ECONOMIC HISTORY.
Agrarian History.
In 1086 the three estates at Willesden contained
enough land for a total of 20½ plough teams, 15 at
the principal manor, 4 at Harlesden, and 1½ at
East Twyford. The largest manor, which had no
demesne, was held at farm by 25 villeins who had
between them only 8 teams, and there were also 5
bordars. At Harlesden the demesne had 2 teams
and the villeins ½ team though there were 12
villeins with 1 virgate each and 10 with ½ virgate
each. No demesne was recorded at East Twyford,
where 3 villeins had 2½ virgates. In the three
estates together there was woodland for 700 pigs.
Only East Twyford had increased in value since
1066, the main manor having decreased by nearly
half and Harlesden by more than half. (fn. 93) By the
early 12th century the three estates had evolved
into the eight prebends and the rectory estate
which provided the medieval framework of
Willesden. It seems likely that the demesne
estates of the prebends in the south-east, namely
Bounds, Brondesbury, Mapesbury, and
Chambers, existed in the Middle Ages. Leases
exist for Mapesbury demesne in the 15th century
and a prebendary was presented in 1383 for the
state of the road bordering land traditionally part
of the demesne. Early 16th-century leases of
Mapesbury contained a clause reserving part of
the manor house for the prebendary. The prebendary of Harlesden alienated most of his
demesne c. 1200, leaving a demesne of only 3 a.;
there is no evidence that the other prebends ever
had lands in demesne.
Most of the landholders in Willesden in the
Middle Ages were from local, often long-lived
families. Local place-names supplied surnames
for the Willesden (1278-1494), (fn. 94) Twyford
(1219-1902), (fn. 95) Harlesden (13th cent., 1327), (fn. 96)
Oxgate (1298), (fn. 97) and Slade (1248-1306) (fn. 98)
families. Other local names included Hacche
(c. 1200-1441), (fn. 99) Cornhill (1274-1415), (fn. 1) Algar
(c. 1280-1432), (fn. 2) Fayrsire or Veyser of Harlesden
(1293-1510), (fn. 3) Stokke or Stokker (1295-1377), (fn. 4)
Wood or Atwood (1307-1463), (fn. 5) Shepherd (1322-
1675), (fn. 6) Erlich (1351-1510), Nelme (1359-1510), (fn. 7)
Franklin (1454-1840), (fn. 8) Reding (1473-1630), (fn. 9)
and, the most important, Roberts (1295-1702). (fn. 10)
Willesden was sufficiently near London to
attract London merchants. Middletons manor
originated in the sale by one London draper to
another in 1295 and passed, a century later, to a
draper and mercer. (fn. 11) A clothier died seised of
Malories and West Twyford manor in 1380 and it
was a group of London merchants, particularly
the mercer Ellis Davy, who built up the estate
which was acquired by All Souls College in the
15th century. (fn. 12) A sherman leased the rectory in
1462 (fn. 13) and other London merchants who bought
and sold land in Willesden, probably as investments rather than as country seats, included two
goldsmiths (fn. 14) and a fishmonger (fn. 15) in the 14th
century, two grocers, (fn. 16) a spicer, (fn. 17) a tailor, (fn. 18) a
draper, (fn. 19) a carpenter, (fn. 20) and a sherman (fn. 21) in the
15th century. The looseness of the lords' control
evidently facilitated the buying, selling, and exchanging of land by local families and Londoners,
which resulted in the creation of estates like
Middletons and Malories and the conversion of
large areas of the open fields to closes.
The open fields of Willesden as recorded from
the 17th century to the 19th, (fn. 22) stretching westward from the centre of the parish to the river
Brent, were the residue of a more extensive
layout. North-west of Willesden Green Sheepcote field (1351) (fn. 23) contained c. 21 a. in 1621 and
26 a. in 1722 and 1816. Dudden or Duddinghill
field (1363) (fn. 24) to the north was c. 72 a. in 1621 and
1722 and 66 a. in 1816. At Chapel End Church
mead seems to have been the rump of Church
field (c. 1280), (fn. 25) which formerly ran eastward
from the church. Hungerhill field (1415) (fn. 26) contained c. 72 a. Fortune field (1359) (fn. 27) was 64 a. in
1621 and 1722 and 76 a. in 1816. The common
marsh, divided into Harlesden and Willesden
marsh in 1364 (fn. 28) and Great and Little marsh in
1599 (fn. 29) and 1621, contained c. 53 a. in 1621, 73 a.
in 1722, and 77 a. in 1816. Brent field (1415), (fn. 30)
often divided into Lower and Upper Brent field,
contained 115 a. in 1621, 151 a. in 1722 and 1816,
its shape indicating that parts had been inclosed.
Neasden field (1457) (fn. 31) apparently abutted Brent
field in 1621 when it contained 53½ a. but by 1722
it had shrunk to 31 a., including what by 1823 was
called Bridge field. Some other field names, like
Willesden field (1298) (fn. 32) and Drayton field
(1510), (fn. 33) were probably alternatives to those
already mentioned, and some, like Deriches field
(c. 1185), (fn. 34) are totally unlocated. Many more,
however, were of open fields which by 1621 were
wholly inclosed, particularly in the north, on the
farmlands of Oxgate, Dollis Hill, and Neasden.
