The historical background to Kilburn that still affects us today

My Name is John Duffy and I am a local councillor for Kilburn (Brent) and I have set-up this blog to highlight issues concerning Kilburn 
 From Visit Wembley Website

Kilburn is situated on the south-eastern border of Brent, where the Roman Watling Street (Edgware Road) crossed the Kilburn brook. It may take its name from the Saxon for “cattle stream”.

Image courtesy of Brent Museum and Archives

The earliest inns in Kilburn, for example ‘The Cock’, appeared in the 15^th century. Kilburn acquired fame as the site of a spring, near ‘The Bell’. By 1733, it was the source of a cure for stomach ailments. The healing water was still being sold up to the 1840s and the ‘Bell’ (which had been called ‘Kilburn Wells’) remained popular as a tea garden thereafter. Kilburn was also notorious for duels in the late 18^th century, but was described as rural and tranquil in 1814.

The London & Birmingham Railway was built through Kilburn in 1837 and a station opened in December 1851. Public transport provision was completed by the Underground railway, which came to Kilburn with the opening of Kilburn Park Station in 1915.

Kilburn was rapidly built up in the 19^th century. In 1857 builder James Bailey began the Cambridge Gardens Estate near Kilburn Park. The population surged from 3,879 to 15,869 between 1861 and 1871. This led to divisions between the more urban south of Willesden parish and the more rural north. 

Tile-making was the earliest local industry, followed by brick-makers and a windmill. By 1890, there were also coachbuilders, bicycle manufacturers and a railway signal factory. Light engineering and printing were well established by 1914.

Edgware Road was named Kilburn High Road in the 1880s. It would eventually boast more than 300 shops. The largest cinema in Britain, the Gaumont State, opened in 1937 and is now used by an independent church.

Kilburn suffered considerable damage during the Second World War. After the war, industry was reduced and overcrowded or sub-standard housing in South Kilburn was replaced with flats. 

 Families were re-housed in the new South Kilburn Estate near Palmerston Road, which was completed c.1970-1971. Construction offered employment to Irish immigrants, and with the arrival of an Indian community, Kilburn gained a Hindu temple.

Kilburn is a multi-cultural area and from the early 1950s it was the home of a large Irish population earning it the name “county Kilburn”

Attempts at regeneration have been more successful in Kilburn than elsewhere, and the Tricycle Theatre has really put Kilburn on the cultural map