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PLACE NAMES


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Kenton
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Kenton is a district in north-west London, England, to the east of Harrow and historically in Middlesex. As with surroundings in Harrow, Wembley and Kingsbury, the area was a product of Metroland suburbia of the early 20th century. Both the London and North Western Railway and Metropolitan Railway reached the area by the 1920s. The main road through Kenton, the east-west Kenton Road, is a busy and important road that links Harrow to the major Edgware Road. The road now forms the boundary between the London boroughs of Harrow and Brent.
The hamlet was recorded as "Keninton" in 1232. The name derives from the personal name of the Saxon "Coena" and the Old English "tun", a farm - and means "the farm of Coena" and his family who once lived on a site near here. Before the 20th century, the tiny settlement was concentrated around in what was Kenton Lane (the easternmost part of which remains as Old Kenton Lane to the east of Kingsbury station) and is now part of the present-day Woodgrange Avenue and Kenton Road.
The Windermere is a Grade II listed public house in Windermere Avenue. It is on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors and was built in 1938. The Plough public house was Kenton's first, opening in the early 18th century; the current building is not the original. It is now an Indo-Chinese fusion restaurant and bar.
Local Primary Schools include Uxendon Manor on Vista Way and Priestmead Primary School on Hartford Avenue. The local high school is Claremont High School on Claremont Avenue off Kenton Road.
Kenton station was opened by the London and North Western Railway on 15 June 1912. The Metropolitan Railway's Northwick Park and Kenton station (later renamed Northwick Park) followed on 28 June 1923.
From its original location near The Grange, Kenton expanded toward Wealdstone, Wembley and Stanmore after the opening of Kenton station on the Euston to Watford Junction railway in 1912 and grew into a suburb of London from the 1920s.
The South Kenton area is distinct from Kenton, being almost contiguous with North Wembley and Preston. It is entirely within Brent.
The Wealdstone Brook is the only visible waterway within the area. It has two branches, one originating in Wealdstone and the other in Stanmore; these combine underground near the junction of Kenton Lane and Kenton Road. The Western (Wealdstone) branch is in culvert as far as the south side of the Kenton Recreation Ground; the Eastern (Stanmore) branch is mostly in culvert from near the source on Clamp Hill to where it combines with the Western branch. It functions mainly as a land drain devoid of wildlife until it reaches Woodcock Park and was previously heavily polluted by run-off water and illicit connections from adjacent houses; a 2013 Thames Water project in the vicinity of Woodcock Park identified 140 premises discharging into the Brook.
Apart from the infamous appearance of several of Kenton's streets in the "Gourmet Night" episode of the BBC-TV comedy series Fawlty Towers starring John Cleese, the only known reference to Kenton in modern popular culture is the song "Kenton Kev", by the Berlin-based punk-jazz band The Magoo Brothers on their album "Beyond Believable", released on the Bouncing Corporation label in 1988. The song refers to the "pleasant valley" high suburban boredom factor then prevalent in the area, and cites local characters and places, some fairly well known. It is said that "Kenton Kev" refers in fact to Kevin Jones, the US-based property magnate, who was actually born in Kenton. The song was written by Paul Bonin, Philip Ulysses Sanders and Melanie Hickford, all of whom grew up and lived in the area.
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