Burnt Oak Brook - Mill Hill

Burnt Oak Brook
The Burnt Oak Brook rises in this area and flows south westwards

Post to the west Upper Hale
Post to the east Mill Hill
Post to the south Mill Hill

Birkbeck Road
Birkbeck Estate. This and surrounding roads were laid out in 1878 by the Birkbeck Building Society and the Birkbeck Freehold Land Society. The Society went out of business in 1910.

Broadway
Previously part of Lawrence Lane and renamed when Watford Way was cut through and cut it off.
Calvary outside the Catholic Church installed in 1932. It was carved by Carol Wood and her pupils at the Besford Catholic Mental Welfare Hospital in Worcestershire.
Union Church. This originated in 1908 when Mill Hill Congregational Church which had used the chapel of Mill Hill School since 1808m had to find new premises. After using an iron hall for a while, they found a site in what was then Lawrence Street in 1918 and called it Union Church. In 1936 this was replaced by a building designed by congregation members Arnold Harwood and Martin Briggs in red brick with a tower facing The Broadway. It is planned to demolish this and replace it with another church and retirement housing.
Harwood Hall. Domestic looking hall built in 1927. Demolished for housing.
Athene House. This was originally Broadway Hall built in 1923 by an estate agent, T.G. Golby, as a concert and dance hall. In 1933 it became the Capital Cinema converted by Robert Banks. By 1937 it was operated by the Lion Cinematograph Co. Ltd. It closed in 1955 and was converted into an office building. The front of the building has been rebuilt in glass and green panels.
M1 Viaduct. The M1 was built through this area in 1967.
Mill Hill Broadway Bus Station. This is under the M1 next to the railway station.
9 The Bridge Tavern. Shop front pub and the only one in the immediate area.

Brockenhurst Gardens
Mill Hill Synagogue. This dates from the 1960s and is currently being rebuilt
Annie and Samuel Levy Hall. This has a function hall, kosher kitchens and the Synagogue offices. It is named after the parents of Lord Levy.

Daws Lane
Mill Hill Park. Before this became a park this was part of Daws Farm, purchased by Hendon District Council in 1923. The park lies on either side of the motorway standard A1 and a tunnel joins the two. The western side is mainly grass
Swimming pool.  In 1927 nine acres of land were acquired by Hendon Borough Council. Mill Hill open air swimming pool was opened in 1935. It had a main pool main pool of 165 by 75 ft depth. Designed by A. O. Knight. It closed in 1980. It later became Wyevale Garden Centre and is now to become a Jewish School.
Royal Mail Mill Hill Building
31-33 Annexe to London University Observatory which had an IBM 1130 and other facilities for lunar and planetary research

Flower Lane
2 Catholic Church Sacred Heart and Mary the Immaculate. In 1889, the chapel of the Sisters of Charity on the Ridgeway was used by local Catholics and in 1905 it became the parish church. In the early 1920s land in Flower Lane was acquired and a church built in 1923 by Williamson & Foss.Over the succeeding years there were additions and alterations. Behind the High Altar was a seven foot high Italian figure of the Risen Christ.  The altar was installed in 1926 and came from the chapel of St. Mary's Training College when the college moved to Strawberry Hill. The second set of Stations of the Cross were sepia photographs which had come from the Catholic chapel at the Wembley Exhibition of 1924. The 1923 church was built near to wells and thus led to drainage problems and flooding which led to structural problems. In 1990 an engineer's report concluded that the church was not safe and a steel girdle was set up round the church while a new project was discussed.  The church was demolished in 1994 and the current church was built. This is a polygonal building by PRC Partnership .S. G. Crawford.
15 original presbytery for the Catholic Church
Parish Hall. The first hall was wooden building which had previously been the woodwork classroom at St. Vincent's. It was demolished in 1995 and the present hall built.
St. Michaels and all Angels. Anglican Church. Constructed 1922 for the new suburb near the station. Begun 1920 by Herbert Passmore and not finished until 1956. It is based on W.D. Caroe's designs of 1911 for another church which had never been built. It was finished by Alban Caroe in 1956.

