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Middlesex

*** Shopping-Tip: Middlesex
{{otheruses}} '''Middlesex''' is one of the 39 traditional counties of England historic counties of England. When county councils were introduced in England in 1889 part of Middlesex was used to form the County of London and the remainder formed the administrative county of Middlesex. By 1965 urban London had further expanded and almost all of the original area was incorporated into Greater London. Middlesex is still used informally as an area name and may be included in some postal addresses. The county flower of Middlesex is the Wood Anemone.

Early history
{{infobox England traditional county| |County= Middlesex |AreaName= Traditional county |Image= Image:EnglandMiddlesexTrad.png |SizeRank= 38th |Size= 181,301 |Water= ? |CountyTown= London
Brentford |ChapmanCode=MDX |detailedImage= }} The name means ''middle Saxons'' and refers to the reputed ethnic origin of its inhabitants. Its first recorded use was in A.D 704 as ''Middleseaxan''. Geographically, Middlesex included the City of London, which has been self-governing since the 13th century thirteenth century, and the city of Westminster. The highest point is the High Road by Bushey Heath at 504 feet.

Division into hundreds
Middlesex was recorded in the Domesday Book as being divided into the six hundreds of Edmonton (hundred) Edmonton, Elthorne, Gore (hundred) Gore, Hounslow (hundred) Hounslow (later Isleworth), Ossulstone and Spelthorne (hundred) Spelthorne. Settlement was divided as follows: '''Edmonton Hundred''' - Edmonton, London Edmonton - Enfield Town Enfield - Monken Hadley - South Mimms - Tottenham '''Elthorne Hundred''' - Cowley, London Cowley - Cranford, London Cranford - Greenford - Hanwell - Harefield - Harlington - Harmondsworth - Hayes, Hillingdon Hayes - Hillingdon - Ickenham - New Brentford - Northolt - Norwood Green Norwood - Perivale - Ruislip - Uxbridge - West Drayton '''Gore Hundred''' - Edgware - Great Stanmore - Harrow-on-the-Hill - Hendon - Kingsbury - Little Stanmore - Pinner '''Isleworth Hundred''' - Heston - Isleworth - Twickenham '''Ossulstone Hundred''' - Acton, London Acton - Bloomsbury - Bow, London Bow - Bromley-by-Bow Bromley - Chelsea, London Chelsea - Chiswick - Clerkenwell - Ealing - Finchley - Friern Barnet - Fulham - Hackney - Hammersmith - Hampstead - Minories - Hornsey - Kensington - Mile End - Paddington - Poplar, London Poplar - Ratcliffe - Shadwell - Shoreditch - Spitalfields - Holborn - St Pancras - Stepney - Wapping - West Twyford - Whitechapel - Willesden '''Spelthorne Hundred''' - Ashford, Surrey Ashford - East Bedfont - Feltham - Hampton, London Hampton - Hampton Wick - Hanworth - Laleham - Littleton, Surrey Littleton - Shepperton - Staines - Stanwell - Sunbury-on-Thames Sunbury - Teddington During the 17th Century '''Ossulstone Hundred''' 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 division Finsbury''', '''Holborn division Holborn''', '''Kensington division Kensington''' and '''Tower division Tower'''.

Market towns
Before the expansion of London, the following places were market towns (as of 1850):- *Brentford *Edgware *Enfield *Hounslow *Southall *Staines *Uxbridge N.B. The south-eastern part of the county was served by the daily market at Westminster.

