Chiswick

Chiswick is a large suburb of west London and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located on a meander of the River Thames, 6 mi west of Charing Cross and is one of 35 major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, with an agrarian and fishing economy. Having good communications with London from an early time the area became a popular country retreat, and as part of the suburban growth of London in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the population of Chiswick significantly expanded. With neighbouring Brentford, it became a municipal borough in 1932 and has formed part of Greater London since 1965.

Toponymy
The name "Chiswick" is of Old English origin meaning "Cheese Farm" and originates from the riverside meadows and farms that are thought to have supported an annual cheese fair on Dukes Meadows up until the 18th century. Chiswick was first recorded c.1000 as Ceswican.

Economic development
Chiswick grew up as a fishing village around St. Nicholas church on Church Street. The parish also included Strand-on-the-Green, Little Sutton and Turnham Green. By the early nineteenth century the fishing industry in and around Chiswick was declining as the growth of industry and the invention of the flush toilet were causing pollution in the river. Fish began to die out and the river became unsuitable as a spawning ground. Locks upstream also made the river impassable by migratory fish such as salmon and shad.

Fuller, Smith & Turner P.L.C. and its predecessor companies have been brewing beer on its Chiswick site for over 350 years. The original brewery was in the gardens of Bedford House in Chiswick Mall, and these premises later expanded to the present site nearby. The company brews real ales and owns public houses.

From the 18th century onwards the High Road became built up with inns and large houses. Today the High Road is a busy shopping street with many cafes, restaurants and several 19th century public houses.

In 1864, John Isaac Thornycroft, founder of the John I. Thornycroft & Company shipbuilding company, established a yard at Church Wharf at the west end of Chiswick Mall. The works closed in 1908.

In 1822, the Royal Horticultural Society leased 33 acre of land in the area between the now Sutton Court Road and Duke’s Avenue. This site was used for its fruit tree collection and its first school of horticulture, and housed its first flower shows. The area was reduced to 10 acre in the 1870s, and the lease was terminated when the Society’s garden at Wisley, Surrey, was set up in 1904. Some of the original pear trees still grow in the gardens of houses built on the site.

Chiswick had two well-known theatres in the 20th century. The Chiswick Empire (1912 to 1959) was at 414 Chiswick High Road. It had 2,140 seats, and staged music hall entertainment, plays, review, opera, ballet and an annual Christmas pantomime. The Q Theatre (1924 to 1959) was a small theatre opposite Kew Bridge station. It staged the first works of Terence Rattigan and William Douglas-Home and many of its plays went on to the West End. Today, the Tabard Theatre (1985 to date) on Bath Road, is known for new writing and experimental work.

Dukes Meadows stands on land formerly owned by the Duke of Devonshire. In the 1920s, it was purchased by the local council, who developed it as a recreational centre. A promenade and bandstand were built, and the meadows are still used for sport with a rugby club, football pitches, hockey club, several rowing clubs and a golf club. In recent years a local conservation charity, the Dukes Meadows Trust has undertaken extensive restoration work, which saw a long term project of a children's water play area opened in August 2006.

Chiswick is the birthplace of the modern domestic violence refuge movement, with the first shelter established by Erin Pizzey in 1971.

During World War II, Chiswick suffered a number of bombing raids. W.P. Roe’s book pages 80 to 90 notes areas of damage due to 50 bombing raids in late 1940 to early 1941, and another 5 in 1944. Both incendiary and high explosive bombs were used, and there was also damage from falling anti-aircraft shells that had not exploded as intended. The first V-2 rocket to hit London fell on Chiswick on 8 September 1944, killing three people, injuring 22 others and causing extensive damage to surrounding trees and buildings. Six houses were demolished by the rocket and many more suffered damage.

There is a memorial where the rocket fell on Staveley Road (see image on right). There is also a War Memorial at the east end of Turnham Green.

