Where is Maida Hill?

So, what exactly is Maida Hill? Where is it? And where did it come from? The information below should help you answer some of these questions….

History of Maida Hill

In ‘A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9‘ (ed. Elrington, 1989) Maida Hill gets a passing mention in relation to its richer sister – Maida Vale. They say:
“The name Maida was first recorded in 1807, the year after Sir John Stuart’s victory over the French at Maida in Calabria (Italy). The Hero of Maida public house was licensed in 1810 at Maida Hill, which served as the name of a short stretch of Edgware Road near the new Regent’s canal. Part of that stretch, including the public house, was known in the mid 19th century as Maida Hill East. Meanwhile Maida Hill West became the name of the road along the southern bank of the canal (from 1939 called Maida Avenue). By 1828, as building had extended along Edgware Road, a short stretch beyond Maida Hill was called Maida Vale, which from 1868 was the name of the whole length of the road between the Regent’s canal and Kilburn. The name was applied popularly to a district by the mid 1880s, a fact which was recognized in the creation of Maida Vale ward in Paddington metropolitan borough.”

The Evening Standard recently printed the line: ‘Up-and-coming: Maida Hill, the area between Shirland Road and Harrow Road, west of Marylands Road, is still rough around the edges…’ 

Some interesting links for further reading:

history of the canal system