Showing posts with label Neasden Library. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Neasden Library. Show all posts

Saturday 5 September 2020

The Welsh Harp Reservoir Story – Part 3

Thank you for joining me again, on this third stage of our journey through the history of “the Welsh Harp” (our local reservoir – not the musical instrument!). In Part 2, we saw how the enterprise of W.P. Warner had made the name of his tavern synonymous with the reservoir beside it. This time we’ll explore changes, on and around the reservoir, into the 20th century.


1. The Kingsbury dam and its overflow, c.1900. (Brent Archives online image 1341)

At first, not much changed. The area of water was mainly surrounded by the meadows of local farms, and attracted visitors to the countryside just beyond the expanding urban sprawl of London. Water flowing over the dam to feed the River Brent was a popular sight, across the fields of Gravel Pit Farm at Neasden. West Hendon had developed slightly, but there was still lots of open space nearby.

2. Cool Oak Lane, with its causeway and bridge across the reservoir's northern arm, c.1900.
   (Barnet Local Studies Centre image 3284)

The Metropolitan Railway’s Neasden Works expanded, with a new power station to supply its electric trains, which were introduced from 1905. The Canal Company, which still owned the reservoir, refused to let the Metropolitan use water from its Feeder for cooling purposes, so they had to sink two wells for that purpose. It was the First World War that finally brought more industry to the area.

The airfield at Hendon already had a small aircraft factory, run by the Grahame-White company, when the war broke out in 1914. Other companies making planes for the rapidly developing aerial warfare were soon active in the area, such as the Aircraft Manufacturing Company (“Airco”) in Colindale and Kingsbury, Handley Page in Cricklewood and later Hooper & Co in North Wembley. In 1917, Handley Page designed a prototype seaplane, hoping to sell it to the Royal Navy, and their R200 was test-flown from the Welsh Harp. They did not receive an order, so the seaplane never went into production.


3. Scale drawings of the Handley Page R200 seaplane. (Courtesy of the R.A.F. Museum, Hendon)

By 1917, the slopes of Dollis Hill down to the reservoir were also the home of the Mechanical Warfare Department. Its role was to design and test tanks, for use to try and break the trench warfare stalemate on the war’s western front. By 1918, one of the designs it was working on was a modified version of the Mark IX tank, and on a misty morning in November 1918 the world’s first amphibious tank was tested on the Welsh Harp reservoir. 

4. A Mark IX amphibious tank entering the Welsh Harp, November 1918. (Image from the Tank Museum)
Earlier this year, a friend interested in military history sent me a link to a short film that includes (at the end) footage of this test. It had been used as part of a French article on First World War tanks, and was described as a ‘Duck Tank being tested on the pond of Dolly Hill’! This “top secret” Department remained at Dollis Hill until 1921, before being moved to Hampshire. Its main buildings, surrounded by a high wall, were in the Humber Road area. It is remembered in the street name, Tankridge Road, and a section of the wall remains at Walton Close.




5. Remaining section of Mechanical Warfare Department wall, Walton Close,     Dollis Hill, c.2010.

 6. Aerial view of the reservoir in 1919, with West Hendon beneath the plane’s wing, and Dollis Hill beyond.

The local aircraft industry was badly hit when the Government scrapped its contracts for planes once the war had ended. One company at Hendon made use of the unwanted aircraft to offer pleasure flights to paying customers. The photograph above appeared with an article on the subject in “Flight” magazine, in June 1919, and shows a view across the reservoir to Dollis Hill.

 7. The railway viaduct, seen from the Edgware Road bridge, 1921. (Barnet Local Studies Centre image 871)

The 19th century had seen first canals, then railways, develop as important methods of transport. This scene from 1921, of the Midland Railway viaduct crossing the eastern arm of the reservoir, was soon to change dramatically as the rise of motor vehicles meant a need for better roads. The North Circular Road was constructed during the 1920s to help heavy commercial traffic avoid having to drive through Central London. Its proposed route would take it just south of the Welsh Harp, and by 1926 this section of the reservoir was filled in, and the River Brent put into a culvert, so that the road could pass under the brick arches of the viaduct.

8. New housing at Dollis Hill, and over the reservoir at Kingsbury, late 1920s. (Brent Archives image 570)

The construction of the North Circular Road opened up the northern slopes of Dollis Hill for development, and by the late 1920s new streets were appearing between Brook Road and Links Road. These can be seen in the photograph above, together with what must be the start of the Post Office Research Centre at the top of the hill. Across the reservoir, new suburban homes were also being built in the Church Lane and Wood Lane areas of Kingsbury. In 1928, Willesden Urban District Council bought 40 acres of land on the Kingsbury side of the Welsh Harp, planning to use it as a cemetery, which would lead to disputes that lasted until 1965!

