Mill Hill

Carl Zeiss outlet in Mill Hill in 1894

The area's name was first recorded as Myllehill in 1547 and appears to mean "hill with a windmill".[4] However, the workings of the original Mill are in the building adjacent to The Mill Field.

Part of The Ridgeway today

Mill Hill Village is the oldest known inhabited part of the district, a ribbon development along a medieval route called 'The Ridgeway'. It is thought that the name 'Mill Hill' may be derived from a mill on The Ridgeway, built on an area of open ground (now a park) known as The Mill Field. The village is bounded on the north and the south by Green Belt land, and its High Street, at 100 yards, is the shortest in London.

The area's proximity to the city made it popular as a country retreat from the 17th century onwards, and large houses and quaint cottages survive. William Wilberforce (MP, and abolitionist of the slave trade) and Sir Stamford Raffles (founder of colonial Singapore) both briefly resided here, the former being the patron of Mill Hill's first church, Saint Paul's. As late as 1960, five shops existed in the Village (Griffin's sub-Post Office, The Blenheim Steps, Cook & Son (sweets and groceries), Hawes Brothers (grocers) and Vincett's (butchers)) but although the buildings survive, they have all since been converted into private houses, as the retail focus in the area shifted to Mill Hill Broadway. As of February 2011, the only places in Mill Hill Village where money can be spent are The Three Hammers and Adam & Eve pubs and Belmont Farm (which includes the Waffle Café).

Mill Hill was part of the ancient civil parish of Hendon within the historic county boundaries of Middlesex. Mill Hill as part of Municipal Borough of Hendon was merged into the London Borough of Barnet in Greater London in 1965.[5] Mill Hill is one of 21 electoral wards in the borough. This ward has 3 out of the 63 seats on the Barnet Council.[6]

Mill Hill was in the parliamentary constituency of Hendon which was created in 1918. This lasted until 1945 when the constituency was split in two, Mill Hill in Hendon North. In 1997, the Hendon constituency was recreated. From then, until he lost his seat to the Conservative candidate, Matthew Offord, at the 2010 general election, Hendon was represented in the House of Commons by Andrew Dismore of the Labour Party.[7]

Mill Hill's postal address is London NW7 (which also covers Highwood Hill and part of Arkley).

Mill Hill Village

Triangular junction by The Old Forge in Highwood Hill

The village is a ribbon development along The Ridgeway. It has green belt either side.

"Partingdale" and "Burtonhole" form a distinct valley north of The Ridgeway. North is Folly Farm and Folly Brook, a tributary of the Dollis Brook, running west to east. Between The Ridgeway and Folly Brook are Burtonhole Farm, a garden centre called Finchley Nurseries, and several sports grounds.

The National Institute for Medical Research, a landmark building, was demolished in 2018 and the site is being developed for new houses and apartments. On 1 April 2015, the NIMR became part of the new Francis Crick Institute[8] and ceased to exist as a separate MRC institute. The site was fully vacated and closed for redevelopment during 2017.

Arrandene Open Space and Featherstone Hill is a large open space which is bordered by Wise Lane, Wills Grove, Milespit Hill and The Ridgeway. While there are many open spaces in the area, Arrandene is unique because of its many open fields, meadows and woodland. The open fields were originally hay meadows which provided feed for the horses pulling carriages north to Barnet and beyond.

On Milespit Hill, is the non-denominational Mill Hill Cemetery, formerly known as the "Paddington District Cemetery". The 1960s pop singer Billy Fury (Ronald Wycherley, 1940–83) is buried there. The cemetery also contains 53 Second World War Commonwealth war graves and a Dutch "Field of Honour", containing the graves of more than 250 servicemen of the Netherlands, many of which have been brought to the cemetery from other United Kingdom burial grounds.

To the southwest of Mill Hill Village is a small suburban district called "Poets' Corner", and to the north an old estate, now a nature reserve, Moat Mount Open Space.

Mill Hill Broadway towards Mill Hill Circus

Mill Hill East

Bittacy Hill looking towards Holders Hill Circus

Parts of the eastern side of Mill Hill have recently undergone redevelopment, with the old gas works replaced by a Waitrose supermarket and housing developments. The small local retail area at Mill Hill East is at "Kelly’s Corner" (officially Holders Hill Circus) east of the station. To the south of Mill Hill East are Copthall and Holders Hill.

The United Kingdom / Carl Zeiss / Bausch & Lomb Optical Works was established at the top of Bittacy Hill in 1912 and demolished about 1990, to be replaced by a large building owned by the Jehovah's Witnesses, to complement their nearby Watchtower House built on the site of the former Bittacy House.

Mill Hill electoral ward of Barnet has a population of 18,451 as of the 2011 UK Census. The census also showed that ethnically, 64% of the population is White (49% White British, 13% Other White, 2% Irish). The largest minorities were the 7% identifying themselves as Indian, 6% as Other Asian, and 6% as Black African. On religion, 39% identified as Christian, 19% Jewish, 14% no religion, 12% Muslim, 5% Hindu, 2% other religion and 8% religion not stated. The most spoken foreign language was Persian/Farsi. The majority of the 6,875 households are tenure owned. The vast majority (4,602) of the properties are in the "whole house or bungalow" category, of which most are semi-detached. 4.1% of economically active people were unemployed. The median age was 35.[9]

Mill Hill East has been designated by the Mayor of London in his London Plan as a 'proposed area of intensification', in and around the Inglis Barracks site. As a result, Barnet Council designated the 'Mill Hill East Area Action Plan' (AAP) and carried out public consultation events. An at-times noisy 'examination in public',[10] to test the 'soundness' of the council's submitted AAP proposals, was held in October 2008, conducted by the Planning Inspectorate, and the subsequent report broadly agreed with the council's plans.