Sherrick field (1307) and Nether Sherrick field
(1432) or Nether field (1419), between Sherrick
Lane and Cricklewood, (fn. 35) and Hakkers field
(1420), also north of Sherrick Lane, (fn. 36) had been
inclosed by 1449. (fn. 37) Bury field (1322) or le Bery
(1420) (fn. 38) and Bedewell field (1305) (fn. 39) were in
Neasden, probably in the west near Brent and
Neasden fields, (fn. 40) and Sheeprode field (1306) was
in Oxgate. (fn. 41) Numerous crofts remained divided
into strips. (fn. 42)
The process of consolidating strips can be
traced from the 13th century, when the rectory
estate began to take shape as a few compact blocks
of land through the activities of Alan of Morton. (fn. 43)
The nucleus of Malories at Kensal Green and
Harlesden was probably formed before 1310,
further land being added in the 14th and 15th
centuries. Middletons was built up by mostly
small purchases between 1295 and 1322, and in
the 1420s there was much buying, selling, and
exchanging of land in the north as the Cursons,
Robertses and Willesdens built up their Neasden
and Oxgate estates. (fn. 44)
Such inclosure may have been partly to convert
arable to pasture, but farming in Willesden in the
Middle Ages seems to have been mixed, with
arable predominant. Arable was more extensive
than meadow, pasture, or woodland in conveyances except in Harlesden and Kilburn.
There was much woodland in the south and east;
meadow lay mostly along the streams. The farm
buildings of the rectory were equipped c. 1280 for
mixed farming. (fn. 45) Willesden was one of the main
producers of sheep near London in 1340, (fn. 46) and
cattle destroyed the woods of Bounds prebend in
1422. (fn. 47) In the 15th century the All Souls estate
produced large quantities of oats and sheep, sent
oats and hay to the college's hospice in London,
and also yielded wheat, cows, and oxen. (fn. 48)
In 1517 the prebendary of Brondesbury was
indicted for inclosing his arable land for pasture,
displacing half a ploughteam and making 12
people idle. (fn. 49) In 1552 Thomas Nicoll, described
as a merchant of Willesden, was presented for
paying rents that poor men could not afford. (fn. 50)
Willesden lands were valued highly presumably
because they were close to London. Mapesbury
was leased to a London merchant tailor in 1534
and a scrivener in 1642, and a London alderman,
possibly with local connexions, bought Twyford
manor in 1599. (fn. 51) A London skinner bought
c. 80 a. in 1525 and Richard Taylor, who purchased a Harlesden estate in 1676, was a London
vintner. (fn. 52) Local families which appear during the
period include those of Wingfield (1524-1738), (fn. 53)
Newman (1527-1864), (fn. 54) Kempe (1538-1662), (fn. 55)
Vincent (1544-1663), (fn. 56) Nicoll (1552-1853), (fn. 57)
Marsh (1574-1770), (fn. 58) Haley (1613-1760), (fn. 59)
Finch (1615-c. 1900), (fn. 60) and Weeden (1665-
1820). (fn. 61)
From the early 18th century the boundaries of
freehold estates tended to remain constant, the
land being leased and frequently underleased, so
that a farm was often made up of contiguous
portions of land belonging to several landlords.
In 1765 the largest holding, that of Thomas
Nicoll at Neasden, comprised several farms
amounting to 453 a., Isaac Messeder occupied
most of the All Souls estate (288 a.), and there
were eight farms of 100-200 a., twelve of 50-
100 a., seven of 21-50 a., and eighteen of less than
20 a. (fn. 62) By 1801 the largest farm was that of the
London butcher, Paul Giblett, who leased 402 a.
from Lady Salusbury in the south-east. The next
largest estate was that of Joseph Nicoll (258 a.) in
Neasden. There were two other estates of over
200 a., 11 of 100 a.-200 a., 7 of 50 a.-100 a., and 4
of 21 a.-50 a. (fn. 63)
By the late 18th century the woodland had
virtually all been cleared and much of the arable
had been converted to grass. Hedgerows had
been grubbed up by Michael Roberts at Neasden
in the 1540s. (fn. 64) On Mapesbury manor in the 16th
century felling was limited at Mapes wood (fn. 65) and
there were still 70 a. of woodland in 1649, (fn. 66) but
Great Mapes wood had gone by 1716 and by 1725
woodland had been reduced to 12 a., woods at
Baldwins north of Willesden Green besides
Mapes wood having been converted to grass or
tillage since 1666; (fn. 67) the woodland had all gone by
1784. (fn. 68) There were 18 a. of woodland at Bounds
and 69 a. at Brondesbury in 1649, but 44 a. of the
latter had been lost by 1708. (fn. 69) There were 7 a. of
woodland on the Rectory estate in 1650, (fn. 70) but it
had apparently all gone by 1692. (fn. 71) On the Oxgate
estates woodland formed 15 a. of Tanner's estate
in 1675 but had entirely disappeared by 1755, (fn. 72)
30 a. of the Franklin farm in 1686 when another
33 a. had been lately converted to arable, (fn. 73) and
only 3½ a. on the Hawe estate in 1700. (fn. 74) There was
no woodland left on any of the Brydges estates by
c. 1790: Broadfield Grove (33 a.) had been cleared
by 1705, Down Grove (30 a.) between 1705 and
1734, and Square Grove (20 a.) by 1733. (fn. 75)
Woodland on the All Souls estate included
Cricklewood along Edgware Road, where some
clearing had taken place by the 15th century, but
nearly half the land was still woodland in 1599.
