This walk takes us along the western end of the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines
Uxbridge is a suburban town in the west of Greater London and has a rich history. It was an important market town in medieval times and has been a place of trade for over 800 years.
The accompanying video delves into various points of Uxbridge’s history. Amongst facts we didn’t cover were that:
- Although Uxbridge is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, St Margaret’s Church was built a hundred years later.
- The existing pub, The Queens Head, depicts Anne Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII, on its sign. The pub was previously called ’The Axe’, possibly dates to the 1540s and is connected to the church by a tunnel.
- A cemetery with an archway is located at the bottom of Windsor Street, and it was the site where three heretics were burned to death in 1555 for denying the trinity.
- During Elizabeth I’s reign, Roman Catholics were subject to severe constraints, and Catholic priest Edmund Campion was trained in Douai, Normandy, to give covert support to Catholics. He travelled around England on horseback, giving secret sermons and pretending to be a diamond merchant. In 1580, he came to Uxbridge and hid for a couple of weeks in a house owned by William Catesby. In 1581, Campion was caught, and he was hanged, drawn, and quartered in London. The 40 or so Catholics who died during this period are called the ’Douai martyrs’, and the name is used for the local Catholic secondary school in Ickenham.
- In 1605, the Gunpowder Plot was uncovered, and its flamboyant leader, Robert Catesby (son of William), escaped and hid in his house in Uxbridge. He was later shot.
- Negotiations between Charles I and the Parliamentary side took place in Uxbridge from 30 January to 22 February, 1645, and are commemorated in the name of a local pub, the Crown and Treaty.
- A nearby flour mill belonging to Allied Mills was purchased in the nineteenth century by a Mister King, who named it "Kingsmill." The brand name is still one of the best-selling bread-makers in the UK. For about 200 years most of London’s flour was produced in the Uxbridge area.
- In the 1930s George Orwell was a teacher at Frays College, now Frays Adult Education Centre. His novel, "A Clergyman’s Daughter", was based on his experiences there.
Once our walk has exited the station, we walked immediately left into the Chimes Shopping Centre. Here, some of the earliest evidence of settlement at Uxbridge was uncovered during the excavation of the foundations.
Leave Chimes at the
George Street exit.
George Street was the location of the last brewery in Uxbridge, demolished in 1967.
Harman’s Brewery was established in Uxbridge by George Harman in 1763. It was demolished and replaced by a Budgen’s supermarket, which in turn was demolished with the construction of The Chimes.
Turn right into
Chippenham Waye and then left at the traffic lights into
Montague Road. The Second World War witnessed a sad event here when nine people were killed by a bomb, with many houses subsequently rebuilt. Follow the road around a bend beside a railway cutting.
Cross
Park Road and walk directly opposite along
Honeycroft Hill. Further along here,
RAF Uxbridge houses the
Battle of Britain Bunker, from where the air defence of the south-east of England was coordinated during the Battle of Britain especially from its No. 11 Group Operations Room - also used during the D-Day landings.
We turn left into
North Way. Pass under the traffic-light controlled bridge, straight ahead onto a path and then right. Start across the fields (you'll need a map) before you reach Hillingdon station via
Freezeland Way and
Long Lane.
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence
| CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY |
None so far :(
| LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT |
 
claudia s Added: 8 Jun 2023 13:57 GMT |
Drakewood Road, SW16
word
Reply |
 
Loraine Brocklehurst Added: 24 May 2023 14:00 GMT |
Holcombe Road, N17
I lived at 23Holcombe Rd. with my parents, Grandfather , Aunt and Uncle in 1954. My Aunt and Uncle lived there until it was demolished. I’m not sure what year that was as we emigrated to Canada.
Reply |
Jen Williams Added: 20 May 2023 17:27 GMT |
Corfield Street, E2
My mother was born in 193 Corfield Street in 1920.Her father was a policeman.
Reply |
sofia Added: 19 May 2023 08:57 GMT |
43 MELLITUS STREET
43 MELLITUS STREET
Reply |
Added: 17 May 2023 11:50 GMT |
Milson Road (1908 - 1954)
My grandparents and great grandparents and great great grandparents the Manley family lived at 33 Milson Road from 1908 to 1935. My grandad was born at 33 Milson Road. His parents George and Grace had all four of their chidren there. When his father Edward died his mother moved to 67 Milson in 1935 Road and lived there until 1954 (records found so far, it may be longer). Before that they lived in the Porten Road. I wonder if there is anyone that used to know them? My grandad was Charles ’Ted’ Manley, his parents were called George and Grace and George’s parents were called Edward and Bessie. George worked in a garage and Edward was a hairdresser.
Reply |
Added: 16 Apr 2023 15:55 GMT |
Rendlesham Road, E5
I lived at 14 Rendlesham Road in the 1940s and 50s. The house belonged to my grandfather James Grosvenor who bought it in the 1920s for £200.I had a brother who lived in property until 1956 when he married. Local families were the paisleys, the Jenners and the family of Christopher Gable.
