Burnt Oak

 

The station opened as Burnt Oak in 1924 and then four years later was called Burnt Oak (for Watling) but reverted back to Burnt Oak in 1958. I was surprised to find one roundel showing the pre 1958 name all the others just have Burnt Oak on them. As I mentioned in my last post I am almost at the end of this Northern underground branch line and I am not expecting to find much here other than residential estates. This station was also built by Stanley Heaps, architect of the previous stations. 

The station is almost identical to previous stations designed by Heap with the spacious light filled ticket halls and black and white tiled flooring.

Always pleased when I find the Mark Wallinger labyrinth. There is a different one on every tube station.

Familiar Heap designed symmetrical station building with the art deco doors.

The Roundel for the station said 'Burnt Oak for Watling'. So I needed to find out what or where is Watling. Just a 5 minute walk from the station and I came to Watling Park with an explanatory board outside informing me that Watling Park is part of the Watling Housing Estate. This was a London County Council project 'to make London a slumless city'. Before World War One working London families lived in poor conditions. Between 1922 and 1928 the LCC built 120,000 new homes including three flagship estates, one of which is Watling. 

The first homes were occupied in 1927 and new residents could choose brick houses, timber house (manufactured in Sweden or Atholl steel houses. The Atholl houses were prefabricated steel dwellings constructed in Glasgow. 252 were erected on the Watling estate.Funding came from the Addison's Act which was passed after World War One to encourage councils to build 'homes for heroes'. The site here was deliberately chosen because of the newly completed tube station which provided a fast route into Central London.

The construction of this large estate wasn't without some controversy. In 'Municipal Dreams' 1914, one critic wrote 'the raw, red tentacles of that housing octopus, the London County Council Watling Estate are pushing their way through the green meadows, devouring everything in their path'

 Flats on Goldbeaters Grove.

The LCC purchased 387acres of farmland adjacent to the new Burnt Oak station. They split the land into 16 acres for schools and public buildings and 46 acres for allotments and parks. The rest of the land was allocated to housing. 4021 dwellings were complete by 1931 apart from 34 larger homes were added in 1936.

A 45 acre, green area was in the middle of the estate with the Silk Stream meandering through it. 

In 1929 Hendon council adopted the green area and laid it out as a park with a sand pit, tennis court, putting green and paddling pool.

The station exits on to a High Street with a number of fast food restaurants and shops. The restaurants and shops reflect the multi cultural mix in this area.

The first Tesco store opened here in Burnt Oak where this shop now stands. The founder of Tesco is Jack Cohen who started out with a couple of market stalls and then he deided to open his first grocery store here in 1929. The Tesco brand first appeared in 1924. The name came from a shipment of tea that Cohen bought from Thomas Edward Stockwell. He used the initials of the supplier TES followed by the first two letters of his surname CO making the word TESCO. The first self service store opened in St Albans in 1956 with the first supermarket in Maldon 1956. Today Tesco has over 5000 stores throughout the world.

Another building on the High Street is the library an important centre of the community. Originally built by the borough architect in 1968 as a square design with a glass pymarid roof. It was refurbished in 2008 and a curved entrance was added.

Without an underground station arriving here in 1924 it is unlikely Burnt Oak would exist as a thriving community. I'm glad I found a few places of interest to write about and wonder if I will be fortunate at the last station on this branch line.