diamond geezer

 Sunday, October 27, 2024

Four tube stations are named after country lanes, the longest of which is Rayners Lane in Harrow. What's more it still follows exactly the same meandering path across two miles of suburbia as it did when everything was fields. So I've walked it.

Everything out here was fields until the 1920s, eight square miles of entirely undeveloped agricultural land between Northolt and Ruislip where the only buildings were a few scattered farmsteads. One of the handful of country lanes threading through was an unhurried backwater running approximately north-south connecting Marsh Road in Pinner to Eastcote Lane in Roxeth (now better known as South Harrow). In the mid 19th century the fields alongside belonged to Daniel Hill, a farmer from Pinner, who built a single set of cottages midway where his labourers could live. George Rayner and his family moved into these buildings in 1841, and being the sole inhabitants hereabouts the lane became known as Rayner's Lane.



The Metropolitan Railway carved through in the early 1900s, initially without stopping, but in 1906 a lonely apostrophe-less halt was built on Rayners Lane. Hardly anyone used it, and when the District line extended from Ealing in 1910 it became known as Pneumonia Junction due to its windswept rural location. Only in the 1930s did Metro-land's developers finally invade with the building of their flagship project Harrow Garden Village, boasting "houses of different types by well-known builders at popular prices", balanced out to the south of the railway by the similarly vast Tudor estate. By the end of the decade passenger numbers had rocketed to four million annually and lowly Rayner's Lane was entirely unrecognisable, but still there.



Here's where it starts, at a mini-roundabout on the main-ish road out of Pinner, alongside an entrance to the very lovely Pinner Village Gardens. The flats on the corner aren't typical and soon make way for chains of broad semis with timbered gables and bay windows, adequate parking and perhaps a well-tended dash of shrubbery. But no single design predominates, true to the developers' original boast of "no stereo-typed layouts", even down to the very occasional interspersed detached. Small crescents of green have been retained as a nod to the rural past, generally encircled by roadways. Also the house numbers here are in the mid 600s, this an indication of quite how long Rayners Lane is going to be, passing into the 500s as the road crosses a low ridge and descends into a very obvious valley.



The river at the bottom of the slope is the Yeading Brook, a lengthy tributary of the Crane, which once lingered awhile in a small pool beside the lane but now passes through in a leafy channel more suitable for the reduction of flood risk. The linear woodland to either side is called Yeading Walk and is overseen by one of the lovely community groups which proliferate in this corner of Harrow. Bring your gloves and secateurs to the main wooden bridge every Saturday to help with horticultural maintenance or buy your £1 Super Draw tickets for a chance to win £25,000 and/or an iPhone. The lane climbs again beyond the sponsored roundabout, as Metro-Landy as ever, where special mention is due to the residents at number 526 who've surrounded their wheelie-bin store with a potted display of pink and white perennials.



This understated crossroads is where George Rayner's farm cottage once stood, roughly on the corner where the bungalows are. The sole clue to its existence is that the street off to the right is called Farm Avenue (and at a stretch, perhaps, that the school behind is called Longfield Primary). It would have taken extraordinary vision back then to picture the mud-splattered lane embellished with lampposts, belisha beacons, electricity substations, junction boxes, 'No Cold Calling' signs, 20mph speed limits and a tiny prep school across the hedge with red-capped boys spilling out into their parents' 4×4s before milking time. As for the presence of a significant shopping centre just to the south with his name attached, George's mind would have boggled.



That's George's cottage on the inn sign outside the Rayners Hotel, later The Rayners public house, a Truman hostelry opened in 1937. It no longer pulls pints having been bought out by Christ The Redeemer College, a place to study Ministry and/or IT and/or Business Studies, but they can't tweak the interior too much because it's listed. The retail mix along the main parade is typically Middlesex/South Asian, so Wetherspoons as well as Shambu's Juice Bar, Wenzels as well as Roti Hut and fried chicken as well as paneer and eggless cakes. A special mention to Harrow council who've already managed to attach a red poppy to every single lamppost hereabouts. An even more special mention to the tube station, one of Charles Holden's trademark brick cubes, its waffle-shaped reinforced concrete roof now only visible through pigeon netting. Most lovely.



