Norwood Green is a place in the London Borough of Ealing in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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, that forms the southern part of Southall. It is a suburban development centred west of

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

and ENE of

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. Its origin coincides with the 12th century arch in its chapel, the date when it is first recorded. Reflecting its mid-19th century agrarian nature it remained below church status in Hayes parish until 1859. It often lends its name to an electoral ward of around 12,500 people. It today forms the southern part of larger Southall, named after the main manor which lay in the north of its area which is south of Northolt parish. Informally, Norwood Green overspills into part of Heston in the

London Borough of Hounslow The London Borough of Hounslow ( ) is a London borough in west London, England, forming part of Outer London. It is governed by Hounslow London Borough Council. The borough stretches from near Central London in the east (Chiswick) to the b ...

History

Norwood Green is the modern name for the old

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

called Norwood in the manor of Norwood; this name in turn derives from the

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

settlement name recorded in contemporary orthography ''Northuuda'' which suggests a different final syllable, at least in some modes or among some speakers. The manor (and near-identical

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

) of Norwood was for more than eight centuries in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Hayes until 1859 when the large chapel of St Mary became on paper a church and was upgraded to have a surrounding parish. This new parish encompassed also the main clusters of cottages named after their manors of Southall and Northcotte. In 1894, under the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The act followed the reforms carried out at county leve ...

, Norwood Green formed part of the Southall Norwood Urban District of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. The urban district gained further status as a

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

in 1936 and was renamed Southall. When the municipal borough was abolished in 1965, under the

London Government Act 1963 The London Government Act 1963 (c. 33) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which created Greater London and a new local government structure within it. The Act significantly reduced the number of local government districts in the ...

, the area became part of the London Borough of Ealing. The

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

bass player Gary Thain of the band Uriah Heep died of a

heroin overdose An opioid overdose is toxicity due to excessive consumption of opioids, such as morphine, codeine, heroin, fentanyl, tramadol, and methadone. This preventable pathology can be fatal if it leads to Hypoventilation, respiratory depression, a let ...

here on 8 December 1975.

Geography

Norwood Green is bounded by the Grand Union Canal to the north and its continuation the canalised Brent, east and North Hyde Lane and the line of a former brook south of that to the west. ;Current Amenities The village retains its green, church and two pubs: one by the canal, and one by Wolf Fields park.. There is a primary school in Norwood Green. The roadsides are lined with trees and there are several open spaces and wooded areas. Residential property consists of a mix of

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

s, large and small detached, semi-detached and terraced houses. ;Listed buildings ;Grade II* The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

(in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

) of St Mary the Virgin, has a bell-tower and is protected under UK law as a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, which is the middle category. ;Grade II A public house, The Plough, is grade II, (i.e. in the initial category) its hand drawn beers have been mentioned in an annual

CAMRA The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, which promotes real ale, real cider, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. History The organisation was founde ...

selection. Friars Lawn, a Georgian house, overlooks the Green, once a home of Gordon Selfridge of the retail family, and of the actress Hayley Mills. ;Former amenities Its own Metropolitan Police station and Post Office closed in 2008. Beside the Plough, a stables and bowling green were demolished in 2013.

July village fair

The second Saturday of July is when the Norwood Green Residents' Association hold Village Day on the green - a fair and activities day - and the church is decorated and opened to visitors.

Transport

Three Bridges (a transport intersection, designed and built by the Victorian engineer,

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel ( ; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history", "one of the 19th-century engi ...

) in the north-east corner, is claimed as an icon of worldwide engineering heritage. Here north-south Windmill Lane goes over the Grand Union Canal (locally fed by the Welsh Harp Reservoir) on a gentle west–east reach towards the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

in turn above a single-track, freight, railway running from the main

Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs between London Paddington and . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. The GWML is presently a part of t ...

to just north of the major A4 road at Brentford. Two bridges exist at "Three Bridges" (the road over the canal bridge and the canal over the railway bridge) but they are stacked one above another with the road on top of the canal which is on top of the railway which is in a deep

cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the sca ...

at this point. The road bridge has weight and width restrictions. The nearest underground station is Osterley tube station on the Piccadilly line, which is 30–40 minutes walk from the central area; allowing 20-minute connection with

; 40 minutes to Central London. Bus route 120 operates along Norwood Road with a stop at the Green itself. Buses run every 10–12 minutes during the day and every 20 minutes or so during the evening. Route H32 runs through the Western edge of Norwood Green ward (Hounslow Bus Garage to Southall Town Hall). Northwards it is just under a mile Southall railway station (

Elizabeth line The Elizabeth line is a railway line that runs across Greater London and nearby towns, operating similarly to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries. It runs services on dedicated infras ...

trains towards

and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, and towards Abbey Wood and Shenfield via London Paddington). The

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is the third longest motorway in the United Kingdom, running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh ele ...

is accessed east for Central London the same distance west for Heathrow and western destinations. The A40 " Western Avenue" to the north and the A4 to the south are the nearest

trunk road A trunk road is a major highway with a specific legal classification in some jurisdictions, notably the United Kingdom, Sweden and formerly Ireland. Trunk roads are planned and managed at the national-level, distinguishing them from non-trunk ro ...

s and are east–west.

Politics

Norwood Green or as "Norwood" the place has long given its name to the local electoral ward (for local council elections) electing councillors to Ealing Council. Norwood Green ward has three Labour

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

s. Ealing Council having had a Labour administration since 2010. The area is part of the

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

ary

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

of Ealing Southall, represented since 2007 by Labour Member of Parliament Virendra Sharma. Norwood Green ward is in the

London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...

constituency of Ealing and Hillingdon which has one assembly member: Onkar Sahota (Labour), who was elected in May 2012. The Norwood Green Ward Forum (formerly the Area committee) is held in the main hall of St Mary's Church, Norwood Green.

Demographics

According to the 2001 census, the population of the Norwood Green ward stood at 12,650.
67% of ward are in

ethnic An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

groups other than

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

i is the largest ethnic group, making up 49.8% of the population of the Norwood Green ward.

Notes

References

External links

* Ealing Council
Map of the Norwood Green Ward
Accessed 2008-10-09
A History of Norwood Green at British History Online
{{Areas of London Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Ealing Places formerly in Middlesex Southall