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Harrow
Harrow maps
Historic maps of Harrow and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Harrow maps
Harrow area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Harrow and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Harrow
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Harrow.
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or of a photo of Harrow.
Universal Stationers
The person who climbed the ladder may well have been me or perhaps my father who owned the shop. I used to help at Christmas to earn some pocket money and loved the book department, where I would fit plastic sleeves to the books. The whole place had a wonderful atmosphere and seemed vast to me (it was later enlarged) and I liked talking to the staff, many of whom had been there for years and who all had such diverse personalities and stories to tell. People were polite to each other in those days. It was rather nice to say "Can I help you Sir or Madam?". Nowadays it's more likely to be "Are you all right there?".
Happy Days
Having grown up in Harrow during the 1950s and 60s, how well I remember my trips to Universal Stationers, seen here at the top of Station Road close to its junction with College Road. As a child I was always fascinated with stationery items and this shop stocked everything you needed. Upon entering you would be greeted by an assistant who would gladly climb a ladder to bring down reams of typing paper from the shelves above which reached to ceiling level. On leaving the shop we would form an orderly queue at the nearby bus stop where the 114 and 158 called to take us home to Harrow Weald. Contrast this with the unruly scrum that occurs at Harrow Bus Station in today's society. Note too the absence of parked cars and yellow lines. Happy days indeed.
Middlesex memories
Childhood
I was only a few months old when this pic was taken. I lived at 44 Station Road till I was about 7 (I think), the last time I went there it was a Samaritans. There was a sweet shop across the road from where I lived, I think the shop owner's name was Dave and I always got free sweets when I went in there with my mum or nan. I also remember the cinema because it was a massive blue corragated iron building, I may have to take a trip on google street map and see what it looks like now.
Childhood
St Marys Church was my special place. I would go there whenever I needed to think or just find inner peace. It helped me through a sometimes difficult transition to adulthood. Although I now live 56 miles away, it is still my place of hope, and I go back there every chance I get. It's so beautiful, my very own stairway to heaven.
The Japanese Gardens
I remember the Japanese Gardens on Mount Park Road on the hill. I have pictures of what was till 1967 Ingleby Court, today it is Ingleby Drive, Harrow on the Hill. Pauline Coles I think would be interested in this once great old place, I have some images. You can't post images onto this website, but they can be seen on my face book: King R E West Sussex along with many more, on album called Assos.
The Open Air Swimming Baths in Charles Crescent
I was never a keen swimmer and my school's compulsory trips to the open air pool in Charles Crescent did nothing to encourage me! Every week in Summer Terms an ancient double decker bus would arrive at Pinner Grammar School to take groups of us to the pool. This began in the First Form (1956/57) and continued for years. This was timetabled as a "double period" of P.E. and allowed an hour and ten minutes for the short drive down Village Way through Rayners Lane towards North Harrow and 15 minutes later the bus would pull up by the pool.
I remember there was a chalked notice board by the turnstile advertising the water temperature. We peered through the grimy bus windows and groaned when we caught sight of the notice - no matter what it might say a great chorus would go up "its freezing today!".
A bit of research reminds me that the pool was opened in 1923 on some "left over land"... Read more
The Tithe Barn And Harrow Museum
Moat Farm Park? I find this surprising as its claim to fame is surely the preserved buildings of the Tithe Barn and surroundings. The Barn itself is the site of Harrow Museum and hosts various fund raising fairs, events and concerts each year to pay for its upkeep. On many of these Bank Holiday Monday events the organisers invite local performers including Whitethorn Morris Dancers. I have played my accordian for the Whitethorn Band on all of these occasions - sometimes performing on the tarmac forecourt of the Tithe Barn, but in wet weather in the Barn itself. It is a lovely venue for community events.
