Editing Northwood, London (section)

===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/>