The main estate in Kensal Green and south
Harlesden had once been part of Wormholt
woods, and in 1599 much woodland remained in
thick bands around fields. (fn. 76) The woods were not
leased with the rest of the estate. In the 15th
century wood yielded more income than other
produce, (fn. 77) and from the mid 15th century the
college sold the right to take wood for periods of
years, usually three, attempting to reserve young
trees. (fn. 78) The woodland was nevertheless gradually
cleared. (fn. 79) In 1662 there were 107 elms and 816
oaks on the All Souls estate, of which 79 oaks
were at Cricklewood. (fn. 80) Another 20 a. had been
grubbed up by 1665, and in 1685 the All Souls
woodland in Willesden totalled 64 a., compared
with 99 a. in 1599. (fn. 81) In 1752 less than a tenth of
the estate was woodland, all at Kensal Green and
Harlesden. (fn. 82) By 1787 there was barely enough
wood for common repairs. (fn. 83)
Although the land cleared of trees was often
initially used as arable, the general tendency was
a movement from arable to grassland. The All
Souls estate, with a relatively high proportion of
arable, had 43 per cent in 1599, reduced to 25 per
cent by 1752 and 17 per cent by 1815. (fn. 84) Arable
was 40 per cent of Franklin's farm at Oxgate in
1686 and 17 per cent c. 1790, (fn. 85) while at Tanner's
farm, Oxgate, the arable increased from c. 40 per
cent in 1675 to 52 per cent in 1755 because of
conversion from woodland. (fn. 86) At Mapesbury the
arable decreased from nearly a third in 1649 to
less than a tenth in 1784. (fn. 87) Most of the southeastern part of the parish, at Kilburn, was almost
entirely pasture and meadow. (fn. 88)
In 1816 Willesden was said to consist mostly of
meadow or pasture although because the open
fields survived there was more land under the
plough than was usual in a parish so near
London. (fn. 89) Except for Neasden field the
boundaries of the open fields altered hardly at all
between 1599 and inclosure. (fn. 90) An Inclosure Act
was passed in 1815 following a petition by the
principal farmers, and in 1823 the award was
completed, 560 a. of open-field arable, meadow,
and waste being allotted. (fn. 91) The largest freehold
estates were those of All Souls College (491 a.),
the duke of Buckingham (452 a.), the prebend of
Mapesbury (319 a.), Joseph Finch (301 a.),
Charles Brett (252 a.), and the prebend of
Brondesbury (248 a.). (fn. 92)
In 1827 All Souls College attempted to
rationalize its estate further. (fn. 93) There were
further exchanges of land from 1851 to 1887
under the Inclosure Acts, (fn. 94) and by c. 1870 the
pattern of landowning was much more logical
and direct leases had replaced complicated subleasing. (fn. 95) There were 60 people occupying land
in 1870, 15 having holdings of over 100 a., 10 of
50-100 a., 17 of 20-50 a., 11 of 5-20 a., and 6 of
less than 5 a. Another six had livestock but no
land. The number of holdings had fallen to 27 by
1900 and 16 by 1910. Of the latter one owned and
six rented farms of 50-300 a., three owned and
four rented farms of 5-50 a., and two rented
holdings of 1-5 a. By 1930 there were only four
holdings, all less than 50 a. (fn. 96) There was little
arable: in 1866 out of a total acreage of 3,203 a.,
52 a. were under oats, 43 a. under wheat, and 34 a.
under beans. (fn. 97)
The soil, described at Mapesbury in 1803 as a
strong, wet clay, was naturally much better
suited to grass, and a cart could fetch a load of
dung from the metropolis twice a day. (fn. 98) One
author noted the number and size of the dunghills
along the side of Edgware Road, which carried
more dung than any other road in the county. (fn. 99)
Leases required more than two cartloads of dung
per acre and restricted the proportion of land that
could be mowed twice a year. (fn. 1) By 1833 the
Willesden Green farm which the All Souls agent
had suggested selling in 1827 had been much
improved by manuring. (fn. 2)
During the 16th and 17th centuries the main
function of the grassland was to support animals
as part of mixed farming. At Mapesbury in 1581
an equal acreage was sown with wheat and oats,
and cattle and horses formed part of the stock. (fn. 3)
The farm buildings in 1649 included cornchambers, a cowhouse, a cheesechamber, and a
henhouse. Brondesbury and Bounds at the same
date contained no buildings for arable farming
but milkhouses, a cheeseroom, a sheephouse, and
a bolting room and a haybarn, a hayhouse, and a
cowhouse respectively. (fn. 4) The parsonage in 1692
included a granary as well as a dairy, a cheeseroom, a cowhouse, a henhouse, and an applehouse; there was a granary at Oxgate in 1760
although haymaking was the main activity. (fn. 5)
There were cattle at Brondesbury in the late 16th
century and on the main All Souls estate in 1662. (fn. 6)
Some farms supported both sheep and cattle in
the 17th century, especially at Oxgate and
Neasden. (fn. 7) Field-names indicate sheep on the All
Souls estate between Harlesden and Kensal
Green (fn. 8) and at East Twyford. (fn. 9) There was still a
sheephouse on the Franklin farm at Oxgate c.