Local government
Chiswick St Nicholas was an ancient, and later civil, parish in the Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex. In 1878 the parish gained a triangle of land in the east which had formed a detached part of Ealing. From 1894 to 1927 the parish formed the Chiswick Urban District. In 1927 it was abolished and its former area was merged with that of Brentford Urban District to form Brentford and Chiswick Urban District. The amalgamated district became a municipal borough in 1932. The borough of Brentford and Chiswick was abolished in 1965 and its former area was transferred to Greater London to form part of the London Borough of Hounslow. With these changes, Chiswick Town Hall is no longer the local government centre, but is still used for some council services. There was a Brentford and Chiswick Parliament constituency from 1918 to 1974.

Urban development


The population of Chiswick grew almost tenfold during the 19th century, and the built environment is a mixture of Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian.

Chiswick House was designed by the Third Earl of Burlington, and built for him, in 1726-29 as an extension to an earlier Jacobean house (subsequently demolished in 1788); it is considered to be among the finest surviving examples of Palladian architecture in Britain, with superb collections of paintings and furniture. Its surrounding grounds constitute one of the most important historical gardens in England and Wales, and mark a significant step on the road to the picturesque aesthetic in garden design.

St. Nicholas church has a 15th century tower, although the remainder of the church was rebuilt by J.L. Pearson in 1882-84. Monuments in the churchyard mark the burial sites of the 18th century English artist William Hogarth&mdash;whose house is now a museum known as Hogarth's House&mdash;and William Kent, the architect and landscape designer; the churchyard also houses a mausoleum (for Philip James de Loutherbourg) designed by John Soane. One of Oliver Cromwell's daughters, Mary, lived and died in Chiswick and is buried in the churchyard. Enduring legend has it that the body of Oliver Cromwell was also interred with her. On a later note, Private Frederick Hitch VC, hero of Rorke's Drift, is also buried there.

St. Michael on Elmwood Road, of 1908-09, was designed by W.D. Caroe. Chiswick is also home to a Russian Orthodox Cathedral, built in 1998. (See photo at Gunnersbury.) Less visually prominent than these because of its position amid other building is the Sanderson Factory, now known as Voysey House and situated in Barley Mow Passage, designed by the architect C.F. Voysey and completed in 1902. Its original purpose was a wallpaper printing works, but it is now used as office space. It is a Grade II* listed building.

Suburban building began in Gunnersbury in the 1860s and in Bedford Park, on the borders of Chiswick and Acton, in 1875: the latter, designed largely by Richard Norman Shaw, was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as the first place "where the relaxed, informal mood of a market town or village was adopted for a complete speculatively built suburb". Some of the most beautiful period mansion blocks in the area, such as Heathfield Court and Arlington Mansions are located around Turnham Green - the site of the Battle of Turnham Green in 1642. Other suburbs of Chiswick include Grove Park (south of the A4, close to Chiswick railway station) and Strand on the Green, a fishing hamlet until the late 18th century.

There are several historic public houses in Chiswick. Three are in Strand-on-the-Green, fronting on to the river path. The Tabard on Bath Road near Turnham Green station is known for its William Morris interior. A large part of Chiswick falls within the conservation areas within the London Borough of Hounslow.

In 1896, "Bedford Park, Chiswick" was advertised, which at that time was partly in Acton Urban District.

Governance
Chiswick forms part of the Brentford and Isleworth Parliament constituency. The MP is Mary Macleod of the Conservative Party, elected at the May 2010 general election. Ann Keen of the Labour Party was the MP from the 1997 general election. For elections to the London Assembly Chiswick is located in the South West constituency, represented since 2000 by Tony Arbour, of the Conservative Party. For elections to Hounslow London Borough Council, Chiswick is represented by three electoral wards: Turnham Green, Chiswick Homefields and Chiswick Riverside. Each ward elects three councillors, who serve four-year terms. For 2010-14, all nine councillors are Conservatives.

