Editing Northwood, London (section)

== History ==
=== Toponymy ===
Northwood was first recorded in 1435 as ''Northwode'', formed from the [[Old English]] 'north' and 'wode', meaning 'the northern wood', in relation to [[Ruislip]].<ref>Mills, Anthony David (2001). ''Dictionary of London Place Names''. [[Oxford University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-19-280106-6}}</ref>

===Early developments===
In the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086, the Northwood-embracing parish of [[Ruislip]] had immense woodland, sufficient to support one parish with 1,500 pigs per year, and a park for wild beasts (parcus ferarum).<ref name=boltonkingwyld/>

The hamlet of Northwood grew up along the north side of the [[Rickmansworth]]-[[Pinner]] road which passes across the north-east of the parish. Apart from this road and internal networks in areas of scattered settlement to the east and west, Ruislip had only three ancient roads of any importance of which Ducks Hill Road was the only one in the Northwood hamlet.  This followed the course of the modern road from its junction with the Rickmansworth road in the northwest corner of the parish. It then ran south through Ruislip village as Bury Street and continued through the open fields as Down Barns Road (now West End Road) to West End in [[Northolt]].<ref name=boltonkingwyld>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22442 |title=Ruislip: Introduction |editor-first1=T F T |editor-last1=Baker |editor-first2=J S |editor-last2=Cockburn |editor-first3=R B |editor-last3=Pugh |first1=Diane K |last1=Bolton |first2=H P F |last2=King |first3=Gillian |last3=Wyld |first4=D C |last4=Yaxley |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1971 |work=A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner |access-date=27 November 2012 }}</ref>

Northwood had a [[manorialism|manorial]] [[Monastic grange|grange]] in 1248, which may have occupied the site of the later Northwood Grange. The monks of the [[Bec Abbey]] who lived at [[Manor Farm, Ruislip|Manor Farm]] in Ruislip in the 11th century owned this grange.<ref name="Bowlt 60"/>  A few cottages at Northwood are mentioned in the 1565 national survey. Two hundred years later the shape of the hamlet, composed of a few farms and dwellings scattered along the Rickmansworth road, had altered little except for the addition of Holy Trinity church.<ref name=boltonkingwyld/>  [[Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury]] had {{convert|568|acres}} of Ruislip cleared of forest.<ref name="Bowlt 60"/>

Northwood, however, elevated and separated from the rest of the parish by a belt of woodland, took until the 19th century to form a village — {{convert|350|acres}} in the manor of St. Catherine's were inclosed under the [[Ruislip Inclosure Act 1769]] ([[9 Geo. 3]]. c. ''67'' {{small|Pr.}}) privatizing land which lay west of Ducks Hill Road, including West Wood (now ''Mad Bess Wood'') which was [[common land|common ground]].  A further {{convert|3000|acres}} of Ruislip parish were inclosed by the [[Ruislip Inclosure Act 1804]] ([[44 Geo. 3]]. c. ''45'' {{small|Pr.}}).<ref name=boltonkingwyld/>  The character of the area in providing for Northwood and Northwood Hills to have the majority of open spaces as opposed to housing land was begun by transfers of open space land to the public as early as 1899.{{#tag:ref|Nearly {{convert|100|acres}} between Copse and Park woods and the Rickmansworth Road were leased by [[King's College, Cambridge|Kings College]] to the Northwood Golf Club in 1899.  Gravel Pits, an area of {{convert|14|acres}} adjoining the golf course to the north-west in the angle of Ducks Hill and Rickmansworth roads, was scheduled by the urban district council in 1905 for preservation as an open space. Between 1905 and 1953 the council acquired a further {{convert|660|acres}} for open spaces, including the area laid down in 1929 as '''Haste Hill Golf Course''' (1927), King's College Fields between Park Avenue and the Pinn (1938), Poors Field between Copse Wood and Ruislip Lido (1939), and Breakspear Road (1949). Permanent preservation of the Manor Farm site and Park and Copse woods was assured by their transference to the [[Middlesex County Council]] and the urban district council in 1932 and 1936 respectively.<ref name=boltonkingwyld/>|group= n}}  The open nature of the district attracted three hospitals to move or establish in this part of the parish: [[Mount Vernon Hospital]], St. Vincent's Orthopaedic Hospital and Northwood, Pinner and District Hospital.{{#tag:ref|Or colloquially: [[Northwood and Pinner Hospital]] in Pinner Road, Northwood|group= n}}<ref name=boltonkingwyld/>