Goodwyn Avenue
Built on land once owned by the Goodwyn family
Lawrence Farm House. This is now offices. It is a red brick building of 1729 set in small park like grounds.
22 St.Martin’s School. Private school in house built as a school in the 1920s.
Goodwyn School. Langley Park School was established here in the early 1920’s and later became Mill Hill High School for Boys and Girls. In 1938 Mrs Gaynor Parry, the owner, changed its name to Goodwyn. Later the school moved to Hammers lane.

Hartley Avenue
10 Mill Hill Fire Station. This was built in 1929 and was a Middlesex County station. It has three appliance bays and includes a Tower with a stepped top.
11 Mill Hill Services Club, The club was set up in 1923 to help ex-servicemen after the First World War. The first Chair was Major B. B. Wills of the tobacco company. The club house dates from 1926.
Mill Hill Branch Library. Single-storey building of 1937 by A. O. Knight & Arthur S. Smith.
Ambulance Station
Hartley Avenue Health Centre. Opened 1937

Lawrence Street
There is a gully to the west side of the road behind the houses, in which the Brook flows.
St Joseph's College. Designed by Goldie & Child in 1869. The tower, with its gilt statue of St Joseph, by J. Baumeister of Munich, is a major landmark in the area Mill Hill. It was built for Herbert Vaughan as a foreign missionary college. In 1866, Vaughan lived with one student at Holcombe House – concerned that as Britain had an empire English speaking Catholics must ensure that the true voice of the Gospel was spread throughout that empire. In 1866, he approached Cardinal Wiseman who was supportive. The number of students grew and it was decided, therefore, to build permanent college buildings. The community moved in in 1871.  The College had two blocks of convent buildings, and a chapel with a tower 1871-4. There were later additions. . Wings added 1898, 1922, 1929-30. Carvings over the entrance were by James Forsyth. The chapel was built to Vaughan instructions with carved angels and six side chapels – all of this was reduced in the early 1970s. Some wall paintings by Father Joseph Rettori survive from 1886. The high altar was given by Lady Herbert and is by Leonardi in Roman marble. There is a marble statue of St Peter and another of St. Joseph and many other art works. As time went on the college expanded to include lay brothers and sisters. A group of Anglican nuns moved into Holcombe House.  Vaughan became bishop of Salford and the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of St. Joseph moved from there to take care of the domestic needs of the college. After the Second World War there was further expansion. In 1970 a firm of London business consultants, recommended a reorganisation of the organisation on efficiency grounds but by the 1980s candidates for missionary work began to decline. In 2004, it was decided to develop or sell the site and the organisation began to move out and store art works and other items. The site was sold and is now marketed for housing etc. etc. The missionaries went to Maidenhead.
Cemetery. In the grounds of the College was a circular burial ground on a high terrace, with a long walk, tall pines, and a devotional statue. Cardinal Vaughan was buried here in 1903 and large recumbent granite cross marks the site.
Sunnyfields House
Lawrence Street Fields. Hendon Council considered these for housing post Second World War. Previously used for dairy cattle.

Mill Hill Circus
The A1/A41 here meets a number of subsidiary main, and other, roads.
Simmonds Mead. The brook runs across the open space in a landscaped area.

Sunnyfield
This was am experimental development in 1932 undertaken by Laings, developers.  . These were Simple brick houses with metal windows were designed and laid out by T. Alwyn. They did not sell well and most have now been altered.

Watford Way
This section of the road is the joint A1 and A41

Sources
Aldous. London Villages
Cinema Treasures. Web site
British History, Mill Hill. Web site
Goodwyn School.  Web site.
Lidos in London. Web site
London Borough of Barnet. Web site
London Fire. Web site.
Middlesexcountycouncil. Web site
Mill Hill Churches. Web site
Mill Hill Missionaries. Web site
Mill Hill Preservation Society. Web site
Mill Hill Services Club. Web site
Pevsner and Cherry.  London North
Sacred Heart church. Web site
Stevenson. Middlesex
Union Church. Website
Walford. Village London

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