Day 43
Harrow & Wealdstone - Harrow-on-the-Hill - Hatch End
Although I'm posting it some time after the event, this post actually relates to a trip I made a few weeks ago - rather a whistle-stop tour, taking in a fairly compact area of North West London.
The reason for the delay in posting is that I've had only a little time to spare for Wombling in the past few weeks, as I was in rehearsal, and then performing, a play. The show went very well (thanks for asking) and is now over, which means I can return to my Wombling duties properly.
When I went out on this particular jaunt, I'd just about learnt my lines, so felt justified (particularly since the stations were all relatively close together and it was a sunny day) in taking a little time out to cross them off the list...
So - let's go back in time to the 16th April, and to my first station - Harrow & Wealdstone.
***
Harrow & Wealdstone is a combined Overground and Underground station in the Wealdstone area of the borough of Harrow. The area is named after the 'Weald Stone' - a stone marking the boundary between Harrow and Harrow Weald.
I can't say I'm overly impressed with the immediate surroundings of the station. What was once green fields is now rather drab tarmac and concrete. Other than a few kebab shops, hairdressers and mobile phone repair centres, there's not much to see or do here.
Up the road from the station is the only real bit of colour in the area - a mural painted along a length of wall, depicting various scenes - both historical and social - including a memorial to the victims of what is still the worst rail-crash to occur in peacetime in Britain.
The crash took place on the 8th October 1952, when an express train from Perth crashed into a stationary passenger train, blocking further tracks with its wreckage. Another express train crashed into the Perth train, and 112 people lost their lives, with a further 340 people reporting injuries of one sort or another.
The mural, like many of its type, looks like the work of local schoolchildren, and its primary colours certainly give the area a splash of much needed vibrancy.
Harrow & Wealdstone reportedly has the highest crime rate in the Borough of Harrow, and I'm provided with ample evidence of this as I return to the station after my brief wanderings. A trio of youths are being questioned by an inordinately large number of police officers outside a kebab shop. I have no idea whether a crime has been committed or if this is prevention rather than cure, but the whole picture recalls the similar one I experienced first hand in Bounds Green, and I feel no regret about moving swiftly on to my next stop.
***
And luckily, it's just down the road. Or rather, the track.
Not the same track, sadly, so there's a bit of judicial footwork between stations to get from the one to the other, but before too long I find myself in the fairly salubrious environs of Harrow-on-the-Hill.
Or I would do, if a certain well-known private educational establishment hadn't put their oar in.
I'm actually about half a mile north of Harrow-on-the-Hill, in another part of the borough called Greenhill. It appears that the Governors of Harrow School (more of which anon) objected to the original route planned for the Metropolitan Line, which would have passed more directly through the area from which this station takes its name, and so the station was built here instead.
All this means as far as I'm concerned, is that I don't fancy a half mile trek up the hill simply in order to take a few photos of boys in straw hats. Their loss.
I'll give you a few interesting facts about the school though, just in case you were thinking of sending your offspring there one day...
***
As well as the station, Greenhill has two large shopping precincts, right next door to each other - St Ann's and St George's. The two are connected by a pedestrianized area and, on a sunny day like today, it provides a pleasant place to while away a few hours of retail therapy.
At one end of the pedestrianized area is a statue of a young girl, skipping. The statue was erected to commemorate fifty years of Harrow being a Borough (though what a skipping girl has to do with that, I have no idea) and was unveiled by the Queen.
After a brief stop for lunch, and feeling I've seen all there is to see here, I move on to my final stop of the day - Hatch End.
***
Hatch End, a market town with one main street and not much else, seems in keeping with the rest of the day so far. None of the places I've visited have held my attention for very long, and Hatch End is the shortest stay of the lot.
There's nothing wrong with it - don't get me wrong - I'm sure it's very pleasant and that the people are all lovely. It's just that, as I stroll along The Broadway (the main street) I feel like I've seen this sort of high street hundreds of times before. It's all very nice, but all rather dull.
Even the ever trusty internet fails to dredge up more than a couple of interesting facts about the place.
The comedian Barry Cryer lives somewhere around here, and I suspect that it was long trundling train journeys into London which provided him and the other I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue regulars with the idea for the game Mornington Crescent. I will of course be dealing with the intricate rules of that game when I visit it's namesake station sometime in the not too distant future.
Another famous resident was the cookery writer and fore-runner to today's 'celebrity chefs' - Mrs Beeton.
Her 'Book Of Household Management' became an instant best-seller when it was released in the early 1860s - despite containing some rather odd instructions. I for one won't be boiling my pasta for the recommended hour and forty-five minutes, for example.
And that's really all I can tell you about Hatch End.
It's been an unsatisfactory day in many ways, but at least I've ticked three more stations of the list, and hopefully the next few Hs will have more to offer.
Until then, it's toodle-pip from me.
The reason for the delay in posting is that I've had only a little time to spare for Wombling in the past few weeks, as I was in rehearsal, and then performing, a play. The show went very well (thanks for asking) and is now over, which means I can return to my Wombling duties properly.
