Willesden, Middlesex

Historical Description

Willesden, a large parish in Middlesex, about 5 miles NW from London. It has an important junction station of the L. & N.W., North London, and other railways, and there is a station at Neasden and Willesden Green of the Metropolitan Extension railway. The parish is in the NW Metropolitan Postal District, and is supplied witli water by the West Middlesex Waterworks Company. It is a growing place, and new streets are added every year. There are many good residences. The parish church of St Mary is an ancient edifice of flint, brick, and stone in mixed styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, N and S porches, and an embattled tower. It has some good stained windows, a Norman font, several ancient brasses, and some ancient tombs and memorials. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of London; net value, £252 with residence, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's. The ecclesiastical district of St Andrews was formed in 1880. The living is a vicarage, of the net value of £255, in the gift of the Crown and the Bishop of London alternately. The church at Willesden Green is a building of red brick and stone in the Lancet style. There are Baptist, Congregational, Roman Catholic, and Wesleyan chapels. The parish contains the hamlets of Dollis Hill, Sherrick Green, and Stonebridge, and also the hamlets of Brondesbury, Harlesden, and Neasden, the latter of which are noticed under separate headings. The manor was given by King Athelstan to St Paul's, London, and was known at Domesday as Willesdone.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Willesden from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Willesden (St. Mary))

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Middlesex is online.

Maps

Online maps of Willesden are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Villages, Hamlets, &c