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St John’s Wood

St John’s Wood is an affluent district, north west of Regent’s Park.

St John’s Wood was once part of the Great Forest of Middlesex with the name deriving from its mediaeval owners, the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem (Knights Hospitallers), an Augustinian order. The order took over the land from the Knights Templar in 1323.

After the Reformation and the Dissolution of monastic orders, St John’s Wood became Crown land, and Henry VIII established Royal Hunting Grounds in what became known as Marylebone Park.

Until the end of the eighteenth century, the area was agricultural.

St John’s Wood was developed from the early 19th century onwards. It was one of the first London suburbs to be developed with a large amount of low density ’villa’ housing, as opposed to the terraced housing which was the norm in London up to the 19th century. Parts of St John’s Wood have been rebuilt at a higher density but it remains one of the most expensive areas of London.

St John’s Wood is the location of Lord’s Cricket Ground and for Abbey Road Studios where The Beatles recorded.

The Rolling Stones referenced St John’s Wood in their song Play With Fire. Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones lived on Carlton Hill, at the northern edge of St John’s Wood, in the 1960s.

St John’s Wood station was opened on 20 November 1939 on a new section of deep-level tunnel constructed between Baker Street and Finchley Road when the Metropolitan Line’s services on its Stanmore branch were transferred to the Bakerloo Line. It was transferred along with the rest of the Stanmore branch to the Jubilee Line when it opened in 1979. With the opening of St John’s Wood station, two nearby stations on the Metropolitan Line were closed. These were Lord’s (which had originally been opened in 1868 as St John’s Wood Road) and Marlborough Road.

The station building is located on the corner of Acacia Road and Finchley Road. The station is the nearest one to Lord’s Cricket Ground and Abbey Road Studios. For this reason Beatles memorabilia are sold at the station.

The platform design remains the same as when opened in 1939, and was designed by Harold Stabler.

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