Finchley Road

Finchley Road, an inner city main road which runs for about 7 kilometres (4.3 miles), is one of the major thoroughfares of north London, England.

Originally named Finchley New 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 Regent's 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 from Finchley. The turnpike ended when it joined the Great North Road as Ballards Lane.

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 was once served by Finchley Road railway station on the Midland Main Line, but that has long-since closed. It is still served by Finchley Road tube station and Finchley Road & Frognal railway station on the North London Line (London Overground).

Finchley Road railway station

Finchley Road railway station was built by the Midland Railway in 1868 on its extension to St. Pancras. Situated at the north end of the Belsize Tunnels, it served the newly developed area of St John's Wood.

For a short period from 1878 and 1880, the MR operated the Super Outer Circle service through the station from St. Pancras to Earl's Court Underground station via tracks through Cricklewood, then using the Dudding Hill Line to South Acton and Hammersmith.

The station was rebuilt in 1884 and closed in 1927. Very little of the station buildings other than rubble remain, though the island platform's contours still determine the track layout. As of February 2009, the station area is being offered for sale with a view to redevelopment.

The present day Finchley Road & Frognal railway station is on the old LNWR line from Willesden to Camden Town which crosses the Midland line a little way north.

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Train station

A train station, railway station, railroad station, or depot (see below) is a railway facility where trains regularly stop to load or unload passengers or freight.

It generally consists of at least one track-side platform and a station building (depot) providing such ancillary services as ticket sales and waiting rooms. If a station is on a single-track line, it often has a passing loop to facilitate traffic movements. The smallest stations are most often referred to as "stops" or, in some parts of the world, as "halts" (flag stops).

Stations may be at ground level, underground, or elevated. Connections may be available to intersecting rail lines or other transport modes such as buses, trams or other rapid transit systems.

Terminology

In the United States, the most common term in contemporary usage is train station. Railway station and railroad station are less frequent; also, American usage makes a distinction between the terms railroad and railway.

In Britain and other Commonwealth countries, traditional usage favours railway station or simply station, even though train station, which is often perceived as an Americanism, is now about as common as railway station in writing; railroad station is not used, railroad being obsolete there. In British usage, the word station is commonly understood to mean a railway station unless otherwise qualified.

Finchley

Coordinates: 51°35′56″N 0°11′13″W / 51.599°N 0.187°W / 51.599; -0.187

Finchley (/ˈfɪntʃli/) is an area of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, 11 km (6.8 mi) north of Charing Cross. It formed an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, becoming a municipal borough in 1933, and has been part of Greater London since 1965.

It is predominantly a residential suburb, with three town centres: North Finchley, East Finchley and Finchley Church End (Finchley Central).

History

Finchley probably means "Finch's clearing" or "finches' clearing" in late Anglo-Saxon; the name was first recorded in the early 13th century. Finchley is not recorded in Domesday Book, but by the 11th century its lands were already held by the Bishop of London. In early medieval period the area was sparsely populated woodland.

Proper farming began in the 12th and 13th centuries and by the 15th and 16th centuries the woods on the eastern side of the parish had been cleared to form Finchley Common. The medieval Great North Road, which ran through the common, was notorious for highwaymen until the early 19th century.

Finchley (UK Parliament constituency)

Finchley was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election; its best-known MP was Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990. Although boundary changes meant that she never again attained her large majority of 1959, and was re-elected by a 10-point margin in 1974, she was nonetheless returned by comfortable (9,000) majorities at General Elections throughout her premiership.

The seat was abolished in 1997 and split between the Finchley and Golders Green and Chipping Barnet constituencies.

Boundaries

1918-1945: The Urban Districts of Finchley and Friern Barnet.

1945-1950: The Municipal Borough of Finchley, part of the Municipal Borough of Hornsey, and part of the Urban District of Friern Barnet.

1950-1974: The Municipal Borough of Finchley, and the Urban District of Friern Barnet.

1974-1997: The London Borough of Barnet wards of East Finchley, Finchley, Friern Barnet, St Paul's, and Woodhouse.