Celebrating 90 Years At St James' - Biography Of Our School - Part Three

Burnt Oak was the location, backdrop and catchment area for the Catholic Schools founded  by the Dominican Sisters.

Whence comes the name of Burnt Oak? Burnt Oak Field was a field of farmland on the east side of the Edgware Road (Watling Street ) close to where the Edgware Community Hospital now stands which was developed for residential housing in 1853  and this housing, consisting of North , South and East Streets,  was named after the field on which they were built. However, this development was but tiny compared to the Burnt Oak of today.

The development of greater Burnt Oak could be said to have been triggered by the extension of the Northern Line and the construction of the tube station known as Burnt Oak Station in 1924 providing a transport link into London. The LCC( London

County Council )bought the surrounding farmland , mainly Goldbeaters Farm, one of twelve sites of land outside of London on which to build cottage housing for the many who lived in poor over-crowded accommodation in central London.

The Housing fit for Heroes movement which campaigned for decent housing to be built  for those who had fought in the First World War provided energy to the demand and the development of Burnt Oak.  487 acres (157 hectares ) of land were bought . The housing estate was named the Watling Estate after the old Saxon name for the Edgware Road. George Forest the LCC’s chief  Architect planned the design of the Watling Estate, and his design was heavily influenced by The Garden City Movement espoused by Ebenezar Howard. 4012 homes in all were built. “Care was taken to exploit the undulating ground, offering vistas and long views. There are cul de sacs. The terraces are indeed short and stepped back at road corners to open up the space(see the photograph of Block 321 and the green sward which illustrates this point). Throughout the estate runs the Silk Stream, and the banks have been used to create parks and internal open space.” Most of the housing was made of brick but a small number were made of steel and timber by way of experimentation. A number of flats were also built examples of which can be seen in Gunter Grove and Orange Hill Road. The new inhabitants of the Watling Estate came mainly from the Islington and St Pancras areas of London.

Compared to modern housing development, which is of a higher density than the Watling Estate , the Watling is a model of its kind. The Watling was declared a Conservation Area in 2007. Silk Stream and Montrose Parks have been tastefully beautified, recently, enhancing the areas in which they stand. 

To use a modern acronym NIMBY(not in my backyard) the new residents of the Watling Development were not welcomed by the folk of neighbouring areas such as Mill Hill. The new residents were  labelled and smeared as  “revolutionaries” and the children to use cockney slang” tea leaves, thieves”. Change and new developments are not easy to accept. 

To be found in St James’ Colindale are slate plaques engraved with the names Orange Hill and Burnt Oak reminding the School Community of its roots and origins and that Burnt Oak was the home of St James’ for nearly seventy years.

I have great affection for Burnt Oak and the people of Burnt Oak having studied and  worked there for over thirty years.

In this short write-up it is only possible to give a much-simplified account of the development of Burnt Oak and the Watling Estate and thus a full, detailed, and accurate picture is sacrificed to brevity. For this I apologise as I do for any bowdlerisation of the truth .

There is still much  to be researched on the history of St James’, on Burnt Oak, on Colindale and the immense contribution that the Dominican Sisters  have made to the School . Are there any current St James’ students who would care  to don the mantle of researcher/geographer/historian and help with this pioneering task?

I wish to thank and acknowledge “The London Archives and City of London Corporation” for permission to use the photographs illustrating part 3 of the History of St James’.

To be continued….

Kevin McSharry

Headteacher Emeritus of St James’