St John's Wood facts for kids

Quick facts for kids St John's Wood
St John's Wood High Street
St John's Wood
OS grid reference	TQ265835
London borough	Westminster Camden
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	NW8
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Westminster North
London Assembly	West Central Barnet and Camden
List of places UK England London 51°32′10″N 0°10′30″W / 51.5361°N 0.1751°W / 51.5361; -0.1751

St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from Regent's Park and Primrose Hill to Edgware Road, with the Swiss Cottage area of Hampstead to the north and Lisson Grove to the south.

The area is best known for Lord's Cricket Ground, home of Marylebone Cricket Club and Middlesex CCC, and is a regular international test cricket venue. It also includes Abbey Road Studios, well known through its association with the Beatles.

History

A map showing the St John's Wood ward of St Marylebone Metropolitan Borough as it appeared in 1916.

St John's Wood was developed from the early 19th century onwards. One of the first developers in the area was James Burton. It was one of the first London suburbs to be developed with a large amount of low density "villa" housing, as opposed to the terraced housing which was the norm in London up to the 19th century, even in expensive districts. Parts of St John's Wood have been rebuilt at a higher density, but it remains a highly desirable residential district, and one of the most expensive areas of London.

St John's Wood is the location of Lord's Cricket Ground, home of Middlesex County Cricket Club and of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), and the original headquarters of cricket. It is also famous for Abbey Road Studios and the street Abbey Road, where The Beatles recorded, notably the Abbey Road album, the cover of which features the band crossing the road.

The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery was formerly based at St John's Wood Barracks. The regiment moved to Woolwich on 6 February 2012; the barracks is to be demolished and developed as housing.

The area is also home to St. John's Wood Church Grounds, which contains the only nature reserve in the City of Westminster.

Places of worship

St John's Wood has a range of places of worship.

Christian

• Abbey Road Baptist Church
• St John's Wood Church (Church of England)
• St Mark's Church, Hamilton Terrace (Church of England)
• The Church of Our Lady (Roman Catholic)

Jewish

• The Liberal Jewish Synagogue
• The New London Synagogue
• Saatchi Shul

Muslim

• London Central Mosque

Transport and locales

The main London Underground station is St John's Wood, which is on the Jubilee line. Maida Vale, Warwick Avenue and Kilburn Park are nearby on the Bakerloo line. The nearest London Overground station is South Hampstead. The 13, 46, 113 and N113, 139, 187, 189 and 274 bus routes transit St John's Wood.

St John's Wood in literature and music

• Count and Countess Fosco live at No. 5 Forest Road, St. John's Wood in Wilkie Collins's 1859 sensation novel The Woman in White.
• Irene Adler lives there (in Briony Lodge on Serpentine Avenue) in Arthur Conan Doyle's 1891 Sherlock Holmes story "A Scandal in Bohemia".
• In the first instalment of John Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga, The Man of Property (1906), Young Jolyon lives on fictional Wistaria Avenue with his second wife and family.
• St John's Wood is the home of fictional characters Bingo and Rosie Little in P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster short stories and novels, written from the early 1920s onward.
• Referenced in the Rolling Stones song, "Play with Fire", released in 1965.
• The protagonist of J.G. Ballard's novel Millennium People (2003), is a psychologist who lives in St. John's Wood, which he abandons to join a middle-class rebellion.
• Appears in two books by Howard Jacobson, as the setting for his 2004 book The Making of Henry, followed in his 2010 Man Booker Prize winning novel The Finkler Question as the planned location for the Museum of Anglo-Jewish Culture.
• Violet Hill, a street and area off Abbey Road with Violet Hill Gardens and Violet Hill Hospital, is the source of the name in Coldplay's 2008 song "Violet Hill".

Education

Independent

• The American School in London
• Arnold House School
• Abercorn School
• Barrow Hill Junior School
• Saint Christina's Primary School
• St John's Wood Pre-Preparatory School

Academy Trust and Federation

• Harris Academy St John's Wood
• George Eliot Primary School

State

• Robinsfield Infant School

Notable residents

Commemorative blue plaques

• Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, OM (1836–1912), painter, at 44 Grove End Road
• Gilbert Bayes (1872–1953), sculptor, at 4 Greville Place
• Sir Joseph Bazalgette, CB (1819–1891), civil engineer, at 17 Hamilton Terrace
• Sir Thomas Beecham, CH (1879–1961), conductor and impresario, at 31 Grove End Road
• Sir William Reid Dick, KCVO (1879-1961), sculptor, at 95a Clifton Hill
• Sir George Frampton (1860–1928), sculptor, at 32 Queen's Grove
• William Powell Frith (1819–1909), painter, at 114 Clifton Hill
• Dame Barbara Hepworth, DBE (1903-1975) and John Skeaping (1901-1980), sculptors, at 24 St Ann's Terrace
• Thomas Hood (1799–1845), poet, at 28 Finchley Road
• Thomas Huxley (1825–1895), biologist, at 38 Marlborough Place
• Melanie Klein (1882–1960), psychoanalyst, at 42 Clifton Hill
• Dame Laura Knight (1877-1970) and Harold Knight (1874-1961), painters, at 16 Langford Place
• Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980), painter, at Eyre Court, 1 Finchley Road
• Sir Charles Santley (1834-1922), opera singer, at 13 Blenheim Road
• Sir Bernard Spilsbury, Kt (1877-1947), pathologist, at 31 Marlborough Hill
• William Strang (1859-1921), painter and etcher, at 20 Hamilton Terrace
• Marie Tussaud (1761-1850), artist, at 24 Wellington Road
• C. F. A. Voysey (1857–1941), architect and designer, at 6 Carlton Hill
• John William Waterhouse (1849–1917), painter, at 10 Hall Road

Other notable residents

See also

In Spanish: St John's Wood para niños