Visit Stanmore Places

Welcome to Visit Stanmore Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Stanmore

  

Stanmore Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Stanmore

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Stanmore history

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Rome

An obelisk on Brockley Hill marks the reputed site of a battle between Julius Caesar’s Roman legions and the local Catuvellauni tribe. This battle is said to have taken place during Caesar’s raid in force on Britain, in 54AD.

Origins of the Manors and Parishes of Stanmore

A manor called Stanmore is first recorded in 793 AD, and the Domesday book of 1086 describes pre-existing manors (estates) of Great and Little Stanmore as having changed ownership in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest.

Pre-urban

Until the late 19th century, Stanmore was a small rural community. In the Middle Ages, a monastic community of cell of Augustinian Canons was established at Bentley Priory. It was dissolved in 1536 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Stately homes

Stanmore House and Stanmore Park were built in 1729 by Andrew Drummond, the founder of the Drummonds Bank and Jacobite sympathiser. Bentley Priory was the final home of the Dowager Queen Adelaide, queen consort of William IV, before her death there in 1849. The opera librettist W. S.S. Gilbert (of the Gilbert and Sullivan duo) lived at Grim’s Dyke.

Urbanisation

The railways first reached Stanmore in 1890 when Frederick Gordon opened the Stanmore branch line to improve access to Bentley. The station was designed to resemble a small English church, complete with a spire and gargoyles. Gordon also purchased land near the station and laid out a wide avenue to attract wealthy Londoners to come to live in the country.

The war and afterwards

Stanmore had an outstation from the Bletchley Park codebreaking establishment, where some of the Bombes used to decode German Enigma messages were housed. During World War II the Battle of Britain was controlled from RAF Bentley Priory. In the 1950s the Automobile Associationbuilt and opened a four-storey office building on The Broadway.

Parish church

The first parish church was the 14th-century St Mary’s, built on the site of a wooden Saxon church. This building was replaced by a new one built in the current churchyard, consecrated in 1632. A new church was constructed in the Gothic Revival style from 1849 to 1850. Queen Adelaide’s last public appearance was to lay the foundation stone of the new church.

Stanmore Hall

Stanmore Hall was built in the 1840s as a gothic castle. It was owned by balloonist Robert Hollond and his wife Ellen Hollond. William Knox D’Arcy lived at the Hall, where he died in 1917. During the Second World War it was used as a nurse’s home for the Royal National Orthopedic Hospital.

Stanmore toponymy

Domesday book of 1086 records the two manors of Stanmore as Stanmere, the name deriving from the Old English stan, ‘stony’ and mere, ‘a pool’ The earliest documented use of the name comes from a charter of 793, when land in Stanmore was granted to St Albans Abbey.

You can visit Stanmore places with Walkfo Stanmore to hear history at Stanmore’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Stanmore has 72 places to visit in our interactive Stanmore map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Stanmore, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Stanmore places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Stanmore & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 72 audio facts unique to Stanmore places in an interactive Stanmore map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Stanmore Places Map
72 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Stanmore historic spots	Stanmore tourist destinations	Stanmore plaques	Stanmore geographic features
Walkfo Stanmore tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Stanmore

  

Best Stanmore places to visit

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Stanmore has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Stanmore’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Stanmore’s information audio spots:

The Holly Bush, Elstree Elstree’s High Street was formerly an important main road, the A5 which followed the course of the Roman road Watling Street . The Holly Bush is a listed building, formerly a public house .

Visit Stanmore plaques