Stag Lane, NW9
Colindale
Stag Lane follows the line of an old country track.

Stag Lane was formerly known as Tunworth Lane, after an estate which existed both sides of the road at its Burnt Oak end.

Many roads converged on Kingsbury Green and Stag Lane was one, running from Roe Green to Redhill - an old name for Burnt Oak. Many modern roads in the area had earlier names. From Kingsbury Green, Ox Street or London Lane and later Kingsbury Road, ran eastward to the Hyde; Buck Lane, earlier known as Stonepits or Postle Lane, ran northward from Kingsbury Green to join Hay Lane, a road mentioned in the 13th century. Church Lane, in 1563 called Northland Lane, ran southward from Kingsbury Green to the church and Green Lane joined the green to Townsend Lane, known as North Dean Lane in 1394 and 1503. On the west Gibbs or Piggs Lane joined Kingsbury Green to Slough Lane or Sloe Street, as it was called in 1428. The southward extension of Slough Lane, Salmon Street, was called Dorman Stone Lane in the 15th and 16th centuries. The portion of road between the Brent and the junction of Salmon Street and Forty Lane, now called Blackbird Hill, was usually known as Kingsbury Lane. There was an east-west road joining Hill and Freren farms to Hendon. The portion between Church Lane and Salmon Street, called Freren Lane in 1379, had disappeared by the early 18th century. That between Townsend Lane and Hendon, known as Wadlifs Lane in 1574, survives as Wood Lane.

The Tunworth estate - after which Stag Lane was named - was extremely old, granted by Edwy to his thegn Lyfing in 957. By 1066 it probably formed part of the manor of Kingsbury, which was then held by Wlward White, a thegn of the Confessor, and passed from him to Ernulf of Hesdin. Ernulf died in 1097 and his lands passed to the ancestors of the earls of Salisbury, probably through the marriage of his granddaughter Sibyl with Walter of Salisbury. Thereafter the overlordship of Kingsbury descended with Edgware manor.

Stag Lane remained rural until well into the twentieth century. The fields of Tunworth in 1915 provided the land for an aerodrome which was purchased by the London & Provincial Aviation Company. The company used Stag Lane Aerodrome for flying training during the First World War.

Stag Lane became the main base of The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited in 1920 and they purchased the freehold in 1922. Former wartime aircraft were refurbished in the early years, and the company designed and built large numbers of aircraft at Stag Lane in the 1920s and early 1930s. In 1934 the company moved to a larger factory and airfield at Hatfield Aerodrome.

Stag Lane Aerodrome was sold for housing development in 1933, though a small 15-acre site was retained as a factory and offices for The de Havilland Engine Company Limited. The last flight from the airfield was a de Havilland Hornet Moth in July 1934.

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