , founder of Williams and Glynn Bank.

The estate was gradually sold off piecemeal for housing in the early 20th century, with the properties developed all being of a substantial size, and situated adjacent to the newly formed Stanmore Golf Course, which was built across many acres of the former estate.

These acres including a man made mound known as "Belmont" due to is bell like shape, originally built as a view point and folly for the Duke of Chandos who lived in the adjacent "Cannons Estate".

The surrounding settlement still being known as "Belmont". 

However, a large area surrounding the mansion house remained as open space when the main property became a school, and then a Balloon Station for the RAF. Unfortunately, within the last few years, even this land was developed and the remnants of the once glorious estate are a lake less than half its original size, and soulless modern housing and flats.

Returning to our mini marathon, we turn right on to Gordon Avenue and continue past large and substantial properties, although only two of the original Victorian mansions survive in their original state.

One of the remaining Victorian Houses

As you proceed along Gordon Avenue, on your right are a strange but not unpleasant grouping of substantial detached Victorian housing, sixties built semi’s and flats, and recently constructed large detached houses with neoclassical columns and Italianate design.

As detailed earlier, these properties sit on the former fields of the Stanmore Park Estate and were originally substantial mansions with outhouses and a considerable amount of land laid out as gardens.

It is for this reason that most of the original houses have been demolished to make way for low rise blocks of flats and small cul-de-sacs comprising of expensive but relatively much smaller semi-detached and detached housing.

Behind these developments remain the green wide open spaces of the original estate, as the land is now occupied by Stanmore Golf course and the grand clubhouse of Stanmore Golf club.

On the left of Gordon Avenue, opposite those just detailed, there are no original Victorian or Edwardian properties remaining but yet again, numerous new developments utilising the original large plots.

As you reach the end of this stretch of road, you reach a sharp left bend with the entrance road to the golf club to your right, and continued urban development to your left.

Approx. 100 yards from the apex of the bend, you reach a number of old houses that sit between the road and Temple Pond.

Old map of Stanmore Park and Temple Pond

Temple Pond was the largest water feature of the Stanmore Park Estate, and sat behind the mansion house with lawns running down to its banks. The lake was formed by damming the small brook that originates on the elevated land of the adjacent Bentley Priory Estate.

The brook leaves the lake between the apex of the bend earlier described, and the stone pillared and still existing former east entrance to the Stanmore Park Estate grounds. It continues across the road through a wooded enclosure that has a pleasant short footpath winding its way alongside the small river until it returns to a culvert that runs under Woolverton Road and onward to Stanmore marsh.

Returning to Gordon Avenue, we continue forward around the gentle right handed bend until we meet the junction with Old Church Lane.
On your immediate right is the former Stanmore Station located at the head of the rattler line built to service the former hotel at Bentley Priory.

However, as you may have guessed, it is no longer a station, as the line was torn up in the early 1960’s after Dr Beechings decision to decimate local railways.

The former railway station building has been converted in to a private dwelling, although its former use can clearly be seen by those in the know.

The entrance to the Manor House

At this road junction we will turn left and proceed further along Old Church Lane, and to our right we pass what is known as the “Tudor Well” believed to be a real well that serviced the former manor house. Indeed, a concrete and wooden structure is blocked off with a circular mill stone and the well is believed to be intact beneath the stone.

We continue and pass the site of the former Manor House situated to our right, now occupied by a faux 15c building built in the early 20c, and to our left a number of new developments built on the site of more substantial Victorian detached villas.

To our left, we soon pass a series of 17c terraced properties, one of which was smithy, which are associated with both the old Manor House and the Rectory which stands on a small road behind them.

Church House and Cowman's cottages

To our right are a series of old buildings known as Church House Cottage and Cowman's Cottage which were formerly part of the old Manor House, but are now utilised for a variety of purposes.

Behind these buildings are Bernays Gardens, which were once part of the old manor house gardens.

The gardens are now open to the public, and take their name from the Bernays family who were former rectors of Stanmore Parish Church, St John the Evangelist, which stands opposite.

We are then at the end of the road where today, Old Church Lane forms a junction with the Uxbridge Road.

Turning right will take us in to the centre of Stanmore, and to the left Harrow Weald, via Brockhurst Corner and the public house formerly known as “The Leefe Robinson”, named in memory of the first British WW1 airman to shoot down a German Zeppelin.  