The rapidly growing population at Neasden and Dollis Hill prompted Willesden Council to open a recreation ground on their side of the Welsh Harp. They also built a Neasden branch library, overlooking it, at the corner of Aboyne Road and the North Circular, which opened in 1931. In keeping with a growing fashion for open air activity, this had a reading terrace at first floor level.

 9. The reading terrace at Neasden Library, 1931. (Brent Archives online image 2926)

One of the open air activities which had grown in popularity at the Welsh Harp during the 1920s was “sunbathing”, although it was not popular with everyone. By 1930, there was growing opposition among local residents to the visitors who came to the reservoir’s banks to bathe in the nude. One man complained to the Council that, while walking home to the Edgware Road from Old Kingsbury Church on a Sunday evening, they had come across ‘a bunch of stark naked men…. Hardly a pleasant sight for a man to have to pass with his wife!’

Matters came to a head one weekend in June 1930, when 40 men and women of the Sun-Ray Club (‘some wore no clothes, others wore slips or bathing drawers’) were confronted by a crowd of around 200 local people. Despite the presence of four policemen, who told them that the sunbathers were on private land, with permission from the owner, and that they had no right to interfere, the crowd attacked the bathers and drove them away. Kingsbury Council dealt with the issue in a more dignified way, when they received a deputation (not a new idea) from the National Sun and Air Association in May 1931, although they also decided against sunbathing!

10. Extract from the minutes of a Kingsbury Urban District Council meeting on 6 May 1931. (Brent Archives)

On the reservoir itself, the Brent Sailing Club was formed at the Old Welsh Harp Inn in 1930. A less tranquil use of the water also began the same year, when the London Motor Boat Club held its first speedboat racing event at the Welsh Harp. Larger speedboats were also used to give thrill rides for paying customers, as shown in this newsreel film from 1932.





 11. A motor boat race on the Welsh Harp reservoir in 1937. (From the collection of the late Geoffrey Hewlett)

The 1931 speedboat racing season had celebrity guests at its opening, the aviator Amy Johnson and actress Anna Neagle. Amy had lived at Roe Green for nine months, before the solo flight to Australia that made her famous, and then had a flat at Vernon Court in Hendon Way. By coincidence, it was Anna Neagle who starred as Amy Johnson in a film about her life, after her tragic death in 1941, while flying as a wartime pilot in the Air Transport Auxiliary.

12. Anna Neagle and Amy Johnson at the Welsh Harp, April 1931. (From: ‘Amy Johnson – Queen of the Air’)

The south-east corner of the reservoir saw rapid industrial development along its main roads, and on the reclaimed land, in the late 1920s and through the 1930s. One of the factories by the junction of the North Circular and Edgware Roads made mattresses. The company was Staples, and the busy corner was soon known by that name. The traffic lights here became well-known for the jams that built up, as seen below in 1937.

13. Staples Corner in 1937, with the mattress factory bottom left. (Barnet Local Studies Centre image 4920)

When war came again in 1939, Dollis Hill again had a part to play. Secret underground bunkers were built for the Admiralty at its Citadel office building, on the corner of the Edgware Road and Oxgate Lane, and for the Cabinet at “Paddock”, beneath the Post Office Research Station in Brook Road. It was rumoured that a flying boat was moored on the Welsh Harp, ready to fly Churchill and other key leaders to safety from their reserve War Room if necessary, but I have no proof for that story. It was the research station that developed the first electronic computers, used at Bletchley Park for code-breaking during the war, and Tommy Flowers, who led the team that made them, is remembered by the modern street name, Flowers Close.

14. The aftermath of the West Hendon bombing, February 1941. (Barnet Local Studies Centre image 5105)

It was not those key targets that were hit during the Welsh Harp’s worst bombing raids of the Second World War. Early in 1941, Germany was testing new designs of high-explosive bombs, and dropping a single bomb in a raid, so that its effects could be seen afterwards. One of these exploded above the Ravenstone Road area of West Hendon on the evening of 13 February 1941, flattening 40 homes, killing more than 80 people and making around 1,500 homeless. At the opposite end of the reservoir, a V2 rocket hit one end of Wykeham School in March 1945. Luckily no children were there at the time, but seven people were killed in nearby homes.


Just as it had during the First World War, the reservoir played its part between 1939 and 1945. A Hendon Sea Training Corps was formed in 1941, and its young volunteers learned some boating skills on the Welsh Harp, as well as on land at a school in Algernon Road. Production at many factories was changed, to produce equipment for the war effort. Hickman’s works on the North Circular Road had been shopfitters, but by 1943 their carpenters were building wooden landing craft, which were tested on the reservoir before being handed over to the Royal Navy. LCAs were “Landing Craft, Assault”, which carried a platoon of up to 36 soldiers, from ships around ten miles offshore, onto the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

15. The Hickman's workers aboard a completed landing craft, 1943/44. (Image shared by the son of a worker)

Next weekend we’ll visit the Welsh Harp in more peaceful times. I hope you will join me then, for the final part of this series.

