Downage is a road with an ancient name.
There were woods in Hendon called Highpark and Downage and the latter was situated near to Church End.
In 1321 there were reported ’an abundance of trees’ within Downage Woods. The survival of
early 14th century names in those of later fields indicates that common fields lay to the north of Church
End.
This name was preserved in Downage House, an 18th-century brick building occupied in 1754 by Lady Torrington. It was demolished in 1928.
