Blue history plaque about the Edgware Road turnpike. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Problem
What's the history of Edgware and the Edgware Road, originally a Roman road?
Answers
You can drive, take a bus or train. You'll see more if you drive or take the bus. The Edgware Road runs from Edgware Road station in central London, next stop along from Paddington, north to Edgware station on the end of the Northern line. I lived in Edgware in my schooldays and was told that the Edgware Road was the original Roman road. The road would have been built by and for the Roman army. That is why it runs so efficiently and uncompromisingly straight. They called it Watling Street. But what about it today?
Modern Edgware Road
Today the Edgware road links the stations at the ends with Brent Cross shopping centre in Hendon as a memorable half way point. The southern end in central London is the area I associate with Middle Eastern visitors and businesses.
Moving out towards Colindale and Burnt Oak we now have the East end of Europe represented by Little Bucharest, which I mentioned in one of my previous posts.Finally, Edgware itself. The reason that there's no e in Edgware is not as you might think that people have got lazy, or used an old spelling. The name comes from the man who had the weir or fish pond. His name gradually changed with the addition of d making it look like Edge. This sounds more logical. The word edge prompts people to insert an e, people who are keen on spelling common words but not on bothering to check the proper name's spelling.
Famous People in Edgware
When I lived in Edgware, it was the end of the line and I felt that we were along way from London where it was all happening. As a student I went to University College in London, taking the train from Edgware to Euston. Euston has always had more happening (nowadays statues on the station, as you can read in my other posts).
Jewish People, Restaurants and Exhibits
Edgware has very interesting people, but hidden. Such as Anne Frank's father. He had lived in hiding in Amsterdam. Then his wife and daughters were sent to Auschwitz. The daughters survived, were sent to Belsen where they died. Given what happened to his family, and that he remarried a woman who had also lost her spouse in the Holocaust - they met looking for news of the missing - you can understand why he did not run around advertising his presence.
You will see places serving tasty Jewish food and you might see orthodox Jews wearing large hats.
Elegant Edgware
Edgware itself was at one time very elegant. You can still admire the large houses of elegant Edgware. When I was a child, a treat was to walk to the pond and watch the ducks.
Art Deco And The Thirties
The building of the tube station brought in people who could commute. I love the green tiled roofs and white walls of the art deco thirties buildings. Some are in good repair. Others look as if they need a little Tender Loving Care. (TLC is a phrase Elvis fans will recognize).
I remember seeing inside an art deco house in Edgware for the first time. I was thrilled when we moved from our semi-detached house in Whitchurch Lane to a detached house in Edgware. I thought it was very grand - until we visited an art deco house. The time was probably the Fifties or Sixties, when the art deco houses were ten or twenty years old.
Oh, my! They had a circular hall - with a circular carpet. (Not just a plain wall to wall carpet. A special fit the shape of the room carpet. Chinese, with a raised pattern of flowers, so soft underfoot.) The house owners said a round hall was a nuisance, because you could not put straight edged tables and chairs and nests of drawers against the walls. Even hanging pictures, and long light fittings above the pictures (goodness gracious, a light fitting over a picture) on curved walls was a nuisance.
I had a stamp collection. They had first day covers. As my bus drives past the art deco houses, I remember how awed I was by people who lived in art deco houses. Now I subdue my envy and comfort myself with the thoughts that curved walls are a nuisance, and you can go bankrupt constantly fixing flat roofs which leak in rainy England.
Now some of the art deco houses are seventy years old. If not due for retirement, they need help, a pension and preservation, cosmetic surgery, a face lift.
24 Hour Food
Other large developments as you drive or ride along include a large Far Eastern foods and goods complex, and a large Morrisons. Parking is available at some of the larger complexes. If you are driving through and want a quick coffee or snack, there's a handy drive through 24 hours McDonalds.
Story of the Turnpike
For years I have driven along the Edgware Road by car. On a recent journey along the Edgware Road I was excited to see a blue history plaque mentioning the Turnpike. I saw the plaque from the bus window going via Edgware towards the city. On my return journey, I was on the bus on the other side of the road, and in a passenger seat as the pavement side (pavement in the UK is sidewalk - I must alert my American readers). I moved and stood by the window the other side, The traffic was held up by the traffic lights, so I was delighted to be able to take a picture, to remind myself of the position of the plaque and to look it up later.
The plaque reminds passers-by that this was the turnpike road. The turnpike stopped users of the road and took money from them, supposedly to repair the road. I looked up the history in Wikipedia which directed me to Barnet council's website. Apparently the road was deep in mud, both summer and winter, and despite the money, did not get repaired. (So somebody takes a road tax but doesn't keep roads in repair. Not a new idea! We drivers and pedestrians still complain nowadays, not about mud but about potholes.) Eventually the turnpike was abolished.
Tips
Articles on Edgware
www.wikipedia
www.barnet.gov.uk
Author
Agnela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See previous posts on bus experiences, Romania, destinations. Please share your favourite posts.
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