=== Urban development ===
[[File:Houses in Northgate, Northwood - geograph.org.uk - 111167.jpg|thumb|left|Late 20th-century houses in Northwood]]
A land survey of Northwood conducted in 1565 by [[King's College, Cambridge]], the new lords of the manor of Ruislip, recorded ten houses and several farms.<ref name="Bowlt 60">Bowlt 2007, pp.59–60</ref>

By 1881, the population of Northwood had reached 257, with 62 houses recorded<ref name="Bowlt 65"/> from 41 people in 1841.<ref name=boltonkingwyld/>  David Carnegie owned the large [[Eastbury Park, Northwood|Eastbury Park Estate]] in the north of the area in 1881. In 1887, the [[Metropolitan Railway]] was extended from [[Harrow-on-the-Hill]] to [[Rickmansworth]] and Carnegie sold his land to Frank Carew{{#tag:ref|Frank Murray Maxwell Hallowell Carew|group= n}} for development for £59,422.<ref name="Bowlt 65">Bowlt 2007, p.65</ref> [[Northwood station]] opened in August that year.<ref name="Bowlt 60"/>  Carew stipulated the prices for the new housing he had built, with the cottages along the west side of the High Street priced at £120. He had hoped these would be owned by the staff of the larger houses. The High Street itself had been a track leading on from Rickmansworth Road to Gate Hill Farm.<ref name="Bowlt 69">Bowlt 2007, p.69</ref> The first shops opened in 1895 on the east side of the road, and included a hairdresser, butchers and a fishmongers.<ref name="Bowlt 70">Bowlt 2007, p.70</ref> Carew sold the majority of the estate to George Wieland in 1892.<ref name="Bowlt 60"/>

By 1902, the population had reached 2,500 in 500&nbsp;houses and running 36&nbsp;shops.<ref name="Bowlt 60"/> In 1904, the Emmanuel Church opened in Northwood Hills, designed by Sir [[Frank Elgood]], a local architect. It had been built in 1895, originally to serve as a school.<ref>Bowlt 2007, p.61</ref> Elgood later served as chairman of the [[Ruislip-Northwood Urban District|Ruislip-Northwood Urban District Council]].<ref name="Bowlt 70"/>

[[File:Northwood-Pinner Cottage Hospital - geograph.org.uk - 1494380.jpg|thumb|Northwood and Pinner Cottage Hospital, built in 1926]]
[[Northwood and Pinner Cottage Hospital]] was built in 1926 as a memorial to the [[World War I|First World War]], using donations from the Ruislip Cottagers' Allotments Charity.<ref>Bowlt 1994, p.46</ref>

Northwood is home to [[Northwood Headquarters]], in the grounds of Eastbury Park, the estate purchased by David Carnegie in 1857. The [[Royal Air Force]] took over the site in 1939 for the use of [[RAF Coastal Command]] which made use of Eastbury house and also created a network of underground bunkers and operations blocks, at which time the house was used as the leading Officers' Mess, though was subsequently damaged by fire.<ref>Bowlt 1994, p.62</ref> The RAF vacated the site in 1969, and it is now the location of the [[British Armed Forces]] Permanent Joint Headquarters ([[PJHQ]]) for planning and controlling overseas [[military operation]]s, together with the [[NATO]] Maritime Command.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/WhatWeDo/DoctrineOperationsandDiplomacy/PJHQ/NorthwoodHeadquarters.htm |title=Northwood Headquarters |year=2011 |publisher=Ministry of Defence |access-date=11 April 2011}}</ref>

A new community centre on the town's high street, replacing an older building, was officially opened by the local MP [[Nick Hurd]] in September 2012. The new building was named the Kate Fassnidge Community Centre after the Uxbridge landowner who donated some of her land to the borough, and replaced a derelict dining club that had originally been a Ritz cinema.<ref>{{cite news |title=New community centre opens in Northwood |last=Proctor |first=Ian |url=http://www.uxbridgegazette.co.uk/west-london-news/local-uxbridge-news/2012/09/19/new-community-centre-opens-in-northwood-113046-31860055/ |newspaper=Uxbridge Gazette |date=19 September 2012 |access-date=21 April 2013}}</ref>