The
final part of this local history series by Margaret Pratt. (Thank you very much for this series Margaret which has aroused a lot of interest. I hope to publish more about the history of our various Brent communities)
Last
week, in Part 2, we looked at local landmark buildings, many from
the 19th century. In this final part we move to the 20th
century, especially the industrial development of the area.
Before
the First World War, Church End and Chapel End had many small workshops and
businesses which depended on the reliance on horse power, in agriculture, and
in everyday life in the village. Stablemen, grooms, blacksmiths and farriers,
suppliers of horse-drawn vehicles, saddles and tack were all living and working
in the area. Gradually the horse was overtaken by the motor vehicle, and
businesses had to adapt.
Many
coachbuilders and blacksmiths reinvented themselves and opened garages and
motor engineering works, using the skills they had already learned. Other
small-scale industries included stonemasons, sawmills, cycle makers,
shoemakers, and printers, who were established in the area from the 1880s
onwards.
1. 20th century industrial developments, added to a sketch map
of the district based on the 1895 O.S. map.
Church
End had large areas of land which had not been sold for housebuilding, unlike
Willesden Green (where terraces of small houses filled most of the farmland).
These local fields were opened up by companies such as British Thomson-Houston,
the electrical engineering firm. In 1913 BTH built its workshops on the cricket
field, north of St. Mary’s vicarage, starting the area’s industrialisation.
This continued after the war, when jobs for the returning soldiers were in
short supply, and large-scale industries began to fill the gaps.
British Thomson-Houston was a subsidiary of the American
General Electric Company. They had opened a factory in Rugby in 1899, making electric
lamps, turbines and electrical systems. Their Willesden plant specialised in
switch-gear equipment, (a collection of circuit breakers, fuses and switches,
needed to control electrical systems). By 1919 it employed 462 people.
2. Aerial view of the British Thomson-Houston factory in
Neasden Lane, 1953. (Brent Archives
image 2409)
Before and during the Second World War, the factory
diversified, producing lighting, radio and signalling equipment for the Royal
Navy, and helping the RAF’s success in the Battle of Britain with their
magnetos, compressors and starting switches. In 1949, around 2,000 people were
working at its Church End factory.
3. Two scenes from the Dallmeyer optical works, c.1910. (Brent Archives online images 2711 and
2718)
J.H.
Dallmeyer, makers of optical instruments and
precision lenses, was founded by a German immigrant in 1860. The company first came
to Denzil Road, Church End, from Central London in 1907, moving to Willesden
High Road in 1920, and building extensions to their works in 1945 and 1952. By
1979 the business employed around 90 people, manufacturing high-precision
optical products, hopefully in more comfortable conditions than in the early
years! It was taken over by a larger company in the 1980s, but Dallmeyer lenses
are still highly collectable.
4. A Dallmeyer advertisement for
one of their photographic lenses, 1914. (Image
from the internet)
Next
to Dallmeyers was Chromoworks, high class printers and lithographers. The lithographers had an unusual assignment after World
War Two. The Directors of Lyons Tea Shops wanted to spruce up their premises,
but decorating materials were in short supply. They commissioned famous artists
to produce paintings of post-war Britain, to be made into poster-sized prints,
at Chromoworks.
The prints were large
enough to cover as much of the shabby decor as possible. Three series of prints
were produced, from work by Lowry, John Piper, Edward Bawden, John Nash, and
many others, 40 artists in all. The scheme was a great success, and the prints
appeared in Lyons tea shops all over Britain. They were also on sale to the
public, and provided Chromoworks with plenty of work from 1946 to 1955. The
prints are still collectors’ items, and have been shown in art exhibitions.
5. A Lyons Tea Shop with prints on
its walls, and a lithograph of Shopping in Mysore by Edward Ardizzone.
(Images from the internet - © the Towner
Collection)
The
land occupied by Church End Paddocks was purchased by Messrs Park and Ward, in
1919, for their Park Ward coachbuilding business. Despite Henry Ford’s assembly
line method for making motor cars in America, many British cars, especially for
wealthy drivers, were still built to individual designs on a manufacturer’s chassis.
Below are before and after views, showing a drophead coupé sports car built on
an MG chassis at the Park Ward works in 1936. In 1939, the business was sold to Rolls
Royce, who had been a major customer. It traded as their Mulliner Park Ward
Division, an important employer in Willesden until the 1980s.
6. Before
and after photographs, showing the coachbuilding skills of Park Ward, 1936. (Images from internet)
On the
Cobbold Estate with Rolls Royce were several other manufacturing concerns. The Adelphi
Works, of Heaton Tabb & Co, were famous for luxury decorating and
furnishing, used in passenger liners, hotels and restaurants. Nearby were the Trojan
Works, and the North London Engineering Company, producing bus and
heavy goods vehicle bodies.
