Everything about Middlesex totally explained
Middlesex is one of the 39
historic counties of
England and the
second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent
City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time. The county was significantly affected by the expansion of the metropolitan area of
London in both the
18th and
19th centuries; such that from 1855 the south east was administered as part of
the metropolis. When
county councils were initially introduced in England in 1889 around 20% of the area of Middlesex, and a third of its population, was transferred to the
County of London, and the remainder formed a smaller county, in the north west, under the control of Middlesex County Council.
In the
interwar years urban London had further expanded, with increasing suburbanisation, improvement and expansion of public transport, and the setting up of
new industries outside the inner London area. After
World War II the population of the County of London
Etymology and geography
The name means
territory of the middle Saxons and refers to the reputed ethnic origin of its inhabitants. Its first recorded use was in 704 as
Middleseaxan. The county lay within the
London Basin and the most significant feature was the
River Thames, which formed the southern boundary. The
River Lee and the
River Colne formed natural boundaries to the east and west. In the south west of the county the Thames meandered enough to make "Middlesex bank" more descriptively accurate than "north bank"; a distinction used during the
The Boat Race. In the north the boundary was mostly formed by a ridge of hills broken by Barnet valley and a long protrusion of Hertfordshire into the county. The county was thickly wooded, which is now one of the
highest points in London.
Early settlement and economy
Middlesex was recorded in the
Domesday Book as being divided into the six
hundreds of
Edmonton,
Elthorne,
Gore, Hounslow (
Isleworth in all later records),
Ossulstone and
Spelthorne. The
City of London, which has been self-governing since the
thirteenth century, was geographically within the county and it also included
Westminster, which had a high degree of autonomy. Of the six hundreds, Ossulstone contained the districts closest to the City of London. During the 17th century it was divided into four divisions, which, along with the
Liberty of Westminster, largely took over the administrative functions of the hundred. The divisions were named
Finsbury,
Holborn,
Kensington and
Tower. The county had
parliamentary representation from the 13th century. The title
Earl of Middlesex was created twice, in 1622 and 1677 but became extinct in 1843. Local government in the county was unreformed by the
Municipal Corporations Act 1835 and civic works were instead carried out by individual parish vestries or ad-hoc
improvement commissioners. In 1855 the parishes of the densely populated area to the south east, but excluding the City of London, came within the responsibility of the
Metropolitan Board of Works.
Following the Local Government Act 1888, the remaining county came under the control of Middlesex County Council except for the parish of
Monken Hadley, which became part of
Hertfordshire. The area of responsibility of the
Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex was reduced accordingly. Middlesex didn't contain any
county boroughs, so the county and
administrative county (the area of county council control) were identical.
The
Local Government Act 1894 divided the administrative county into four
rural districts and thirty-one
urban districts, based on existing
sanitary districts. One urban district,
South Hornsey was a detached part of Middlesex within the
County of London until 1900, when it was transferred to the latter county. The rural districts were
Hendon,
South Mimms,
Staines and
Uxbridge. Because of increasing urbanisation these had all been abolished by 1934. Urban districts had been created, merged, and many had gained the status of municipal borough by 1965. The districts as at the 1961 census were:
After 1889 the growth of London didn't cease and the county became almost entirely urbanised by its suburbs with a significant rise in population density. This process was accelerated by the
Metro-land developments, which covered a large part of the county. Public transport in the county, including the extensive network of trams, buses and the London Underground came under control of the
London Passenger Transport Board in 1933 and a
New Works Programme was devised in order to further enhance services during the 1930s.
Arms of Middlesex County Council
Coats of arms were attributed by the medieval
heralds to the Kingdoms of the
Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. That assigned to the
Kingdom of the Middle and East Saxons depicted three "seaxes" or short notched swords on a red background. The seaxe was a weapon carried by Anglo-Saxon warriors, and the term "Saxon" may be derived from the word. These arms became associated with the two counties that approximated to the kingdom: Middlesex and
Essex. County authorities, militia and volunteer regiments associated with both counties used the attributed arms. In 1910 it was noted that the county councils of Essex and Middlesex and the
Sheriff's Office of the
County of London were all using the same arms.
The Middlesex County Council decided to apply for a formal grant of arms from the
College of Arms, with the addition of an heraldic "difference" added to the attributed arms. Colonel Otley Parry, a
Justice of the Peace for Middlesex and author of a book on military badges, was asked to devise an addition to the shield. The chosen addition was a "Saxon Crown", derived from the portrait of King
Athelstan on a silver penny of his reign, stated to be the earliest form of crown associated with any English sovereign. The grant of arms was made by
letters patent dated
7 November 1910. The
blazon of the arms was:
Gules, three seaxes fessewise points to the sinister proper, pomels and hilts and in the centre chief point a Saxon crown or.