Leefe Robinson is himself buried just 50 yards away in a section of Harrow Weald Cemetery, and is entombed beneath an elaborate grave that is regularly decorated with poppies and other WW1 memorabilia and regalia.

Returning to the end of Old Church Lane, we are confronted with the strange occurrence of two churches standing side by side, encompassing a large cemetery plot, crumbling ruins of the 1632 church and the current church building, which had the foundation stone laid by the dowager Queen Adelaide in 1850.

The churchyard contains the ruins of the old brick church of St John the Evangelist, built in 1632, and the new church, which was built in 1850 when the old church was too small and also found to be unsafe. The parish had strong connections with the many local dignitaries with estates in the area, to whom there are notable monuments in the church and churchyard.

These included Stanmore Park, Stanmore Hall and Bentley Priory, the latter at one time the home of Lord Abercorn and Lord Aberdeen, whose son Douglas Gordon was Rector and one of the donors of the new church.

At this junction we turn right on to Church Road and continue towards the shopping area where the road becomes The Broadway, which unfortunately has no remaining buildings of antiquity or interest, with 1960’s and 70’s retail redevelopments lining both sides of the road. We pass the junction with Stanmore Hill and continue passed a series of modest shops, coffee houses and cafes.

Just before we arrive at a cross roads, we encounter one of the oldest buildings in Stanmore. To our right is a terrace of timber-framed two-storeyed tenements, nos. 57-65 the Broadway, built in the early 17th-century as one house, possibly as an inn, but with later doors and windows.

Sources quote that the building is plastered outside and contains, in No.59, an elaborate chimney piece and panelling. It is reported that despite the loss of a ninth bay at the western end, the jettied upper storey facing the street for 98 feet is unequalled in Middlesex and one of the longest continuous jetties in the country.  

Returning to our walk, we turn left from The Broadway onto Dennis Lane and climb uphill passing Oak Lodge Close and Valencia Road on our right. After a short while we turn right in to an unnamed short road that leads in to Stanmore Country Park.

On entering the park take a moment to study the large notice board and map and follow the route for the left loop which takes you along wooded paths inter-spaced with small clearings.


Stanmore Country Park is a 30.7 hectare public park, Local Nature Reserve and site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation and is now  owned and managed by Harrow Council.

The park was originally part of the grounds of an eighteenth century mansion called Warren House.

The history of Warren House dates back over 200 years. In the 1700's, the land owner at the time, Henry James Brydges - Earl of Carnarvon and first Duke of Chandos, built a substantial Manor House property and owned the nearby Dower house and Bowling Green house. The main entrance to the house was from Stanmore hill but is now Wood Lane.
 

Warren House was originally a small scale cottage for the warrener, an obsolete term today meaning a person employed to supply rabbits for the Lord of the Manor, to take care of game and wildlife and also a general bailiff.

 In 1714 the rabbit warren of Stanmore Common covered some 44 acres. Much later in the 18th century however The warren developed into a large rambling house by Henry James Brydges - Earl of Carnarvon and first Duke of Chandos,as detailed above.

Warren House - photograph of Warren House borrowed from -

Stanmore Tourist Board.org.uk

In time the Manor house was sold off by trustees of the Brydges family to pay off the debts of a contemporary Duke's son.

In 1780 James Forbes of the East India Company, purchased part of the estate of the second duke of Chandos which included Warren house Dower house and Cloisters wood and had adorned the grounds with the first pieces of Hindu sculpture to be seen in England.

In 1937 it was acquired by Middlesex County Council and Harrow Urban District Council as public open space. It was later owned by the Greater London Council and transferred to the London Borough of Harrow in 1976. The presence of wild service trees and mature hornbeam shows that part of it is ancient woodland.

It is reported that the main plants in grassland areas are common bent and Yorkshire fog, with tufted hair grass in damp areas.

Stanmore Country Park woods

Also that the park has a diverse array of wildlife including Reeve's muntjac deer and red fox. There have also been reported sighting of Badgers, Weasel and even wild boar in the park although these "sightings" are unconfirmed.

Bird life is also abundant within the park which contains several members of the tit family, blackbirds, magpies and crows. The park also is home to tawny owls, buzzards and sparrowhawks.
 

