Stanmore

infobox UK place
country = England
map_type = Greater London
region= London
population=
official_name= Stanmore
latitude= 51.6170
longitude= -0.3250
os_grid_reference= TQ1691
london_borough= Harrow
post_town= STANMORE
postcode_district = HA7
postcode_area= HA
dial_code= 020
constituency_westminster= Harrow East

Stanmore is a place in the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is a suburban development situated 11 miles (18 km) north west of Charing Cross.

History

The area was recorded in the Domesday Book as "Stanmere", the name deriving from the Old English "stan", 'stony' and "mere", 'a pool'. There are outcrops of gravel on the clay soil here and the "mere" may have been one of the ponds which still exist.

By 1574 the area had become known as "Stanmore the Great" to distinguish it from Little Stanmore.

Stanmore Village railway station was open for train services between 1890 and 1952. Stanmore tube station opened in 1932.

Stanmore had an outstation from the Bletchley Park codebreaking establishment, where some of the Bombes used to decode German Enigma messages in World War Two were housed.

Stanmore is also home to RAF Bentley Priory from where the Battle of Britain was controlled, also formerly to RAF Stanmore Park, HQ of Balloon Command. The latter closed in 1997 and is now a housing estate.

Modern Stanmore

The suburb is characterised by numerous small restaurants and cafés, several public houses, and a handful of boutique-style clothing stores. The centre of Stanmore is dominated by the presence of a large Sainsbury's supermarket. Stanmore's extensive residential areas are leafy and predominantly affluent, with many residents commuting daily to jobs in central London and the City.

Stanmore is home to Stanmore College (a government further education establishment) and a local library. The suburb also hosts the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital - known as RNOH - which is famed for its spinal unit.

Stanmore has affluent Indian, Jewish and Catholic communities, including its local synagogue on London Road and a mosque as well as new Hindu Temple on Wood Lane.

Notable people associated with Stanmore

*Performer and Comedian Matt Lucas was born in Stanmore on 5 March 1974, and was brought up there in his younger years. He also attended Aylward First & Middle School.
*Queen Adelaide (1792 - 1849), queen consort of William IV, lived at Bentley Priory from 1848 until her death there.
*George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen — Peelite Prime Minister (in office December 1852 – February 1855); raised and is buried in Stanmore.
*W.S. Gilbert — English dramatist, librettist and illustrator; buried in Stanmore.
*Clement Attlee — Labour Prime Minister in the first post-war government; lived in a large villa "Heygate", which was later demolished and replaced by a small block of flats
*Stanmore is also the birth-place of peroxide Brit-rocker Billy Idol, football coach Dave Bassett, Nikolai Levey (Coldplay producer), Arsenal footballer Theo Walcott, actress Linda Hayden and author Anthony Horowitz.
*Actor Cyril Shaps lived in Stanmore.

Transport

Nearby places

* Belmont
* Wealdstone
* Edgware
* Kenton
* Bushey
* Pinner

Nearest tube station

* Stanmore tube station

Main Bus routes

The following London bus routes serve Stanmore (correct at 7 August 2007):
* H12 Stanmore to South Harrow (via Hatch End and Pinner)
* 142 Brent Cross to Watford Junction (via Edgware)
* 340 Edgware to Harrow Bus Station
* Night Bus N98 Stanmore to Holborn (via Willesden and Marble Arch)

External links

* [http://www.stanmore.ac.uk/ Stanmore College web site]
* [http://www.stanmore.ac.uk/ Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital web site]