Priory Road is a street in Kilburn. Located in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London boroughs, borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former Metropolitan boroughs of the Cou ...

it runs northwards from

Belsize Road Belsize Road is a street in the London Borough of Camden. It runs west to east from Kilburn High Road to close to Finchley Road in the Swiss Cottage area of Hampstead. It is part of the B509 route which continues eastwards as Adelaide Road to Cha ...

through

South Hampstead South Hampstead is an affluent part of the London Borough of Camden in inner north London. It is commonly defined as the area between West End Lane in the west, the Chiltern Main Line (south), Broadhurst Gardens north and north-west followed ...

crossing several streets including

Abbey Road ''Abbey Road'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 26 September 1969, by Apple Records. It is the last album the group recorded, although '' Let It Be'' (1970) was the last album completed before th ...

before finishing at a junction with

Broadhurst Gardens Broadhurst Gardens is a street in the London Borough of Camden running eastwards from West End Lane in West Hampstead and ending near to the Finchley Road. It forms the northern border of South Hampstead, and runs parallel to the Midland Main L ...

, not far from

West Hampstead tube station West Hampstead is a London Underground station in West Hampstead, London. It is located on West End Lane between Broadhurst Gardens and Blackburn Road and is situated in Travelcard Zone 2. The station is on the Jubilee line between Kilburn ...

. It takes its name from the old

Kilburn Priory Kilburn Priory was a small monastic community of nuns established around 1130–1134 three miles north-west of the City of London, where Watling Street (now Kilburn High Road) met the stream now known as the Westbourne, but variously known as ' ...

located in the area until the dissolution of the monasteries under

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

. The street marked the boundary between two separate estates that were redeveloped from the mid-

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

and was jointly constructed between them. It followed a very old track linking the priory with

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

. Originally known as Canfield Road, the name was changed in 1880 to reflect the area's connection with the former priory. The

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

St Mary's Church was built between 1857 and 1862 at the junction with Abbey Road and is now

Grade II listed 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, H ...

. Part of the street was built over the ground of

Hampstead Cricket Club Hampstead Cricket Club is a cricket club in London. The team was formed in 1865, and have played their home games at Lymington Road in West Hampstead since 1877. They were forced to relocate from their previous home due to the construction of P ...

who were forced to relocate in 1876. From 1895 to 1901

Kilburn Library There are two library buildings in North London called Kilburn Library. One is in the London Borough of Camden and located in the Kilburn High Road, NW6, and the other is in the London Borough of Brent and located in Salusbury Road. NW6. Camden' ...

, the Borough of Hampstead's first

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

, was based in the street. The southern stretch of the street features a large number of white

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

houses and is part of a

Conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

along with nearby Priory Terrace. During the nineteenth century, the road continuing south beyond Belsize Road was considered an extension of Priory Road, but is now named Kilburn Priory.

Priory Terrace

Priory Terrace runs parallel to the east of the southern stretch of Priory Road connecting Belsize Road and Abbey Road. It was laid out in around 1850, It was originally known as St George's Road before being renamed by the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

in 1937. Notable residents have included the

bibliophile A bookworm or bibliophile is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books. Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Bibliophiles may have large, specialized book collections. They may highly value old editions, aut ...

and

forger Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidden by law in some jurisdict ...

Thomas James Wise Thomas James Wise (7 October 1859 – 13 May 1937) was a bibliophile and probable literary forger and thief who collected the Ashley Library, now housed by the British Library. Collecting career Wise began collecting books as a schoolboy, spen ...

, the composer

Bernard van Dieren Bernard Hélène Joseph van Dieren (27 December 188724 April 1936) was a Dutch composer, critic, author, and writer on music, much of whose working life was spent in England. Biography Van Dieren was the last of five children of a Dutch Rotterda ...

and the

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

Bernard Meninsky Bernard Meninsky (25 July 1891 – 12 February 1950) was a British painter of figures and landscapes in oils, watercolour and gouache, a draughtsman and a teacher.. Biography Early life and education Meninsky was born in Konotop, modern-day Ukr ...

while

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

Dirk Bogarde Sir Dirk Bogarde (born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde; 28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999) was an English actor, novelist and screenwriter. Initially a matinée idol in films such as ''Doctor in the House (film), Doctor in the Hous ...

was born there in 1921.Wade p.61

References

{{Reflist

Bibliography

* Bebbington, Gillian. ''London Street Names''. Batsford, 1972. * Cherry, Bridget & Pevsner, Nikolaus. ''London 4: North''. Yale University Press, 2002. * Thompson, Francis Michael Longstreth. ''Hampstead; Building a Borough, 1650-1964''. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974. * Wade, Christopher (ed.) ''The Streets of West Hampstead''. Camden History Society, 1992. Streets in the London Borough of Camden Kilburn, London Hampstead