- Finchley Road
Finchley Road, an inner city main road which runs for about 7 kilometres/4 miles, is one of the major thoroughfares of north
London ,England .It starts (as part of the A41) next to
St. John's Wood tube station . It goes north throughSwiss Cottage , then turns slightly north west, forming the border betweenHampstead andWest Hampstead and then turns north again atChild's Hill . The A41 diverges westward and Finchley Road becomes the A598. It continues pastGolders Green tube station , throughTemple Fortune to the North Circular Road. The A598 continues north of the North Circular Road, but changes its name toRegents Park Road .It was built as a turnpike road in the late 1820s/early 1830s to provide a by-pass to the existing route north from London through
Hampstead . The Hampstead route (now the routeHaverstock Hill ,Rosslyn Hill andNorth End Road ) contained two steep hills either side of Hampstead village and was difficult for horses with carriages to negotiate when muddy.The new turnpike was built at the same time as the improvements which created
Regents Park . It started from what was then called the 'New Road' (nowEuston Road ,Marylebone Road - the first London bypass) and ran north. As the road crossed the boundary ofFinchley , its name becameRegents Park Road , indicating the destination of the turnpike as measured from Finchley. The turnpike ended when it joinedBallards Lane and the Great North Road.There was a
tollgate atChilds Hill . After construction, many grand houses were built along its length, especially near to what are nowFortune Green ,Childs Hill andGolders Green . It was once served byFinchley Road railway station on theMidland Main Line , but that has long-sinced closed. It is still served byFinchley Road tube station andFinchley Road & Frognal railway station on theNorth London Line .It remains a heavily used route in and out of London. The most commercial part of the road is near to
Finchley Road tube station and theO2 Centre .
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