From Edgware station, walk down Station Road until Church Way is reached. This is the path beyond the main Church Way.
Diagonally opposite is St Margaret’s church. While the church has ancient origins, only the 14th-century tower remains from its medieval structure. In the 18th century, the deteriorated state of the building led the congregation to refuse entry. In 1907, coffins were discovered floating in the crypt, adding to the church’s decrepit condition. Consequently, substantial reconstruction took place on multiple occasions, resulting in the church as it stands today by 1928. Adjacent to the church, towards the west, is the ‘Truth’ hall, originally serving as a school. On the opposite side of the road stands a strikingly extravagant neo-Tudor pub – the Railway Hotel – built in 1931. The pub is now closed, and its future is uncertain. However, as a listed building, there is hope that it will be preserved.
Follow the Church Way path all the way to Fairfield Crescent. Ignore the section running around the car park and go in the same direction. This path has been shown on maps since at least the Milne map of 1800. There was an enormous flytip on the site of the Chas. Wright Ltd. factory. The factory had lain derelict for years, then had been attacked by arsonists. A 175 space car park arrived in 2020.
Straight ahead from the path end, this is called Heming Road. Follow this until Deansbrook Road where we turn right. Take photos looking east up the road since we can compare the changes over the years. In the photo below, the Northern Line tracks would later be built left to right over the foreground here.
Deansbrook Lane looking east (1920)
On Deansbrook Road, we’ll cross both the Dean’s Brook and Edgware Brook before we turn left into Burnt Oak Broadway.
We’ll pass the site of Edgware Hospital.
North Road, East Roads and South Road formed a square with Edgware Road. They date from the mid-nineteenth century as a small group of houses at Burnt Oak under construction in 1863 to serve the then-new Redhill workhouse.
Continue along Burnt Oak Broadway until we reach Watling Avenue where we turn left. Again take lots of photos since there are some good 1920s ones to compare with.