The undifferenced arms of the Kingdom were eventually granted to Essex County Council in 1932. Seaxes were also used in the insignia of many of the boroughs and urban districts in the county, while the Saxon crown came to be a common heraldic charge in English civic arms. On the creation of the
Greater London Council in 1965 a Saxon crown was introduced in its coat of arms. Seaxes appear in the arms of several
London borough councils and of
Spelthorne Borough Council, whose area was in Middlesex.
Creation of Greater London
The population of the County of London was in decline since its creation in 1889, and following
World War II the exodus continued. In contrast, the population trend of Middlesex had seen steady increase during that period. From 1951 to 1961 the population of the inner districts of the county started to drop and growth was experienced only in eight of the suburban outer districts. The remaining areas were
Potters Bar Urban District, which became part of
Hertfordshire, while
Sunbury-on-Thames Urban District and
Staines Urban District became part of
Surrey. In 1974, the three
urban districts that had been transferred to Hertfordshire and Surrey were abolished and became the districts of
Hertsmere (part only) and
Spelthorne respectively. In 1995 the village of
Poyle was transferred from Spelthorne to the
Berkshire borough of
Slough. Additionally, since 1965 the Greater London boundary to the west and north has been subject to a significant
number of small changes.
Legacy
Middlesex is used in the names of organisations based in the area such as
Middlesex County Cricket Club and
Middlesex University. There is a
Middlesex County Football Association and two teams that are now within Surrey,
Staines Town and
Ashford Town (Middlesex) as well as
Potters Bar Town in Hertfordshire, compete in the Middlesex County Cup.
Sir John Betjeman, a native of
North London and
Poet Laureate, published several poems about Middlesex and the suburban experience. Many were featured in the televised readings
Metroland. As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity
Plantlife chose the
wood anemone as the
county flower. In 2003, an
early day motion with two signatures noted that
16 May is the anniversary of the
Battle of Albuera and in recent years has been celebrated as
Middlesex Day, commemorating the valiant efforts of the
Middlesex Regiment (the "Die-hards") in that battle. The idea is to recognise and celebrate the historic county. On its creation in 1965, Greater London was divided into five
commission areas for the administration of justice. One was named "Middlesex" and consisted of the boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Enfield, Haringey, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow. This was abolished on
1 July 2003.
County town
Middlesex doesn't have a single established historic county town, with different locations having been used for different county purposes. The
County Assizes for Middlesex were held at the
Old Bailey in the
City of London. In 1795, New Brentford was "considered as the county-town; but there's no town-hall or other public building". Middlesex County Council, which took over the administrative duties of the Quarter Sessions in 1889, was based at the
Middlesex Guildhall, in
Westminster. This was in the
County of London, and thus outside the council's area of jurisdiction.
Former postal county
Middlesex (abbreviated Middx) is also defined as a
former postal county; an element of postal addressing in routine use until 1996 and now an optional component. However, much of inner Middlesex (Willesden, Hornsey etc.) was within the
London postal district, within which addresses already included "LONDON" and didn't include a county. The transfer of Potters Bar to Hertfordshire was adopted by the Royal Mail, but the transfers of Staines and Sunbury to Surrey were not. The remaining postal county consisted of two unconnected areas (Enfield and the rest) and comprised the following post towns:
| Postcode area |
Post towns |
}}
|
| EN (part) |
ENFIELD |
| HA |
EDGWARE • HARROW • NORTHWOOD • PINNER • RUISLIP • STANMORE • WEMBLEY |
| TW (part) |
ASHFORD • BRENTFORD • FELTHAM • HAMPTON • HOUNSLOW† • ISLEWORTH • SHEPPERTON • STAINES • SUNBURY-ON-THAMES • TEDDINGTON • TWICKENHAM† |
| UB |
GREENFORD • HAYES • NORTHOLT • SOUTHALL • UXBRIDGE • WEST DRAYTON |
† = postal county wasn't required
The postal county included many anomalies where the
post towns it consisted of encroached on neighbouring counties, such as the village of
Denham, Buckinghamshire, which is included in the post town of
Uxbridge Wraysbury, Berkshire and
Egham Hythe, Surrey are served by the Staines post town
Further Information
Get more info on 'Middlesex'.
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