Poets Corner and Daws Lane
Daws Lane, c1910
This Victorian suburb to the west of Hammers Lane was started on land that had belonged to Sir Charles Flower (d1834). In 1878 the Birkbeck Freehold Land Society divided the land into aproximately 500 plots laid out in a series of roads, which were named after famous poets, such as: Byron, Milton, Shakespeare, and Tennyson. The Baptists had a small iron chapel by 1896 built on the south side of Tennyson Road. Two other streets called Victoria and Albert Roads, (named after Queen Victoria and her husband, or “consort”, Prince Albert formed a second and adjacent block of streets north of Daws Lane, where there were a few shops. On the Ordnance Survey map of 1896 only one tenth of the plots had houses. Daws Farm, more than 37 acres, south of Daws Lane, was bought by Hendon Council in 1923, and opened as a park.
In 1895 land was given to the Linen and Woollen Drapers’ Association east of Hammers Lane to build small retirement cottages, which came into use in 1898. In 1927 a further nine acres were acquired. Mill Hill open air swimming pool was opened in 1935 and closed in 1980. The buildings are now used as a garden centre. Further along is a civil defence building constructed in 1939. It was intended to be used as a cleansing centre in the event that Hendon suffered a gas attack during World War Two. Fortunately it was never needed and is now used as a drill hall for the Sea Cadets, and by the London Borough of Barnet as a local history archive and library.
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Other Mill Hill Pocket Histories
- Mill Hill Village
- Mill Hill Village buildings
- Frith Manor and Burtonhole
- Mill Hill Broadway
- Mill Hill East
- Holders Hill
Email this pageLast modified by: Richard Nurse on 12/06/2008