Edgware High Street Western side

The houses next to the War Memorial (unveiled November 1919) are all that is left of Edgware's old High Street.

A few of the houses, like number 97, date from the 16th century - others are from the 17th and 18th century.

There was an inn sometimes called the Crane, said by some to be the oldest pub in England. Although this was probably not true it was very old and was first known of in 1600
there was also a legend that there was a secret passage from the inn to Cannons (but this is unlikely)
the inn grew in prosperity as a coaching inn probably from the 17th century and closed in May 1929
the building became a motorcoach station during the 1930s

By the early 19th century the Chandos Arms was used as Edgware magistrates court.

on Thursday mornings people from Edgware, Stanmore, Harrow, Hendon, Kingsbury, Little Stanmore, and Pinner (an area called The Hundred of Gore) were tried for minor offences such as being drunk, ill treating animals, or being offensive or violent
in the first half of the 19th century the Chandos Arms was also where voting took place during elections. In 1850 a new courthouse was built
the court was closed in December 1913 when Hendon Courthouse was opened
the Old Court House was demolished in 1964. Edgware Congregational Church held services in an upper room on the High Street in 1829 conducted by students of Hoxton Academy and Highbury College
until that time there was no meeting place for non-conformists in Edgware
in 1834 a chapel was built in the High Street, which was replaced with another elsewhere in Edgware in 1915

There were important local institutions behind the High Street and along the southern side of Whitchurch Lane.

next to where the police station is today was a small school (built in 1855)
by 1899 the school had become Whitchurch Institute (demolished in 1930)
Edgware police station was established in Edgware in 1865, replaced in 1892 by a purpose built station when there were around 30 policemen
by the 1920s the station had nearly forty staff, with officers having to work in the cells
the present Police Station was constructed in 1932
in 1896 a small fire engine house was built behind the Chandos Arms run by a volunteer fire brigade of 10 men, originally with a horse drawn engine but with a motor fire engine by 1914
in September 1933 the fire station itself caught fire, and, because the fire was so fierce, the small brigade could not get to their equipment to put it out

The northern side of Whitchurch Lane developed after trams started to run between Cricklewood and Edgware in 1904.

the row of shops was built sometime in the 1880s
the Mead has terraces of houses dating back to 1902 and 1903
in 1905 the Leto Photo Company had a factory in Meads Road, west of which were a handful of respectable houses in Montgomery, Churchhill, and Gresham Roads