Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HOUNSLOW

HOUNSLOW, a town, a chapelry, and a quondam heath in Middlesex. The town is in the parishes of Heston and Islesworth; stands on the edge of the quondam heath, on a loop line of the Southwestern railway, about 1½ mile from the Thames, 3½ W by N of Richmond, and 9 WSW of Hyde Park corner in London; is within the jurisdiction of the metropolitan police; and has a station with telegraph on the railway, and a postoffice‡ under London W. It was known, at Domesday, as Hondeslawe; it became the seat of a priory in the 13th century; it acquired importance from being situated on the great line of thoroughfare from London to the west of England; it was officially reported, in 1650, to contain then 120 houses, mostly inns and ale houses dependent upon travellers; it continued to flourish, in connexion with the thoroughfare, till the era of railways: it then sank, for a time, into much depression; it afterwards rose to new prosperity, and underwent much improvement; it now presents a pleasing appearance, with modern shops and good houses; it possesses advantages which render it a favourable residence for gentlemen connected with the metropolis; it once had a weekly market, and still has fairs on Trinity Monday and the Monday after Michaelmas; it publishes a weekly newspaper; and it has a church, an Independent chapel, two Baptist chapels, a townhall, and a subscription school. The priory at it was fonnded in 1211; belonged to the order of Trinitarians for the redemption of captives; went, at the dissolution, to Lord Windsor; and passed to the Bulstrodes and others. The church of it became the church of the chapelry. The present church is a modern reconstruction, in the Italian style; was enlarged, by the addition of a chancel, in 1856; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with porch and bell turret; is adorned with twelve cupolas or spires; and contains a handsome font, a mural monument of a knight, and a monument to W. Bulstrode, an ambassador of the time of Charles II. The Independent chapel contains about 500 sittings. The townhall was built at a cost of upwards of £3, 000; is a recent and ornamental edifice; and contains a banking office, a reading room, and a library. Pop. of the town in 1851, 3, 514; in 1861, 5, 760. Houses, 1, 304. Pop. of the Heston portion in 1861, 3, 198. Houses, 667. Robert de Hounslow, who died in 1340, Roan, auditor to Queen Elizabeth, and Henry Elsynge, clerk to the house of Commons in the time of Charles I., were natives. The chapelry is less extensive than the town, and was made ecclesiastically parochial in 1835. Pop. in 1861, 5, 201. Houses, 1, 129. Pop. of the Heston portion, 2, 345. Houses, 483. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of London. Value, £305.* Patron, the Bishop of London.-The heath extended westward from the town; comprised between 4, 200 and 6, 500 acres; was, at one time, notorious for highway robberies, and celebrated for races; but has been mostly enclosed; and is now beautified with plantations, and with numerous handsome residences. It retains traces of ancient encampments; and it had, in particular, a camp of Cæsar, near the Roman way to Staines. A conference was held on it, in 1217, between the deputies of Henry III. and the Dauphin; an encampment of Gloucester was on it, in 1267, against Henry III.; an encampment of Charles I., in 1642, before the battle of Brentford; encampments of Essex, in 1642 and 1647; encampments of James II., in 1686 and 1688; an encampment of Marlborough in 1740; and reviews were held on it by George III. A portable wooden chapel of James II. stood on it, in connexion with his encampments; and, after the Revolution, was removed, by Dr. Tenison, to Conduit street. General Roy's base line of 27, 404 feet, for the trigonometrical survey, was laid down on it in 1784. Large cavalry barracks for the London district, an exercising ground of about 300 acres for reviewing troops, and militia quarters and an arsenal, are now on it. Extensive gunpowder mills stand beyond the barracks, 2 miles WSW of the town; bear commonly the name of Hounslow mills, but are within Twickenham parish; and are notable for an explosion in 1 835, which was felt for many miles around, and for another in 1850, which was heard at distances of from 40 to 60 miles.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a chapelry, and a quondam heath"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Hounslow LB       Middlesex AncC
Place names: HONDESLAWE     |     HOUNSLOW
Place: Hounslow

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