WILLESDEN  , an

urban district in the Harrow parliamentary division of Middlesex, England, suburban to London, lying immediately outside the boundary of the county of London' (boroughs of Hammersmith and Kensington) . Pop . (1881) 27,453; (1901) 114,811 . It has increased greatly as a residential district, mainly of the working classes . There are, moreover, considerable railway works attached to Willesden Junction, where the suburban lines of the London & North Western, North London, and Great Western railways connect with the main line of the first-named company . Remains of Norman building have been discovered in the church of St Mary, which is of various dates, and has been much enlarged in modern times . Several ancient monuments and brasses are retained . There is a Jewish cemetery in Willesden Lane . The adjoining residential districts are Harlesden on the south, Kilburn and Brondesbury on the east, Cricklewood and Neasden (with the works of the Metropolitan railway) on the north . At Domesday the manor of Willesden and Harlesden was held by the canons of St Paul's . In the 12th century it was formed into eight distinct manors, seven of which were held by the same I number of prebendaries . A shrine or image of St Mary (Our Lady of Willesden) was in the 15th century an object of pilgrim-age, but by the middle of the century following the ceremonies had fallen into abuse, and the shrine was suppressed .