1791 (fn. 10) but by then grass was grown either for
feeding cattle or for hay. At Mapesbury in 1784
there was a dairy, cowhouse, a haybarn, and a
house for labourers in the hay harvest. (fn. 11) There
were vast herds of cattle around Brondesbury in
the late 18th century, (fn. 12) and Ralph Marsh (d. by
1758), lessee of Bounds and owner of a freehold at
Kilburn, was a grazier. (fn. 13)
Londoners were often directly involved in
farming. Leases were made of Brondesbury to a
butcher of Hanover Square in 1799 and 1812, (fn. 14) of
the All Souls Kensal farm to an Oxford Street
butcher 1810-46, (fn. 15) of Chambers and part of the
All Souls Kensal lands to cowkeepers of St.
Marylebone in 1845, (fn. 16) of Mapesbury to a
Piccadilly horse dealer 1826-71, (fn. 17) of the All
Souls Willesden Green farm to a St. Marylebone
jobmaster in 1828-45, (fn. 18) of the All Souls Cricklewood farm to the keeper of a Berkeley Square
livery stable 1832-55, (fn. 19) and of Oxgate to bloodstock dealers from Hyde Park Corner 1837-52. (fn. 20)
Hay was the major crop on the BrydgesTemple estates, and Oxgate was leased to a hay
salesman from Stanmore in 1819. (fn. 21) Robert
Hodgson's farm at Willesden Green was also a
hay farm, 1845-52. (fn. 22) There were several cowkeepers between 1827 and 1862. (fn. 23) Thomas
Goddard at Harlesden Green (1839) and Edward
and Henry Biggs on Edgware Road (1847-58)
were cattle dealers. (fn. 24) A horse dealer and chapman
had been a tenant of Bounds and Brondesbury in
1784 (fn. 25) but it was during the earlier 19th century
that horses became especially important in
Willesden: keepers of livery stables and jobmasters included William Bean at Church End
(1828), (fn. 26) Thomas Kenrick (1833), William
Vaughan at Stonebridge (1836-7), (fn. 27) and William
Cripps at Willesden Green. (fn. 28) Among the most
important was William Anderson who, soon after
taking the lease of Mapesbury, began to drain the
land and manure it and built stables for 58
hunters and carriage horses. (fn. 29) He had been
succeeded by 1850 by John Anderson, who
continued there as a horse dealer until 1871. (fn. 30) He
was followed by Chester Foulsham (d. 1917) who
continued the tradition, specializing in training
steeplechasers and hunters, including those of
the prince of Wales (later Edward VII). (fn. 31) The
other important horse dealer was Edmund Tattersall who built a model stud farm at Willesden
Paddocks. (fn. 32) There was still a horse dealer there in
1890 but on a reduced scale, most of the land
having been given over to dairy farming. (fn. 33) There
were stables at Neasden, Willesden Green, (fn. 34) and
Church End (fn. 35) in the 1870s, and jobmasters and
horse dealers in 1890 at Willesden Paddocks,
Dudding Hill farm, Church farm, Withers farm
at Willesden Green, and Neasden stud farm and
on a smaller scale, mainly in mews, in Willesden
Green, Neasden, Harlesden, and especially
Kilburn. (fn. 36) Sidney Galvayne, an Australian
described as a humane horse tamer, operated at
Upper Oxgate in 1891 and was later at Model
farm, Neasden and there was a riding school at
the Slade in Cricklewood in 1892. (fn. 37) In 1870, after
the peak for horse farming had been passed, there
were 118 agricultural horses, 76 unbroken
horses, and 8 breeding mares. (fn. 38)
The Act of 1864 making it illegal to keep cattle
within the metropolis led to a rapid growth in
dairy farming just outside the limits. (fn. 39) In Willesden the numbers of milk cows and other cattle
(mainly calves) rose from 146 and 65 in 1866 to
806 and 170 by 1870. There were 815 milk cows
and 156 other cattle in 1880. Numbers declined
after 1880. (fn. 40) Joseph Bannister had sheds for 204
cows at the Rectory farm at Harlesden (Manor
farm) in 1864, and after the estate was sold in the
1870s moved to Willesden Paddocks which he
was still farming in 1897. (fn. 41) At Neasden there
were sheds for 80 cows at Model Farm in 1878
and for 60 at Gravel Farm in 1880. (fn. 42) There were
cattle at Dollis Hill in 1887, (fn. 43) and Upper Oxgate
farm, which in 1851 had been a horse stud farm,
was by 1871 occupied as a dairy farm. (fn. 44) Among
the most important dairy farmers were Welford
& Sons who had been farming since c. 1860 and
who were appointed dairymen to the queen in
1876. By 1882 they had a large herd of pedigree
cows and farmed over 300 a. in Willesden, much
of it leased from All Souls College at Kensal
Green where they had built a model dairy farm.
