Norwood Green

History

Norwood Green is the modern name for the old hamlet called Norwood in the manor of Norwood; this name in turn derives from the Saxon settlement name of Northuuda.

The manor of Norwood was in the parish of Hounslow until 1859 when the church of St Mary became the parish church for a new parish that also took the name Norwood. This new parish encompassed also the hamlets of Southall and Northcotte.

In 1894, under the Local Government Act 1894, Norwood Green formed part of the Southall Norwood Urban District of Middlesex. The urban district gained further status as a municipal borough in 1936 and was renamed Southall. When the municipal borough was abolished in 1965, under the London Government Act 1963, the area became part of the London Borough of Ealing.

The New Zealand Bass Player Gary Thain of the band Uriah Heep died of a heroin overdose in Norwood Green on 8 December 1975.

Geography

The area of this settlement is bounded by the Grand Union Canal to the north, Osterley Lane to the south, Windmill Lane to the east and Norwood Road to the west. The village retains its green, church and local pub but the local Metropolitan Police station and Post Office closed in 2008. 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 bungalows, large and small detached, semi-detached and terraced houses.

The parish church, St Mary The Virgin, has a bell-tower and is a Grade II* listed building. One local pub, The Plough, is grade II listed building. The Plough serves hand-drawn Fullers beers and featured in the Good Beer Guide published by CAMRA. The adjoining gradeII listed stables were demolishes in 2013 to allow the pub's associated bowling green to be built on by the brewery's developers. The pubs to the North of the Green is The Wolf, and further on, by the canal, The Lamb. Another Grade II listed building is Friars Lawn, a Georgian house, overlooking the Green whose previous residents include Gordon Selfridge of Selfridges, and the actress Hayley Mills.

The second Saturday of July is when the Norwood Green Residents' Association hold Village Day on the green - a local fete - and the church is dressed and opened to visitors.

Transport

Three Bridges (a transport intersection, designed and built by the Victorian engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel) in the north-east corner, is claimed as an ancient monument. It is located where north-south running Windmill Lane goes over the Grand Union Canal as it "flows" West-East towards the Thames at Brentford and where the canal goes over the single track, freight only, railway line running from the main Great Western Railway line to its end just north of the A4 trunk road. There are in fact just "two" bridges 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 at this point. There are weight and width restrictions on the road bridge.

The nearest underground station is Osterley tube station on the Piccadilly line, which is 30–40 minutes walk from Norwood Green. Via the underground it take 20 minutes to arrive at Heathrow Airport (Westbound) 40 minutes to Central London. London Buses provide the 120 bus service 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. The H32 bus service 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 (First Great Western to Ealing Broadway (5 minutes) and Paddington (15 minutes); Slough; Reading and Oxford plus Heathrow Connect trains serving Heathrow Airport and local stations to Paddington).

The M4 motorway is accessed at Junction 2 for Central London and Junction 3 for Heathrow and Bristol. The A40 "Western Avenue" to the north and the A4 to the south are the nearest east-west trunk roads.

Politics

As stated above, Norwood Green also gives its name to the local electoral ward which is part of the parliamentary constituency of Ealing Southall, represented since 2007 by Labour Member of Parliament Virendra Sharma. The Norwood Green ward for local council elections elects councillors to Ealing Council. Norwood Green ward has three Labour councillors. Ealing Council is currently run by a Labour administration.

Norwood Green ward is in the London Assembly 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 groups other than British. Indian/Pakistani is the largest ethnic group, making up 49.8% of the population of the Norwood Green ward.