The area is mainly residential (Edwardian terraced and 1920s/30s semi-detached houses) with a restaurant, greengrocer and convenience stores near the underground station. The Dollis Hill ward has the highest Irish population in London.[3]
Crossing the Dudding Hill Line in late Victorian times, near the eastern end of Dudding Hill station, and at the western end of Gladstone ParkBurnley Road c. 1905Burnley Road c. 1915 with airship flying overheadShops at top of Burnley Road c. 1910
The Dollis Hill Estate was formed in the early 19th century, when the Finch family bought up a number of farms in the area to form a single estate. Dollis Hill House itself was built in the 1820s. It was later occupied by Lord Aberdeen who often had Prime MinisterWilliam Ewart Gladstone to stay as a guest.
In 1901, a new public park was created the 35 hectares (86 acres) Gladstone Park, named after the former Prime Minister. An underground station, Dollis Hill Underground station, was opened on 1 October 1909 as part of the Metropolitan line, now on the Jubilee line. Between the park and the underground station, Edwardian terraced houses were built at this time on a grid with names starting with letters in alphabetical order (with some letters missing) from Aberdeen to Normanby.
The first railway in the area was the Dudding Hill Line, opened in 1875 by the Midland Railway to connect its Midland Main Line and Cricklewood goods yard in the east to other lines to the southwest. The Dudden Hill station on the line closed for passengers in 1902, but the line still carried freight.
In World War I, between 1917 and 1921, the tank design team (The Mechanical Warfare Supply Department of the Ministry of Munitions) responsible for the new Anglo-American or Liberty tank, Mark VIII was located here.[4][5] Early trials of some of the first military tanks were conducted in Dollis Hill. Images of the tanks in Dollis Hill are held at The Imperial War Museum, London.[6][5]
A Mark Iv Tank - the Experimental Ground, Dollis Hill, London, N.w. Art.IWMART2488A Whippet Tank at the Dollis Hill Experimental Ground Art.IWMART3888
The Post Office Research Station was built in 1921. The code-breaking Colossus computer, used at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, was built at here by a team led by Tommy Flowers. The station was relocated to Martlesham Heath at the end of the 1970s. The Post Office Research Station building has now been converted into 62 flats and is now known as 'Chartwell Court', with an access road called 'Flowers Close'.
Medium-sized, semi-detached houses were built to the east of this area between 1927 and 1935.
The Grunwick dispute in the late 1970s concerned trade union recognition, working conditions and employment law. It centred on the Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories in Chapter Road, Dollis Hill. The protracted dispute became a cause célèbre in the trade union movement at the time, with several acrimonious interactions between large numbers of police and mass pickets.[7][6]
Demographics
Dollis Hill has a very diverse mix of ethnicities and nationalities. The largest single ethnic group in the Dollis Hill ward of the 2011 Census, White British, comprises 14.3% of the population. The next largest are Other White (13.7%), Indians (11.4%) and Black Africans (10.6%).[8][9]
44.6% of people living in Dollis Hill were born in England in the 2011 census. The next most common countries of birth were Ireland (5.1%), India (4.3%), Pakistan (4%) and Somalia (3.9%).[10]
The main religious affiliations of Dollis Hill are Christians (43.9%), Muslims (31.3%), and Hindus (10.1%).[10]
London Buses routes 226, 302 and N98 serve the area south of Gladstone Park. The area north of Gladstone Park is served by routes 182, 232, 245 and 332. There are a large number of buses that service nearby Willesden Green.
Notable residents
Chartwell Court, off Brook Road
William Ewart Gladstone, the British Prime Minister, was a frequent visitor to Dollis Hill House in the late 19th century. The year after his death, 1899, Willesden Council acquired much of the Dollis Hill Estate for use as a public park, which was named Gladstone Park.[11]
Mark Twain stayed in Dollis Hill House in the summer of 1900. He wrote "Dollis Hill comes nearer to being a paradise than any other home I ever occupied."[12]
Eric Simms, the ornithologist, broadcaster and author, lived in Brook Road. His book, Birds of Town and Suburb (1975), was based on his studies of the birds in Dollis Hill.[citation needed]
The fictional Dollis Hill Football Club features occasionally in the British satirical magazine Private Eye as arch-rivals to Neasden Football Club, with on at least one occasion the fictional Dollis Hill South council ward used in the irregular Those Election Results In Full mock section. [clarification needed][citation needed]
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