Modern history


Introduction of county councils
{{infobox historic district| |Name= Middlesex |HQ= Middlesex Guildhall
(extraterritorially) |Status= administrative county
Ceremonial counties of England ceremonial county |Start= 1889 |End= 1965 |Replace= Greater London
Hertfordshire
Surrey |Image= Image:EnglandMiddlesex1890.png Middlesex shown within England }} The north western suburbs of London steadily covered large parts of Middlesex, especially following the coming of the railways. In 1889, under the Local Government Act 1888, much of the area to the south east became part of the County of London. The remainder of the county came under the control of Middlesex County Council except for the parish of Monken Hadley which became part of Hertfordshire. The Act also provided that the part of Middlesex in the administrative county of London should be "severed from [Middlesex], and form a separate county for all non-administrative purposes". The area under the control of London County Council was divided in 1899 into metropolitan boroughs which were merged in 1965 to form the following present-day boroughs: *London Borough of Camden *London Borough of Hackney *London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham *London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea *London Borough of Islington *London Borough of Tower Hamlets *City of Westminster

Districts
The remainder of the county was initially divided into rural districts and urban districts. The rural districts were Hendon Rural District Hendon, Potters Bar Urban District South Mimms, Staines Rural District Staines, Uxbridge Rural District 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. Ealing, Enfield, Harrow, Hendon, Heston and Isleworth, Tottenham, Wembley, Willesden and Twickenham had all, according to the 1961 census, reached a population of greater than 100,000, which would usually have entitled them to seek county borough status. If granted to all these boroughs, it would have reduced the population of the administrative county of Middlesex by over half, to just shy of a million. The districts in 1965 were: {| |- | Municipal Borough of Acton Acton MB || Potters Bar Urban District Potters Bar UD |- |Municipal Borough of Brentford and Chiswick Brentford and Chiswick MB ||Ruislip-Northwood Urban District Ruislip-Northwood UD |- | Municipal Borough of Ealing Ealing MB || Municipal Borough of Southall Southall MB |- | Municipal Borough of Edmonton Edmonton MB || Municipal Borough of Southgate Southgate MB |- | Municipal Borough of Enfield Enfield MB || Staines Urban District Staines UD |- | Feltham Urban District Feltham UD || Sunbury-on-Thames Urban District Sunbury-on-Thames UD |- | Municipal Borough of Finchley Finchley MB || Municipal Borough of Tottenham Tottenham MB |- | Friern Barnet Urban District Friern Barnet UD || Municipal Borough of Twickenham Twickenham MB |- | Municipal Borough of Harrow Harrow MB || Municipal Borough of Uxbridge Uxbridge MB |- | Hayes and Harlington Urban District Hayes and Harlington UD || Municipal Borough of Wembley Wembley MB |- | Municipal Borough of Hendon Hendon MB || Municipal Borough of Willesden Willesden MB |- | Municipal Borough of Heston and Isleworth Heston and Isleworth MB || Municipal Borough of Wood Green Wood Green MB |- | Municipal Borough of Hornsey Hornsey MB || Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District Yiewsley and West Drayton UD |}

Creation of Greater London
Image:Arms-middx.jpg thumb|Arms of '''Middlesex County Council''' After 1889 the growth of London did not cease and the county became almost entirely urbanised by its suburbs. Many of the boroughs in the area were demanding independence from Middlesex County Council as county boroughs, which if granted would have left Middlesex County Council controlling an area with three distinct and unconnected fragments - in the west, the south-east and the north of the county. Instead, in 1965, nearly all the remainder of Middlesex became part of Greater London and formed the new London boroughs of: *London Borough of Barnet (part only) *London Borough of Brent *London Borough of Ealing *London Borough of Enfield *London Borough of Haringey *London Borough of Harrow *London Borough of Hillingdon *London Borough of Hounslow *London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (part only) 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.

Recent changes
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.

Legacy
Middlesex is still used in the names of organisations based in the area such as Middlesex County Cricket Club and Middlesex University. The River Thames, River Lee and the River Colne, Hertfordshire River Colne are all boundaries of the traditional county and historically the banks of River Thames in London were known as the "Middlesex Bank" and "Surrey Bank". Although no longer used in central London, it still occurs in the area around Richmond upon Thames and Twickenham where the river bends in such a way as to make north or south unclear. The urbanisation and declining importance of the county was lamented in the later works of John Betjeman, the Poet Laureate, and featured in the televised readings ''Metroland''. A judicial Middlesex commission area existed, consisting of the boroughs of Brent, Ealing, Enfield, Haringey, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/si/si1999/19993010.htm] [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2001/20010696.htm]. This was abolished on July 1, 2003 [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2003/20030640.htm].

