Harrow, London

Harrow
Station Road, Harrow town centre
Harrow  Harrow shown within Greater London
Population	80,213 (Greenhill, Headstone South, West Harrow, Headstone North, Roxeth, Marlborough and Harrow on the Hill wards 2011)[1]
OS grid reference	TQ145885
– Charing Cross	11 mi (18 km)  ESE
London borough	Harrow
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Harrow
Postcode district	HA1, HA2, HA3
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Harrow East Harrow West
London Assembly	Brent and Harrow
List of places UK England London

Coordinates: 51°35′01″N 0°20′47″W / 51.5836°N 0.3464°W

Harrow /ˈhæroʊ/^[2] is a large suburban town in the London Borough of Harrow, northwest London, England. It is centred 10.5 miles (16.9 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Harrow-on-the-Hill includes the conservation area with a high proportion of listed buildings with a residential and institutional array of Georgian architecture and a few 17th century examples. Harrow gives its initial letters to a wider postcode area. The administrative offices of the borough are in the town which currently is made up of the Greenhill, Headstone South and West Harrow electoral wards; these had a population of 33,928 in the 2011 census. Harrow was a municipal borough of Middlesex before its inclusion in Greater London in 1965. Harrow is home to a large University of Westminster campus and its oldest secondary schools are Harrow School and Harrow High School.

Etymology

Harrow's name comes from Old English hearg = "(heathen) temple", which was probably on the hill of Harrow, where St. Mary's Church stands today.^[3] The name has been studied in detail by Briggs.^[4]

Arts and culture

The first and only contemporary artist-led gallery in Harrow was set up in 2010 by the Usurp Art Collective. The space is called the Usurp Art Gallery & Studios and is based in West Harrow, a bohemian part of Harrow. Usurp Art provides professional support to artists and runs the only public artists studios in the borough. It is a flagship project for Arts Council England.^[5][6][7][8]

Development and history

Harrow proper is identified as one of the 11 Metropolitan centres in the London Plan.

Geography

St George's shopping and leisure centre

Harrow forms a commercial hub in northwest London, including a well-connected^{[n 1]} town centre containing:

• two shopping centres
• Parades of shops throughout Station Road and the ascending, traditional College Road
• Over 300 m of a fully pedestranised shopping/cafe streets roads (north of St Ann's)

Harrow historically included Harrow on the Hill, which sits on top of an outlying knoll and is contiguous with the centre of Harrow. Much of Kenton and before 1716 all of Pinner were parts of Harrow, geographical facts which root the importance of Harrow as a meeting place and a place of business. Harrow Weald, is the district north of Wealdstone, both of which were historically also part of Harrow. Harrow may also include the wards of Roxeth, Marlborough, Headstone North and Harrow on the Hill as well as the Greenhill, West Harrow and Headstone South wards listed above. The combined population of these wards is 80213 (2011).

Economy

Major employers include Kodak Alaris, the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and Ladbrokes, which has its headquarters in Harrow.^[9]

Transport

Tube/Trains

North entrance of Harrow-on-the-Hill tube and rail station, opposite St Ann's shopping centre

• Harrow-on-the-Hill station (Metropolitan line & Aylesbury Line)^{[n 2]}

Policing in Harrow

Harrow borough is patrolled by the Metropolitan Police Service (the territorial police force in London) 24 hrs a day. The service is provided through South Harrow Police Station and Fountain House, Headstone Drive, Kirkland House, Pinner Police Station, Waitrose, Northolt Road contact points supported by 22 Safer Neighbourhoods teams.^[10]

Railway accidents

On 7 August 1838 Thomas Port died from injuries received in a train accident near Harrow. His gravestone in the parish churchyard of St Mary's, Harrow-on-the-Hill, states: "To the memory of Thomas Port, son of John Port of Burton-upon-Trent in the County of Stafford, Hat Manufacturer, who near this town had both legs severed from his body by the railway train. With great fortitude, he bore a second amputation by the surgeons and died from loss of blood, August 7th 1838, aged 33 years."

On 26 November 1870 two trains collided at Harrow & Wealdstone station, killing 9 and injuring 44.^[11]

On 8 October 1952 three trains collided at Harrow and Wealdstone station, killing 112 people. Of the dead, 64 were railway employees on their way to work.

Notable residents

Twin towns

Harrow is twinned with:

• Douai, France^[12]

Notes and references

Safer Neighbourhoods teams[13] in Harrow

1. Belmont
2. Canons
3. Edgware
4. Greenhill
5. Harrow on the Hill
6. Harrow Town Centre
7. Harrow Weald
8. Hatch End
9. Headstone North
10. Headstone South
11. Kenton East

Notes

1. Harrow has a combined tube and a rail station named after the most historic part, Harrow on the Hill and 17 bus routes including a bus station.
2. Not in Harrow on the Hill, as close to the foot of the hill and long outside of its ward boundary.

References

1. http://data.london.gov.uk/2011-census-ward-pop
2. Wells, John C. (2008), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.), Longman, p. 368, ISBN 9781405881180
3. Room, Adrian: “Dictionary of Place-Names in the British Isles”, Bloomsbury, 1988. ISBN 0-7475-0170-X
4. Briggs, Keith "Harrow", Journal of the English Place-name Society, volume 42 (2010), 43-64
5. New art gallery opens in Harrow
6. New art gallery for West Harrow
7. Usurp Art Gallery looks to the future - Harrow Observer
8. The second biennial International Association for Visual Culture conference, NYC, May 31-June 2, 2012. See flyer attached – The Institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture –...
9. Draft Core Strategy Retrieved on 20 October 2013.
10. "Harrow Contact Us".
12. "British towns twinned with French towns [via WaybackMachine.com]". Archant Community Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
13. Neighbourhood Policing Team

External links

• Harrow Times newspaper
• Harrow Council Homepage
• Harrow Local Community News and Information