It is believed Cricklewood is dialect for “Bent Wood”, describing the shape of the wood which originally existed there. In the second half of the 18th century this area became dominated by the railways which first came through Cricklewood in 1868. Huge yards and sidings were created for the Midland Railway which ran to St Pancras. A village of terraced houses was built for railway workers in the 1860s, and the streets were named after senior railway employees. Before the First World War there was a substantial aircraft building business in Cricklewood. The aerodrome was redeveloped in the 1930s.

Deptford is a corruption of the original name which was Depeford, because there was a deep ford here across the River Ravensborne which ran into the Thames. Travellers had to wade across. The area was also known as West Greenwich. Henry VIII’s Royal Naval Dockyard was centred in Deptford. The shipyard also built a yacht for Charles II and equipped Captain Cook’s ship’s before their voyages of discovery. There was a yard next to the dockyard called Royal Victoria Victualling Yard, which later became the foreign cattle market and is now Convoy’s Wharf. Peter the Great, the Czar of Russia, stayed at Deptford and studied shipbuilding there. (Hence, Czar Street). Trinity house was originally based at Deptford.

“Dulwich” apparently is Old English meaning “The meadow where the dill grew”. The manor was bought by Edward Alleyn in 1605. Alleyn was an actor and a part owner of the Fortune and Rose Theatres in London. He would have known Shakespeare. Alleyn decided to use his money to set up a school for poor boys. The Old College was built in 1618 and in 1619 he set up a foundation called the College of God’s Gift at Dulwich to run the school. When he died he left the whole Dulwich estate to the College. Alleyn’s collection of pictures was eventually turned into the Dulwich Picture Gallery. New Dulwich College was built in 1870.

A surprising fact about Chiswick is that it had one of the largest shipbuilding yards in the world in the early part of the 20th century. But Chiswick was a late developer as a residential area. Houses were constructed between the High Road and the river between the First and Second World Wars, but the real house development boom in Chiswick took place after Chiswick Bridge was constructed, and after the Great West Road was extended through the area after the Second World War. Chiswick’s name comes from the old English for “Cheese Farm”. Perhaps if things had worked out differently, we would all be eating chiswick rather than cheddar.

Chiswick still contains many old houses some even from the 17th century. Chiswick House is a large Palladian Villa designed by the Earl of Burlington in the 18th century. It is now maintained by English Heritage. Chiswick Bridge is the finishing line of the University Boat Race.

Ealing means “Territory of the people of Gilla” in Anglo-Saxon. In the 18th century Ealing was a fashionable area for country houses, because it was a secluded rural area, but also close to London. Initially, Georgian houses were built around Ealing Common.. There was further development of residential property south of the Uxbridge Road in the first part of the 19th century. It became a fashionable suburban locality in the 1870s onwards, with mainly rich people building houses in the area. Ealing became more attractive for city businessmen needing to commute daily to London when trams began to run along the Uxbridge Road at the turn of the 20th century, but increased accessibility meant that a great deal of new working-class housing was constructed in the early years of the century too. Ealing Common off the Uxbridge Road is 47 acres in size. Ealing is mainly famous for being the home of Ealing Studios where many famous British films were produced before and after the Second World War, particularly the “Ealing comedies”. The BBC still uses the studios.

The area took its name from the Great Fen outside the original City walls of mediaeval London.  It used to freeze in winter and be used for skating.  Finsbury Fields became a leisure area.  Moor Gate was opened in the City wall to allow easy access to it.  Because it was outside the City walls, it became a place where religious dissenters could live in peace, and Bunhill Fields became their burial ground.  During the Great Plague in the 1660s, it was also used as a huge burial pit, and refugees lived in tents there after the Great Fire had destroyed their homes in the City.  Bethlem Hospital for lunatics was built in Moorfields in the 17th century - “Bedlam” was the colloquial name.  There were several hospitals and it was a centre for the medical profession until they decamped to Harley Street in the late 1800s. John Wesley opened his Methodist Chapel here and regularly preached in the open fields.  The area began to be developed as a residential area in the late 18th century, when Finsbury Square was built.  In the 20th century the area was extensively redeveloped mainly for commercial and office purposes as an overspill from the City.

Golders Green means the village green o the Golders, a somewhat distorted version of the name of the Godyere family who owned land in the area. It was a wooded area in the Middle Ages, but it was cleared in the 18th century to make way for farmers. It was still a secluded area protected from the wholesale residential development of neighbouring areas until 1905 when a tunnel was dug under Hampstead Heath which allowed the Northern Line to reach Golders Green. This led to immediate development of the area into residential housing. The Golders Hill Park remained as a recreational area. Before and after the Second World War it became a particular enclave for refugees from Central Europe.

The name is Anglo-Saxon for “Green port”. Greenwich Palace belonged to the Tudors, and Henry VIII, Queen Mary and Elizabeth I were all born there. James I’s wife built the Queen’s House. During the civil war, the palace was occupied by Oliver Cromwell. King Charles II started building a new palace, but only completed one wing before his death. It is now the Royal Naval College. The Royal Observatory was founded in Greenwich in 1675. In 1884, an international conference set up to establish a common measure for longitude, decided that a meridian line passing through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich should be the prime or zero, from which all others would be measured. The lands surrounding the Palace were turned into a public park as Greenwich Park.

Hackney’s name apparently comes from the Anglo-Saxon for ” kill with a sword or axe”, presumably as in “to hack”. The church tower was built by the Knights Templar in the 14th century. In the 19th century, much of Hackney was market gardens or nurseries. By the 20th century, the whole area had been developed as residential housing for London’s growing population. Housing estates have replaced a lot of the original Georgian and Victorian houses. Dick Turpin used to drink at a the White House public house next to Hackney Marsh. Hackney Marsh was also the site of a victory by Alfred the Great over the Danes – he diverted the river Lea so their ships ran aground. Although most of Hackney’s original open spaces disappeared under new streets and housing, the marsh land was bought for the public in 1893.

Henrietta Barnett bought Wylde’s Farm and turned 243 acres of it into a new residential area. She had a philanthropic plan for people from different walks of life to live together in nice surroundings. She used Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker who had already designed Letchworth Garden City which had been completed three years earlier. Work began in 1907. Other architects, such as Sir Edwin Lutyens designed some of the houses and flats in the central area, as well as St Jude’s Church. There was some segregation of folk, despite the purported aims of the development. Artisan flats were generally built in the north part of the estate, with the middle-classes living in houses in the West, and the richer residents having large houses adjoining Hampstead Heath in the south. The Orchard was intended for old people and Waterlow Court for working women. Unwin stayed at the Wylde’s farmhouse while he worked on the Suburb and then stayed on there till 1940.