 Returning to our walk ,we continue on the left loop until we have almost circumnavigated the circuit, and we come to a pathway on the left that passes over a stream by way of a small wooden bridge. We leave the woods  and climb up a fairly steep path through thick grasslands until we reach  a wider  path.   At this stage we can look back and take in a view that reveals just how thickly wooded the area comprising the country park is.

Viewpoint

Continue left on to the wider path through open grassland and shrubs and continue to climb until you reach the top of the escarpment.

This wide open space is known as Wood Farm, and from a viewing platform situated at a seating area, magnificent views of Harrow, Stanmore, the whole of the London basin and the distant Surrey hills are available.

Wood Farm comprises 59 acres of rough grass and scrub lying south of Wood Lane and has now been incorporated in to the Stanmore Country Park that is is situated adjacent to.

View from Wood Farm

The acres of Wood Farm were formerly used as a pig farm and then as a landfill site but have been transformed by moving earth, planting trees and adding a layer of topsoil. There is a large pond  with abundant reeds and vegetation, although I am unaware as to any species of fish currently living in its waters.

From the top of Wood Farm, we take the left hand path and descend in a circular fashion until we pass back in to the woods of the country park. 

We now retrace our steps and enter the right loop pathway.   

This path takes us through heavily wooded terrain with numerous small paths running off in various directions. With Wood Lane open space to our left, at the eastern end of the park we encounter an ancient huge hole in the ground, which due to the tall trees and thick vegetation, you are not aware of until you are at its very edge.

Known as Forty Acres Pit, the origins of this huge crater are hard to come by, although it is believed by some local historians that when the area was first settled, flints , chalk or clay may have been dug from the site for building materials. However, others believe that it was created in the1700's as a reservoir or pond, and formed part of a system supplying water to the nearby "Cannons Estate", the home of the Duke of Chandos.

Woods in Stanmore Country Park

Completing the right loop, we re-emerge at the entrance / exit site on Dennis Lane. We turn left and then left again on to Valencia Road, a private road with large expensive houses built in the 1920's and 30's. Some are in the Art Decor style and are very impressive. 

Passing these houses we encounter a junction with Kerry Road, which if we turn left will take us back in to the country park. However we turn right and descend the slight slope until we reach the junction with the London Road, opposite Stanmore London Underground Station. Turning right we proceed back towards the Broadway and the shops of Stanmore. 

We pass through the shopping area and arrive back at Old Church Lane, where we turn left towards Gordon Avenue.  However, we do not turn in to Gordon Avenue, but continue forward passing the site of the original Saxon Stanmore Church, which gives the road its name.

We turn right on to Wolverton Road, which is a dead end road, and continue to its end where we pass through an alley that brings us out on Belmont Lane, a road based on an ancient track that can be viewed on the earliest available maps of the area. 

Follow Belmont Lane to its junction with Wemborough Road and turn right. Continue to follow the road until the main road bears left but we continue straight on following Wemborough Road in to a cul de sac. 

At this stage we take a pathway that connects Wemborough Road to Vernon Drive. 

The pathway crosses the old "Rattler" railway that ran from Harrow and Wealdstone to Stanmore, and the disused track-way and embankment can still be seen, and has been turned in to a separate pathway that takes you to Belmont Circle.

We then continue along Vernon Drive, passing the entrance to the public footpath that climbs steeply and crosses Stanmore Golf course, the road becomes Mountside, and we continue forward until we reach the Duck in the Pond, where  you can rest your feet and enjoy a cold pint of lager or tipple of your choice.

BENTLEY PRIORY MARATHON

BENTLEY PRIORY MARATHON

A stroll along the quiet lanes of Harrow Weald and Stanmore including a circumnavigation of Bentley Priory, a visit to the Boot Pond and culminating in a steep climb over Stanmore golf course.

As with all walks on this Blog, you start the walk by turning on to College Avenue and heading downhill towards the Duck in the Pond pub.

After appox 100 yards take the first left on to College Hill Road and immediately turn right on to The Avenue. After approx 100 yards turn left on to Chestnut Drive until you reach a right turn just before the road ends in a dead end.


 Turning right almost immediately you enter the footpath leaving the road on the left hand side adjacent to the school.

