Horsenden Hill

It is one of the higher eminences in the local area, rising to 85 m (276 ft) above sea level, and the summit forms part of the site of an ancient hillfort.

The Dollis Hill Gravel was deposited more than half a million years ago by a river which flowed from well to the south and continued to the north-east, through the "Finchley depression" towards Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire.

This is known because about 7% of the gravel, which is otherwise composed mostly of flint, consists of a hard stone called chert, which can only come from Lower Greensand beds found to the south in Surrey.

At that time, the Thames was itself flowing on a course different from today's, roughly on a line through Burnham Beeches, the Vale of St Albans, Harlow, Chelmsford and Colchester.

[3] Approximately 450,000 years ago, during the Anglian Stage, ice from northern Britain reached as far south as north London.

It is possible that, for a time, water from the blocked-up Thames spilled over that watershed through various gaps (such as the one south of Watford[5] which is used today by the Euston-Watford railway line), into the "proto-Wey" lake.

It is known that 2500 years ago Iron Age people settled on what today is called Horsenden Hill as large amounts of pottery have been discovered.

In fact, in 1978 the Iron Age settlement on Horsenden Hill was declared as an Ancient Scheduled monument by English Heritage.

To the south and east the hill is bound by the Grand Union Canal (Paddington branch), which runs roughly along the 100 ft (30 m) contour line.

A scenic spot on the Capital Ring in the summer months, Horsenden Hill offers fine views across west London, northwest London and beyond; places visible include Harrow on the Hill, the new Wembley Stadium, Northala Fields, planes coming in to land at Heathrow Airport, and on a clear day, the Home Counties of Surrey, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.