Barham Park Wembley Funfair – HA0 2LL

Whether it is for the summer festivals, the Diwali Celebrations in the Autumn or for the magnificent London’s Funfairs, Barham Park in Wembley is one of our favourite venues and this short piece tells you all about the place, its history and traditions and the man after whom it was named.

Until the late 14th Century, Sudbury Manor was the main Middlesex home of the Archbishops of Canterbury. Then it was divided and leased out for farming, which thrived in the area until the beginning of the 19th Century, when farmers hit hard times. (Farmers always say they have hit hard times, so nothing surprising about that).

In 1582, John Lyon, who founded Harrow School, paid for the upkeep of what was then called Harrow Waye, and is now the Harrow Road, but the road was in a shocking state until a Turnpike Trust was set up in 1801 who paid for improvements. It was the presence of Harrow School that lead to the development of Sudbury, which was the first part of Wembley to begin to grow during the 1800s when a number of large houses were built. The first shopping centre in the area, called The Mall, started to grow in the 1860s and 70s. This was a thriving part of Wembley and was so popular that Queen Victoria decided to name her front drive after it. A house called Sudbury Lodge was built in the 1860s by two sisters from the Copland Family, who were well known philanthropists at the time, in the grounds of Crabs House which was significantly older and which was owned and occupied by their father. Then in 1895, Sir George Barham came to live in Sudbury, and he bought up the entire estate, decided to live in Sudbury Lodge, and renamed his new home Barham House.