 Continue along the footpath until you emerge on to White Gate Gardens which you follow around a left bend until the junction with Wynchgate Gardens where you turn right up a sharp incline.

Continue a short distance along the pleasant suburban road until you reach the junction with Wilsmere Drive where you turn right and enter the grounds of the former Mansion known as Harrow Weald House and now entitled Barchester - Wilsmere House care home.

This magnificent  house was surrounded by park land and formally laid out grounds, and included a series of man made lakes formed by damming the Wealdstone Brook that runs through its grounds.

The Wealdstone brook still flows roughly along its original course, although it is now sadly in a buried  culvert. However, the valley of the river can clearly be seen when approaching its course from either side of the level crossing at the junction of College Hill Road, College Avenue and Church Lane.

Passing the former Harrow Weald House and entering a short alleyway we emerge on to Richmond Gardens which passes  an enclosed island of grass that was formerly  one of the lakes formed by damming the Wealdstone Brook. If you stand quietly you can even hear the river running below your feet as it flows through its enclosed culvert towards its eventual confluence with the River Brent in Wembley Park. 

On leaving Richmond Gardens you turn left on to Kenton Lane and proceed uphill towards the junction with the Uxbridge Road. You pass a mix of Victorian and Edwardian architecture as you rise up the hill. A number of older terraced cottages are situation to your right just before the road junction that is known as Brockhurst Corner, formerly a cross roads, but now a mini roundabout. 

If we were to proceed across the junction of the previous crossroads, we would ascend Clamp Hill, although we will in fact turn right and almost immediately turn left on to a tree line pathway located just before a red bricked Victorian building adorned with the date 1882. 

We follow the path past the edge of a 70’s built housing estate with pleasant greenery to our left, and emerge on to Byron Crescent. Passing rundown council estate housing and proceeding around a curved roadway, we pass the entrance to Bentley Wood High School, and soon arrive at the junction with Masefield Avenue.

 Masefield Avenue was created from a former estate pathway running off the Uxbridge Road in to the Bentley Priory Estate after the 2^nd world war, so that land could be developed by the council to offset the housing destroyed by bombing during the war.

Returning to the junction with Masefield Avenue, we turn left and after approx. 200yards we are at an entrance to the Bentley priory Open Space and Nature Reserve. Passing through the entrance in to the fields and woods of the open space, we bear left and follow an unmarked grass pathway through small copses of bushes and trees and enter the main wooded section and turn left on to a pathway with a large crossbar gate blocking your progress.

Be aware that as cows and other livestock roam these fields on a daily basis, your route along the pathway will occasionally need to negotiate steaming cow pats and if you are not careful, you may ruin your footwear for ever!  

 Pass over the style or through the gaps provided for ease of access and continue along a country lane with thick woods to your right and open fields to your left. 

Before long, on your right is the entrance to the large lake known as “Summerhouse Lake”. Large notice boards are provided to explain the nature and fauna of the lake and its surroundings, and a small wall provides a resting place for your weary legs.

The Lake was artificially created as an integral part of the landscaped gardens and park developed for Bentley Priory, and formerly had a substantial “Lake House” situated on its banks.  However, this fell in to disrepair and was destroyed by fire towards the end of the 20^th century.

We pass along the path running adjacent to the left bank of the lake as we face north, and passing the remnants of the bunt down Lake House, we turn left to view the largest, widest and probably the oldest tree in Middlesex. 

The huge oak tree named “The Master”, was probably a seedling during the reign of King Henry VIII, and is approximately 500 years old.  Although mindless thugs have attempted to burn the tree down by lighting fires at its base, it is now protected by a fence, and at the time of writing is still alive and going strong. 

After admiring the magnificent oak tree, we pass through a gap in the fence and find ourselves in open fields that lead on to a pathway that runs up a steady incline towards the priory. 

The path meanders through grasslands with abundant wildflowers growing across the wide acres.
After crossing the dried up bed of a small tributary of the stream that feeds the lake, we climb sharply until we can see the clock tower and main building of Bentley Priory on the horizon.

Bentley Priory was first built in the 13^th Century as an Augustinian House attached to the Priory of St Gregory, Canterbury.

