Saint John's Wood is a district of northwest London, in the City of Westminster, and on the northwest side of Regent's Park. The district is about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Once part of the Great Middlesex Forest, it was later owned by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem.[1]
| Saint John's Wood | |
|---|---|
  Saint John's Wood Location within Greater London | |
| OS grid reference | TQ265835 |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | NW8 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
The boundaries of St. John's Wood are the Regent's Canal to the south, Maida Vale (Edgware Road) to the west, Boundary Road to the north and Avenue Rd/Primrose Hill Park to the east.
It is a very affluent neighbourhood,[2] with the area postcode (NW8) ranked by Forbes magazine as the fifth most expensive postcode in London based on the average home price in 2007.[3] According to a 2014 property agent survey, St. John's Wood residents pay the highest average rent in all of London.[4]
History
St John's Wood was developed from the early 19th century onwards. One of the first developers in the area was James Burton.[5] It was one of the first London suburbs to be developed with a large amount of low density "villa" housing, as opposed to the terraced housing which was the norm in London up to the 19th century, even in expensive districts. Parts of St John's Wood have been rebuilt at a higher density,[6] but it remains a highly desirable residential district, and one of the most expensive areas of London.[7]
St John's Wood is the location of Lord's Cricket Ground, home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), and the original headquarters of cricket. It is also famous for Abbey Road Studios and the street Abbey Road, where The Beatles recorded, notably the Abbey Road album, the cover of which features the band crossing the road.
The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery was formerly based at St John's Wood Barracks. The regiment moved to Woolwich on 6 February 2012; the barracks is to be demolished being developed as housing.[8]
The area is also home to St. John's Wood Church Grounds, which contains the only nature reserve in the City of Westminster.
Education
The area has various schools, both state and independent:
- Robinsfield Infant School
- Saint Christina's Primary School
- Barrow Hill Junior School
- George Elliot Primary School
- Quintin Kynaston Community Academy
- The American School in London
- Arnold House School
Places of worship
St John's Wood has a range of places of worship.
- Christian
- Abbey Road Baptist Church
- St John's Wood Church (Church of England)
- St Mark's Church, Hamilton Terrace (Church of England)
- The Church of Our Lady (Roman Catholic)
- Jewish
- The Liberal Jewish Synagogue
- The New London Synagogue
- Saatchi Shul
Transport and locale
- Nearest places
- Belsize Park to the northeast
- Hampstead to the north
- Kilburn to the northwest
- Lisson Grove to the south
- Maida Vale to the southwest
- Marylebone to the south
- Primrose Hill to the east
- Regent's Park to the south
- Swiss Cottage to the north
The nearest London Underground stations are St. John's Wood, Swiss Cottage—on the Jubilee line; Maida Vale, Marylebone Station and Warwick Avenue—on the Bakerloo line; and Baker Street on Bakerloo line, Jubilee line, Hammersmith & City line, Metropolitan line and Circle line.
The nearest London Overground station is South Hampstead.
Notable residents
Commemorative blue plaques
- Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema OM (1836–1912), painter, at 44 Grove End Road[9]
- Gilbert Bayes (1872–1953), sculptor, at 4 Greville Place[10]
- Sir Joseph Bazalgette (1819–1891), civil engineer, at 17 Hamilton Terrace[11]
- Sir Thomas Beecham CH (1879–1961), conductor and impresario, at 31 Grove End Road[12]
- George Frampton (1860–1928), sculptor, at 32 Queen's Grove[13]
- William Powell Frith (1819–1909), painter, at 114 Clifton Hill[14]
- Guy Gibson V.C. (1918–1944), pilot and leader of the Dam Busters, at 32 Aberdeen Place[15]
- Thomas Hood (1799–1845), poet, at 28 Finchley Road[16]
- Thomas Huxley (1825–1895), biologist, at 38 Marlborough Place[17]
- Melanie Klein (1882–1960), psychoanalyst, at 42 Clifton Hill[18]
Past and present residents
- Michael Algar – musician and songwriter
- David Alliance, Baron Alliance – businessman and politician
- A. J. Ayer – philosopher, was born and grew up in the area[19]
- Douglas Bader – distinguished World War II fighter pilot, was born there
- Princess Marie-Esméralda of Belgium – member of the Belgian royal family
- Chili Bouchier – actress
- Charles Bradlaugh – founder and first president of the National Secular Society lived at 20, Circus Road, house since demolished, now St John's Wood library
- Sir Richard Branson[20] – entrepreneur, founder of Virgin Group
- Sarah Burton – fashion designer
- James Caan – entrepreneur
- Christabel Cockerell – British painter
- Wayne Daniel – Middlesex and West Indian cricketer
- Vanessa Feltz – broadcaster
- Andy Fletcher – musician (Depeche Mode)
- Leonard N. Fowles – organist/composer
- Lucian Freud – artist
- Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau – member of the Dutch Royal Family (Wellington Hospital)
- Sidney Frank Godley VC – soldier, school caretaker
- Avram Grant – football manager
- Daphne Guinness – socialite
- Tony Hicks – musician
- Stephen Hough – concert pianist
- Eric Idle[21] - actor and comedian known for his roles on Monty Python and author of Spamalot
- Andy Irvine[22] – Irish folk musician
- Kia Joorabchian – businessman
- Nigel Kennedy – violinist
- Imran Khan[20] – cricketer, and Pakistani politician
- Lillie Langtry – actress[6]
- John Lawford – Royal Navy officer
- Damian Lewis – actor
- Sir John Major[20] – former prime minister
- Terry Manning – music producer
- Sir Paul McCartney – musician[23][24][25]
- Ewan McGregor – actor
- Jonathan Rhys Meyers – actor
- Sir Jonathan Miller – writer, opera director, physiologist and sculptor
- Kate Moss – model[26]
- Elisabeth Murdoch – businesswoman and daughter of Rupert Murdoch[27][28]
- Alex Prior – singer/composer
- Keith Richards – rock musician and songwriter of The Rolling Stones lived on Carlton Hill in the 1960s.[29]
- Mark Ronson – musician, DJ, singer, and record producer
- Mel Smith – Comedian, actor, film director
- Gregg Sulkin – actor
- Sachin Tendulkar – cricketer
- Norman Shanks Kerr – physician
- Clarissa Dickson Wright – chef[26]
St John's Wood in literature, music and television
- Count and Countess Fosco live at No. 5 Forest Road, St. John's Wood in Wilkie Collins's 1859 sensation novel The Woman in White.