The farm continued, though on a reduced scale,
after building had swallowed up most of the
farmland and the firm was absorbed into the
United Dairies in the 1920s. (fn. 45) Another large
dairy farm was Goddard's at Lower Place, which
was closed in 1901 when the Royal Agricultural
Society took over the land. At the time there were
three dairy farms at Willesden Green, two at
Kensal Green, and one each at south Kilburn and
Harlesden. (fn. 46) There were seven cowsheds in 1910,
when horse keeping was said to have been
replaced by dairy farming because of the growth
of motor traffic. (fn. 47)
By then, however, all farming was diminishing
as farmland was sold for building. From 3,370 a.
(3,035 a. grass) in 1870, the acreage had shrunk to
1,113 a. (1,037 a. grass) by 1900, 550 a. (494 a.
grass) in 1920, and 52 a. (50 a. grass) in 1930.
Farming persisted longest in the north, at
Neasden, Dollis Hill, and Oxgate. There were
sheep at Dollis Hill in the late 19th century and it
was probably there that the flocks of 1,372 in
1866 and 462 in 1880 were kept. There were 464
pigs in 1866, 279 in 1900, and 77 in 1920. (fn. 48) Pigs
were mainly kept by the poor in Kilburn and
Kensal Green. There were some nurseries in
the late 19th century, mainly in Kilburn and
Brondesbury, but vegetables were probably
grown on allotments or as fodder crops on farms.
The highest acreages were of mangolds (29 a. in
1870, 32 a. in 1900, 4 a. in 1920). There were 8 a.
of turnips and 7 a. of carrots in 1870 but the area
of other crops was very small. (fn. 49)
The proportion of the population dependent
on agriculture declined from 86 per cent in 1811
to 23 per cent in 1851. In 1841 the 599 people
living in barns and tents at the time of the census
were mainly itinerant haymakers but may also
have included builders and navvies. The proportion employed in agriculture had dropped to 1
per cent in 1901. (fn. 50)
Mills.
A mill which formed part of a grant in
1325 by Richard of Cornhill to John, vicar of
Willesden, was probably a watermill on the
Brent. (fn. 51)
A windmill existed by 1295 on the estate
conveyed by William of Breadstreet to John of
Middleton. (fn. 52) It stood apparently north of the
Sherrick brook (fn. 53) and was in ruins by 1365 when
permission was given to Thomas Frowyk,
the mortgagee, to take the timber from it. (fn. 54)
Soon after 1616 William Grey, a lessee of
Francis Roberts, built a windmill in Dudden hill
field at the point where Dudden Hill Lane
entered it. (fn. 55) The mill was held by Robert Paltock
in 1698 and sold by Henry Barnett to Edmund
Frankland in 1727. (fn. 56) William Kilby had it in
1765 (fn. 57) but it had gone by 1817 and probably by
1787. (fn. 58)
Isaac Ennos, a tenant of Mapesbury, built
Kilburn windmill at Shoot-up Hill between 1784
and 1803. (fn. 59) He was succeeded c. 1832 by William
Hale, (fn. 60) who in 1851 employed five men there (fn. 61)
and was succeeded before 1867 by Charles Hale.
The boarded mill was burnt down in 1863 and
demolished c. 1900. A steam mill was built next
to the damaged windmill in 1867. (fn. 62)
Industry.
A tilekiln, first mentioned in
1438-9, (fn. 63) formed part of the All Souls estate at
Harlesden, probably just south of the green, on
the site of the later Tyle or Tylers Close. (fn. 64) The
kiln lasted throughout the 15th and early 16th
centuries, producing tiles for London using
imported wood and clay. (fn. 65) Tilekiln houses at
Harlesden and Kilburn formed part of the
Roberts estate at the beginning of the 16th
century. (fn. 66) That at Kilburn can probably be
identified with the Place, tilehouses and kilns on
Edgware Road sold by Thomas Roberts to
Thomas Marsh in 1679, (fn. 67) and with Tile Kiln
farm or Kilburn Pits, owned by the Marsh family
in the mid 18th century. (fn. 68) The kiln had probably
long ceased to be worked by the late 18th century
when the farm was merged in the Salusbury
estate, although there were brickmakers in
Kilburn in 1851 and 1867. (fn. 69)
Other tile and brick works are indicated by the
reservation of 'daubing earth' by Bartholomew
Willesden in 1465, (fn. 70) by a brickfield on the Nicoll
estate in 1739, (fn. 71) a tilekiln field at Oxgate in
1787, (fn. 72) and kiln fields on the Brondesbury estate
in 1834. (fn. 73) Tenants of All Souls were producing a
million bricks a year at Kensal Green in 1825. (fn. 74)
The Willesden Brick & Tile works in Chambers
Lane, which were owned by the Furness family
and established by 1882, provided many bricks
for local building until they were demolished in
1937. (fn. 75) There was also a brick and lime works
next to the railway at Stonebridge in 1914. (fn. 76)
There was some tanning in the 17th century,
notably at Oxgate which contained tanyards and
was leased to one tanner, John Plomer, in 1665
and offered for sale to another, Ezechiel Tanner,
before 1675. (fn. 77) There was a tailor in Willesden in
1624 (fn. 78) but few tradesmen or craftsmen other
than the usual smiths, wheelwrights, and shoemakers before the 19th century. In 1811 only one
family in ten in Willesden was dependent on
trade, manufacture, or craft but by 1831 the
proportion had risen to a quarter. (fn. 79) Craftsmen
included a coachmaker in 1819, a glassblower at
Harlesden in 1829, a piano maker at Harlesden
