1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Willesden

WILLESDEN, an urban district in the Harrow parliamentary division of Middlesex, England, suburban to London, lying immediately outside the boundary of the county of London (boroughs of Hammersmith and Kensington). Pop. (1881) 27,453; (1901) 114,811. It has increased greatly as a residential district, mainly of the working classes. There are, moreover, considerable railway works attached to Willesden Junction, where the suburban lines of the London & North Western, North London, and Great Western railways connect with the main line of the first-named company. Remains of Norman building have been discovered in the church of St Mary, which is of various dates, and has been much enlarged in modern times. Several ancient monuments and brasses are retained. There is a Jewish cemetery in Willesden Lane. The adjoining residential districts are Harlesden on the south, Kilburn and Brondesbury on the east, Cricklewood and Neasden (with the works of the Metropolitan railway) on the north.

At Domesday the manor of Willesden and Harlesden was held by the canons of St Paul's. In the 12th century it was formed into eight distinct manors, seven of which were held by the same number of prebendaries. A shrine or image of St Mary (Our Lady of Willesden) was in the 15th century an object of pilgrimage, but by the middle of the century following the ceremonies had fallen into abuse, and the shrine was suppressed.