Two hundred years later the shape of the hamlet, composed of a few farms and dwellings scattered along the Rickmansworth road, had altered little except for the addition of Holy Trinity church.

[7] Northwood, however, elevated and separated from the rest of the parish by a belt of woodland, took until the 19th century to form a village — 350 acres (140 ha) in the manor of St. Catherine's were inclosed under the Ruislip Inclosure Act 1769 (9 Geo.

[n 2][6] A land survey of Northwood conducted in 1565 by King's College, Cambridge, the new lords of the manor of Ruislip, recorded ten houses and several farms.

In 1887, the Metropolitan Railway was extended from Harrow-on-the-Hill to Rickmansworth and Carnegie sold his land to Frank Carew[n 3] for development for £59,422.

[7] In 1904, the Emmanuel Church opened in Northwood Hills, designed by Sir Frank Elgood, a local architect.

[13] The RAF vacated the site in 1969, and it is now the location of the British Armed Forces Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) for planning and controlling overseas military operations, together with the NATO Maritime Command.

[14] A new community centre on the town's high street, replacing an older building, was officially opened by the local MP Nick Hurd in September 2012.

The new building was named the Kate Fassnidge Community Centre after the Uxbridge landowner who donated some of her land to the borough, and replaced a derelict dining club that had originally been a Ritz cinema.

[16] The rural nature of Northwood, with extensive views over the rest of the parish, has attracted much expensive building, particularly in and around Copse Wood Way, along Green Lane and at the northern end of Ducks Hill Road.

Northwood post town extends into two contiguous neighbourhoods in Hertfordshire named Eastbury and Moor Park.

Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury achieved inclosure from Parliament and sold 568 acres (230 ha) of the wood in 1608 for £4000.

[19] [22] Northwood Hills has intermixed in its area the only social housing estates beyond one street of the area;[21] much of its private housing stock was built during the 1930s by the Belton Estates company led by Harry Peachey[23] while Harry Neal was responsible for building the shopping parade in Joel Street.

[26] Each May one of the largest Scout Jumble sales in the country is held by 1st Northwood on the land next to their headquarters, the Hogs Back.

The Olympic boxer Audley Harrison and Big Brother contestant Nikki Grahame are alumni of the school.

[29] The Tree trunk sculptures are sculpted logs that are placed on Green Lane, diagonally opposite Northwood Station.

The area is also served by Arriva Shires & Essex route 328 connecting the area to South Oxhey, Watford, Leavesden and Abbots Langley, and by Red Eagle Buses, which terminate at Mount Vernon Hospital with the R1 to Maple Cross and the R2 to Chorleywood – through Harefield and Rickmansworth.

A local residents' association and chamber of commerce joined forces in May 2010 calling for greater recognition of the area.

[33] In May 2011, the London Borough of Hillingdon announced Northwood Hills would receive £400,000 in funding for regeneration work.