Brief History

Until the 1900s Golders Green was a hamlet in the parish of Hendon. Much of Golders Green was originally in a sub-manor called Hodford (c1200s). The meaning of the name is obscure. It may derive from a name which first appears in the 15th century in the form of Goldherd’s mill (located further south). Or it may derive from the local family called Godyere. The green in its self probably developed during the 16th century, and was recorded as Golders Green by 1612. Described as a waste, the green extended either side of Golders Green Road in the 18th century roughly between Hoop Lane (named after the 18th century Hoop Inn), and the river Brent where it converged to meet the bridge, at which time the Manor of Hendon allowed a number of houses to be built and the first hamlet of 16 houses had appeared by the 1750s. Brick making was carried out in Golders Green in same period. By 1814 the area was described in Brewer’s Beauties of England and Wales as having “many ornamental villas and cottages surrounded with plantations”. By 1830 the new Finchley Road turnpike cut through the district. By 1828 this ribbon development had encroached most of the green, in March of 1872 the streets received their first five gas lamps, and by 1878 the manorial waste was finally enclosed. A horse bus ran regularly along the Finchley Road by the 1880s. Robert Suckling, a black smith, is mentioned in the census of 1821 their last blacksmith “Alf” Wheeler died in 1940.

With the of a new tube station (1907), trams, and motorbuses, the area began to developed into suburban streets of semi-detached houses, a process which continued into the 1930s. By 1911 the population had grown to 4,465, and by 1931 it had reached 17,837. The Hippodrome Theatre was opened on boxing day 1913. By 1940 the area had developed into a centre in its own right, separate from Hendon, with a theatre (Hippodrome 1913), a library (1935), cinemas (the Ionic 1913 now closed). The Refectory, now a pub, was opened February 1916, and is thought to by some to be the first ever public resteraunt supplied by electricity. The shopping district (called “Cheapside”), was well established by 1914. In June of 1918 a Handley Page bomber crashed near to houses in Golders Green. And in December 1920 a Handley Page passenger aircraft crashed into houses in Basing Hill. The War Memorial was unveiled in April 1923. The area has had many famous residents, who are too numerous to list but they include, Marie Lloyd, Desmond Tutu (curate at St Alban's church in the early 1960s), and Oliver Postgate, the children’s program maker was at school here.

Since 1907 Golders Green has been a very cosmopolitan place, and regarded by may as an extension of Hampstead. It is for its Jewish community that Golders Green is mostly famous. There were Jewish businesses and homes in Golders Green even by 1910, and by 1915 there were thought to be about 300 Jewish families living in Golders Green. By 1959 around a quarter of the population of the Borough of Hendon (which included Golders Green) was Jewish. In 1913 the first public service was held in West Heath Drive and in 1915 a meeting was held in the Ionic Cinema to establish a congregation, whuch had grown by September to 90 families. Dunstan Road synagogue, Golders Green, opened in 1922. Its most famous Rabbi has been Rabbi Sacks the current Chief Rabbi of England.

Ghosts

There is only one ghost story in Golders Green. According to legend a house called Golders Lodge, situated where Golders Gardens is today, was haunted. “The story attached to it was that it was left by will to a certain person as long as a testator of the relative “remained above ground”. The relative died and to save his estate, the conditional tenant kept the body “above ground”, for a considerable period.” It has been said that the body was left in its coffin in the attic, and that the place has been haunted by the unburied spirit ever since.

Old Maps

Cary’s 15 Miles Around London 1786

Pictures

From the Francis Frith Collection

• Golders Green Road 1965
• The War Memorial in 1965
• The Cross Roads in 1955

From the collection of Clive Smith

• Motorbus
• Trams at the Cross Road
• Golders Green Road 1914
• Lido Cinema
• The Prince Albert
• Golders Green Station in the Old Days
• Horse Bus Leaves Golders Green Station
• Ionic Cinema
• North End Road

From the Collection of the City of London

• House of Mr Lambertson in the 18th century
• Golders Lodge in the 18th century
• Hodford Farm in the 18th century

Kelly’s Directories

(as a portion of Hendon)

• 1855
• 1874
• 1894
• 1914

Further Research

• Barnet Archives and Local Studies
• HADAS Archived Newsletters(The Hendon & District Archaeological Society)
• Victoria County History Golders Green is within the Hendon Chapter