Alexandra Avenue is the main road south, a key arterial in the developers' overall masterplan, but the original alignment of Rayners Lane still exists as the service road round the back. Turn off down the slope beside what used to be Tonino's diner and prepare to be underimpressed. Round the front is the utterly extraordinary Art Deco-ness of the former Grosvenor Cinema, now headquarters of the Zoroastrian Trust, but all you see back here is an all-brick rear entrance and a grubby car park with a £125 clamping penalty. Alternatively charge your e-moped at Ali Garage, purchase mystery fillets at Super Seller Fishmonger or sign up for cricket and darts behind the conifers at Harrow Town Sports Club (est 1934). It's nigh impossible to imagine this with haycarts and cows.



Now the residential zigzagging begins. The original Rayner's Lane made four right-angled turns to negotiate the edge of a field so today's Rayners Lane does that too, now lined by broad Tudorbethan semis with pronounced gables in vanilla shades. Front gardens are generally two-cars wide (and used for that purpose), but still with sufficient space for Harrow's three coloured bins. The H12 bus rumbles through every 10 minutes in case you live in Stanmore and want to rock down and see all this from a double decker. After the second bend the lane heads noticeably downhill and also forwards in time as the adjacent houses suddenly leap into the 21st century. This patch used to be a fairly miserable postwar council estate but was transferred to a housing association in 2002 who undertook an unusually successful round of 'decant and upgrade'. I still can't work out if the Costcuter supermarket is a spelling error or deliberate avoidance of trademark.



The sports ground on the last corner belongs to the Tithe Farm Social Club, established in 1933 and built on the site of a rifle range which once used to be the only other thing down Rayner's Lane. Today it's home to Rayners Lane FC and Broadfields United, two football teams whose home games alternate (and who yesterday managed a home win and an away draw respectively). If the facilities look relatively well off it's likely because they sold off their tennis courts for housing. Alongside is Newton Farm Ecology Park, a former council depot made good and the source of the little-known Roxbourne river. Their volunteer group meets every Saturday to tidy up and appears to have a particular litter-picking fixation. Much respect to Peter Davies who's filled a noticeboard with the results of his recent month-long beercan survey which revealed that Budweiser (219) was the most-chucked, closely followed by Carlsberg Special Brew (160) and Holsten Pils (129), although he only found a single Kopparberg strawberry and lime.



After all that newness it's time for the semis to return, not quite so appealingly but we're a long way from the station now. At number 44 a chunk of pebbledash has fallen off revealing a pitted blue plaster shell underneath. The main point of interest here is the Roxbourne Complex, a cluster of community health facilities including a GP practice, High Dependency Unit and mental health care centre. This was built on the site of Harrow Isolation Hospital which opened in 1896 for the "reception of cases of scarlet fever, diphtheria, enteric fever and Asiatic cholera", and was only the second building to appear on Rayner's Lane. This ends close by at another small roundabout where it leaks onto Eastcote Lane and Roxeth Green Avenue, the last of which was just a footpath when the hospital opened.



Having walked all two miles I'm still amazed I was precisely following a country lane that George Rayner would have known in the 1840s. I'm perhaps more amazed that an illiterate labourer who lived in poverty ended up giving his name to a road, then a station, then an entire suburb as if he were once a person of importance. There's fame and then there's having your name on every copy of the tube map.