- Irene Adler lives there (in Briony Lodge on Serpentine Avenue) in Arthur Conan Doyle's 1891 Sherlock Holmes story "A Scandal in Bohemia".
- In the first instalment of John Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga, The Man of Property (1906), Young Jolyon lives on fictional Wistaria Avenue with his second wife and family.
- St John's Wood is the home of fictional characters Bingo and Rosie Little in P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster short stories and novels, written from the early 1920s onward.
- Referenced in the Rolling Stones song, "Play with Fire", released in 1965.
- The protagonist of J.G. Ballard's novel Millennium People (2003), is a psychologist who lives in St. John's Wood, which he abandons to join a middle-class rebellion.
- Appears in two books by Howard Jacobson, as the setting for his 2004 book The Making of Henry, followed in his 2010 Man Booker Prize winning novel The Finkler Question as the planned location for the Museum of Anglo-Jewish Culture.
- Violet Hill, a street and area off Abbey Road with Violet Hill Gardens and Violet Hill Hospital, is the source of the name in Coldplay's 2008 song "Violet Hill".
- Due to the conveniently close location to Elstree Studios, (just over 10 miles), St John's Wood was used extensively for location shooting for many of the ITC adventure shows of the 1960s and 1970s, including The Saint (TV series), Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Persuaders! and Return of the Saint.
References
- ^ The St. John's Wood Society. St John's Wood History. Retrieved 24 January 2011
- ^ Sherwood, Bob (7 April 2010). "Affluent enclave sitting on political front line". Financial Times.
- ^ "In Pictures: London's Most Expensive Postcodes". Forbes.
- ^ Prudence Ivey (20 November 2014). "St John's Wood tenants pay the highest rent in London - Hampstead & Highgate Property". Hamhigh.co.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- ^ "Celebrating the birth in July 1761 of James Burton, the founder of St Leonards-on-Sea and builder-developer in Bloomsbury". Victoria County History. 29 July 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- ^ a b Elrington, C R (Editor); Baker, T F T; Bolton, Diane K; Croot, Patricia E C, "A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9, p.60–63" British-History.ac.uk, 1989. Retrieved 24 January 2011
- ^ "U.K.'s Most Expensive Postcodes". Forbes. 12 December 2007. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
- ^ Ross Lydall (6 February 2012). "Final salute: St John's Wood bids farewell to the King's Troop after two centuries – UK – News". Evening Standard. London. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
- ^ Plaque detail at English Heritage
- ^ Plaque detail
- ^ Plaque detail
- ^ Plaque detail
- ^ Plaque detail
- ^ Plaque detail
- ^ Plaque detail
- ^ Plaque detail
- ^ Plaque detail
- ^ Plaque detail
- ^ Anthony Quinton. "ALFRED JULES AYER". Ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- ^ a b c "St. John's Wood". Cwhr.co.uk.
- ^ Prudence Ivey (10 November 2014). "For sale: Monty Python star Eric Idle's St John's Wood house - Hampstead & Highgate Property". Hamhigh.co.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- ^ O'Toole, Leagues (2006). The Humours of Planxty. Ireland: Hodder Headline. ISBN 0-340-83796-9.
- ^ Fusion Advertising & Design. "Area Guide to St John's Wood – Property guide to St John's Wood from". ludlowthompson.com. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Mendoza, Nadia; Eriksen, Alanah (10 October 2011). "Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell wedding: Kate Moss and Ronnie Wood last to leave". Daily Mail. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
- ^ "St John's Wood in the area". Cwh.org.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
- ^ a b Siobhan Mcfadyen (3 June 2011). "Inside the home Kate Moss can't sell: What's putting buyers off – the flooding? Location? Or is it the jungle-themed living room?". Daily Mail. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
- ^ Jonathan Prynn, Consumer Business Editor (15 October 2014). "Rupert Murdoch's daughter buys home in St John's Wood for £38.5m after split from husband Matthew Freud | London Evening Standard". Standard.co.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
{{cite web}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ^ Duell, Mark (15 October 2014). "Rupert Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth buys home after split with Matthew Freud | Daily Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2017.[unreliable source?]
- ^ Detailed in Richards' 2010 autobiography, "Life"
External links
Media related to St. John's Wood at Wikimedia Commons
- History of St John's Wood
- Map of St John's Wood and the surrounding districts
- stjohnswoodhighstreet.co.uk & stjohnswoodhighstreet.com (advertising & marketing)