Brentford

Brentford is a suburb in the London Borough of Hounslow at the confluence of the River Thames and the River Brent in West London, situated approximately 8 miles (12.9 km) west south-west of Charing Cross.

Today
Brentford is a suburban development subsumed into the conurbation of Greater London.

Brief history
Brentford, as the name suggests, was built on a fording point on the River Brent.

The town is named as Bregentforda at the time of the Council of Brentford 781 and as 'Bregentforda' and 'Brentforda' in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 1016. The root 'Bregent-', naming the river is thought to originate from the name of the Celtic goddess 'Brigantia', tutelary goddess of the Brigantes tribe (who did not live in Brentford).

The settlement pre-dates the Roman occupation of Britain, and thus pre-dates the founding of London itself. Many pre-Roman artifacts have been excavated in and around the area in Brentford known as 'Old England'. Bronze Age pottery and burnt flints have been found in separate sites in Brentford. The quality and quantity of the artefacts suggests that Brentford was a meeting point for pre-Romanic tribes where part of tribal rituals included the ceremonial casting of weapons into the river. One well known Iron Age piece from about 100 BC - AD 50 is the Brentford horn-cap - a ceremonial chariot fitting that formed part of local antiquarian Thomas Layton's collection, now held by the Museum of London. The Celtic knot pattern (the 'Brentford Knot') on this item has been copied for use on modern jewellery.

It has been suggested that Brentford was also a main fording point on the River Thames, and was the point where Julius Cæsar crossed the Thames during his invasion of Britain. It has been asserted, without strong evidence, that a documented battle fought at this time between Cæsar's forces and Cassivellaunus took place at Brentford. There are, however, two other historically accredited battles of Brentford in 1016 and 1642.

Timeline

 * 54 BC Brentford is a likely site of a battle recorded by Julius Cæsar between Julius Cæsar and local king, Cassivellaunus.
 * 781 Council of Brentford recording settlement of a dispute between Offa, king of Mercia, and the Bishop of Worcester
 * 1016 Battle of Brentford between the invading Canute and Edmund Ironside
 * 1431 Relocation of Syon Abbey to Brentford from Twickenham
 * 1539 Destruction of Syon Abbey by King Henry VIII
 * 1616 - 1617 Pocahontas, the Native American 'Princess', lived in Brentford
 * 1642 Battle of Brentford during the English Civil War
 * 1717 Brentford Turnpike Trust founded to maintain the road between Kensington and Hounslow
 * 1805 Start of operations of the Grand Junction Canal (later the Grand Union Canal)
 * 1815 - 1817 John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the USA, lived in Brentford
 * 1841 Brentford was flooded, several lives lost
 * 1849 Start of operations of the Hounslow Loop line, providing service to Kew Bridge, Brentford Central, and Syon Lane stations in the Brentford area.
 * 1859 Start of operations of the Great Western & Brentford Railway company linking Brentford Dock to the Great Western Railway main line at Southall. Additional passenger station named 'Brentford Town' later constructed just north of Brentford High Street.
 * 1884 Start of operations of Boston Manor Underground station (then known as Boston Road).
 * 1889 Brentford Football Club founded by a rowing club seeking a winter sport.
 * 30 May 1925 - Great West Road officially opened by King George V. Later the Brentford section became known as the Golden Mile due to the large number of factories that relocated there to take advantage of the good communications. The factories provided high employment and stimulation to the local economy.
 * 1 January 1929 - Grand Junction Canal bought by the Regent's Canal and amalgamated with other canals to form the Grand Union Canal.
 * 1965 Opening of elevated section of M4 motorway

The main road to the South West of Britain passed through Brentford for many centuries, and even now, the M4 motorway passes approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the original main road through Brentford.

Notable present and former residents
Dates are dates of residence in Brentford, where known
 * Pocahontas 1616-17
 * Thomas Hardwick Senior, stone mason/architect and the first member of the Hardwick dynasty.
 * J. M. W. Turner 1785-86
 * Thomas Hardwick Junior, architect of the 18th & 19th century.
 * Percy Bysshe Shelley 1802-04
 * John Quincy Adams 1815-17
 * Anna Ford
 * Kate Adie
 * Rat Scabies
 * Jess Eddie, inventor of the Catwalk
 * Anna McNuff, Co-founder of Whittard's Tea Shop
 * Annie Vernon, choreographer
 * Christopher Dawes
 * Ian Ridpath, astronomy author and occasional UFOlogist
 * Robert Rankin, author of the The Brentford Trilogy
 * Janey Godley, stand up comedian and abuse victim