click for Older Posts >>


click to return to the main page


...or read more in my monthly archives
Jan24  Feb24  Mar24  Apr24  May24  Jun24  Jul24  Aug24  Sep24  Oct24
Jan23  Feb23  Mar23  Apr23  May23  Jun23  Jul23  Aug23  Sep23  Oct23  Nov23  Dec23
Jan22  Feb22  Mar22  Apr22  May22  Jun22  Jul22  Aug22  Sep22  Oct22  Nov22  Dec22
Jan21  Feb21  Mar21  Apr21  May21  Jun21  Jul21  Aug21  Sep21  Oct21  Nov21  Dec21
Jan20  Feb20  Mar20  Apr20  May20  Jun20  Jul20  Aug20  Sep20  Oct20  Nov20  Dec20
Jan19  Feb19  Mar19  Apr19  May19  Jun19  Jul19  Aug19  Sep19  Oct19  Nov19  Dec19
Jan18  Feb18  Mar18  Apr18  May18  Jun18  Jul18  Aug18  Sep18  Oct18  Nov18  Dec18
Jan17  Feb17  Mar17  Apr17  May17  Jun17  Jul17  Aug17  Sep17  Oct17  Nov17  Dec17
Jan16  Feb16  Mar16  Apr16  May16  Jun16  Jul16  Aug16  Sep16  Oct16  Nov16  Dec16
Jan15  Feb15  Mar15  Apr15  May15  Jun15  Jul15  Aug15  Sep15  Oct15  Nov15  Dec15
Jan14  Feb14  Mar14  Apr14  May14  Jun14  Jul14  Aug14  Sep14  Oct14  Nov14  Dec14
Jan13  Feb13  Mar13  Apr13  May13  Jun13  Jul13  Aug13  Sep13  Oct13  Nov13  Dec13
Jan12  Feb12  Mar12  Apr12  May12  Jun12  Jul12  Aug12  Sep12  Oct12  Nov12  Dec12
Jan11  Feb11  Mar11  Apr11  May11  Jun11  Jul11  Aug11  Sep11  Oct11  Nov11  Dec11
Jan10  Feb10  Mar10  Apr10  May10  Jun10  Jul10  Aug10  Sep10  Oct10  Nov10  Dec10 
Jan09  Feb09  Mar09  Apr09  May09  Jun09  Jul09  Aug09  Sep09  Oct09  Nov09  Dec09
Jan08  Feb08  Mar08  Apr08  May08  Jun08  Jul08  Aug08  Sep08  Oct08  Nov08  Dec08
Jan07  Feb07  Mar07  Apr07  May07  Jun07  Jul07  Aug07  Sep07  Oct07  Nov07  Dec07
Jan06  Feb06  Mar06  Apr06  May06  Jun06  Jul06  Aug06  Sep06  Oct06  Nov06  Dec06
Jan05  Feb05  Mar05  Apr05  May05  Jun05  Jul05  Aug05  Sep05  Oct05  Nov05  Dec05
Jan04  Feb04  Mar04  Apr04  May04  Jun04  Jul04  Aug04  Sep04  Oct04  Nov04  Dec04
Jan03  Feb03  Mar03  Apr03  May03  Jun03  Jul03  Aug03  Sep03  Oct03  Nov03  Dec03
 Jan02  Feb02  Mar02  Apr02  May02  Jun02  Jul02 Aug02  Sep02  Oct02  Nov02  Dec02 

jack of diamonds
Life viewed from London E3

» email me
» follow me on twitter
» follow the blog on Twitter
» follow the blog on RSS

» my flickr photostream

twenty blogs
our bow
arseblog
ian visits
londonist
broken tv
blue witch
on london
the great wen
edith's streets
spitalfields life
linkmachinego
round the island
wanstead meteo
christopher fowler
the greenwich wire
bus and train user
ruth's coastal walk
round the rails we go
london reconnections
from the murky depths

quick reference features
Things to do in Outer London
Things to do outside London
London's waymarked walks
Inner London toilet map
20 years of blog series
The DG Tour of Britain
London's most...