Former postal county
Middlesex is also defined by the Royal Mail to be a Postal counties of the United Kingdom former postal county. The postal county was much smaller than the traditional and administrative counties as a large part of Middlesex was part of the London postal district. The postal county included the village of Denham, Buckinghamshire Denham, which was for all other purposes in Buckinghamshire but included in the post town of Uxbridge and therefore the postal county of Middlesex; conversely Hampton Wick was not included in the Middlesex postal county as it was served by post towns based in Surrey. The former postal county consisted of two unconnected areas and comprised the following post towns: BRENTFORD, EDGWARE, ENFIELD, FELTHAM, GREENFORD, HAMPTON, HARROW, HAYES, HOUNSLOW, ISLEWORTH, NORTHOLT, NORTHWOOD, PINNER, RUISLIP, SOUTHALL, STAINES, STANMORE, SUNBURY-ON-THAMES, TEDDINGTON, TWICKENHAM, UXBRIDGE, WEMBLEY, WEST DRAYTON Since the Royal Mail no longer require the use of counties as part of an address it is now possible to include Middlesex as part of any address, including those in the London postal district. The Royal Mail's 'alias file', a supplement to the Postcode Address File, contains postally-not-required details such as the former postal and traditional county for every address in the UK.

External links
* Historical maps of [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/image.aspx?compid=22200&filename=fig06.gif Middlesex] divisions from www.british-history.ac.uk: *
- Edmonton Hundred *
- Elthorne Hundred *
- Gore Hundred *
- Isleworth Hundred *
- Ossulstone Hundred *
- Spelthorne Hundred
- "Middlesex, England, UK" umbrella website
- Victoria County History of Middlesex
- Middlesex County Fencing Union, one of a number of active Middlesex County sporting organisations. {{England traditional counties}} {{LGA1963}} Category:Middlesex *Middlesex Category:Traditional counties of England Category:Former administrative counties de:Middlesex fr:Middlesex no:Middlesex sk:Middlesex (Anglicko) fi:Middlesex {{catmore}} Category:Former administrative counties Category:History of London
{| class="toccolours" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" style="margin: 0 auto; border-collapse: collapse;" |- ! bgcolor="#efefef" align="center" | Divisions of Middlesex before 1965 |- | align="center" style="font-size: 90%;" | Municipal Borough of Acton Acton | Municipal Borough of Brentford and Chiswick Brentford and Chiswick | Municipal Borough of Ealing Ealing | Municipal Borough of Edmonton Edmonton | Municipal Borough of Enfield Enfield | Feltham Urban District Feltham | Municipal Borough of Finchley Finchley | Friern Barnet Urban District Friern Barnet | Municipal Borough of Harrow Harrow | Hayes and Harlington Urban District Hayes and Harlington | Municipal Borough of Hendon Hendon | Municipal Borough of Heston and Isleworth Heston and Isleworth | Municipal Borough of Hornsey Hornsey | Potters Bar Urban District Potters Bar | Ruislip-Northwood Urban District Ruislip-Northwood | Municipal Borough of Southall Southall | Municipal Borough of Southgate Southgate | Staines Urban District Staines | Sunbury-on-Thames Urban District Sunbury-on-Thames | Municipal Borough of Tottenham Tottenham | Municipal Borough of Twickenham Twickenham | Municipal Borough of Uxbridge Uxbridge | Municipal Borough of Wembley Wembley | Municipal Borough of Willesden Willesden | Municipal Borough of Wood Green Wood Green | Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District Yiewsley and West Drayton |}

*** Shopping-Tip: Middlesex