Bacon's Atlas of London & suburbs, c1912 : Willesden - Cricklewood - Hendon
A page from the wonderfully detailed Bacon's Atlas of London & Suburbs, this being dated from c1912 by one of the 'special maps' bound in at the front of the atlas. The bulk of London is covered in a series of map sheets at 4" to the mile and is very detailed giving a clear indication of the pre-WW1 city, in its full Victorian and Edwardian splendour but before the massive inter-war expansion into 'Metroland' and similar suburbs.
Bacon's was formed by one George Washington Bacon (1830–1922), an American who set up business in London producing atlases and maps of the capital in about 1870 after a series of business failures. G W Bacon prospered and in c1900 were acquired by the Scottish publishers and cartographers W.& A.K. Johnston of whom they became a subsidiary.
This is the western half of sheet 5 and covers the existing settlements of Willesden and Willesden Green along with Cricklewood, Neasden and Hendon - the latter still being somewhat separate from the Metropolis but, thanks the railways and tramway routes shown, rapidly being drawn into the suburban spawl that was covering the once rural fields of Middlesex. The name 'Willesden Paddocks' hints at the centuries old use that was about to be swept away.
The railways are very dominant here with the LNWR's main West Coast line clipping the lower corner and the Metropolitan Railway, progenitor of 'Metroland' running almost east - west here on its way from Baker St to the Chilterns. The village of Neasden has begun to change thanks to the Met's main works, and workers housing, being situated here and in the 1930s with the coming of the North Circular Road, it would truly become part of the suburbs. The other main line, parallelling Edgware Rd (that would become the A5) is the Midland main line and this includes the little used (for passenger traffic) Midland & South Western Joint line, the Dudding Hill line.
The Brent Reservoir, the "Welsh Harp", dominates the valley of the River Brent and this 'no mans land' would become dominated in time by industries alongside the NCR most famously recalled in Staples Corner where the A406 met the A5. These were joined in time by the M1 motorway and Brent Cross developments of the 1960s.
Bacon's Atlas of London & suburbs, c1912 : Willesden - Cricklewood - Hendon
A page from the wonderfully detailed Bacon's Atlas of London & Suburbs, this being dated from c1912 by one of the 'special maps' bound in at the front of the atlas. The bulk of London is covered in a series of map sheets at 4" to the mile and is very detailed giving a clear indication of the pre-WW1 city, in its full Victorian and Edwardian splendour but before the massive inter-war expansion into 'Metroland' and similar suburbs.
Bacon's was formed by one George Washington Bacon (1830–1922), an American who set up business in London producing atlases and maps of the capital in about 1870 after a series of business failures. G W Bacon prospered and in c1900 were acquired by the Scottish publishers and cartographers W.& A.K. Johnston of whom they became a subsidiary.
This is the western half of sheet 5 and covers the existing settlements of Willesden and Willesden Green along with Cricklewood, Neasden and Hendon - the latter still being somewhat separate from the Metropolis but, thanks the railways and tramway routes shown, rapidly being drawn into the suburban spawl that was covering the once rural fields of Middlesex. The name 'Willesden Paddocks' hints at the centuries old use that was about to be swept away.
The railways are very dominant here with the LNWR's main West Coast line clipping the lower corner and the Metropolitan Railway, progenitor of 'Metroland' running almost east - west here on its way from Baker St to the Chilterns. The village of Neasden has begun to change thanks to the Met's main works, and workers housing, being situated here and in the 1930s with the coming of the North Circular Road, it would truly become part of the suburbs. The other main line, parallelling Edgware Rd (that would become the A5) is the Midland main line and this includes the little used (for passenger traffic) Midland & South Western Joint line, the Dudding Hill line.
The Brent Reservoir, the "Welsh Harp", dominates the valley of the River Brent and this 'no mans land' would become dominated in time by industries alongside the NCR most famously recalled in Staples Corner where the A406 met the A5. These were joined in time by the M1 motorway and Brent Cross developments of the 1960s.