Heathrow timeline explained

This is an event timeline and minor geographical information about Heathrow hamlet.

Founding and early history

A sizeable Neolithic settlement is believed to have been in the Heathrow area. Many artefacts have been found in the gravel around what is now the airport, and the Colne Valley.[1] Waste pits filled with struck flint, arrowheads and fragments of pottery were also found in the area, indicating a settlement, though none other remains of such a settlement.[2]

Until about 1930, there was only one building (part of Bath Road Farm) on the north side of Bath Road between The Magpies (an area around and opposite the north exit of the recent Heathrow Road), and Longford; other buildings were built afterwards there before World War II, including three factories (Technicolor and Penguin Books and Black+Decker). By 1944, there were no buildings on the south side of Bath Road between The Magpies and Longford.

Heathrow was away from main roads and further away from railways; that kept it secluded and quiet although near London. As Middlesex changed to market gardening and fruit growing to supply expanding London, parts of Heathrow held on to old-type mixed farming, and thus was chosen for Middlesex area horse-drawn ploughing competitions, which needed land which was under stubble after harvest.

The ford where High Tree Lane crossed the Duke of Northumberland's River was a scenic spot used sometimes for picnics and courting couples. There was a footpath along beside the river from the ford to Longford.

Development

Agriculture became the main source of income for residents in the hamlet, as the brickearth soil in the area made farming ideal (it held manure well and did not go sticky when wet), so Heathrow became part of the west Middlesex market gardening industry. Many residents grew fruit, vegetables, and flowers,[3] which they would travel with into London to sell, on the return journey collecting manure for farming.[4] As the coming of motor vehicles made urban horse manure (from stables and cleaned off roads) much less, they started instead using sewage sludge (up to 50 tons per acre) from the Perry Oaks sewage works as fertiliser.

The Middlesex Agricultural and Growers' Association held annual ploughing matches in Heathrow, until the last, the 99th, was held on 28 September 1937;[5] the 100th match (in 1938) was postponed to 1939 due to severe drought, and in 1939 it was cancelled because World War II had started.

The Royal Commission on Historic Monuments listed 28 historically significant buildings in the parish of Harmondsworth, a third of which were in Heathrow.[6] Notable buildings included Heathrow Hall, a late 18th-century farmhouse, which was on Heathrow Road,[7] and Perry Oaks farm, which was Elizabethan.

In the 19th century much brickearth-type land in west Middlesex, including in Heathrow, was used for orchards of fruit trees, often several sorts mixed in one orchard. Much soft fruit was grown, often in the orchards under the fruit trees. Sometimes vegetables, or flowers for cutting, were grown under the fruit trees. An author in 1907[8] reported "thousands and thousands" of plum, cherry, apple, pear, and damson trees, and innumerable currant and gooseberry bushes, round Harmondsworth and Sipson and Harlington and Heathrow.[9] After World War I the amount of fruit growing in the area decreased due to competition from imports and demand for more market-gardening land, and by 1939 less than 10% of the orchard area was left.

Produce was taken to Covent Garden market, or by smaller growers to Brentford market, which was nearer but less profitable. From the Three Magpies lane junction near Heathrow to Covent Garden is 14 miles by road, which was about 6 hours at laden horse-and-wagon speed, so goods to market had to set off at 10 pm the day before to reach the market when it opened at 4 am,[10] until motor trucks came. Lighter produce such as strawberries where freshness was important could reach Covent Garden Market in an hour and a half in a light vehicle behind a light fast horse.

An 11.93-acre field fronting on the south side of the Bath Road, about 600 yards east of Heathrow Road, was shown as allotment gardens on a map dated 1935,[11] and it appears to be allotment gardens in the 1940 Luftwaffe air survey.[12]

In the 1930s Heathrow Hall and Perry Oaks were mixed farms with wheat and cattle and sheep and pigs, and the other farms were largely market gardening and fruit growing. Photographs from early in the 20th century show milk cattle (about 22 in the photograph) at Cain's Farm and the yearly horse ploughing competition held along Cain's Lane, in the southeast of Heathrow; later photographs show ploughing competitions in the north near Tithe Barn Lane on land belonging to Heathrow Hall. Sipson Farm at the north end of Sipson may have owned land in Heathrow.

Timeline

13th century

14th century

15th century

16th century

17th century

18th century

19th century

20th century

Notable buildings

See for the names of the roads.

