Elstree Way, Borehamwood, Herts.

Road in/near Borehamwood, existing between 1934 and now.

 HOME  ·  ARTICLE  ·  MAPS  ·  STREETS  ·  BLOG  ·  CONTACT US 
(51.65989 -0.25934, 51.659 -0.259) 
MAP YEAR:175018001810182018301860190019502024Show map without markers
ZOOM:14 15 16 17 14 15 16 17 14 15 16 17 14 15 16 17 14 15 16 17 14 15 16 17 14 15 16 17 18 14 15 16 17 14 15 16 17 18
TIP: Adjust the MAP YEAR and ZOOM to tweak historical maps
Road · * · WD6 ·
September
27
2021
Elstree Way connects Shenley Road and the A1 in Borehamwood.

Elstree Way was constructed in the early 1930s and has contained the municipal centre of the town with Hertsmere Borough Council’s Civic Offices, the Police, Fire and Ambulance Stations, Library, the Venue Leisure Centre, Oaklands College and the Job Centre.

This end of Borehamwood originally had three farms and all the roads that linked them were just paths and tracks.

By 1938, development on both sides of Elstree Way had commenced. Through the following decades in a number of small individual building clusters sprung up. Notable along Elstree Way at various times were Elliots/GEC/Marconi, Sellotape, Carl Zeiss Scientific Instruments and Christian Salvesen.

Elstree Way was best known though for its film studios. Amalgamated was being constructed in Elstree Way when the developer went bankrupt and Lord Rank purchased the facility and 120 acres of land before it opened and then leased it to the Government at the outbreak of war.

In 1944, MGM were looking for a European base and purchased the studio and in 1946 began its completion and opening. The first MGM production to be made their was Edward, My Son starring Spencer Tracy. MGM was a going concern until 1970 having made 2001 - A Space Odyssey, Ivanhoe and many other movies. MGM created a huge backlot by buying the adjacent Thrift Farm. To the north of Elstree Way - huge sets were built during those decades becoming a feature of living in Borehamwood including castles, Wild West towns and more.

Today, nothing is left other than the base of the wall that ran along the front of the site and an electricity sub power station built in 1947. The MGM white clock tower continued to stand until 1986.

The Elstree Way Hotel was built around 1935 and was a pub, pub training centre and for a while the Borehamwood terminus of bus routes coming out of London. The Elstree Way Hotel was demolished in the 1980s to make way for new road layouts. Those new roads were built on the site of MGM with roads being named after movie stars and other notables in the film industry.

A surge in the population came with compulsory land purchasing by London County Council after the Second World War to cater for the baby boom families and roads to the south of Elstree Way were constructed along with housing.

Elstree Way covers the length of the route designated the A5135. The A5135 gained its number in the 1960s.




Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence


Click here to explore another London street
We now have 664 completed street histories and 46836 partial histories
Find streets or residential blocks within the M25 by clicking STREETS


CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

None so far :(
LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Comment
Wendy    
Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT   

Polygon Buildings
Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings.

Reply

Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT   

Road construction and houses completed
New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only.

Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

Reply
Comment
Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT   

Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS)
One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc.

I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

Reply
Comment
Charles   
Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT   

My House
I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s.

Reply

NH   
Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT   

Telephone House
Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000

Reply
Comment
Paul Cox   
Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT   

War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street
Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there.

Reply
Comment
Diana   
Added: 28 Feb 2024 13:52 GMT   

New Inn Yard, E1
My great grandparents x 6 lived in New Inn Yard. On this date, their son was baptised in nearby St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch

Source: BDM London, Cripplegate and Shoreditch registers written by church clerk.

Reply
Comment
Vic Stanley   
Added: 24 Feb 2024 17:38 GMT   

Postcose
The postcode is SE15, NOT SE1

Reply



LOCAL PHOTOS
Click here to see map view of nearby Creative Commons images
Click here to see Creative Commons images near to this postcode
Click here to see Creative Commons images tagged with this road (if applicable)
Mops and Brooms, Well End
TUM image id: 1556828647
Licence: CC BY 2.0
Thatched Barn
TUM image id: 1488372418
Licence: CC BY 2.0
Hillside School
Credit: Eve Glover
TUM image id: 1522577725
Licence: CC BY 2.0

In the neighbourhood...

Click an image below for a better view...
Mops and Brooms, Well End
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Horses and a cart at Bullbaiters (Bullbeggar’s) Farm c1880 The area has been built over and the farm was approximately where Bullhead Road, Borehamwood is now. Bullbeggar meant "hobgoblin" or "scarecrow."
Licence:


Farmer George King retired from running Bullbaiter’s Farm on 25 March 1905. The farm was the property of the Earl of Strafford of Wrotham Park, South Mimms.
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Auction of farm goods from BullBaiters Farm. Boreham Wood after the retirement of farmer George King.
Licence:


Thift Farm taken from stills in the TV series "The Prisoner"
Licence: CC BY 2.0


Still from the TV series "The Avengers" taken as one of the protaganists cycles towards Thrift Farm Lane from Thrift Farm
Credit: ATV Studios
Licence: CC BY 2.0


MGM-British studios, Borehamwood on 2 May 1966 This was a major centre for UK film production. Alongside the 1966 sets depicted on the backlot, the late 1960s alone saw Kubrick’s ’2001: A Space Odyssey’ and TV series ’The Prisoner’ (when not in Portmerion) based there With MGM built over by a 1970s housing estate, the movie industry continues with the 2022-built Sky Studios Elstree (which is in Borehamwood, not Elstree) which is now just to the right of the greenhouses on the 1966 image.
Licence:




  Contact us · Copyright policy · Privacy policy