Philip Grant





Thursday 3 May 2012

Brent library visits and issues plummet

The results of a Freedom of Information request by library campaigners on the number of visits and issues at Brent libraries since the closure of six of them have now been released. 

The March figures fit very squarely into the pattern which library campaigners described at last month's meeting with civil servants - usage rose (compared with March 2011) at the two libraries (Kilburn & Town Hall) with increased opening hours, but actually fell at all the other libraries. Total visits and issues at all Brent libraries both fell by some 30% compared with March 2011.

Campaigners now have figures for six months since the closures in October 2011. In those six months, Brent libraries had 20% fewer visits and 21% fewer issues than in the preceding six months. From October 2011 to March 2012 there were 18% fewer visits and 26% fewer issues than in the same months of 2010/11.

Click on righthand bottom corner to see full table Kilburn Library will soon close for 16 weeks for refurbishment at a cost of £650,000.

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Town Hall Library invaded from the south

Brent Town Hall Library is looking a mess at the moment, with books, boxes and bookcases all over the place. The reason? Books and bookcases from Neasden Library have been shipped up Blackbird Hill to the Town Hall following the closure of the library.  The ill-matched furniture will take some sorting out and the books will take even longer.  The Town Hall Library, which was carefully redesigned a while ago with excellent access and circulation space is looking rather a shambles. Staff have been cut as part of the Transformation programme so it may take a little time to get it organised.

In 2013 the whole lot will be packed up again to be transferred to the new Civic Centre Library. Local people from Chalkhill are just waking up to the fact that they will soon lose their local library and will instead have to travel some distance to the Civic Centre. This particularly affects children who were able to go to the Town Hall Library independently.  There is additional concern that the Civic Centre Library will be unavailable on event days and event evenings when large crowds are attending the adjacent stadium  The Stadium is staging an increasing number of events to make money to pay back the building loan. There is speculation about on just how many Saturdays the Civic Centre Library Hub will be closed or inaccessible.

It's not just the Town Hall Library which is a mess!

Monday 24 October 2011

Children miss out on half-term library activities

Half-term holiday and time for children to take part in the much publicised 'Word Up!' events at their local library. Except of course for those who use one of the six libraries closed by the Council.  These are the events that should have happened this week:
  • Monday 24 October: Create your own heritage collage – Tokyngton Library
  • Monday 24 October: Create your own rangoli patterns – Barham Park Library
  • Tuesday 25 October: Handa’s surprise: create your own basket – Kensal Rise Library
  • Tuesday 25 October: Create your own Diwali diya lamp – Neasden Library
  • Thursday 27 October: Create your own Diwali diya lamp – Tokyngton Library
  • Friday 28 October: Create a 3D firework picture – Preston Library
  • Saturday 29 October: Create your own scary Halloween mask – Tokyngton Library

Friday 24 June 2011

Library Campaign moves into top gear - more than half cash target met

A message from Brent SOS Libraries:

With another six  members joining our six month old Save Cricklewood Library Campaign last night and a visit from the Tokyngton Library campaign (who have submitted a 670 signature petition to Brent Council this week) I cannot remember a bigger  or more active Brent campaign in my 30+ years of living in this fantastic  diverse borough. Can anyone else? We are swamped with fundraising events, volunteers, supportive authors and have six very lively local campaigns underway .

We are now close to the legal hearing, which the Council is insisting is heard in July. This is our final push to raise money - together we are over half way to our £30,000 target .Many thanks to all those who have helped and attended recent events,donated books etc.

Can you help with one more push ?

1 Selling Garden Party Tickets - meet  at Cricklewood Library -MONDAY 27 June at 6.30pm

Join Anna, Edward and other supporters in a final push to sell Garden Party tickets door-to -door - at £5 it is a bargain and we only have 72 tickets left

2 Garden Party   Sunday 3 July   121 Anson Road  3-5pm

Tea, cakes and a beautiful garden - what more could you want ?

Come and meet Helen and the Save Cricklewood team - a must for your social calendar

3 Wear your T shirt with pride

Brent SOS Libraries T-shirts will be available from 30 June - just ring or text me on 07866616492 and I will deliver .Beautifully designed in tasteful red and white - certain to be this years fashion item.Only £10 each .

How many do you want? (only large available - but good for snuggling up with a book in  )

4 Philip Pullman

Yes the record -selling author is coming to speak soon in support of Brent SOS LIbraries.

