Extensive Definition
Hounslow is the principal town in the
London Borough of Hounslow. It is a suburban development
situated 10.6 miles (17 km) west south-west of Charing
Cross and one of the major metropolitan centres identified in
the London Plan.
Hounslow forms a post town in
the TW
postcode area.
Metropolitan centre
The centre of Hounslow is focused around the
pedestrianised high street and a shopping centre known as the
Treaty Centre, which includes multiple stores with a mix of shops,
cafes and the Hounslow local library. The town centre is currently
undergoing major re-development with the first stage currently
being built. This includes apartments, an ASDA supermarket and
cinema being built in the vicinity of the post office. Plans for
the second stage have yet to be submitted. The council offices of
the London Borough of Hounslow are located here.
Transport
The area is served by the Piccadilly
Line of the London
Underground at
Hounslow Central tube station,
Hounslow West tube station and
Hounslow East tube station. South
West Trains also provide National
Rail services from Hounslow
railway station. Hounslow abuts the perimeter of London
Heathrow Airport, itself located in the
London Borough of Hillingdon. To the north of Hounslow is the
Great West
Road. There is a large bus garage, with adjoining Bus Station,
located on a corner site at the junction of London and Kingsley
Roads. The property is owned and run by the Transdev
London group through their company London
United Busways Ltd. Apart from frequent, regular daytime
services there is an all night service running through Hounslow
from Heathrow to
Central London.
Etymology
The origin of the name Hounslow is disputed, with
some claiming it derives from the Anglo-Saxon
“Honeslaw” meaning an area of land suitable for hunting, whilst
others claim it comes from an a mound or hill associated with
Hundi, a pagan Anglo-Saxon.
History
From the early 13th
century, when Hounslow began to develop, to the present day,
one of the main sources of its economic survival has been
transport. In the Middle Ages
foot and horse traffic travelling between London and the West
Country brought weary travellers to rest in the village. Between
the 17th and 19th centuries it was the stagecoach services that
brought prosperity to the growing town. Today, Heathrow provides
jobs, both on airport and in related industries to many local
people.
The town grew up along both sides of the Great
Western Road from London to the
West
Country and in 1211 the Order of the
Holy Trinity built a priory at the western end of the
High Street, on the site of the present church. These friars used
one third of their tithes to pay for the release of hostages
captured during the crusades. Edward
I granted the Holy Trinity a charter allowing them to hold a
weekly market and an annual fair where they levied duties on good
sold. The priory was dissolved during the
Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, despite Henry
VIII having entered the order of the priory when he was the
Prince of
Wales.
Materials from the priory were used to build
Hounslow Manor house with the chapel, which survived the demolition
of the other buildings, being used as a private chapel for the
occupiers of the Manor house.
When the Barons and King
John signed the Magna Carta
in 1215 at
Runnymede, the
Barons held a tournament at Hounslow. 1227 saw the
disafforesting of the Warren of Staines, a great
wood, which allowed the Hounslow Heath to expand. The heath was a
popular hunting ground for Kings and Queens through the ages,
including Henry VIII, Elizabeth
I and William
III.
Armies also made use of the heath due to its
proximity to London, Windsor
and Hampton
Court. Oliver
Cromwell placed an army on the heath at the end of the Civil
War in 1647, and James
II camped his army and held military exercises and mock battles
to, unsuccessfully, intimidate the population in London. A
permanent barracks for
armies that camped on the heath was built in 1793 as part of the
preparations to meet possible invasion by the French, and by
1884 had its
own station. This was demolished and rebuilt a short distance away,
and renamed Hounslow West Station in 1925, and the suburb
that sprung up in the surrounding area adopted the station’s
name.
Hounslow Heath is most notorious for the highwaymen and footpads (who
did not have horses) that troubled the travellers on the road to
and from London during the 17th and 18th centuries. The heath was
so notorious that gibbets, or gallows, were set up along the
roadside as a warning. Famous victims of the highwaymen included
Lord
North in 1774, William
Pitt the Younger’s Secretary, and Lord Berkeley, who shot and
killed his assailant. The highwayman Claude Duval
famously danced with one of his lady victims but his ten-year
criminal career ended when he was hanged at Tyburn in 1670. James
MacLaine, the "Gentleman Highwayman" worked in partnership with
William
Plunkett. He robbed Lord Eglington in 1750 but was caught
selling stolen goods before being hanged in front of a large crowd.
The trade was not exclusive to men as the example of Mary Frith,
who dared rob the Parliamentary General, Sir Thomas Fairfax,
shows.
The prosperity of the town declined sharply when
the Great Western Railway was built between London and Bristol, offering a
much more comfortable and safe journey. The town began to flourish
once more when the Great West
Road was built to bypass the town in the 1920s and the
factories that lined the road brought jobs and prosperity. As the
old industries along the “Golden
Mile” began to decline in the 1970s, they were replaced by
offices, with many international companies setting up there,
attracted by the proximity of London and the area's transport
links. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, major construction
work and redevelopment was conducted in Hounslow to pedestrianize
the High Street and build the Treaty Centre. The old Library, one
of the few elegant buildings in the town, was demolished during
this period.
Today Hounslow is a prosperous multicultural
town, with many ethnic minorities including Indians and now many
Polish looking for jobs at the nearby Heathrow airport.
hounslow in French: Hounslow (ville)
hounslow in Hindi: हाउंस्लो
hounslow in Dutch: Hounslow