South Ruislip is an area of North West London in the London Borough of Hillingdon. A 2017 estimation put the population of South Ruislip ward as 13,150 residents.

Education

Schools in South Ruislip include Bourne Primary, Deanesfield, Field End, St Swithun Wells and Queensmead.

Sports

McGovern Park is located on West End Road and is the headquarters of London GAA. It is the primary venue for playing

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

and

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

in Britain.

Transport

South Ruislip station is served by the Central line of the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

. Chiltern Railways serve hourly, with trains to London Marylebone and . Although no bus route directly serves the station,

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...

route E7 serves one end of nearby Station Approach and route 114 serves the other. RAF Northolt station entrance

The

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

station,

RAF Northolt Royal Air Force Northolt or more simply RAF Northolt is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station in South Ruislip, from Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon, western Greater London, England, approximately north of ...

, is situated in South Ruislip near the A40 and the tube station. Most early RAF airfields were named after the nearest railway station; in this case Northolt Junction, the original name of South Ruislip station.

Demography

The population, according to the 2001 UK census, was 10,823. By 2008, this had reached 11,116. In the 2011 UK census, the racial makeup of South Ruislip was: 73% White, 16% Asian, 5% Black. 75.8% of the working age population was economically active. 38% of residents lived in semi-detached houses; 28% in terraced houses; 27% in flats/maisonettes/apartments; and 8% in detached houses. 69.4% of households owned their homes, 19% were privately rented, 10.1% were socially rented.

Landmarks

Polish fighter pilots during the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

were based at

, and the Polish War Memorial was built later after the conflict. The memorial stands next to the A40 adjacent to the airfield, and is dedicated to the memory of the Polish airmen who fought with the

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. A damaged

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson, a key feature of t ...

, attempting to land at RAF Northolt, crashed in Station Approach in October 1942. The resulting fire caused the remaining ammunition on board to detonate, and 21 people were killed. In the 1950s and 1960s RAF South Ruislip supported by

RAF West Ruislip RAF West Ruislip was a Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence site, located in Ickenham within the London Borough of Hillingdon. The base was originally built as a depot for the Royal Air Force (RAF), split by what is now the ...

was Headquarters,

7th Air Division The 7th Air Division (7 AD) served the United States Air Force with distinction from early 1944 through early 1992, earning an outstanding unit decoration and a service streamer along the way. History Hawaii As the 7th Fighter Wing, the divis ...

of the

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile compon ...

(SAC), supporting SAC operations in the UK until 1958 when the 7th Air Division relocated to RAF High Wycombe, and the station became Headquarters, 3d Air Force and transferred to United States Air Forces, Europe. In 1972 HQ, 3d Air Force relocated to RAF Mildenhall and the buildings remained empty until 1995 when they were demolished. In 2012, the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

announced it would be moving the Digital Media Services branch of BBC Studios and Post Production from BBC Television Centre to the Odyssey Business Park opposite RAF Northolt between February and March 2013.

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * Bowlt, Eileen. M. (1994). ''Ruislip Past''. London: Historical Publications * Bowlt, Eileen. M. (2007). ''Around Ruislip, Eastcote, Northwood, Ickenham & Harefield''. Stroud: Sutton Publishing

External links

South Ruislip Residents Association

Ruislip Web Site
{{LB Hillingdon Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Hillingdon