Ruislip-Northwood Urban District

Coordinates: 51°35′28″N 0°25′48″W / 51.591°N 0.430°W / 51.591; -0.430
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Ruislip-Northwood
Urban district

Ruislip-Northwood within Middlesex in 1961
Area
 • 1911/19316,585 acres (26.6 km2)
 • 19616,584 acres (26.6 km2)
 • Coordinates51°35′28″N 0°25′48″W / 51.591°N 0.430°W / 51.591; -0.430
Population
 • 19116,217
 • 193116,042
 • 196172,791
Density
 • 19110.94/acre
 • 19312.44/acre
 • 196111.05/acre
History
 • OriginRuislip parish
 • Created1904
 • Abolished1965
 • Succeeded byLondon Borough of Hillingdon
Status
Urban district
GovernmentRuislip-Northwood Urban District Council
 • HQOaklands Gate
 • MottoLatin: 'Non Progredi Est Regredi'
Not to go forward is to go backward.

Ruislip-Northwood was an

urban district in west Middlesex, England, from 1904 to 1965.[1] From its inception Ruislip-Northwood fell within the Metropolitan Police District and from 1933 it was part of the London Passenger Transport Area
.

The urban district council presided over a huge increase in population as the Metropolitan Railway gave rise to many new development opportunities. This created many challenges to improve public services and housing while preserving the area's heritage sites. In 1931 King's College, Cambridge sold their final plots of land to the council, having been owners of much of the land in the manor of Ruislip since the mid-15th century.

The urban district was abolished in 1965 and its former area was incorporated into the newly established London Borough of Hillingdon, as part of Greater London.

History

Creation

The urban district was created on 30 September 1904, covering the parish of

Northwood. The new urban district council held its first meeting at Northwood School on 1 October, the day after the district's formation.[2]

An urban district council had been considered a year previously, in light of the expansion of areas within the parish, particularly Northwood. A report was prepared in 1903 which noted the population in Northwood—2,700 by that time, with 530 houses—compared with the largely rural character of the rest of Ruislip parish. The Metropolitan Railway extension from Harrow to Uxbridge was also discussed at the meeting on 28 October 1903, as a station was to be opened in Ruislip on the line. King's College, Cambridge, owners of much of the land in the parish, were planning to sell some for development in light of the new line. As a result of these events, the Ruislip Parish Council voted in favour of becoming an urban district.[2]

Governance and developments

The urban district council consisted of nine councillors in 1904: the Chairman William Page Edwards; F. M. Elgood; H. J. Brewer; H. Ewer; William Gregory; S. Matheson;

Rev. Harvey Roe; J. Westacott, and A. M. Hooper. A clerk was appointed, E. R. Abbot, for £100 per year. He remained in the position until 1931.[2] By 1920 the number of councillors had reached 15.[3]

The expansion of the Metropolitan Railway caused the district to experience a sharp rise in population—from 6,217 in 1911 to 72,791 in 1961—and an increase in suburban housebuilding, especially in the area termed

Northwood station, which they described as "badly arranged and closely-packed".[5]

Three divisions were established within the new council: Finance and General Purposes; Public Health, Buildings and Sewerage; and Highways. The council sought to save money from the outset; reducing the number of workmen employed on the highways from ten to seven and cancelling the cleaning of ditches beside the roads. The lowest-paid man working on the sewers was informed he would need to move within the district and take a pay cut from £1:6s to £1:3s or be made redundant. He accepted.[5]

The urban district council worked with King's College, Cambridge, to establish plots of land for development around Ruislip and Ruislip Manor. A town planning competition was held, won by A & J Soutar, town planners from Wandsworth, who sought to create a symmetrical design spreading across Ruislip parish. Many of the woods and historic sites including Manor Farm were to be demolished and cleared as part of the plan, making way for a projected total of 7,642 homes, enough for 35,000 residents. Only the church in Ruislip, St. Martin's, would have been spared. An outline map was made public on 30 November 1910 with few objections. A local board inquiry followed on 17 February 1911, which required negotiations with landowners to allow for a full planning scheme to be compiled. This was presented in February 1913 with an adaptation of the original Soutars plan and received approval from the Local Government Board in September 1914.[6]