After the break with Rome and the Dissolution of the monasteries by King Henry VIII, the ownership of the Priory changed many times, and in 1775 a large Mansion was built on the site of the original Priory by Sir John Soane for a wealthy businessman.

It was again extended in 1788 for John Hamilton, the 1st Marquess of Abercorn, who had been educated at Harrow, and was a close friend of he politician, William Pitt the Younger. Lord Abecorn made the property his principle home outside of central London, and died at Bentley Priory in 1818.

The Priory was later the final home of the Dowager Queen Adelaide, Queen Consort of King William IV, who rented the property and died there in 1849.

In 1882 Frederick Gordon opened an unsuccessful Hotel at the property and at the then enormous cost of £48,000 built an extension to the Euston – Birmingham railway, with a new station at Stanmore on Gordon Avenue. 

The property then became an equally unsuccessful school until its final closure in 1924.

In 1926 the estate was broken up enabling Middlesex County Council to purchase 90 acres of land as part of the Green Belt for a public park. The park is now owned by the London Borough of Harrow and maintained as a Nature Reserve. 

The Air Ministry purchased the Mansion and 40 acres of land and gardens and was the Headquarters of Fighter Command and centre of operations for the Battle of Britain during the 2^nd world war.  The Air Force continued to occupy the mansion for many years, but was recently sold to developers who have constructed large expensive housing and redeveloped the mansion in to spacious luxury apartments and flats. However, a considerable part of the main building has been retained in its original form and houses the very interesting Bentley Priory RAF museum. 

  

 

The remaining 240 acres of the estate were sold to a building syndicate that developed the surrounding roads and housing in the years leading up to the outbreak of the 2^nd world war.

Upon reaching the top of the slope, we encounter a tarmacked path that runs across the frontage of the priory. On this occasion we will turn right and proceed with the priory buildings to our left. After diving in to a dark wooded dell, we rise on to a swath of greenery known as “Furze Heath”. 

At this stage we turn right and cut our way through grassland and shrubbery heading towards a number of Scots Pine trees that stand out amongst the deciduous woodland. As you reach the first pine trees, continue a bit further and you reach a clump of pines with a path running off to the right.  Follow this path through the tall red barked trees and passing though a gap in the fencing you reach the main track that runs past Summerhouse Lake.

You can see the lake in the distance through the assorted trees and shrubbery, and some fantastic views of the lake can be observed. Turn left and continue forward with the lake to your right and on reaching a gate, follow the path to the right which hugs the lake side and a brick built low wall, This is the start of the Dam that established the lake, and we eventually reach the end of the lake and the wall that we rested on when we first encountered the lake.

 An overflow drain releases water to ensure the lake does not burst its banks, but other than this concrete construction the scene is extremely rural and pleasant.

We turn  back on to the main pathway and retrace our earlier steps when we first entered the park from Masefield Avenue. However, we do not rejoin the road, but continue forward through the deep woodland until we emerge in a clearing that often has cows grazing. We turn to our right and crossing the open space arrive at a small artificial lake known as "The Boot Pond".

This lake was another watercourse created as part of the ornamental gardens of the Bentley Priory Estate and has remained as a nice feature of this part of the nature reserve. It contains many fish, and is often lined with anglers chancing their luck at catching one of the larger specimens.

We leave the park at the exit adjacent to the lake and join "Bentley Way", a pleasant suburban road built in the late twenties on former estate land. We continue to the end of this cul de sac where it joins the Uxbridge Road.

At this junction we cross the road and enter "The Chase".  We continue along the chase and soon reach Gordon Avenue, where we cross the road and enter the path that crosses the Stanmore Golf course as described in an earlier Blog (Golf course Boogie).

If the weather is good and the sun out, you will enjoy fantastic views of Harrow, Stanmore and Bushey from the summit of "Belmont", an artificial mound built by the Duke of Chandos as a folly and viewpoint from his nearby Cannons Estate .

Follow the path to the roadway which is "Mountside" and turn right towards the Duck In the Pond pub for refreshments and your walk is at an end.






 

GOLF COURSE BOOGIE

GOLF COURSE BOOGIE

A brisk stroll along the quiet lanes of Harrow Weald and Stanmore culminating in the bisection of Stanmore golf course.

As with all walks on this Blog, you start the walk by turning on to College Avenue and heading downhill towards the Duck in the Pond pub.

