The name Kingsbury (or Cyngesbyrig) is recorded in the Domesday Book (1086). The area was largely rural, with farms and scattered villages until the early part of the 20th century, with a population of only 821. What brought about today’s transformation of Kingsbury into a largely prosperous outer London suburb was the First World War when Kingsbury became the centre of aircraft and munitions production for the nearby Hendon aerodrome, followed by the Great Empire Exhibition of 1921 and the arrival of roads and railways – in particular the Metropolitan Line. In 1921 the population stood at 1,856. By the late 1920s with housing estates of semis and detached homes mushrooming throughout the area, the population shot up ninefold in ten years to 16,656. The original St. Andrew’s church which had stood for centuries was too small for the surrounding population. A new church was needed. But the solution was not to build a new church, but to demolish one of London's most beautiful Victorian Gothic churches which had become redundant and to rebuild it in Kingsbury.
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