From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Childs Hill, now the southernmost ward of the London Borough of Barnet, although of historic origin, is a late-19th-century suburban development situated 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Charing Cross bordered by the A41 (Hendon Way) and Dunstan Road, and centred on the junction of Cricklewood Lane and Finchley Road. It is adjacent to a part of Hampstead Heath known as the West Heath.

With four high rise blocks of flats, but also characterised by streets of modest terraced housing, Childs Hill has a public library, as well as Childs Hill park, an 18th-century pub (The Castle), several shops and restaurants, small businesses, offices, primary schools and two churches (All Saints C of E with Primary School and Childs Hill Baptist).

It is the most densely populated ward in the borough. The area has a thriving Residents' Association, called CLAN, representing three residential streets at the heart of the neighbourhood - Crewys, Llanvanor and Nant roads.

Childs Hill has blue plaques commemorating two famous former residents: Sportsman C. B. Fry who lived at Moreland Court, Lyndale Avenue, and Aviator Amy Johnson, who lived at Vernon Court on the Hendon Way.

The earliest known use of the place name 'Child's Hill' is in 1593. (Today, the apostrophe in the name is optional.) In the 18th century, Childs Hill was a centre for brick and tile making, supplying material for building Hampstead. The Castle Inn dates from this period: the first record of it is in 1751.

With an altitude over 259 feet above sea level (at the Castle Public House), Childs Hill is visible from afar, and from 1789 to 1847 was the site of an optical telegraph station. In 1808 this became one of a line of telegraph stations stretching from the Admiralty to Great Yarmouth, erected as part of Britain's national defences. Only the name, Telegraph Hill, remains; it has been covered with housing (this part of Childs Hill is now inside the boundary of the London Borough of Camden).

Following an Act of Parliament in 1826, Finchley Road was constructed; it was completed by 1829. There was a tollgate at the Castle Public House. The road is now the main thoroughfare through Childs Hill. In the early 1850s a Colonel Evans built houses on a site called The Mead, where the Morris brick works had been. The road was later called Granville Road - which it still is today. By the 1870s a number of laundries were operating in Childs Hill. The very last laundry site in the area, the Initial Laundry in Granville Road, closed in 2006.

• Golders Green (to the north)
• Hampstead (to the east)
• Fortune Green (to the south)
• Cricklewood (to the west)

Hendon, Child's Hill, Golders Green and Mill Hill, by Stewart Gillies and Pamela Taylor (ISBN0850338751)
Hampstead Heath, by Alan Farmer (ISBN0948667400)

• Childs Hill Online - a commercial site about the area with useful links to local businesses
• British History Online - Childs Hill pages - a serious look at the area's history

• Childs Hill is at coordinates 51°33′47″N 0°11′49″W / 51.563, -0.197Coordinates: 51°33′47″N 0°11′49″W / 51.563, -0.197
  • Maps from MapQuest, Multimap and Yahoo! Maps
  • Satellite images and maps from Google Maps and Live Search
  • Other mapping from GlobalGuide and WikiMapia

v • d • e London Borough of Barnet
Districts	Arkley · Barnet · Barnet Gate · Brunswick Park · Burnt Oak · Childs Hill · Cricklewood · Church End Finchley · Cockfosters · Colney Hatch · Colindale · East Barnet · East Finchley · Edgware · Finchley · Friern Barnet · Golders Green · Monken Hadley · Hale · Hampstead Garden Suburb · Hendon · Mill Hill · Mill Hill East · New Barnet · New Southgate · North Finchley · Oakleigh Park · Osidge · Temple Fortune · Totteridge · West Hendon · Whetstone · Woodside Park
Attractions	Hampstead Heath · RAF Museum
Constituencies	Chipping Barnet · Hendon · Finchley and Golders Green
Parks and open spaces in Barnet