Finchley Road
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Finchley Road, which runs for about 7 kilometres/4 miles, is one of the major thoroughfares of north London, England.
It starts (as part of the A41) next to St. John's Wood tube station. It goes north through Swiss Cottage, then bends sharply to the north west. It continues running north west, forming the border between Hampstead and West Hampstead and gradually bends north again at Child's Hill. The A41 diverges westward and Finchley Road becomes the A598. It continues past Golders Green tube station, through Temple Fortune to the North Circular Road. The A598 continues north of the North Circular Road, but changes its name to Regents Park Road.
It was built as a turnpike road in the late 1820s/early 1830s to provide a by-pass to the existing route north from London through Hampstead. The Hampstead route (now the route Haverstock Hill, Rosslyn Hill and North End Road) contained two steep hills either side of Hampstead village and was difficult for horses with carriages to negotiate when muddy.
The new turnpike was built at the same time as the improvements which created Regents Park. It started from what was then called the 'New Road' (now Euston Road, Marylebone Road - the first London bypass) and ran north. As the road crossed the boundary of Finchley, its name became Regents Park Road, indicating the destination of the turnpike as measured from Finchley. The turnpike ended when it joined Ballards Lane and the Great North Road.
There was a tollgate at Childs Hill.
After construction, many grand houses were built along its length, especially near to what are now Fortune Green, Childs Hill and Golders Green.
It remained a major road, the commercial heart of which now lies around Finchley Road tube station and the O2 Centre.
