Did you know that...
This HA5 area belonged to the Carpenders Park manor house. The building housed the Highfields school for girls until it was demolished in 1960. The United States Air Force base that was built on the site of the old school kept the Highfields name. The base was too demolished in 1997. Most of the housing was built starting with 1930. Council houses were built in 1950. Most of the houses in this part of North West London are private properties. More houses were built in the 1960s. Carpenders Park inspired the fictional Plummers Park from Leslie Thomas’s book Tropic of Ruislip.
British ventriloquist Roger De Courcey is one of the famous people who lived in this HA5 area. His puppet, Nookie Bear, is well-known as well. De Courcey won the New Faces TV talent competition. He performed at the London Palladium. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother attended his 1976 Royal Variety Performance. Actor Christopher Pulford is another Carpenders Park resident. He played in Fray Bentos ads and had a short appearance in TV drama Peak Practice.
Carpenders Park railway station opened in 1914 but it closed three years later. In 1919, it reopened by London Electric Railway. Electric trains came in 1922. Since 2010, this station has ticket barriers. It takes about eight minutes to reach Watford Junction and 44 minutes to get to London Euston from this HA5 railway station. A community hall is right next to the station. It hosts a variety of local events. The post office, supermarket, and coffee shop are on Delta Gain. Nearby churches include Carpenders Park Christian Spiritualists Church and Carpenders Park & South Oxhey Methodist Church. The local cemetery opened in 1954. It features a small lake and a mature woodland through which Hartsbourne stream flows. St Meryl’s Primary School has no connection with religion. It was named so to honor the school’s builder’s wife.