THE MILL HILL PRESERVATION SOCIETY
A Brief History of the Mill Hill Preservation Society from 1949
What caused a group of Mill Hill residents to from a preservation
society in 1949?
Lawrence Street fields:
The immediate event, which, they believed called for concerted
action was Hendon Corporation’s attempt to buy by compulsory
purchase the 19 acres of field bounded by Lawrence Street, Marsh
Lane and Sunnyfield fro a housing development. It is difficult at
this distance in time to appreciate the passions that this proposed
action aroused. But, in a very real sense, local residents looked on
Lawrence Street fields as the physical and almost psychological
break between urban Mill Hill and the countryside. People spoke of
walking up Lawrence Street into these fields and being ‘on the roof
of Mill Hill’, with unbroken views all round. Only 4 years before
the start of the Society a dairy herd in Lawrence Street field had
given the biggest milk yield in Middlesex.
The Post War Housing Shortage:
In fact, a month before the Society was formed Hendon Corporation
had already requested the Minister of Health to permit the
Corporation to acquire by compulsory purchase 81 acres on seven
sites in the Mill Hill area on which to build houses. We must
remember the acute and distressing shortage of housing that followed
the end of the Second World War. The local authority naturally felt
an obligation to assist in alleviating this shortage. The founders
of the Society saw the implementation of the Council’s proposals as
a threat to the entire character of Mill Hill.
Mill Hill’s History, Institutions and Situation:
It might be thought that much of the motivation for the formation of
the Society was (in the acronym made famous by Mr Ridley) simply
‘NIMBY’-ism, building developments anywhere else, but ‘not in my
back yard’. No doubt there was an element of this. But our founders
were also united by a sense and love of history. Many of them were
members of the Hendon and Mill Hill Historical Society and had
studied our local history in depth. They were naturally concerned
that the buildings in which so many famous people had lived or had
associations might also be under threat from ill-considered
development.
Another factor, which, they believed made Mill Hill not just another
London suburb was the number of religious and educational
institutions placed in substantial grounds – Mill Hill School, St.
Joseph’s College, St. Vincent’s Convent and others. This gave (and
thankfully still gives) as sense of green spaciousness, so different
from many other London suburbs.
The final spur to the formation of the Society was the need to
protect Totteridge Valley. Mill Hill’s situation on the southern
ridge if the valley gives it a marvellous panorama north across
hundreds of acres of farm and woodland, a priceless asset for Mill
Hill and unique in its proximity to London. If Lawrence Street
fields were earmarked for development, so might Totteridge Valley
be.
The Early Years – a First Reversal:
Thus, in 1949 there was much worth fighting for, especially as Mill
Hill has yielded more rural land to the builder in the previous 25
years than any corresponding region around London. The Society’s 1st
chairman, Mr Ivar Gunn, quickly formed a committee and the first
subscriptions, coupled with contributions to the ‘Lawrence Street
Defence Fund’, gave enough money for the Society to print leaflets
and recruit members. Soon, several hundred members had joined and
the committee began the long battle to try to save Lawrence Street
fields. As we all know, this first battle was lost. The Reddings
development now stands in the pastureland of bygone Mill Hill and
only the allotments remain of the original fields, Abbey View and
other roads off Marsh Lane having been built later. The Reddings
development is curious. It started as a council housing estate, but
because of supposed difficulties in building due to the steepness of
the terrain, the council concede development to a private builder.
It never became a council estate.
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