• Enter Crown Street and continue past the entrance to Waldron Road...   ///chained.verbs.pies

 

The North Star with its stable yard, once part of a famous Watford brewing group Benskins, is on your left at 13 Crown Street and only closed in 1957. This pub is now a private dwelling, with a mixture of converted nineteenth-century shops nearby.

 

Further along on your left, there is a private plaque (shown opposite) stating that Crown Street was originally Hog Street and was the site of the Crown Inn first licensed in 1785.

 

The main developments between 1759 and 1817 were the extension of Hog Lane, as Middle Road, to the south-west. The expansion of Harrow down the southern slope of Harrow Hill gathered impetus after the passing of the  Inclosure Act of 1857 when landowners were able to take over common land and develop it. Many small, terraced houses were subsequently built fronting Crown Street, West Street, Byron Hill Road, and London Road.

 

• Walk to the junction of Crown Street, Middle Road and Byron Hill Road...   ///thigh.engine.driven

 

Here you face the Red House, an English Heritage Grade II listed building, now part of John Lyon School.

 

• Divert briefly into Middle Road to view the school buildings on both sides...   ///shield.cage.fever

 

In 1572, Elizabeth I granted a charter to John Lyon, a local landowner, to found a free grammar school on Harrow Hill. However, over many years Harrow School diverged from its original charter and purpose which was to educate 30 local boys.

 

By the time of Dr Vaughan’s tenure at Harrow School, there was anger and concern that the original purpose was not being fulfilled as Harrow had developed into a boarding school for the wealthy and powerful. This led Vaughan to establish an ‘English Form’ as a ‘semi-detached’ part of Harrow School, based in a draughty shed nearby. 

 

By 1876 it had become a day school for local boys and John Lyon School is now recognised as one of the finest selective schools in the area.   

 

As the school expanded the Red House was incorporated. At the back of this building, there is an unremarkable private blue plaque which can be seen by entering the gardens (with permission if necessary).