Woodcock Hill was selected for a separate narrative in view of its interesting historical background: the highway does however form a boundary to the Northwick Estate, formerly owned by the Lords Northwick, (members of the Rushout family).  As there was no direct heir when the last Lord Northwick died, in 1887 the estate passed to Captain Edward George Spencer Churchill, first cousin to the late Sir Winston Churchill the Captain (who died in 1964 aged 88) and his trustees decided to sacrifice the farmlands to developers early in the 1920s but the intention was to produce a very superior type of suburb of original design.  The development did not make a very auspicious beginning - due to serious sales resistance - and at one stage Messrs Costin and Nash, two of the earliest builders on the scene, considered withdrawing to concentrate their efforts in other districts.

Prospects looked brighter however when it became known in 1923 that Middlesex County Council intended to widen and straighten Kenton Road and to erect a new railway bridge.  Until this date Harrow could be approached from Kenton only on foot or cycle and children relied upon farm carts to get them to school: they remained at home if the weather was inclement.

The new Northwick Estate began to take shape in 1924 with the construction of a 500 foot circle) the site of a private club (the ‘Palaestra’), with roads branching out from it like the spokes of a wheel.  The club has since become a Masonic centre.

Most of the roads were named after villages and farms on Captain Churchill’s Cotswold Estate (Northwick Park, Blockley in Gloucestershire).  The map below details the locations after which highways on the estate have been named.

Every semi-detached housing unit on the estate was built in a different style to the immediate neighbouring pair, each dwelling costing up to about £1,400 freehold.  Five bedroomed villas were available from prices below £1,700 to £3,000.  Current prices range from about £35,000 to £70,000 for the same houses.

The peace of this exclusive estate was shattered during the last war when a stick of bombs fell across some of the highways destroying a house in Ebrington Road and damaging another.