in 1850, (fn. 80) and a wholesale perfumer with 22
employees on Edgware Road in 1851. (fn. 81) There
was a brewery near Oxgate in 1819. (fn. 82) Kilburn
brewery, established on the Mapesbury estate at
Edgware Road by William and George Verey in
1832, (fn. 83) employed 22 men in 1851 and 66 in 1919,
a year before it closed. (fn. 84)
As early as 1834 the 'contiguity' to London was
adduced as the reason for the unusually large
number of laundresses in Willesden, women who
earned good wages to supplement the seasonal
work of their husbands in agriculture and brickmaking. (fn. 85) As steam laundries developed in
the later 19th century, 'factory' laundries
predominated over the smaller 'domestic'
laundries. (fn. 86) By 1902 there were 137 laundries
employing 2,046 women. The numbers declined,
to 60 factory and 28 domestic laundries in 1910,
53 and 23 in 1918, and 38 and 29 in 1934. (fn. 87) In
1919 there were 15 laundries each employing
more than 40 women, the two largest, in Stonebridge and Craven Park, employing 180 and 364
respectively. (fn. 88)
From the mid 19th century the influence
of London on industry became increasingly
stronger, building spreading from the south to
house labour for industries which often themselves moved from central London. Kilburn, the
nearest area and the first to be developed, also
provided early industry. A carriage manufacturer
was located on Edgware Road in 1851, (fn. 89) and Elm
Lodge on Edgware Road was a gelatine factory in
1858. (fn. 90) There were five coachbuilding and three
cycle-manufacturing firms in Kilburn by 1890.
By that date Kilburn also housed manufacturers
of ladders, steel punches, perambulators, artificial
limbs, and gold leaf and several masons in
Willesden Lane near Paddington cemetery. (fn. 91)
The largest Kilburn firm was the Patent Railway
Signal Works, opened by John Saxby and John
Farmer on a site between the railway line and
Canterbury Road c. 1862. They provided
employment for 700 men in 1872 and for 2,000
before the manufacture of signalling equipment moved to Chippenham in 1903. The
premises were sold in 1906 (fn. 92) and from 1911
to 1933 were occupied by Humber Ltd., motor
manufacturers. (fn. 93)
Land in Acton Road next to the canal was
advertised as suitable for a brickfield or factory in
1879 (fn. 94) and industry multiplied in Harlesden and
Kensal Green from the 1880s. Most firms there
were small. Holland & Holland, makers of handmade guns, opened a factory on Harrow Road in
1880 and employed 48 men in 1919; although it
had relinquished its shooting range for building
by 1918, the factory survived in 1981. (fn. 95) By 1890
Harlesden had makers of washing machines and
antiseptic fluids, an art metal company, monumental masons, and the Willesden Cycle Co. (fn. 96) In
1902 McVitie & Price opened a biscuit factory
in Waxlow Road, Harlesden, and by 1919 was
the largest employer in Willesden, with 1,150
workers. (fn. 97) Park Royal began to be developed
during the First World War; the later industrial
history of the area is treated elsewhere. (fn. 98)
Small-scale industry, masons, saw-mills,
cycle-makers, printers, electrical engineering
works, and makers of photographic apparatus
and pencils, were established at Willesden Green
and Church End in the three decades before the
First World War. (fn. 99) The largest of the firms was
British Thomson Houston Co. which opened its
electrical engineering works north of the vicarage
at Church End in 1913, employing 462 people in
1919 and 2,000 in 1949. (fn. 1) It had closed by 1964. (fn. 2)
J. H. Dallmeyer, manufacturers of lenses and
scientific instruments, moved to Denzil Road,
Church End, from central London in 1907. They
moved to High Road in the 1920s and built
extensions in 1945 and 1952. By 1979 the firm
employed c. 90 people on high-precision optical
manufacture. (fn. 3) Industry spread northward from
Church End along Neasden Lane. In 1913 the
pencil works of B. S. Cohen were founded in the
Britannia Works in the triangle between Neasden
Lane and the two railway lines. Some 100 people
were employed there in 1919. In 1926 the works
passed to the Royal Sovereign Pencil Co. which
established a second factory a little to the north in
1929 and by 1937 had 250 employees. By 1949 it
had been replaced by Waterman's Pen Co., then
employing 300 people. (fn. 4)
While Kilburn, Kensal Green, Harlesden,
Willesden Green, and the northern part of
Church End all used the railway lines along
which they lay for transporting raw materials and
finished goods, two areas were even more dependent on the railways. The low lying and
poorly drained land along the river Brent was
unattractive to speculative builders and in the
1880s the Metropolitan Railway Co. purchased
290 a. at Neasden, where it built a new depot and
repair shops designed to employ 500 men and to
replace its obsolete works in Marylebone. Houses
were built for the workers employed in repairing
and, from 1896, building engines and rolling
stock. (fn. 5) A generating station, built in Quainton
Street, Neasden, when the line was electrified in
1903-5, survived until 1967. The Great Central
Railway established its depot south of the line at
Neasden and c. 1900 erected housing for its
workers. (fn. 6) In 1888 the Midland Railway Co.
