Alan Secker & Co - Chartered Accountants

Below is a collection of photographs of the village and the surrounding area. During March 2001, Malcolm Hutton of Cairns in Australia sent us some World War II era snaps. During the same month the BBC came to Parkvile House and used our offices as a backcloth to a new television series starring Richard Wilson and Stephanie Cole. The BBC kindly took

some stills of the shoot, for our website. One of them is shown below. To speed downloading, 'thumbnails' are displayed. To see a larger version of any picture, click on it. after examining it, you may return to this version by just clicking on the picture. From time to time new pictures and information will be added. This update is 25 March 2001.

Visitors to our site may wish to visit our village. You will be very welcome. Situated so close to London, yet still quite rural in character, Pinner and the surrounding area are beautiful.

The leaves of its many trees, varying from pale yellows through greens to dark reds convey an atmosphere of tranquillity so close to the everyday hustle and bustle.

This section of our web site is devoted to trying to illustrate its character by showing its historic buildings, some of its history and snippets about its famous or otherwise interesting residents

Opposite:'Naseby' A cottage on Pinner Hill, June 1999. We've since been informed that the timber for some of the frames came from the old Bank of England building.

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Pinner High Street, towards the parish church

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Nearly every town and village in England has its high street but few can be as short as Pinner's. It is barely 150 metres long.

'The Village' is the physical heart of the area known as Pinner. Its heart in turn, is the High Street.

Opposite: Looking up High Street towards the parish church, January 2001

Snow has been such a rare occurrence during the last few years, that a fall just before the end of 2000, when many cars were off the road, was too good an opportunity to miss.

Opposite: Pizza Express, Pinner High Street,
December 28, 2000

Pizza Express, Pinner High Street January 2001

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Church Farm, opposite Pinner's St John's Church at the top of Pinner High Street 28 December 2000

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Church Farm, High Street Pinner, opposite St John's Church at the top of Pinner's High Street, Summer 1999

And again, in the winter. 28 December 2000

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Haywards House next to St John's Church at the top of Pinner High Street 28 December 2000

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Opposite: Elthorne Gate and st John's Church, 28 December 2000

Across the road, down from the church is the restaurant, L'Orient. We've known it as Cornerways and as a wine bar and as The Foreign Correspondent. As L'Orient, it seems to have become accepted as one of the 'in' places. Taken 28 December 2000

Opposite: L'Orient.

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Opposite: Across Grange Gardens is the Cutler Block, in front of which sits the war dead memorial. Taken 28 December 2000

Opposite: The lower end of the High Street, including the Victory and a glimpse of Bridge Street. Taken 28 December 2000.

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The Railway Bridge over Marsh Road. Taken from the foot of High Street where Marsh Road becomes Bridge Street.

One of tributaries of the river Pinn rises on Pinner Hill and until the early 90s, sometimes flooded houses in Albury Drive, Woodhall Gate and elsewhere. Flood ponds and an expensive piping system were introduced during the early 90s.

The Pinn runs through Pinner in several streams. At the foot of the High Street, it emerges from the bridge from which Bridge Street derives its name. The bridge was reconstructed a few years ago to meet EU standards.

High Street then stretches upwards for approximately 150 metres towards St John's Church

The view opposite, was taken in early June 1999 from the opposite side of Bridge Street.

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Click the thumbnail above for a full Image

To the left of the church, High Street becomes Paines Lane. Next to the church and just into Paines Lane is Elthorne Gate, previously Hayward House and the site of the Cocoa Tree.

On the opposite side of the High Street/Paines Lane is Church Farm. Farming ceased at about the turn of the 20th century. (see the photograph in 'About us').

Opposite: Pinner Parish Church, parts of which, date from the 12th century.

Although the village is the physical core of Pinner, it has two other components: the spiritual and cultural.

Pinner has always been a warm and all-embracing community as well as a very charitable one. It has several churches and a synagogue and there is a considerable degree of cross-community support when it is needed.

Opposite: The Victory public house, High Street, Pinner
Part of it was a house, dating from between 1480 and 1520. The 1580 on the side is probably guesswork. The present building dates drom about 1954.

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About 6.00 pm on Tuesday 2nd June 1999, a little later than in previous years, the bandwagon of vehicles comprising the machinery of a modern fair swept into the village. As usual, the roads had been closed and extra policemen and women drafted in to ensure that no through traffic was allowed into the centre.

The picture opposite was taken through one of our windows over-looking Bridge Street.

Opposite: Barclays Bank, Bridge Street about to be upstaged by a roundabout.

The day had been hot and sticky and the evening seemed to predicate a similar day to follow. It was not to be.

The next illustration, an expanded version of a three photo collage taken about 9.00 am the next morning, followed a night of electrical storms and heavy rainfall.

Summer 1999

Barclays Bank about to be upstaged by a rundabout

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Click the thumbnail above for a full Image

The only annual cross community event (apart from Pinner Fair and the annual Wheel-Barrow race) is Remembrance Sunday.

At the top of the High Street, just in front of Pinner Parish Church, stands the war memorial. It is barely visible just behind the tree in the foreground of the picture above.

