The earliest record of Northolt is in 872 as the
Anglo Saxon norð healum, where norð is North and healum (or hale) is
a nook, corner, or retreat,. Archaeological evidence suggests that the settlement's origin was an 8th-century
Saxon village close to
Northolt Manor behind the present Court Farm Road. It is mentioned in the
Domesday Book as
Northala, part of the
Elthorne Hundred in the
historic county of
Middlesex, England. In 1066 the lord was Esger the constable, and in 1086 was
Geoffrey de Mandeville. Northolt Manor itself was built in the fourteenth century and provides much of the archeological information of the area from its excavations in the 1950s and onward. A
Tudor barn built in 1595 from Smith's farm in Northolt was moved to
Chiltern Open Air Museum and is now on display there. In the early part of the 18th century farmland was enclosed in order to provide hay for the
City of London, alongside more traditional crops such as peas and beans. Up to late
Victorian times, the area was rural with predominantly
arable crops being grown. 1795 saw parliamentary approval for construction of
Paddington Arm of the
Grand Junction Canal later becoming part of the
Grand Union Canal. The route from Hayes to Paddington passes through Northolt, opening on 10 July 1801. The
Great Central Railway line (now the
Chiltern Line) opened in 1906, passing through Northolt on its way from Marylebone to High Wycombe. However, it wasn't until 1926 that a station opened at
Northolt Park. 1906 also saw the
Great Western Railway's
New North Main Line pass through south of Great Central Railway on its way to Birmingham. The following year Northolt Halt opened on it, eventually becoming Northolt station. In 1948 an extension to the Central line, transformed it into
Northolt tube station. In May 1915 the Royal Flighing Corp established an airfield in neighbouring
South Ruislip in the
London Borough of Hillingdon, Most early RAF airfields were named after the nearest railway station; in this case Northolt Junction, (now
South Ruislip), so it became RAF Northolt. WW1 also brought an urgent need for more munitions, and in 1915 the Ministry of Munitions created many national munition factories. The
National Filling Factory No 7 in
Hayes, Middlesex had an explosives magazine at Northolt which was completed late in 1916. This 93-acre site had 20 stores, each able to hold 100 tons of explosives, and was connected by a rail spur at Northolt Junction station. The location was just north-east of the current Ruislip Gardens station, with the rail spur on the south side of Yeading Brook, and the magazines connected by trolleyways on the north side. About 100 tons of explosives per day were sent by rail to Hayes for filling artillery shells - both the Hayes factory and the magazine were removed after the war ended. Suburban development began in the 1920s. Most of the housing north of the
Western Avenue was built in the 1920s–1930s, and is in the private housing sector. Most of the housing built to the south of the Western Avenue was built in the 1960s–1970s, and is in the
social housing sectors, particularly along the Kensington and Ruislip Roads. Two important transport links run through Northolt: the
Paddington Arm of the
Grand Union Canal and the modern
A40 road. In the 21st century, a new large private housing development was built on the former site of the
Taylor Woodrow company, adjacent to the
Grand Union Canal. This development is known as "Grand Union Village" and incorporates a new canal boat marina. ==Landmarks==