London Borough of Harrow
The London Borough of Harrow (/ˈhæroʊ/)[4] is a London borough in northwest London, England; it forms part of Outer London. It borders four other London boroughs – Barnet to the east of ancient Watling Street (now the A5 road), Brent to the southeast, Ealing to the south and Hillingdon to the west – plus the Hertfordshire districts of Three Rivers and Hertsmere to the north. The local authority is Harrow London Borough Council. The London borough was formed in 1965, based on boundaries that had been established in 1934. The borough is made up of three towns: Harrow, Pinner and Stanmore, but also includes western parts of Edgware.
The modern borough has its roots in three Ancient Parishes: Harrow on the Hill and the much smaller areas of Great Stanmore and Little Stanmore (also known as Whitchurch). These had consistent boundaries from the High Middle Ages down to the modern era. Pinner became independent of Harrow on the Hill in 1766 and the remaining area split into four daughter parishes in 1894: Harrow Weald, Harrow, Wealdstone and Wembley (the latter now part of the London Borough of Brent).[5]
Harrow Urban District was formed in 1934 as an urban district of Middlesex by the Middlesex Review Order 1934, as a merger of the former area of Harrow on the Hill Urban District, Wealdstone Urban District and most of Hendon Rural District. The local authority was Harrow Urban District Council.
The urban district gained the status of municipal borough on 4 May 1954 and the urban district council became Harrow Borough Council. The 50th anniversary of the incorporation as a borough was celebrated in April 2004, which included a visit by Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1965, the municipal borough was abolished, and its former area was transferred to Greater London from Middlesex under the London Government Act 1963 to form the London Borough of Harrow. It is the only London borough to replicate almost exactly the unchanged boundaries of a single former district. This was probably because its population was large enough; according to the 1961 census, it had a population of 209,080, making it the largest local government district in Middlesex. Harrow's boundaries, however, have been altered slightly, as it originally included part of Elstree; on 1 April 1993 this was transferred to Hertfordshire (and its district of Hertsmere).[6]
The coat of arms were first granted to Harrow Urban District Council in 1938. Supporters to the arms were granted in 1954, when the urban district was incorporated as a municipal borough. The municipal borough became the London Borough of Harrow in 1965, with unaltered boundaries, and thus the council retained use of the arms. The arms are also used by Harrow Borough F.C. The motto reads as "Salus Populi Suprema Lex" which translates from Latin as "The well-being of the people is the highest law."[7]
Religion in Harrow as of 2021[13]