After appox 100 yards take the first left on to College Hill Road and immediately turn right on to The Avenue. Continue along the pleasant suburban road until you reach the junction with  Kenton Lane when you turn left and then immediately right on to the Highway.

Proceed along the Highway and start to ascend the step hill with 1930's "Metroland" house's to each side of the quiet roadway.  At the end of the road, and upon reaching the summit, you can pause for a breath and look back upon a vista of suburban sprawl interspersed by the spire of St Mary's church and the green swath at Harrow on the Hill.

Returning to our walk, we continue through the barriers at the end of the road, that stop vehicular traffic, and continue along a pleasant footpath between large, spacious and attractive 1980's built detached housing .

We continue down the properties private estate road and arrive at a  junction with one of Harrow Weald's more wealthy roads, Gordon Avenue.

Gordon Avenue was originally laid out at the end of the 19th century at the expense of the proprietor of the Hotel that occupied the Bentley Priory site, as an access road for the railway station built at the terminus of the "Rattler" extension to the Euston  - Birmingham main railway line.
The line was also built largely at the expense of the hotels wealthy proprietor "Frederick Gordon".

The land that the road and accompanying house's are built on was formerly part of the substantial and beautiful "Stanmore Park Estate" owned by the founder of "Drummond's Bank "Andrew Drummond, and later owned by George Glynn , founder of Williams and Glynn Bank.

The estate was gradually sold of for housing in the early 20th century, with the properties developed all being of a substatial size, and located adjacent to the newly formed Stanmore Golf Course which was built across acres of the former estate.

These acres include a man made mound known as "Belmont" due to is bell like shape, built as a view point and folly for the Duke of Chandos, who lived in the adjacent "Cannons Estate".

 The surrounding settlement still being known as "Belmont". 

However, a large area surrounding the mansion house remained as open space when the main property became a school, and then a Balloon Station for the RAF.
Unfortunately, within the last few years, the land has been developed and the remnants of the once glorious estate are a reduced in size lake and soulless modern housing and flats.

Returning to our mini marathon, we turn right on to Gordon Avenue and continue past large and substantial properties, although only two of the original Victorian mansions survive in their original state. One of which was once owned and occupied by Roger Moore, the former James Bond actor.

As you proceed along Gordon Avenue, on your right are a strange but not unpleasant grouping of substantial detached Victorian mansions, sixties built semi’s and flats, and recently constructed detached large housing with neo Greco columns and Italianate design. 

 These properties also sit on the former fields of the Stanmore Park Estate and were originally all substantial mansions with outhouses and a considerable amount of land laid out as gardens.

 It is for this reason, that most of the original houses have been demolished to make way for low rise blocks of flats, and small cul-de-sacs comprising expensive but much smaller than the original, semi-detached and detached housing.

Behind these developments remain the green wide open spaces of the original estate, as the land is now occupied by Stanmore Golf course and the grand clubhouse of Stanmore Golf club.

On the left of Gordon Avenue, opposite those just detailed, there a no original Victorian or Edwardian properties remaining, but numerous new developments utilising the original large plots.

As you reach the end of this stretch of road, you reach a sharp left bend with the entrance road to the golf club to your right, and continued urban development to your left.

Approx. 100 yards from the apex of the bend, you reach a number of old houses that sit between the road and Temple Lake. Temple Lake was the largest water feature of the Stanmore Park Estate, and sat behind the mansion house with lawns running down to its banks. The lake was formed by damming the small brook that originates on the elevated land of the adjacent Bentley Priory Estate.

The brook leaves the lake between the apex of the bend earlier described, and the stone pillared and still existing former east entrance to the Stanmore Park Estate grounds. It continues across the road through a wooded enclosure that has a pleasant short footpath winding its way alongside the small river until it returns to a culvert that runs under Woolverton Road.

Returning to Gordon Avenue, we can continue forward around the gentle right handed bend until we meet the junction with Old Church Lane. On your immediate right is the former Stanmore Station located at the head of the rattler line built to service the former hotel at Bentley Priory.

 However, as you may have guessed, this is no longer a station, as the line was torn up in the early 1960’s after Dr Beechings decision to decimate local railways. The former station building has been converted in to a dwelling, although its former use can clearly be seen by those in the know.