extended its workshops and sidings at Cricklewood, (fn. 7) which although in Hendon employed
many people from Willesden. In 1921 the railways employed 3,277 Willesden men. (fn. 8) In 1949
London Transport's 50-a. depot at Neasden employed 500 people and British Railway's Eastern
Region 109-a. works, also at Neasden, employed
650; London Midland Region's depot at Willesden Junction provided work for 820 residents of
Harlesden and Stonebridge. (fn. 9)
Served by the railway and Edgware Road,
industry began to establish itself at Cricklewood
before the First World War. W. J. Fowler & Son,
printers, was founded at Cricklewood Broadway
in 1898. (fn. 10) On the All Souls estate factories were
built for scene-painting (1906), motor repairs
(1909), and firewood (1912), (fn. 11) but the largest
works, that of the Imperial Dry Plate Co.,
manufacturers of photographic plates and paper,
was built by George Furness & Co. c. 1893 a little
farther north. (fn. 12) In 1919 it had 200 employees. (fn. 13)
The First World War was a strong stimulus to
industry in Willesden, especially in the new
districts of Cricklewood and Park Royal. Firms
established at Cricklewood, near the airfields and
factories of Hendon and Kingsbury, included
Nieuport & General Aircraft Co. and British
Caudron Co., manufacturers of aeroplanes,
which employed 500 and 400 people respectively
in 1919. Farther south, in High Road, Kilburn,
the Central Aircraft Co. employed 350 workers
and other aeroplane manufacturers in Willesden
Lane had 200 and 70 employees respectively. (fn. 14)
The largest factory in Cricklewood, S. Smith
& Sons (later Smiths Industries Ltd.), opened
on Edgware Road south of the railway in 1915
to manufacture fuses, instruments, and accessories. (fn. 15) By 1919 Smiths employed 1,000
munition workers. (fn. 16) In 1920 all manufacturing
was transferred from the firm's headquarters in
Great Portland St. to Cricklewood and the
company survived the slump of the 1920s,
acquiring before 1939 firms which made electrical motors and aircraft accessories and electric
clocks, and forming a new subsidiary in 1944 to
make industrial instruments. As the company
grew it acquired other companies and sites overseas but Cricklewood remained the most important site, expanding from the original factory
to house 8,000 employees in 1937 (fn. 17) and 1978.
Smiths, although the largest, was one of many
firms involved in the motor industry, which
received a great impetus from the First World
War. Others included, by 1919, McCurd Lorry
Manufacturing Co. and Lamplough Radiator &
Engineering Co., each with 80 employees on
Edgware Road at Cricklewood, the Grosvenor
Carriage Co. and Humber Ltd. with 70 and
100 employees respectively in Kilburn, and the
British Ensign Motor Co. with 130 at Willesden
Green. (fn. 18) Park Ward opened as high-class coach
builders in Willesden Green in 1919. It was
purchased by Rolls Royce in 1939, and after 1971
as Rolls Royce Motors (Mulliner Park Ward
Division) was one of two factories (together
employing 600 workers in 1977) producing
bodies for Rolls Royce cars. (fn. 19) The number of
motor and cycle makers increased from 12 in
1918 to 32 in 1925 and 63 in 1934. (fn. 20)
Willesden changed from a dormitory exporting workers to a net recipient of incoming
workers after the First World War. It remained
a net recipient, even though many who had
travelled from outside Willesden to work in the
munitions and aircraft factories of Cricklewood
and Park Royal moved into new housing within
Willesden when munitions gave way to light
industry. With the construction of the North
Circular Road factories and council estates were
built along the hitherto empty land of the Brent
valley, linking the existing sites at Cricklewood
and Park Royal. (fn. 21) The number of factories increased from 60 in 1910 to 166 in 1918 and 237 in
1925; (fn. 22) 226 factories and workshops were built
during the period 1922-34 (fn. 23) and by 1939 there
were 461 firms, 57 of which had been established
since 1929 at Staples Corner, (fn. 24) the area at
Cricklewood named from Staples & Co., manufacturers of mattresses, who built their factory at
the junction of the North Circular and Edgware
Road in 1925. (fn. 25) Other firms at Cricklewood
included Rolls Razor, which moved to Edgware
Road from Battersea in 1926; (fn. 26) York Shipley
(after 1956 York Division, Borg-Warner Ltd.),
refrigerator manufacturers, which moved to
the North Circular Road from Regent Street
in 1927 and employed 150 people there in 1978; (fn. 27)
Western Electric Co. (later Westrex), which
opened in 1929 in Coles Green Road, where it
employed c. 100 people in 1978; (fn. 28) and Shepherd
Tobias & Co., which opened its glass works
on the North Circular Road c. 1930, employing
c. 150 workers in 1950. (fn. 29) By 1933 there were 32
factories employing 6,975 people in Cricklewood
and along the North Circular. (fn. 30) The industries
were light, depending upon road transport and
showrooms in London, electrical or engineering
skills, and often recent inventions. Motor cars