read the archive
Oct24  Sep24
Aug24  Jul24  Jun24  May24
Apr24  Mar24  Feb24  Jan24
Dec23  Nov23  Oct23  Sep23
Aug23  Jul23  Jun23  May23
Apr23  Mar23  Feb23  Jan23
Dec22  Nov22  Oct22  Sep22
Aug22  Jul22  Jun22  May22
Apr22  Mar22  Feb22  Jan22
Dec21  Nov21  Oct21  Sep21
Aug21  Jul21  Jun21  May21
Apr21  Mar21  Feb21  Jan21
Dec20  Nov20  Oct20  Sep20
Aug20  Jul20  Jun20  May20
Apr20  Mar20  Feb20  Jan20
Dec19  Nov19  Oct19  Sep19
Aug19  Jul19  Jun19  May19
Apr19  Mar19  Feb19  Jan19
Dec18  Nov18  Oct18  Sep18
Aug18  Jul18  Jun18  May18
Apr18  Mar18  Feb18  Jan18
Dec17  Nov17  Oct17  Sep17
Aug17  Jul17  Jun17  May17
Apr17  Mar17  Feb17  Jan17
Dec16  Nov16  Oct16  Sep16
Aug16  Jul16  Jun16  May16
Apr16  Mar16  Feb16  Jan16
Dec15  Nov15  Oct15  Sep15
Aug15  Jul15  Jun15  May15
Apr15  Mar15  Feb15  Jan15
Dec14  Nov14  Oct14  Sep14
Aug14  Jul14  Jun14  May14
Apr14  Mar14  Feb14  Jan14
Dec13  Nov13  Oct13  Sep13
Aug13  Jul13  Jun13  May13
Apr13  Mar13  Feb13  Jan13
Dec12  Nov12  Oct12  Sep12
Aug12  Jul12  Jun12  May12
Apr12  Mar12  Feb12  Jan12
Dec11  Nov11  Oct11  Sep11
Aug11  Jul11  Jun11  May11
Apr11  Mar11  Feb11  Jan11
Dec10  Nov10  Oct10  Sep10
Aug10  Jul10  Jun10  May10
Apr10  Mar10  Feb10  Jan10
Dec09  Nov09  Oct09  Sep09
Aug09  Jul09  Jun09  May09
Apr09  Mar09  Feb09  Jan09
Dec08  Nov08  Oct08  Sep08
Aug08  Jul08  Jun08  May08
Apr08  Mar08  Feb08  Jan08
Dec07  Nov07  Oct07  Sep07
Aug07  Jul07  Jun07  May07
Apr07  Mar07  Feb07  Jan07
Dec06  Nov06  Oct06  Sep06
Aug06  Jul06  Jun06  May06
Apr06  Mar06  Feb06  Jan06
Dec05  Nov05  Oct05  Sep05
Aug05  Jul05  Jun05  May05
Apr05  Mar05  Feb05  Jan05
Dec04  Nov04  Oct04  Sep04
Aug04  Jul04  Jun04  May04
Apr04  Mar04  Feb04  Jan04
Dec03  Nov03  Oct03  Sep03
Aug03  Jul03  Jun03  May03
Apr03  Mar03  Feb03  Jan03
Dec02  Nov02  Oct02  Sep02
back to main page

the diamond geezer index
2023 2022
2021 2020 2019 2018 2017
2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
2011 2010 2009 2008 2007
2006 2005 2004 2003 2002

my special London features
a-z of london museums
E3 - local history month
greenwich meridian (N)
greenwich meridian (S)
the real eastenders
london's lost rivers
olympic park 2007
great british roads
oranges & lemons
random boroughs
bow road station
high street 2012
river westbourne
trafalgar square
capital numbers
east london line
lea valley walk
olympics 2005
regent's canal
square routes
silver jubilee
unlost rivers
cube routes
Herbert Dip
metro-land
capital ring
river fleet
piccadilly
bakerloo

ten of my favourite posts
the seven ages of blog
my new Z470xi mobile
five equations of blog
the dome of doom
chemical attraction
quality & risk
london 2102
single life
boredom
april fool

ten sets of lovely photos
my "most interesting" photos
london 2012 olympic zone
harris and the hebrides
betjeman's metro-land
marking the meridian
tracing the river fleet
london's lost rivers
inside the gherkin
seven sisters
iceland

just surfed in?
here's where to find...
diamond geezers
flash mob #1  #2  #3  #4
ben schott's miscellany
london underground
watch with mother
cigarette warnings
digital time delay
wheelie suitcases
war of the worlds
transit of venus
top of the pops
old buckenham
ladybird books
acorn antiques
digital watches
outer hebrides
olympics 2012
school dinners
pet shop boys
west wycombe
bletchley park
george orwell
big breakfast
clapton pond
san francisco
thunderbirds
routemaster
children's tv
east enders
trunk roads
amsterdam
little britain
credit cards
jury service
big brother
jubilee line
number 1s
titan arum
typewriters
doctor who
coronation
comments
blue peter
matchgirls
hurricanes
buzzwords
brookside
monopoly
peter pan
starbucks
feng shui
leap year
manbags
bbc three
vision on
piccadilly
meridian
concorde
wembley
islington
ID cards
bedtime
freeview
beckton
blogads
eclipses
letraset
arsenal
sitcoms
gherkin
calories
everest
muffins
sudoku
camilla
london
ceefax
robbie
becks
dome
BBC2
paris
lotto
118
itv