Roxeth

Roxeth was a hamlet in the ancient Harrow on the Hill parish. It now forms part of the London Borough of Harrow in Greater London.

The ancient parish of Harrow on the Hill, or simply Harrow, was one of the largest parishes in Middlesex. Apart from Harrow Town, it encompassed a number of smaller settlements, including Roxeth itself, Greenhill, Harrow Weald, Kenton, Preston, Uxendon, Tokyngton, Sudbury, Wembley and Alperton.

Roxeth village was adjacent to Harrow on the Hill, along the main road to the south. The name "Roxeth" is thought to derive from a contraction of 'Rooks Heath' and much of the land between Roxeth and Sudbury was indeed heathland as far as the early 19th century. A mediaeval moated manor existed until at least the early 20th century. It is now probably buried beneath the Staples/Waitrose/Dunelm shopping car park, though perhaps under a housing estate.

Development around the crossroads at the bottom of Harrow on the Hill, an area known as Roxeth Corner, was under way in the early 19th century, using brick from the nearby brickworks in Lower Road. A Wesleyan Chapel was built soon after 1817 on London Hill (now called Roxeth Hill). In 1864, the Wesleyans moved to a new larger chapel in Lower Road, which has since become the Welsh Congregational Chapel. By 1880, the former Wesleyan chapel had been converted to an elementary school which it remained until at least the 1930s. Christ Church on Roxeth Hill has cemetery records that begin in 1863 and go on till at least 1942. In 1906, the stone was laid for a Salvation Army Hall on Roxeth Hill, adjacent to the Half Moon Pub which was there since at least 1880.

South Harrow and Roxeth railway station, on the Marylebone to High Wycombe mainline, was opened in 1926 at the far end of the village and renamed Northolt Park Station in 1929. [ [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22426 Northolt - Introduction | British History Online ] ] Roxeth is now also served by South Harrow tube station. The name 'of the parish lives on as a current Ward of the London Borough of Harrow and in local schools, Roxeth Manor First and Middle Schools as well as Rooks Heath High School.

Roxonian Football Club was formed in 1933. It is now called Harrow Borough F.C. and plays at Earlsmead Stadium on the west side of Roxeth, on former common land known as Dobbs Field.

References

*Bartlett, T L, The Story of Roxeth (1948, Foy Publications for the Friends of Roxeth)