and their accessories, wireless, and films featured
among them. (fn. 31)
Industry in Neasden developed during the
1920s and 1930s, partly because of increased
accessibility provided by the North Circular
Road and the widening and straightening of
Neasden Lane in connexion with the Wembley
Exhibition of 1924. By 1933 three firms in
the southern part of Neasden Lane, British
Thomson Houston Co. (electrical engineers), the
Royal Sovereign Pencil Co., and Neasden Waxed
Paper Co., employed 2,500 people. (fn. 32) The last
named had opened in 1926 and employed 230
workers, mostly women, by 1937. (fn. 33) Oxford
University Press was established in Press Road
off the northern part of Neasden Lane by 1932,
primarily as a warehouse for the distribution
of books; 356 people were employed there by
1979. (fn. 34) The Book Centre next to the North Circular opened in 1938 and by the 1970s contained
warehouses with 11,000,000 books and employed
100 staff. (fn. 35) TI Gas Spares (formerly Ascot Gas
Water Heaters) opened a factory on a 15-a. site on
the North Circular at Neasden in 1934 and
employed 400 people there in 1978. (fn. 36) Other
factories on the North Circular at Neasden
included the cosmetic firms Amami Silvikrin
in 1945 and J. Grossmith & Son shortly afterwards. (fn. 37)
In 1928 Hall's Telephone Accessories (later
Associated Automation Ltd.) opened a small
factory in Dudden Hill Lane which expanded
during the Second World War and in 1960, until
by 1974 it employed some 920 people, reduced by
1978 to 600. (fn. 38) By 1939 Church End had become
wholly industrial, with motor body, furniture,
paint, sheet metal, and die-casting works. (fn. 39)
In the absence of town planning Willesden was
saturated by the late 1930s. In 1937 it was
described as the largest manufacturing borough
in Britain. (fn. 40) A survey made after the Second
World War to establish a plan to deal with over-industrialization and over-population found that
there were 445 firms in 1948, compared with 462
in 1939. Over half had been established in the
period 1919-39. Of the 37,000 people employed
within Willesden borough, 30 per cent were
employed at Park Royal, 19 per cent at Cricklewood, 14 per cent at Church End, and the rest in
the residential areas. Only one factory, Smiths of
Cricklewood, employed more than 2,000 people.
There were four others with more than 1,000
employees and twelve with 500-1,000. (fn. 41) In the
older centres industry, commerce, and housing
were mixed together and in those areas of small
industry, like Kilburn and Willesden Green,
three quarters of the workforce, mostly female,
lived locally. (fn. 42) Industry often occupied obsolete
buildings: a third of the premises in use in 1948
had been constructed before 1900, a quarter
between 1919 and 1930. The policy of Willesden
borough, in conjunction with the Greater
London Plan, was to reduce the population and
to move industry out to new towns, especially
from the older, congested areas like Kilburn
which were to become almost wholly residential.
By c. 1960 there were 168 'conforming' firms
employing 36,092 people in Willesden, of which
60 (with 10,861 workers) were at Staples Corner,
52 (with 14,464 workers) at Park Royal, and
26 (with 5,142 workers) in Church End. There
were 345 non-conforming firms with 7,903
workers, mostly small concerns with a short
history. (fn. 43)
Although the total number of factories increased, the number of jobs declined, dropping
from 147,000 in 1967 to 88,000 in 1969 and
contracting still further thereafter. The contraction was part of a national trend but also
reflected local factors. Firms and skilled workers
left the often obsolete and overcrowded Willesden sites for more spacious surroundings. When
large firms moved out the smaller firms dependent on them had to close, and many of them
were encouraged to move by the council's
policy. (fn. 44)
As the skilled white workers left, immigrants,
mostly unskilled from Ireland, the Caribbean,
and the Indian subcontinent, moved in, creating
unemployment at a time when firms were closing
because of the lack of skilled labour. (fn. 45) The initial
attractions of Willesden's proximity to London
were offset by high cost of rents, rates, and
wages. (fn. 46) In 1973 Willesden became a focus of
national attention in the clash over union power
in the film-processing firm of Grunwick at
Church End. Grunwick's was typical of many
firms in the area in reducing its work force, from
nearly 500 in 1973 to c. 250 by 1977. (fn. 47) There
was also a movement away from manufacturing
towards offices and warehousing. Multi-storeyed
office blocks were built along the North Circular
for TI Gas Spares in 1961, (fn. 48) for the E. Alec
Colman Group in 1963, (fn. 49) and for O.U.P. next to
their warehouse in Press Road in 1965. (fn. 50) During
the 1970s vacated factory sites were often used
for warehousing, (fn. 51) and several vacant sites along
the North Circular Road and in Cricklewood
were advertised for warehousing in 1978. As
factories closed the sites were often given over to
other uses.