Place Information
|
Middlesex is one of the 39 historic counties of England and was the second smallest (after Rutland). When county councils were introduced in England in 1889 part of Middlesex was used to form the County of London and the remainder formed the administrative county of Middlesex. By 1965 urban London had further expanded and almost all of the original area was incorporated into Greater London. Middlesex is still used informally as an area name and may be included in some postal addresses.
Early history
The name means middle Saxons and refers to the reputed ethnic origin of its inhabitants. Its first recorded use was in A.D 704 as Middleseaxan. Geographically, Middlesex included the City of London, which has been self-governing since the thirteenth century, and the city of Westminster. The highest point is the High Road by Bushey Heath at 504 feet. Division into hundredsMiddlesex was recorded in the Domesday Book as being divided into the six hundreds of Edmonton, Elthorne, Gore, Hounslow (later Isleworth), Ossulstone and Spelthorne. Settlement was divided as follows: Edmonton Hundred - Edmonton - Enfield - Monken Hadley - South Mimms - Tottenham Elthorne Hundred - Cowley - Cranford - Greenford - Hanwell - Harefield - Harlington - Harmondsworth - Hayes - Hillingdon - Ickenham - New Brentford - Northolt - Norwood - Perivale - Ruislip - Uxbridge - West Drayton Gore Hundred - Edgware - Great Stanmore - Harrow-on-the-Hill - Hendon - Kingsbury - Little Stanmore - Pinner Isleworth Hundred - Heston - Isleworth - Twickenham Ossulstone Hundred - Acton - Bloomsbury - Bow - Bromley - Chelsea - Chiswick - Clerkenwell - Ealing - Finchley - Friern Barnet - Fulham - Hackney - Hammersmith - Hampstead - Minories - Hornsey - Kensington - Mile End - Paddington - Poplar - Ratcliffe - Shadwell - Shoreditch - Spitalfields - Holborn - St Pancras - Stepney - Wapping - West Twyford - Whitechapel - Willesden Spelthorne Hundred - Ashford - East Bedfont - Feltham - Hampton - Hampton Wick - Hanworth - Laleham - Littleton - Shepperton - Staines - Stanwell - Sunbury - Teddington During the 17th century Ossulstone Hundred was divided into four divisions, which, along with the Liberty of Westminster largely took over the administrative functions of the hundred. The divisions were named Finsbury, Holborn, Kensington and Tower. County townMiddlesex does not have a single established historic county town, with different locations having been used for different county purposes:
EarldomThe title Earl of Middlesex was created twice, in 1622 and 1677 but died out in 1843. Market townsAs of 1850 and before the expansion of London; Brentford, Edgware, Enfield, Hounslow, Southall, Staines and Uxbridge were market towns. The south eastern part of the county served by the daily market at Westminster. Modern history
Introduction of county councilsThe north western suburbs of London steadily covered large parts of Middlesex, especially following the coming of the railways. In 1889, under the Local Government Act 1888, much of the area to the south east became part of the County of London. The remainder of the county came under the control of Middlesex County Council except for the parish of Monken Hadley which became part of Hertfordshire. The Act also provided that the part of Middlesex in the administrative county of London should be "severed from [Middlesex], and form a separate county for all non-administrative purposes". The area under the control of London County Council was divided in 1899 into metropolitan boroughs which were merged in 1965 to form the following present-day boroughs:
DistrictsThe remainder of the county was initially divided into rural districts and urban districts. The rural districts were Hendon, South Mimms, Staines, Uxbridge. Because of increasing urbanisation these had all been abolished by 1934. Urban districts had been created, merged, and many had gained the status of municipal borough by 1965. Ealing, Enfield, Harrow, Hendon, Heston and Isleworth, Tottenham, Wembley, Willesden and Twickenham had all, according to the 1961 census, reached a population of greater than 100,000, which would usually have entitled them to seek county borough status. If granted to all these boroughs, it would have reduced the population of the administrative county of Middlesex by over half, to just shy of a million. The districts in 1965 were:
Arms of Middlesex County CouncilCoats of arms were attributed by the medieval heralds to the Kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. That assigned to the Kingdom of the Middle and East Saxons depicted three "seaxes" or notched swords on a red background. These arms became associated with the two counties that approximated to the kingdom: Middlesex and Essex. County authorities, militia and volunteer regiments associated with both counties used the attributed arms. In 1910 it was noted that the county councils of Essex and Middlesex and the Sheriff's Office of the County of London were all using the same arms. The Middlesex County Council decided to apply for a formal grant of arms from the College of Arms, with the addition of an heraldic "difference" added to the attributed arms. Colonel Otley Parry, a Justice of the Peace for Middlesex and author of a book on military badges, was asked to devise an addition to the shield. The chosen addition was a "Saxon Crown", derived from the portrait of King Athelstan on a silver penny of his reign, stated to be the earliest form of crown associated with any English sovereign. The grant of arms was made by letters patent dated November 7, 1910. The blazon of the arms was: Gules, three seaxes fessewise points to the sinister proper, pomels and hilts and in the centre chief point a Saxon crown or. The undifferenced arms of the Kingdom were eventually granted to Essex County Council in 1932. Seaxes were also used in the insignia of many of the boroughs and urban districts in the county, while the Saxon crown came to be a common heraldic charge in English civic arms. On the creation of the Greater London Council in 1965 a Saxon crown was introduced in its coat of arms. Seaxes appear in the arms of several London borough councils, and of Spelthorne Borough Council whose area was formerly in Middlesex. Creation of Greater LondonAfter 1889 the growth of London did not cease and the county became almost entirely urbanised by its suburbs. Many of the boroughs in the area were demanding independence from Middlesex County Council as county boroughs, which if granted would have left Middlesex County Council controlling an area with three distinct and unconnected fragments - in the west, the south-east and the north of the county. Instead, in 1965, nearly all the remainder of Middlesex became part of Greater London and formed the new London boroughs of:
The remaining areas were Potters Bar Urban District which became part of Hertfordshire, while Sunbury-on-Thames Urban District and Staines Urban District became part of Surrey. Recent changesIn 1974 the three urban districts that had been transferred to Hertfordshire and Surrey were abolished and became the districts of Hertsmere (part only) and Spelthorne respectively. In 1995 the village of Poyle was transferred from Spelthorne to the Berkshire borough of Slough. Research Tips
|
