IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Christchurch Gardens, HARROW, HA3 8NR

The Belmont Trail is a footpath following the course of a former railway line. The railway ran from Harrow & Wealdstone to Stanmore Village, but closed in 1964.

In the 1880s the village of Great Stanmore attracted the attention of the London hotel and restaurant magnate Frederick Gordon. In 1882 he bought the Bentley Priory estate with the intention of converting it into a country resort for his London hotel guests. He realised the project would not prosper without some improvement in railway communication. The Harrow & Stanmore Railway was authorised in 1886 from a junction with the up slow line at Harrow. The first train left Harrow for Stanmore on 18th December 1890. However, there was no sign by the early 20th century of any traffic potential. Gordon's enterprise at Stanmore failed and the line's business was very light. A few houses appeared near the station but the Bentley Priory hotel failed and Gordon moved in with his wife and 11 children. Gordon died in 1904. The country between Harrow and Stanmore remained almost entirely open until well into the 1920s. In response to house builders, a wooden halt was opened on 12th September 1932 called Belmont where the branch passed under Kenton Lane. With the building of low cost housing in the area Belmont became and remained the main traffic generator for the branch. The station was rebuilt by 1937. Sunday trains were permanently withdrawn from 27th July 1947. After 13th September 1952 the station at Stanmore saw only a daily freight train and these continued until August 1964 - track lifting started soon afterwards. Ordinary bookings from Belmont faded away almost completely from the early 1960s. Closure of the line from Belmont to Harrow & Wealdstone was included in the Beeching report and the last passenger train ran on 3rd October 1964. Belmont station was demolished in July 1966. The trackbed between Christchurch Avenue and Vernon Drive has now been made into a path called the Belmont Trail. For more information see http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/belmont/ This is just north of Christchurch Avenue.

The cemetery is at the eastern end of Byron Park and was consecrated as a burial ground in 1902. The former branch line railway from Harrow and Wealdstone station to Stanmore, completed by the London and North Western Railway in 1890 and closed in 1964, ran along a low embankment in the trees in the distance.

In the 1880s the village of Great Stanmore attracted the attention of the London hotel and restaurant magnate Frederick Gordon. In 1882 he bought the Bentley Priory estate with the intention of converting it into a country resort for his London hotel guests. He realised the project would not prosper without some improvement in railway communication. The Harrow & Stanmore Railway was authorised in 1886 from a junction with the up slow line at Harrow. The first train left Harrow for Stanmore on 18th December 1890. However, there was no sign by the early 20th century of any traffic potential. Gordon's enterprise at Stanmore failed and the line's business was very light. A few houses appeared near the station but the Bentley Priory hotel failed and Gordon moved in with his wife and 11 children. Gordon died in 1904. The country between Harrow and Stanmore remained almost entirely open until well into the 1920s. In response to house builders, a wooden halt was opened on 12th September 1932 called Belmont where the branch passed under Kenton Lane. With the building of low cost housing in the area Belmont became and remained the main traffic generator for the branch. The station was rebuilt by 1937. Sunday trains were permanently withdrawn from 27th July 1947. After 13th September 1952 the station at Stanmore saw only a daily freight train and these continued until August 1964 - track lifting started soon afterwards. Ordinary bookings from Belmont faded away almost completely from the early 1960s. Closure of the line from Belmont to Harrow & Wealdstone was included in the Beeching report and the last passenger train ran on 3rd October 1964. Belmont station was demolished in July 1966. The trackbed between Christchurch Avenue and Vernon Drive has now been made into a path called the Belmont Trail. For more information see http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/belmont/ This is just north of Christchurch Avenue.

If you look at satellite imagery currently available online you can see the layout of the driving school as it was, complete with road junctions, roundabouts, pedestrian crossings and even a ramp for practising hill starts. Today it lies derelict and only a couple of forlorn traffic lights and a leaning Belisha Beacon post bear silent witness to its past. Minutes of a local council meeting in 2004 refer to it as closed so it is at least 6 years since it was last used.

Somehow this angel figure has managed to escape the heavy duty violence and desecration that has been done to so many of the tombstones here. A depressing place, even on a nice day like this.