Stanmore
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- See also Stanmore, New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Stanmore is a place in the London Borough of Harrow. It is a suburban development situated 11 miles (18 km) north west of Charing Cross.
The area was recorded in the Domesday Book as Stanmere, the name deriving from the Old English stan, 'stony' and mere, 'a pool'. There are outcrops of gravel on the clay soil here and the mere may have been one of the ponds which still exist.
By 1574 the area had become known as Stanmore the Great to distinguish it from Little Stanmore.
Stanmore railway station was open for train services between 1890 and 1952. Stanmore tube station opened in 1932.
Stanmore had an outstation from the Bletchley Park codebreaking establishment, where some of the Bombes used to decode German Enigma messages in World War Two were housed.
The suburb is characterised by numerous small restaurants and cafés, several public houses, and a handful of boutique-style clothing stores. The centre of Stanmore is dominated by the presence of a large Sainsbury's supermarket. Stanmore's extensive residential areas are leafy and predominantly affluent, with many residents commuting daily to jobs in central London and the City.
Stanmore is home to Stanmore College (a government further education establishment) and a local library. The suburb also hosts the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital - known as RNOH - which is famed for its spinal unit.
Peelite Prime Minister George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (in office December, 1852 – February, 1855) was raised and is buried in Stanmore.
English dramatist, librettist and illustrator; W.S. Gilbert, is buried in Stanmore.
Stanmore has a thriving Jewish community as well as affluent Indian society, including its local synagogue on London Road and now a new Hindu Temple on Wood Lane.
Stanmore is also the birth-place of peroxide Brit-rocker Billy Idol, football coach Dave Bassett, Nikolai Levey(Coldplay producer)and Arsenal footballer Theo Walcott.
[edit] Nearby places
[edit] Transport
Nearest tube station:
Main bus routes:
- H12 (towards Hatch End, Pinner, and South Harrow)
- 142 (towards Watford, Edgware and Brent Cross)
- 340 (towards Harrow and Edgware)
