Hampstead's socialist tradition

The grave of Hugh and Nora Gaitskell is one of the more promiment adorning Hampstead cemetery.

As was the fashion and in turn with Hampstead's intellectual left tradition, Gaitskell lived here amongst the set that dominated Labour politics for much of the middle 50 years of the 20th century.

He was leader of the Labour Party from 1955 to 1963 and has what can only be called a mixed reputation - further coloured by his early and untimely death.

Much compared to Blair (often unfairly) and too often remembered for having taken on his left wing within the Party.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Gaitskell

I was reminded of this picture - which I took ages ago, by the passing of Peggy Jay and Rose Hacker - two long serving Labour (most of the time) stalwarts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Jay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Hacker

Kilburn's musical past?

It might be that there is a history that we have missed, but I'm not aware of a Kilburn School of Music, and I've read most of the history texts on the local area.

But this building on the corner of West End Lane and Kilburn High Road has had some busts that I thought interesting. A few snaps (albeit poor quality ones) and the mystery has come to an end.

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/02/are-old-music-schools-listed-anywhere.html

In fact this building boasts four busts of music greats:

Mozart, Handel, Beethoven and Vivaldi.

Once one was identified it seemed pretty straightforward, but it leaves the question why and what was the building... answers on a e-postcard please

Railway history gold-dust

I spotted this by pure accident and I'm still excited.

I was just popping into the Kilburn Bookshop - independent, great local collection, some signed books and some good cards for specal friends - and as I came out of the shop I glanced over the road and there it was - bold as brass.

Kilburn High Road Station has been sorted of tidied up and is next to a Locksmith and Kebab shop - neither worthy of much note and then I looked up:

The old railway sign is still visible,

"KILBURN AND..."

just above the shop fronts of the two shops - I couldn't quite believe my ayes and risked life and limb walking into the road to capture these two snaps - naught much, but an insight into Kilburn's prouder railway past...

I have somewhere a pic of the station in yesteryear... but can any Kilburn readers beat me to what the rest of the sign should/did say?

Just how early are the underground extensions?

I've been using Kilburn Park tube station on the Bakerloo Line quite a lot since I moved and the most striking things about it is the tiling and the colour.

Having lived and worked in Stoke-on-Trent I have a very strong sense of admiration for the colours and types of glazing having seen something of the production methods and skill that went into this sort of process.

There is also the control box at the platform join at the bottom of the escalators, but the colours of the tiling are really strong and vibrant.

The control box is clearly of-a-type - it reminds me of the benches (was plural now singular) on Belsize Tube platform northbound), similar to the office at the top of Kilburn Park escalator on the righ as you come up and was probably the standard mahogany finish for the London underground in this era and that was maintained throughout and since.

Kilburn Park Tube is much earlier than many realise - it feels 30's, looks earlier (perhaps 20's) and in fact is very late edwardian (architecturally at least!).

The section from Paddington to Kilburn Park was opened on 30th January 1915 and the further extension from Kilburn Park to Queen's Park opened on 10th May 1915.

...and so the Post Office closures start...

The news is starting to get out about the anticipated Post Office closures that the Labour Government is trying to force through...

• South End Green, Hampstead
  
• England's Lane, Belsize

• Child's Hill, Barnet


• Highgate Village


• East Finchley


• Alexandra Park Road, Haringey


• Penine Parade, Barnet


• Glebe Road, Finchley


• Watford Way


• Cricklewood

Some of this just feels like spite - it isn't something that many of the post offices themselves want, there has been no real process for discussing this at all and the consultation is notoriously slow and unresponsive.

South End Green is especially cruel after the battle to save it two years ago - Belsize is just plain vicious - after Belsize Village closed it was promised that there would be another location found, and now they close England's lane - and Highgate feels like a deliberate attempt to rip out the heart from the community that already has lost too many community features it had but five years ago.

This is not something the respective communities will take lying down and it goes to the heart of what sort of community you want to live in.

I guess we now know the answer to that question from the Labour Government...

Public fountains rock!

Every time I go past the South End Green fountain I think about how the fountain's presence massively enhances the local area.

As an amenity, as apiece of architecture, instilling a sense of place to an otherwise small piece of land. It dominates the green, has been carefully restored and is now working again with proper wet flowing water.

Of course, this was all understood by our forebears which is why they didn't make public water features just a tap or water stand - they made them fully fledged fountains or troughs... And today we are reaping the multiple benefits.

The sense of good quality is there too with the bowl, the lion heads on the side and also the neptune faces on the bowl - all good stuff...

It's features such as this that give a sense of pride, upkeep and preserve within the ravages of London life a bit of the village that all of us find a little appealing. I know, it's curious, but it's definitely there as an atmosphere and the fountain is part of that.

How street names get their nomenclature :-)

One of the most frequent asks is ‘where does the street name come from’ and for north west London the link with Kent and Africa is perhaps a little obscure.

In simple terms here are four of the ‘connections’:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asmara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menelek_II_of_Ethiopia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_Region
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skardu

The Powell- Cotton family owned vast tracts of the land along the Edgware Road (now Kilburn High Road) and gradually started the process of cashing in on their land as demand for housing development grew.

Most of the places were named after the Powell-Cotton links in Kent and their own estate of Quex Park or places in Africa and India that Major Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton (1866-1940) visited (pic. left).

The Major made over 28 expeditions to Africa and his records, collections and trophies, now much frowned upon as a sport, are being used as an amazing anthropological resource for conservation and wildlife charities.

Menelik was a personal choice after he had an audience with the then famous Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II (pic. below left).

The speed of the local developments in West Hampstead/Cricklewood/Kilburn development was pretty intense and this is the source of many of the street names.

You really get a sense of the scale of building that was happening and also the money that would have changed hands (presumably giving the Powell-Cotton family significant income at a time when there was a lot of spending on the world travel!

The chronology works something like this (I have plundered a host of sources here!):

1855 plans for Shoot-Up-Hill were drawn up but then deferred for greater clarity on what was planned for the new railway lines.

1866 plans approved for the Liddell estate of Quex Road, Birchington Road and Mutrix Road.

1890s plans were approved for north of Mill Lane
- Fordwych Road by 1892 and houses built between 1892 and 1907.
- Minster Road between 1891 and 1900
- Gondar Gardens between 1892 and 1896, with the flats going up in 1899
- Westbere Road between 1893 and 1904
- Sarre Road from 1896 and 1904
- Skardu Road in 1897
- Manstone Road (15 houses in 1899-1900)
- Rondu Road (6 houses in 1900)

1890’s and 1900’s then saw the Cricklewood Broadway and Parade areas developing
- Richborough Road in 1885 and then again from 1892 to 1899
- Ebbsfleet Road, named in 1893
- Somali Road between 1904 and 1908
- Asmara Road had a couple of houses in 1912
- Menelik Road in 1913.

And the after World War I it resumed in 1918:
- Westbere Road gained 70 houses
- Somali, Menelik, and Asmara roads were further developed between 1922 and 1928.