Heathrow Road

Starting at the north end:

Cain's Lane

Starting at the north end:

[46]

Tithe Barn Lane

References

  1. Cotton, Mills & Clegg 1986, p. 34
  2. Cotton, Mills & Clegg 1986, p. 36
  3. News: The Lost Villages Around Heathrow . BBC News . 15 January 2009 . 18 January 2009. . The page includes an image of a half-timbered cottage in Heathrow village.
  4. Sherwood 1990, p. 18; Sherwood 2009, p. 32
  5. Sherwood 1990, p. 20; Sherwood 2009, p. 33
  6. Sherwood 1990, p. 33
  7. Sherwood 2006, p.14
  8. Stephen Springall, Country Rambles round Uxbridge, 1907
  9. Sherwood 2009, p. 31
  10. Sherwood 2009, p. 33
  11. Old 1:2500 scale Ordnance Survey maps, reproduced at about 15 inches = 1 mile, publ. Alan Godfrey Maps:-
    • Heathrow, 1934, Middlesex sheet 19.08,
    • Hatton, 1935, Middlesex sheet 20.05,
    • Sipson, 1935, Middlesex sheet 19.04,
  12. Sherwood 2009, p.14
  13. Web site: Harmondsworth: Introduction - British History Online. British-history.ac.uk.
  14. For full information and references see Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790)
  15. Sherwood, Philip 2009, p21
  16. Sherwood, 1993, pages 46-53
  17. Web site: The London Gazette. 15 November 1845. 4404. London-gazette.co.uk.
  18. Web site: The London Gazette. 15 November 1845. 4405. London-gazette.co.uk.
  19. Web site: London Gazette. 13 September 1872. 4025. London-gazette.co.uk. 2017-08-19.
  20. Sherwood, Philip 2006, p29
  21. Web site: Full text of "Proceedings". Archive.org. 1869 . 2017-08-18.
  22. Information from Philip Sherwood, with thanks.
  23. Web site: London Gazette. 8 December 1906. 8847. London-gazette.co.uk. 2017-08-19.
  24. Web site: London Gazette. 13 November 1908. 8370. London-gazette.co.uk. 2017-08-19.
  25. Web site: Martha Whitnel - Ancestry.com. Search.ancestry.com. 2017-08-18.
  26. Web site: WHEELS OF INDUSTRY. - 18th March 1924 - The Commercial Motor Archive. Archive.commercialmotor.com. 18 August 2017.
  27. Web site: Stanwell: Introduction - British History Online. British-history.ac.uk. 2017-08-18.
  28. Sherwood, Philip 1990, p.68, including quotation from The Aeroplane magazine, issue of 8 May 1935
  29. Web site: Environmental Protection Unit Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy. https://web.archive.org/web/20120830022655/http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/media/pdf/j/3/Contaminated_Land_Strategy.pdf. dead. 2012-08-30. Hillingdon.gov.uk. 2017-08-18.
  30. Sherwood, Philip 1990, p.69
  31. Web site: London Gazette. 1 September 1939. 5996. London-gazette.co.uk. 2017-08-19.
  32. Sherwood, Philip 2012, p.77
  33. http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/35065/pages/707 London Gazette issue 35065
  34. http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/35339/pages/6473 London Gazette issue 35339
  35. http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/36082/pages/3064 London Gazette 36082
  36. https://web.archive.org/web/20170819062249/http://limpsfield.net/history/odhs/odhsreports/odhsreports.html NameBright – Coming Soon
  37. Sherwood, Philip 1990, pp. 13–15; Sherwood 2009, pp. 25–28
  38. Sherwood 2009, p.85
  39. Sherwood 2009, p.86
  40. Sherwood 2009, p.81
  41. News: BBC NEWS - England - London - The lost villages around Heathrow. News.bbc.co.uk. 15 January 2009. 2017-08-18.
  42. Sherwood, Philip 2012, p6
  43. Web site: London Gazette. 25 January 1949. 454. London-gazette.co.uk. 2017-08-19.
  44. Sherwood, Philip 2009, p35
  45. Sherwood, Philip 2006, p20; Sherwood, Philip 2009, p35
  46. Old 1:2500 scale Ordnance Survey maps, reproduced at about 15 inches = 1 mile, publ. Alan Godfrey Maps:-
    • Heathrow, 1934, Middlesex sheet 19.08,
    • Hatton, 1935, Middlesex sheet 20.05,
    • Sipson, 1935, Middlesex sheet 19.04,