Three roads with residential housing—Manor Way, Windmill Way, and Park Way—were completed before the outbreak of the

First World War. All construction work was halted, and did not resume until 1919. The Ruislip Manor Cottage Society had been set up in 1911 to facilitate the construction of cottages and small housing in the area, though it did not manage to build as much as had been planned. As the council took on several plots in Eastcote, only four houses could be built by the society there. In Northwood, eighteen cottages were later built in 1926.[7]

Development after the First World War

The remains of an ancient motte-and-bailey castle in Manor Farm

Manor Farm and the local woods were eventually saved from new developments in January 1930, after a member of the

day-trippers from outside the district. Under a 999-year lease, the council agreed to maintain the wood and ensure no new building was constructed without the permission of the county council. An area of the wood to the south was not included in the lease agreement and three residential roads were later constructed on it.[8]

Copse Wood was purchased by Middlesex County Council and

The council purchased

Second World War in 1939 caused the plan to be suspended, and it was never continued.[11]

During the war, the urban district saw a high number of bombing raids by the Luftwaffe during The Blitz, between 8 September 1940 and 9 May 1941. A total of 57 raids were recorded with 241 high explosive bombs, 2000 incendiary bombs and 4 parachuted landmines falling on the area; 27 people were killed and a further 231 were injured.[12]

A public hall was built on part of the Manor Farm site in 1965 and named Winston Churchill Hall. The land upon which it was built had been Barn Close and was bought by Councillor T. R. Parker in 1932 from King's College. He presented the land to the Ruislip Village Trust as the site of a future public hall and the Trust gave it to the urban district council in 1964 stipulating that that would be the sole use.[9]

Abolition

The urban district was abolished in 1965 and its area formed part of the London Borough of Hillingdon in Greater London. By this time the population within the district had reached 75,000.[6]

The Ruislip-Northwood name survived in the Ruislip-Northwood parliamentary constituency until 2010, when it was incorporated into the Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner constituency.[13]

Coat of arms

A

gules a silver mitre between two fleurs-de-lis or". It also had a crest, described as "on a wreath or the colours in front of two ears of rye slipped in saltire proper a boar passant sable armed and unguled."[3][14]

The hurst of trees with a representation of the

St. Mary, one of whose symbols is a fleur-de-lis. The 'rye slips' are a play on the name Ruislip. The wild boar shows that the Lordship was an ancient one, granted when the land was forest roamed by wild boars.[14]

The present coat of arms of the London Borough of Hillingdon use the Pole Star, fleur-de-lis, and rye stalks from the coat of arms of the former Ruislip-Northwood Urban District on its coat of arms.[15]

References

Citations
  1. ^ Great Britain Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, Ruislip-Northwood UD (historic map). Retrieved {{{accessdate}}}.
  2. ^ a b c Bowlt 1994, p.90
  3. ^ a b "Ruislip: Local government". British History Online. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
  4. ^ Delafons 1997, p.93
  5. ^ a b Bowlt 1994, p.93
  6. ^ a b Bowlt 1994, p.96
  7. ^ Bowlt 1994, p.100
  8. ^ Bowlt 1994, p.115
  9. ^ a b Bowlt 1994, p.119
  10. ^ "No. 34381". The London Gazette. March 19, 1937. p. 1819.
  11. ^ Bowlt 1994, p.35
  12. ^ Edwards 1987, p.69
  13. ^ "About Nick". Nick Hurd MP. 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2011. Nick Hurd was elected as the Member of Parliament for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner in May 2010, having previously served as the MP for Ruislip-Northwood since 2005.
  14. ^ a b "Ruislip-Northwood Coat of Arms". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  15. ^ "Hillingdon's Coat of Arms". London Borough of Hillingdon. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
Bibliography