The largest hamlet of Hendon parish was Brent Street.
The name Hendon dates from Anglo-Saxon times and is linked to the topography of the area, and the presence of a ’high hill’. The dun element is a term believed to have been used in the very earliest Anglo-Saxon times, and was often given in recognition of the location of a hill-top village. Hendon was first mentioned by a charter dating from 972 AD.
The high ground at the centre of the parish of Hendon was originally occupied by three hamlets: The Burroughs, Church End and Brent Street.
Brent Street was noted for its large houses, the largest of which was Hendon House. Many cottages and shops clustered about the junction of Brent Street and Bell Lane, including the Bell, mentioned in 1751 and considerably altered by 1970. Villas built between Bell Lane and Parson Street in the early 19th century, almost linking the hamlet of Brent Street with Church End, have all been demolished.
At the foot of Brent Street another group of substantial houses included, on the north bank, Brent Bridge House, an 18th-century stuccoed building, later the seat of the Whishaws, part of which survives as the Brent Bridge hotel. Brook Lodge, south of the river, was an 18th-century farm-house converted by Charles Whishaw into a gentleman’s residence shortly before 1828 and demolished in 1935, after serving as an annexe to the hotel. Among other houses near Brent Bridge in 1754 were those later known as Bridge House, Holmebush, and Decoy House (so named after a decoy on the Brent).
Brent Street retained its identity until the late 19th century, when building linked it with Church End and the Burroughs.
