London’s Alleys: Lilley Lane, NW7

This is an unremarkable alley in north London with few interesting features, so I had to have a look.

Although Lilley Lane is very much an alley in all the classic senses, it once was an actual road when all around this part of London were still fields. Linking Hale Lane with Marsh Lane, it passed through fields likely owned by Shakerham Farm.

However, the country’s quiet was rudely interrupted in 1868 when the Midlands Railway sliced through the countryside on its way to St Pancras station.

One of the agreements for the railway to build its line was to provide a bridge over the tracks where Lilley Lane had been. They also built a railway station just to the south at Mill Hill — today Mill Hill Broadway. It took maybe longer than expected for urbanisation to take root, and by the 1900s, the area was still fairly rural, but roads were slowly stretching their arms into the countryside, ready for new housing to be built along them.

Within 30 years, the fields had been covered in Metroland-esque housing, and throughout all this, Lilley Lane had endured. However, by now, the countryside lane was a mere alleyway passing along the boundary of two separate housing estates where roads on either side occasionally managed to just miss each other.

The lane passed through the housing estate, over the railway and later diverted northwards to end in the newly built Glendor Gardens.

The lane’s next rude interruption came in the 1960s, when the M1 motorway was being extended southwards from Watford into London and passed alongside the Midlands Railway.

Fortunately for the motorway builders, most of the land directly next to the railway on the western side was still empty — most, but not all. Unfortunately for the residents who had just moved into newly built Glendor Gardens, the entire western side of their new street was about to be terminated with extreme prejudice.

The motorway’s construction also saw the Victorian bridge built for Lilley Lane replaced with a far longer concrete span crossing both railway and motorway, with very 1960s open-air railings.

Today, you can start on either side. I went eastwards from Hale Lane, where the passageway starts as a wide pedestrian path lined with grass verges and trees. The width is likely a remnant from when it was an actual road.

Passing the school on one side and back gardens on the other, the alley reaches a cul-de-sac roundabout before passing between more back gardens to reach the oddly truncated junction where two housing estates didn’t quite join up.

A small wall still separates them, probably to the relief of residents who don’t have the road used as a rat run and the considerable annoyance of residents who wouldn’t mind being able to use it themselves.

It’s here that the alley takes on a more alley feel, narrowing sharply as it prepares to leap over road and rail using the 1960s footbridge.

Although perfectly safe to cross, it can be a bit hair-raising on a windy day. It’s quite exposed to the wind, and with cars rushing just metres below, it’s just a tad scary.

At some point, the railway decided it didn’t like the open-air railings on the footbridge and covered them with metal sheets, leaving the span open over the road and closed over the railway.

One noticeable thing, though, was the constant roar of the road traffic. It must be terrible to never have a moment’s peace if you live nearby. On the other side of the motorway, the alley runs alongside until it finally ends in what’s left of Glendor Gardens.

As an alley, it’s pretty ugly — not in a charmingly ugly sort of way — just downright depressingly so. If you live locally, though, it’s a very useful cut across the impenetrable barrier of modern transport that slices through the landscape.