Representations were made to the Planning Inspectorate to reopen the railway line from Mill Hill East station to the west.[11]

A small victory for local protesters was that the report reaffirmed that a local closed road, Sanders Lane, would not be reopened for traffic, if only because the road was outside the AAP boundary (this had already conceded by the council) and would need separate consideration. However, speakers at the enquiry drew attention to the 'co-incidence' that a collector road proposed in the AAP[12] happened to meet the main road (Bittacy Hill) exactly opposite the short section of Sanders Lane still open to traffic. They suggested to the inspector that it was no coincidence at all, but the matter was left unresolved. The inspector stated in his report of December 2008:[13]

Sanders Lane is outside the AAP boundary. Many of the matters that concern local residents and expressed at the Hearings can be addressed at a later stage.

The amended AAP was formally adopted by the council on 27 January 2009.[14]

University of London Observatory

National Institute for Medical Research

In 1749 the botanist Peter Collinson inherited an estate which is now part of Mill Hill School, here he created a botanical garden.[22] The lexicographer James Murray started work on the first Oxford English Dictionary in 1879, whilst teaching at Mill Hill School. He had a building built in the school grounds to house the quotation slips and his small editorial staff. Murray called this building his scriptorium, when the project moved to Oxford the building was used by the school as a reading room.[23]

During the Second World War the Maudsley Hospital moved to the evacuated Mill Hill School as the Mill Hill Emergency Hospital. Here John C. Raven developed a verbal intelligence test called the Mill Hill Vocabulary scale.[24]

University of London Observatory is a teaching astronomical observatory which is part of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at University College London. It is situated on the A41 Watford Way, southeast of The Broadway. The Observatory was opened on 8 October 1929 by the Astronomer Royal Frank Watson Dyson. In 2009, student astronomers at the observatory tracked the extrasolar planet HD 80606 b and for the first time accurately calculated its size.[25]

The National Institute for Medical Research was a large medical research facility situated on the Ridgeway. Researchers at the Institute have, amongst other achievements, developed liquid and gas chromatography, discovered interferon and also discovered the sex determining gene SRY.[26] In 2018 the Medical Research building was demolished to make way for new homes.[27]

There are several religious institutions along the Ridgeway, including:

• The Missionary Institute (which was present on the Ridgeway until 2007)
• Holcombe House (part of the institute)
• the motherhouse of the British Province of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul
• until 2007, Saint Joseph's College, a large seminary.
• The Jehovah's Witnesses have had a centre since 1958, and they redeveloped the Carl Zeiss optical works to become the International Bible Students' Association in 1988.
• The Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, an African church next to the Village Pond at the junction of Milespit Hill, High Street and The Ridgeway, occupying the former Methodist Church.
• Mill Hill Synagogue is located near Mill Hill Broadway station. The Synagogue joined the United Synagogue as an affiliated synagogue in 1950.
• John Keble Church, Mill Hill

Veolia Water Central Limited formerly Three Valleys Water supplies Mill Hill's water.[28] EDF Energy Networks is the Distribution network operator licensed to distribute electricity from the transmission grid to homes and businesses in Mill Hill. On Partingdale Lane there is a large electrical station, built in 1961. The station is served by very high-voltage cables underground along Totteridge Valley. The proposed above-ground pylons and cables were rejected after a high-profile residents' campaign.

British Gas had a large gasworks at Mill Hill East with two gasometers, now replaced with housing and shops including a Waitrose supermarket.

Field in Hendon Wood, Mill Hill

Rolling fields in Mill Hill

In 1923 Hendon Urban District Council brought part of Daws Farm thought to be named after Thomas Daws and turned it into Mill Hill Park. This was then transferred to Barnet Council in 1965 which now manages the park. In the park there are football pitches, cricket pitch, tennis courts, basketball court, a children's play area, out door gym, cafe and toilet block. The same building also houses Mill Hill Bowls club with two pitches.[29]

Arrandene Open Space is a green space that sits next to Mill Hill Park separated by Wise Lane.[30]

The racing driver Graham Hill lived at Mill Hill for much of his adult life, along with his son Damon Hill. The botanist Peter Collinson and the English traveller Celia Fiennes. The playwright and novelist Michael Frayn was born in Mill Hill. Actor Patrick McGoohan lived there with his wife and three daughters. Fellow actor Patrick Troughton, best known as the second Doctor from Doctor Who, was born in Mill Hill.[31] The founder of Singapore Sir Stamford Raffles, the abolitionist William Wilberforce, and the parliamentarian John Wilkes all lived locally.[32]

Old Cholmeleians Sports Ground is on Hendon Wood Lane, and provides facilities for football and cricket. It is the home base for Old Cholmeleians Cricket Club.[33]

The local rugby club is Mill Hill Rugby Football Club established in 1937 with 2 men's teams. The 1st XV currently compete in Herts Middlesex 2 and the 2nd XV are in the Herts and Middlesex Merit leagues.

Mill Hill darts team, the current Middlesex superleague champions, are based at Mill Hill services club.[34]

• Media related to Mill Hill, London at Wikimedia Commons
• Mill Hill Preservation Society
• Mill Hill Residents Association
• Mill Hill Facebook Group