Every November on Remembrance Sunday, Pinner residents gather at the memorial to pay their respects to the dead of two world wars and other conflicts and watch while a succession of wreaths from a wide variety of Pinner organisations are laid in memory, respect and gratitude.

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Most of the High Street can be described as Elizabethan in style if not in fact. Its survival, relatively intact, is not by chance. Which brings us to Pinner's cultural dimension.

The Pinner Association devotes itself, to a range of social activities, including the continued maintenance of the historic character of Pinner.

It monitors the activities of the local authority, ensuring that Pinner is protected from mistakes of bureaucracy. It inhibits the erection of inappropriate facsias to High Street frontages. It contributes to the maintenance of the gardens. It provides public benches. Annually organises christmas street lighting and publishes The Villager.

Opposite:The gardens in which sits West House. The former are supported by the Association and the latter is gradually being retored by its efforts.

Local historians ensure that the richness of Pinner's past is not lost to future generations.

Patricia A. Clarke's book 'Pinner' published in 1994 contains reproductions of photographs reflecting the changes in Pinner, since photography was invented.

The collection really captures the relaxed atmosphere of an 18th century rural village that is now a captive of London's suburban sprawl.

Opposite:The folly in Pinner Hill Road, the remaining marker of what was once Pinner Park Farm. It was restored about 1985.

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Albury Dive, Summer 2000.

Leafy Paines Lane

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St Luke's Catholic Church, Love Lane.
Some year's ago when extra space was needed,
it was loaned to the Jewish congregation
for Yom Kippur services ...that's Pinner.

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The House in which Joachim Von Ribbentrop lived

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According to "Harrow before your Time"; John Zephaniah Holwell, a survivor of the Black Hole of Calcutta wrote his account of the tragedy while living in Pinner.

A less desirable resident was the Nazi Joachim Von Ribbentrop sometime foreign minister during the Nazi regime. He was ambassador to Britain from 1936 to 1938. He lived on Pinner Hill.

Opposite: The house on Pinner Hill where Ribbentrop lived during the 1930s. Interestingly, it has been said that there is no higher point between Pinner Hill and Moscow. This has not been verified and may not even be significant in relation to Von Ribbentrop but it makes you think....

The romance of Lord Horatio Nelson with Lady Hamilton is well known.

Less so is the fact that their natural daughter Horatia Nelson Ward lived for a time at 'Elmdene' in Church Road or that her son Nelson lived at West House, gradually being restored, on West End Lane.

Opposite: West House from the Memorial Park

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Pinner Police Station at the junction of Bridge Street and Waxwell Lane

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In recent years, many celebrities from radio, television, cinema, sport, and journalism have been seen in the village, often supporting local charitable events.

Before retiring from show business Ronnie Barker could often be seen in the High Street as has been David Suchet. Andrew Paul (Dave Quinnan in 'The Bill') lives here.

Bob Hollness still is and hopefully will be for many years to come. Barry Cryer lives in the area and Elton John was born here. Molly Weir can still be seen round and about and we're told Mark Ramprakash and Angus Fraser also live here. There are many others.

Pinner Police Station at the junction of Elm Park Road (the continuation of Bridge Street) and Waxwell Lane. built 1899

The morning of 31 May 2000, Pinner Fair day was glorious. Bright colour, happy faces with cries of 'Dad! Come and see this or that' filled the air.

Sadly it was no prelude to the summer weather to follow.

Opposite:'Pinner Fair 2000' from the junction of Paines Lane and High Street

Pinner Fair where Paines Lane meets High Street

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Pinner Fair 2000 looking towards the police station.
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Pinner Fair 2000 looking down High Street towards Bridge Street.
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Tne November 1999 memorial service. Young and old from all denominations and walks of life, came together to pay their respects. It was a reminder of the supreme sacrifice of those who gave their lives in the fight to preserve for us, freedom from alien domination.

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Pinner Scouts and Guides leaving the 2000 memorial service.

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This is the first of two pictures sent to us by Malcolm Hutton.
It is of a street party on VE Day in 1945, in Pinner.

For those who were not born by 1945, VE Day (Victory Europe) was the day the nation threw off the constraints of war. The hoarding of string and brown paper for recycling, the blackout to prevent chinks of light aiding enemy bombers.

(Alan was five on VE-Day and can remember being put to bed early by his mother to be lifted from it later to see the celebration bonfire on the corner of Devon Rise and Brim Hill in East Finchley.)

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We assume that this was of the same street party, taken from a different angle but we're not sure.

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This is the third picture sent to us by Malcolm Hutton. It is of his parents in Cannon Lane on Pinner Fair Day 1945.

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Could you work with this going on? Neither could we. The voice and fax mail system took the load, while we worked elsewhere.

Pinner Fair, Summer 2000

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The BBC Film Crew shooting into our former office at Bridge Street, Pinner on 17 March 2001. Note the window transfers of 'Cameron Enterprises' overlaying our own. The building was convcerted into an apartment block in 2007.

The fictitious firm belongs to a character in the new series.