Provisional date ( to be confirmed) 20th July at Queens Park Community School 

5 Preston Quiz - Monday 4 July

Return of the popular quiz - can Cricklewood go one better and win this time? Just turn up at 7.30pm at the Preston Pub, Preston Road .

6 Cricklewood Music Night

Tapping into the local classical musical talent Sonja is organising a musical evening later in July - contact sonjarobin@hotmai.com

7 Any more books ?

We still need book donations l Just let me know and I will collect .There is a picture of Sonja at our Glastonbury bookstall in the local paper this week

8 Protest and Survive

Soon we will be staging a peaceful protest at the court as the library hearing commences - watch this space.


Graham Durham


Saturday 2 April 2011

Despite massive opposition Brent library closures recommended to Executive

The report on the Libraries Strategy which will go to the Executive on April 11th has now been published LINK to Report and Appendices.  It recommends the closure of six libraries despite massive opposition and rejects all the alternative proposals that have been put forward.

82% of respondents said that the rationalisation proposals which include the closures was unreasonable against 11% who thought it was reasonable. 24% of respondents agreed and 61% of respondents disagreed with the broad proposal that Brent Libraries will become community hubs with revised service delivery and funding principles.

The report attempts to undermine these figures by suggesting that respondents are unrepresentative:
8.5 It is therefore all the more important to recall that consultation does not constitute a referendum. There are serious challenges within the consultation feedback as to how representative it is of library users, of non-users, or the borough’s population as a whole. Members should be aware of these shortcomings as they consider the weight they give to the outcomes of the three-month consultation alongside the other drivers for change, including the needs assessment, the available resources and the equalities impact assessment.
8.6 In particular:
• Only 23% of the Borough’s population used a Brent library in the last year (borrowed at least one item during the year and/or accessed ICT services) which is in itself an important challenge for the new library offer. By contrast 87% of respondents to the questionnaire use a library regularly (at least once a month). It proved extremely difficult to engage with non-users and analyse their reasons for not using the libraries, which highlighted the importance of improved marketing of the services available
• respondents focused almost exclusively on the proposals to close six libraries.
Thus Kensal Rise (34%) and Preston (24%) users account for 58% of all questionnaire responses, and 83% of all responses named one of the six. However, all six libraries taken together represent less than 25% of total library visits in 2009/10 (without adjusting usage to account for the temporary closure of Harlesden library)
• some elements of the questionnaire responses are contradictory. For instance, 61% of respondents disagreed with the broad proposal that libraries become community hubs with revised service delivery and funding principles, but 79% of respondents suggest that libraries could also be used as community meeting places and 44% that other public services could share library buildings.
• The population of respondents is significantly different from that of the population of active borrowers, and from that of the Borough as a whole, particularly in relation to ethnicity. 60% of respondents identified as white (45% white British), compared to 32% of active borrowers.
• where it was possible to have a more detailed conversation, for example at the Open Day, or analysing the Red Quadrant research undertaken in October 2010, there are differing opinions about the ambitions for the service, for example concerning the balance between PC availability, quiet space, stock and children’s services.
My claim that young people will be disproportionately  hit by the closures is supported by the Report's figures on young borrowers:
Library Total number of Active Borrowers Number under 19’s %
Barham Park 1800 912 – 51%
Cricklewood 1341 698 – 42%
Kensal Rise 1707 714- 54%
Neasden 2336 1294 – 54%
Preston 3194 1494- 45%
Tokyngton 1496 877- 58%
Total 11874 5989
 The Report considers in detail (Appendix 6) alternative proposal.s It rejects outright proposals to reduce opening hours of all libraries to keep all 12 open, cutting of 'support' costs by 90% and making savings elsewhere.

Specific proposals are given a rating of 1 - 4 as follows: (Click to enlarge)
The report does not recommend consideration of any of these proposals and goes on to reject specific schemes that have been put forward: (Click image to enlarge)

A number of Petitions will be presented to the Executive at their meeting on April 11th which together contain approximately 9,600 signatures although there is likely to be some duplication. Numbers are as follows:
Petition, Lead Petitioner, Approx number of Signatures
Cancel Plans to Close 6 Libraries, Wembley Observer, 124
Keep Cricklewood Library Open, Friends of Cricklewood Library, 1317
Against Closure of Neasden Library, Local Residents, 800
Save Preston Library, Conservative Councillors Colwill and HB Patel, 819
Save Preston Library Campaign, Samatha Warrington, 5897
Stop Labour's Library Closures, LIB Dem Councillor Lorber, 672

These documents are very long and  this is only a quick summary. I would welcome comments about other aspects of the reports from readers and campaigners.