Geography
Chiswick is located on a meander of the River Thames, 6 mi west of Charing Cross. The district is built up towards the north with more open space in the south, including the grounds of Chiswick House and Dukes Meadows. The river forms the southern boundary with Kew, North Sheen, Mortlake, Barnes and Castelnau in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In the east Goldhawk Road and British Grove form a border with Hammersmith in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. To the north are Bedford Park and South Acton in the London Borough of Ealing, with a boundary partially delineated by the District line. To the west, within Hounslow, are the districts of Gunnersbury and Brentford. Chiswick is included in the W4 postcode district of the London post town, which additionally includes Bedford Park, mostly within the London Borough of Ealing. Climate data for Chiswick is taken from the nearest weather station at Greenwich:

Economy
Chiswick High Road contains a mix of retail, restaurants, food outlets and expanding office and hotel space. The wide streets encourage cafes, pubs and restaurants to provide pavement seating. Being situated between the offices at the Golden Mile Great West Road and Hammersmith, office developments and warehouse conversions to offices began from the 1960s. The first, in 1961 was 414 Chiswick High Road, that was built on the site of the old Empire Cinema, then in 1964 to 1966 the 18 storey headquarters for IBM were built above Gunnersbury. Designed to accommodate 1500 people, it remained their headquarters until 1992, where after extensive alterations it became the home of the British Standards Institution, now known as the BSI Group in 1994. In 2010 the property was purchased by Canmoor and renamed Chiswick Tower. It is undergoing refurbishment and the space vacated by BSI Group is being let by Frost Meadowcroft. Chiswick is also home to the Griffin Brewery, where Fuller, Smith & Turner brew their prize-winning ales.

Transport
Chiswick is situated at the start of the North Circular Road (A406), South Circular Road (A205) and the M4 motorway, the latter providing a direct connection to Heathrow Airport and the M25 motorway. The Great West Road (A4) runs eastwards into central London via the Hogarth Roundabout where it meets the Great Chertsey Road (A316) which runs south-west, eventually joining the M3 motorway.

The southern border of Chiswick runs along the River Thames, which is crossed in this area by Barnes Railway and Foot Bridge, Chiswick Bridge, Kew Railway Bridge and Kew Bridge. River services between Westminster Pier and Hampton Court depart from Kew Gardens Pier just across Kew Bridge.

Including buses that stop at Kew Bridge and Chiswick High Road, and/or Kew Bridge railway station, Chiswick is served by eleven bus routes (27, 65, 94, 190, 237, 267, 272, 391, 440, E3 and H91) and two all-night services (N9 and N11). Three services run 24 hours a day (27, 94, 65).

Until its closure in 1989, London Transport had a Central Works and Training School (for bus crews) located in Chiswick High Road, opposite  Gunnersbury Underground Station. The Training School incorporated a bus "Skid-Pan".

The District line crosses Chiswick, the London Underground stations are (east-west): Stamford Brook, Turnham Green, Chiswick Park and Gunnersbury. Turnham Green is an interchange with the Piccadilly line, but only before 0650 and after 2230, when Piccadilly line trains stop at the station.

The nearest National Rail stations are Chiswick and Kew Bridge. South West Trains operates a regular service to London Waterloo via Clapham Junction.

The North London line crosses Chiswick (north-south); the nearest London Overground station is Gunnersbury

Sports
Chiswick has a number of local rugby union teams including, Chiswick RFC, formerly Old Meadonians RFC. They currently play in London 2 North West (Level seven), six leagues below the Guinness Premiership. It plays on a Saturday at Dukes Meadows.

On Chiswick Common is the Rocks Lane Multi Sports Centre, where there are tennis, five-a-side football and netball courts available to hire to the public.

The Chiswick reach of the Thames is heavily used for competitive and recreational rowing, and Chiswick itself is home to several clubs. The University of London Boat Club is based in its boathouse off Hartington Road (the boathouse also houses the clubs of many of the University's constituent colleges and teaching hospitals). ULBC is, periodically, one of the most successful university clubs in the UK, with multiple wins at Henley Royal Regatta. Recent members include Tim Foster, Gold medallist at the Sydney Olympics and Frances Houghton, World Champion in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Mortlake Anglian & Alpha Rowing Club and Quintin Boat Club are situated between Chiswick Quay Marina and Chiswick Bridge. The foreshore facing these clubs is also used as the landing place for Boat Race crews.