When I went out on this particular jaunt, I'd just about learnt my lines, so felt justified (particularly since the stations were all relatively close together and it was a sunny day) in taking a little time out to cross them off the list...
So - let's go back in time to the 16th April, and to my first station - Harrow & Wealdstone.
***
 |
| Harrow & Wealdstone |
I can't say I'm overly impressed with the immediate surroundings of the station. What was once green fields is now rather drab tarmac and concrete. Other than a few kebab shops, hairdressers and mobile phone repair centres, there's not much to see or do here.
Up the road from the station is the only real bit of colour in the area - a mural painted along a length of wall, depicting various scenes - both historical and social - including a memorial to the victims of what is still the worst rail-crash to occur in peacetime in Britain.
 |
| Welcome to Wealdstone |
The crash took place on the 8th October 1952, when an express train from Perth crashed into a stationary passenger train, blocking further tracks with its wreckage. Another express train crashed into the Perth train, and 112 people lost their lives, with a further 340 people reporting injuries of one sort or another.
 |
| Rail Crash Memorial |
The mural, like many of its type, looks like the work of local schoolchildren, and its primary colours certainly give the area a splash of much needed vibrancy.
Harrow & Wealdstone reportedly has the highest crime rate in the Borough of Harrow, and I'm provided with ample evidence of this as I return to the station after my brief wanderings. A trio of youths are being questioned by an inordinately large number of police officers outside a kebab shop. I have no idea whether a crime has been committed or if this is prevention rather than cure, but the whole picture recalls the similar one I experienced first hand in Bounds Green, and I feel no regret about moving swiftly on to my next stop.
***
And luckily, it's just down the road. Or rather, the track.
Not the same track, sadly, so there's a bit of judicial footwork between stations to get from the one to the other, but before too long I find myself in the fairly salubrious environs of Harrow-on-the-Hill.
Or I would do, if a certain well-known private educational establishment hadn't put their oar in.
 |
| Harrow-on-the-Hill Station, though not Harrow-on the-Hill itself |
All this means as far as I'm concerned, is that I don't fancy a half mile trek up the hill simply in order to take a few photos of boys in straw hats. Their loss.
I'll give you a few interesting facts about the school though, just in case you were thinking of sending your offspring there one day...
- The original school was founded to give free (yes, free) education to the children of the parish.
- The current Headmaster is called Jim Hawkins - no relation.
- The game of Squash was invented there, being developed from the earlier game of 'Racquets'.
- Lord Byron went to the school and once plotted to blow up his Headmaster.
- The uniform features a black tie - originally worn in mourning for Queen Victoria, no-one ever thought to instruct the boys to stop wearing it, so they've been obediently putting it on ever since.
- The hat worn by the boys is not, as is commonly assumed, a 'boater' - it is shallower and wider-brimmed. Which I'm sure makes all the difference.
- Famous Old Harrovians include Winston Churchill, as well as six other British Prime Ministers, disgraced politician John Profumo, Terence Rattigan, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Anthony Trollope, Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Curtis, Edward Fox, James Fox and his son Lawrence Fox (although he was expelled because of 'something to do with a girl at a dance', as he describes it) and singer James Blunt.
***
 |
| 50 Years a Borough (not the sequel to 12 Years A Slave) |
At one end of the pedestrianized area is a statue of a young girl, skipping. The statue was erected to commemorate fifty years of Harrow being a Borough (though what a skipping girl has to do with that, I have no idea) and was unveiled by the Queen.
After a brief stop for lunch, and feeling I've seen all there is to see here, I move on to my final stop of the day - Hatch End.
***
Hatch End, a market town with one main street and not much else, seems in keeping with the rest of the day so far. None of the places I've visited have held my attention for very long, and Hatch End is the shortest stay of the lot.
 |
| Hatch End |
There's nothing wrong with it - don't get me wrong - I'm sure it's very pleasant and that the people are all lovely. It's just that, as I stroll along The Broadway (the main street) I feel like I've seen this sort of high street hundreds of times before. It's all very nice, but all rather dull.
 |
| The Broadway - nice, but dull. |
The comedian Barry Cryer lives somewhere around here, and I suspect that it was long trundling train journeys into London which provided him and the other I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue regulars with the idea for the game Mornington Crescent. I will of course be dealing with the intricate rules of that game when I visit it's namesake station sometime in the not too distant future.
Another famous resident was the cookery writer and fore-runner to today's 'celebrity chefs' - Mrs Beeton.
Her 'Book Of Household Management' became an instant best-seller when it was released in the early 1860s - despite containing some rather odd instructions. I for one won't be boiling my pasta for the recommended hour and forty-five minutes, for example.
And that's really all I can tell you about Hatch End.
It's been an unsatisfactory day in many ways, but at least I've ticked three more stations of the list, and hopefully the next few Hs will have more to offer.
Until then, it's toodle-pip from me.