At this road junction we will turn left and proceed further along Old Church Lane, and to our right we pass what is known as the “Tudor Well” believed to be a real well from the former manor house. Indeed, a concrete and wooden structure is blocked off with a circular mill stone and the well is believed to be intact beneath the stone.

We continue and pass the site of the former Manor House situated to our right, now occupied by a faux 15thc building built in the early 20c, and to our left a number of new developments built on the site of more substantial Victorian detached villas.

To our left, we soon pass a series of 17c terraced properties, one of which was smithy, which are associated with both the old Manor House and the Rectory which stands behind them on a small roadway.

We are then at the end of the road where today, Old Church Lane forms a junction with the Uxbridge Road.

 Turning right will take us in to the centre of Stanmore, and to the left Harrow Weald, via Brockhurst Corner and the public house formerly known as “The Leefe Robinson”, named in memory of the first British WW1 airman to shoot down a German Zeppelin. 
Leefe Robinson is himself buried just 50 yards away in a section of Harrow Weald Cemetery, and is entombed beneath an elaborate grave that is regularly decorated with poppies and other WW1 memorabilia and regalia.

Returning to the end of Old Church Lane, we are confronted with the strange occurrence of two churches standing side by side, encompassing a large cemetery plot, crumbling ruins of the 1632 church and the current church building, which had the foundation stone laid by the dowager Queen Adelaide in 1850.

The churchyard contains the ruins of the old brick church of St John the Evangelist, built in 1632, and the new church, which was built in 1850 when the old church was too small and also found to be unsafe. The parish had strong connections with the many local dignitaries with estates in the area, to whom there are notable monuments in the church and churchyard. These included Stanmore Park, Stanmore Hall and Bentley Priory, the latter at one time the home of Lord Abercorn and Lord Aberdeen, whose son Douglas Gordon was Rector and one of the donors of the new church.

Upon leaving the twin churches, we turn left on to the Uxbridge Road and then almost immediately right on to Green Lane. Green Lane was the original medieval roadway whose original alignment was directly across from Old Church Lane across the track-way that was to become the Uxbridge Road. However the roads were realigned to their current staggered status when the Uxbridge Road was widened to give easier access to Stanmore high street.

Green Lane rises up the hill running almost parallel to Stanmore Hill which is now the main northern route out of Stanmore. The lane consists of pleasant private housing, many of which date from the 18C or earlier. Upon reaching the end of the road you are at the junction with Stanmore Hill where you have the option of turning left, uphill towards Bentley Priory and Stanmore Common and ponds, or right back down hill towards Stanmore Town centre. On this particular occasion we will turn right, descending the steep slope noting the splendid views of central London in the distance.

The hill has what were originally 17C coaching Inns on its left as we descend, and antiquated private and business property mainly to the right hand side. At the bottom of the hill, we are again at the junction of the Uxbridge Road and turning right we enter the western part of Stanmore High Street which unfortunately has no remaining buildings of antiquity or interest, with 1960’s and 70’s redevelopments ling both sides of the road.

After a couple of hundred yards we turn left back on to Old Church Lane, and with the twin St Johns churches to our right retrace our steps to the junction of Gordon Avenue where we turn right and proceed towards the Stanmore golf course entrance driveway.
Passing the golf course we note that we continue to retrace our steps along Gordon Avenue until we reach an public right of way and footpath that turns left between the substantial housing.  

Proceeding along the narrow pathway we soon find ourselves marching passed the manicured greens and fairways of Stanmore Golf Course. The path steadily winds up the artificially built “Belmont” with fully grown trees lining both sides of the pathway.  


 There are occasional gates that give access to the greens and fairways and if you are careful and look out for stray golf balls, you may deviated from the path and wander across pristine countryside almost unaltered from the prime days of the Stanmore Park estate.


 

The path climbs to the summit of the artificial Belmont mound, where magnificent views of the Bentley Priory Estate and surrounding countryside are available.

 As you turn 360 degrees fantastic views are available over London and Hertfordshire, providing the weather and light permits.

Leaving the heights, you descend the steep pathway until you meet Vernon Drive / Mountside and a right turn takes you past the Duck in the Pond pub, where a generous libation will relieve your aching legs and if it’s been raining your spirit.