Tideway Scullers School is immediately downriver of Chiswick Bridge. The Club's current members include single sculling World Champion Mahé Drysdale and Great Britain single sculler Alan Campbell. The upriver end of the Championship Course from Mortlake to Putney is adjacent to the Tideway Scullers School boathouse. The Boat Race is contested on the Championship Course on a flood tide (in other words from Putney to Mortlake) with Duke's Meadows a popular view-point for the closing stages of the race. The finishing post is just downstream of Chiswick Bridge. Other important races such as the Head of the River Race race the reverse course, on an ebb tide.

Although the garage closed in 2000 and has now become a block of flats, Chiswick was once home to the Chequered Flag garage and its associated motor racing team. Situated on Chiswick High Road, the garage and car showroom was noted for its privateering rally team driving a Lancia Stratos with drivers such as Tony Pond and Russell Brookes. Much earlier, the team had raced Formula Junior cars, and numbered Jim Clark amongst its early drivers.

Notable people

 * Statistician M. S. Bartlett (1910–2002) was born in Chiswick


 * Actress Kate Beckinsale was born in Chiswick


 * Humanitarian Louise Burfitt-Dons lives in Chiswick


 * Athlete and politician Sebastian Coe (1956- ) was born in Chiswick


 * Director Simon Curtis, (1960- ) best known for My Week with Marilyn now lives in Chiswick.


 * Maritime artist Montague Dawson (1895–1973) was born in Chiswick


 * Singer Bruce Dickinson (1958- ) of the band Iron Maiden lives in Chiswick.


 * Musician John Entwistle (1944–2002), bassist with rock band The Who, was born in Chiswick


 * Author E. M. Forster (1879–1970) lived at 9 Arlington Park Mansions in Chiswick from 1939 until at least 1961; a blue plaque at the property commemorates this


 * Actor Hugh Grant (1960- ) grew up in Chiswick, living next to Arlington Park Mansions on Sutton Lane


 * Illustrator and anarchist Clifford Harper (1949- ) was born in Chiswick


 * Artist William Hogarth (1697–1764) lived in Chiswick, and is buried in St. Nicholas's Churchyard, Chiswick Mall; Hogarth's House is now a museum; it abuts one of London's best known road junctions – the Hogarth Roundabout


 * Actor Charles Holland (1733–1769), who played under David Garrick, was born in Chiswick


 * TV presenter Kate Humble (1968- ) lived in Chiswick from 1997 to 2010


 * Zoologist and broadcaster Aubrey Manning (1930- ) was born in Chiswick


 * Actress Elizabeth McGovern (1961- ) best known for Once Upon a Time in America and Downton Abbey (Married to Simon Curtis) lives in Chiswick.


 * Actress Helen Mirren (1945- ) was born in Chiswick


 * Musician Andy Paresi (1961- ), drummer on Morrissey's albums Viva Hate, Kill Uncle and Bona Drag, was born in Chiswick


 * Painter, printer and wood engraver Lucien Pissarro (1863–1944) (eldest son of Camille Pissarro, who visited and painted local scenes in 1897) lived in 62 Bath Road, Chiswick from 1897, moving in 1902 to The Brook, Stamford Brook (blue plaque)


 * Poet Alexander Pope (1688–1744), author of The Rape of the Lock, lived in the building which is now the Mawson Arms at the corner of Mawson Lane and Chiswick Lane South between 1716 and 1719 (blue plaque)


 * Photographer Derek Ridgers (1952- ), who has worked with musicians including The Clash, The Damned and Morrissey, was born in Chiswick


 * Comedian Mel Smith (1952- ), best known for Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones, was born in Chiswick.


 * Engineer John Edward Thornycroft (1872–1960) was born in Chiswick.


 * Musician Pete Townshend (1945- ), guitarist and songwriter of rock band the Who, was born in Chiswick.


 * Marine geologist and geophysicist Frederick Vine (1939- ) was born in Chiswick.


 * Singer Kim Wilde (1960- ), of "Kids in America" fame, was born in Chiswick.

See also the List of people from the London Borough of Hounslow

In popular culture

 * The BBC TV series My Family is set in Chiswick.
 * In the BBC TV series Doctor Who the Tenth Doctor's companion Donna Noble and her family reside in Chiswick.
 * The BBC TV series 2Point4 Children was set in Chiswick