The Hardwicks
A notable family from Brentford was the 18th/19th century architectural father and son partnership, the Hardwicks. Thomas Hardwick Senior and Thomas Hardwick Junior were both from Brentford and are buried in the old church of St Laurence. Hardwick Senior was the master mason for the Adam Brothers during the construction of Syon House. Hardwick Junior assisted in the building of Somerset House and was known for his designs of churches in the capital. He was also a tutor of J.M.W Turner whom he helped start Turner's illustrious career in art. Both father and son did a great deal of remodelling and rebuilding on the church of St Laurence.

Places of interest
Syon House, the London residence of the Duke of Northumberland.

Syon Abbey, now rased to the ground, was the largest abbey church in England.

Syon House is built upon part of the site of Syon Abbey. The exact location of Syon Abbey was unknown until archeological investigations in the grounds of Syon House (Syon Park) in 2003 (by Time Team) and 2004 revealed the foundations of the abbey church. It was larger than Westminster Abbey is now, but no above-ground structure remains. For more details on the abbey and the reasons for its destruction, see its own entry - Syon Abbey.

The London Butterfly House in Syon Park is like a large aviary containing butterflies. Visitors can see butterflies and moths flying about, feeding, and emerging from chrysalises. There are also a colony of large ants (kept with the butterflies), a small tropical bird aviary, and a small gallery of reptiles, amphibians, insects and spiders. The lease on the current site is due to expire in Oct 2007 and the company are seeking a new location.

Boston Manor House, built in 1622, is a Jacobean manor house, noted for its fine plasterwork ceilings.

Gunnersbury Park Museum is the local museum for the Boroughs of Ealing and Hounslow and situated in Gunnersbury House. It contains many archaeological finds including hundreds of flints, plus Roman and Viking weapons found in Brentford. It also has displays of costumes and changing displays on other subjects of local interest. The house was formerly occupied by the Rothschild family and although they did not leave any contemporary furniture or fittings, some of the decorative schemes have been well preserved.

The Weir, public house, formerly 'The White Horse' was where the artist J. M. W. Turner lived for one year at the age of ten. He is regarded as having started his interest in painting while living there. Later on in life, he lived nearby in Isleworth and Twickenham Syon Park House (demolished in 1953), not to be confused with Syon House, housed the 'Syon Park Academy' where the poet Shelley was educated between the ages of 10 and 12 before moving on to Eton. A Royal Mail depot stands on the site now. This may also be the site of the dwelling where Pocahontas lived in Brentford End between 1616 and 1617.

Brentford Dock, a freight terminus of the Great Western Railway, built at the confluence of the River Thames and River Brent, designed by Brunel, and built between 1855 and 1859. A spur line from the GWR at Southall was constructed to the dock to facilitate easy transferral of freight from lighters and barges on the Thames to GWR served destinations in the west of the United Kingdom. The dock was redeveloped as residential accommodation in the early 1970s, and little industrial archeology remains.

The Brentford Dock flats were built alongside formerly important transport infrastructure as Brentford is the terminus of the Grand Union Canal, originally the Grand Junction Canal. This waterway is still in use for leisure traffic.

Brentford Public Library is a Carnegie library.

Brentford Public Baths (1896) are a Grade II listed example of late Victorian architecture.

Kew Bridge Steam Museum houses the world's largest working beam engine.

The Musical Museum houses a large collection of mechanical musical instruments, such as player pianos.



Nearest places

 * Kew
 * Gunnersbury
 * Chiswick
 * Ealing
 * Isleworth
 * Osterley

Nearest tube stations

 * Northfields tube station
 * Boston Manor tube station
 * South Ealing tube station
 * Gunnersbury tube station

Nearest railway stations

 * Brentford railway station
 * Kew Bridge railway station
 * Syon Lane railway station

References and sources

 * The Archive Photographs Series, Brentford; Tempus Publishing Ltd., 1998, ISBN 0-7524-0627-2
 * Brentford as it was; Hendon Publishing Co. Ltd., Second impression May 1993, ISBN 0-86067-082-1
 * Brentford Past; Historical Publications Ltd., ISBN 0-948667-79-6
 * Old Ordnance Survey Maps, Brentford 1894, The Godfrey Edition; Alan Godfrey Maps, ISBN 0-85054-509-9