•  Hanwell, Middlesex

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In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Hanwell like this:

HANWELL, a village and a parish in Brentford district, Middlesex. The village stands on the river Brent, adjacent to the Great Western railway, near the Grand Junction canal, 2½ miles NNW of Brentford; was known at Domesday as Hanewelle; belonged then to Westminster abbey; and has now a railway station with telegraph, a post office under London W., and a police station. ...

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The parish includes also the hamlet of Dormans-Wells, and comprises 1, 042 acres. Real property, £8, 701. Pop. in 1851, 1, 547; in 1861, 2, 687. Houses, 312. The property is much subdivided. The manor belongs to the Bishop of London. Osterly House, Hanwell Park, the Spring, and the Grove are chief residences; and there are several villas. The extensive buildings of the Central London district school stand on Cuckoo farm; were the main occasion of the increase of pop. between 1851 and 1861: and, at the census of the latter year, had 1, 010 inmates. The Middlesex county asylum for pauper lunatics bears the name of Hanwell asylum, but is beyond the parish, within Norwood precinct; was erected at a cost of £125, 000; stands so on an eminence as to be well seen over a long distance around; has undergone great improvement; possesses large gardens, with beautiful walks; and contains accommodation for 1, 500 inmates. A viaduct of 8 arches takes the railway here over the Brent. There are market gardens. The living is a rectory in the diocese of London. Value, £432.* Patron, the Bishop of London. The church was rebuilt in 1841, at a cost of £4, 000; is a handsome edifice, in the early English style.. and contains the remains of Jonas Hanway, the founder of the Marine Society. There are chapels for Independents and Roman Catholics, a seminary called Hanwell college, a national school, a convent of sisters of mercy, a large hospital opened in 1869, an asylum for idiots, a private lunatic asylum, a mutual improvement society, and charities £237. Glasse, the Grecian, was rector.

Hanwell through time

Hanwell is now part of Ealing district. Click here for graphs and data of how Ealing has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Hanwell itself, go to Units and Statistics.

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