The Ancient Parish of Northolt
Northolt was an Ancient Parish in the hundred of Elthorne in the county of Middlesex. Civil Parishes took over from Ancient Parishes in the 1860s, followed by Urban District Councils in 1894 and then London Boroughs in 1965 – Northolt is now part of the London Borough of Ealing.
Surrounding Northolt are the Middlesex parishes of Ickenham, Ruislip, Harrow on the Hill, Wembley, Greenford, Norwood and Hayes.
The Society has produced a Parish Guide for Northolt.
St Mary, Ealing Road
The current St Mary’s church building dates from the 13th century although the chancel and nave roofs were rebuilt during the 16th century and the square weather boarded bell tower with its spire dates from the same period. Increases in population in the area following the Second World War led to three daughter churches being formed: St Joseph the Worker, St Hugh and St Richard. The last of these has now rejoined its mother church and the parish church is now known as St Mary with St Richard. Records include: baptisms (1560-1977), marriages (1560-1995); burials (1560-1974) and are at London Metropolitan Archives, Ref: DRO/051.
St Barnabas, Northolt Park
Building this church started in 1940 but was delayed by the Second World War so was not finished until 1954, when a parish was assigned to it from the north-east area of St Mary’s together with part of Holy Cross, Greenford. Records include: baptisms (1935-1958), marriages (1941-1999) and are at London Metropolitan Archives, Ref: DRO/144.
St Hugh, Kensington Road
Services were initially held in a builder’s hut in 1947 with a permanent church being built in 1970. No registers are deposited at LMA and its archive is a sub-division of the mother church’s collection. No registers are deposited at LMA and its archive is a sub-division of the mother church’s collection, Ref: DRP/051/HUG.
St Joseph the Worker, Yeading Lane
This church was established to serve the West End area of Northolt in response to local population growth in the 1930s. It started in temporary premises off Watery Road with the present building being built in the 1960s. Records include baptisms (1958-1964) and are at LMA, Ref: DRO/168.
St Richard, Sussex Crescent
Initially, services were held in a youth club on the Northolt Park estate in 1958 before moving to a new hall in 1960. A proposed church for the hall was never actually built and instead a chapel was added to the hall in the 1980s. No registers are deposited at LMA, however the church has now joined that of St Mary hence the fact that its archive is included with that of its mother church at LMA, Ref: DRO/051/RIC.