7. A Heaton Tabb advertisement from 1936, listing Willesden
as one of their workshops. (From
the internet)
With the need for local skilled
workers, Willesden Technical College opened in 1934 at Denzil Road, off
Dudden Hill Lane. The College provided courses formerly taught at the
Polytechnic in Kilburn, and also included courses in art and building. In
1964, the College took over the buildings of Dudden Hill Lane school, on the
corner of Cooper Road, one of Willesden's wonderful three-decker Board Schools,
built in the early 20th century.
The sites became part of the College
of North West London in 1991. The new Telford building, in Denzil Road, opened
in 2009. The Edison building in Dudden Hill Lane was demolished in 2015, now
replaced by state-of-the-art facilities for technology education, from access
courses, BTECH and GCSE, to foundation degrees and other Higher Education
qualifications. Around 8000 students presently attend courses there.
8. An aerial view of Willesden Technical College, Denzil
Road, 1930s. (From “The
Willesden Survey – 1949”)
Cliff Wadsworth, a Willesden local history
expert, attended 'The Tech' between 1951 and 1954. He remembers that his walk
to Denzil Road in the morning was accompanied by the sound of a blacksmith’s
hammer, clanging away in the smithy on Dudden Hill. How times have changed!
Church End was one of four Willesden districts where heavy industry was
prevalent. The others were Park Royal, Cricklewood and Kilburn. By 1936, Church
End was almost wholly industrial. In 1937, Willesden as a whole was described
as “the largest manufacturing borough in Britain.” 14% of Willesden’s
population were employed at Church End and Chapel End by 1939.
9. Map showing where in Willesden people were willing to move
from to a New Town. (Willesden
Survey 1949)
After
the war, the Greater London Plan of 1950 recognised the over-industrialisation and
poor housing conditions of areas such as Church End and Chapel End. It proposed
moving some firms and their employees to a New Town, being developed at Hemel
Hempstead. The Willesden Survey of 1949 had found that 49% of Willesden’s
entire population would be willing to move immediately (36% out of London), if
housing and employment were available. They would expect wages of at least £5
per week, wanted a 3-bedroom house (preferably detached) and expected to pay
rent of between £1 and 24 shillings a week for this.
10. Two ladies (from Willesden?) chatting in Hemel
Hempstead New Town, 1954. (From the
internet)
Many
skilled people, particularly younger workers and their families, were persuaded
to move. In all, twenty-six firms, employing 5,000 workers, moved out of
Willesden, including to other New Towns, such as Harlow, Stevenage and Welwyn
Garden City. The vacated factory sites and workshops were given over to
warehouses, retail outlets, trading area, builders merchants, and other
non-manufacturing concerns.
British Thomson-Houston remained in Willesden into
the 1960s, with its name changed to GEC.AEI, but was suffering from falling
sales. Hansard records a speech in Parliament on 28 February 1969, by Laurie
Pavitt, the MP for Willesden West:
‘I raise this matter
affecting 1,100 families in my constituency, namely the proposed closure of
GEC.AEI switchgear factory, Neasden Lane, Willesden. What can be done to keep
it going? I am aware that the industry is facing a falling market, yet the
Willesden factory managed to increase its share from 10% to15%, in 1968. There
should be recognition for their efforts. The problem is that there have been
5,187 redundancies and 37 factories in Willesden completely closed down. Many
valuable teams of skilled workers will be dispersed and uprooted. This is a
fine factory. It is a gem of a factory. It is an asset for the nation ....’
Sadly, even Mr. Pavitt's eloquence could not
prevent the factory’s closure in the early 1970s.
By the 1950s, the streets on the west side of
Church Road, between Craven Park and Neasden Lane, were deemed fit for
redevelopment. The Council purchased properties from 1963, and work began in
the 1970s. Large houses at the Craven Park end were swept away first, and
Church Road was widened into a dual carriageway, and carried straight on to a
roundabout at the Neasden Lane junction, near St Mary's Church. The north end
of Church Road remained, curving right towards the White Hart Public House.
11. “Resiform" flats on the 1970s Church End Estate. (From Flickr, on the internet)
The Church End Estate was completed by 1980,
as far as Talbot Road, although the flats built using the “Resiform” system
(with fibreglass exterior panels) have since had to be demolished. A second
wave of improvements were made in the 1990s. The estate has a mix of low-rise
flats and family houses with gardens, some are privately owned, some social
housing. There is a large Community Centre, sheltered accommodation for the
elderly, children's playgrounds, and the modern St Mary’s Primary School in Garnet
Road. Unfortunately, there is no shopping centre, so residents have to cross to
the east side of Church Road, where parades of small shops have survived since
the late 19th century.
12. Two views of the Church End Estate, including the Unity
Centre, July 2020. (Photos by Margaret
Pratt)
The story continues. As the population grows, and new
building continues, it is easy to forget what has gone before, to lose track of
our history, and how the places we know became what they are today. I hope
you’ve enjoyed uncovering the history of Church End and Chapel End.