Reply |
Sandra Field Added: 15 Apr 2023 16:15 GMT |
Removal Order
Removal order from Shoreditch to Holborn, Jane Emma Hall, Single, 21 Pregnant. Born about 21 years since in Masons place in the parish of St Lukes.
Source:
Sign up
Reply |
Sue Germain Added: 10 Apr 2023 08:35 GMT |
Southwood Road, SE9
My great great grandfather lived in Time Villa, Southwood Rd around 1901. He owned several coffee houses in Whitechapel and in South London, including New Time Coffee House so either his house was named after the coffee house or vice versa.
Reply |
Uxbridge Uxbridge, a Middlesex market town, lies at the end of the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines. 102474, UB10 Bader Way is named after flying ace, Sir Douglas Bader. Bakers Yard, UB8 Bakers Yard runs alongside Uxbridge station, connecting the High Street and the bus station. Burton Road, UB10 Burton Road is named for Air Marshal Sir Harry Burton KCB, CBE, DSO. Chippendale Waye, UB8 Chippendale Waye takes its unusual spelling from the naming of other ’Wayes’ in the area just after the First World War. Cobden Close, UB8 Cobden Close is one of the streets of London in the UB8 postal area. Harman House, UB8 Harman House - an office building - was built in 1985 on the George Street site of the Harman Brewery. Lynch Close, UB8 Lynch Close is one of the streets of London in the UB8 postal area. Mead Road, UB8 Mead Road is one of the streets of London in the UB8 postal area. Modin Place, UB10 Modin Place is part of the St Andrew’s Park redevelopment of RAF Uxbridge. Nash’s Yard, UB8 Nash’s Yard runs between Uxbridge station and the Chimes centre. New Arcade, UB8 New Arcade is one of the streets of London in the UB8 postal area. Osborne Road, UB8 Osborne Road is one of the streets of London in the UB8 postal area. Redford Way, UB8 Redford Way is one of the streets of London in the UB8 postal area. Warwick Place, UB8 Uxbridge Police Station lies at the Harefield Road end of Warwick Place. Windsor Street, UB8 Just off Uxbridge High Street is Windsor Street, a short road populated by older shops. York Road, UB8 York Road is one of the streets of London in the UB8 postal area.
Uxbridge, a Middlesex market town, lies at the end of the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines.The origin of the name "Uxbridge" can be traced back to the "Wuxen Bridge," which was believed to be located near the current site of the "Swan and Bottle" pub on Oxford Road. The Wuxen tribe, a Saxon group from the seventh century, gave the area its name.
Today, the town centre is home to major retail outlets and office buildings, including the main European offices of several international companies. Brunel University is also located in Uxbridge, and it serves as the civic centre of the London Borough of Hillingdon. The civic centre is an award-winning building that was designed in the 1980s, during the postmodernist architectural trend. RAF Uxbridge is located nearby, and it was instrumental in controlling much of the Battle of Britain through its 11 Group command centre.
During the construction of the new shopping mall, The Chimes, archaeologists discovered Bronze Age remains dating back to before 700 BC and medieval remains. Paleolithic remains have also been found two miles away in Denham.
Although Uxbridge is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of the 11th century, St Margaret’s Church was built a hundred years later. The existing pub, "The Queens Head," depicts Anne Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII, on its sign. The pub was previously called "The Axe" and possibly dates back to the 1540s. The pub is connected to the church by a tunnel. A cemetery with an archway is located at the bottom of
Windsor Street, and it was the site where three heretics were burned to death in 1555 for denying the trinity. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs identifies the heretics as John Denley, Robert Smith, and Patrick Packingham, while other sources call the last one Patrick Rockingham.
During Elizabeth I’s reign, Roman Catholics were subject to severe constraints, and Catholic priest Edmund Campion was trained in Douai to give covert support to Catholics. He travelled around England on horseback, giving secret sermons and pretending to be a diamond merchant. In 1580, he came to Uxbridge and hid for a couple of weeks in a house owned by William Catesby. In 1581, Campion was caught, and he was hanged, drawn, and quartered in London. The 40 or so Catholics who died during this period are called the "Douai martyrs," and the name is also used for the local Catholic secondary school in Ickenham.
In 1605, the Gunpowder Plot was uncovered, and its flamboyant leader, Robert Catesby (son of William), escaped and hid in his house in Uxbridge. He was later shot. Negotiations between Charles I and the Parliamentary side took place in Uxbridge from January 30 to February 22, 1645, and are commemorated in the name of a local pub and restaurant, the Crown and Treaty. The pub is located on the A4020 Oxford Road, where it leaves the town, at the canal overbridge.
The covered market in Uxbridge was built in 1788, but the previous building was about twice as big, which created significant traffic problems.
The former Grand Junction Canal, which is now known as the Grand Union Canal, passes immediately to the west of Uxbridge and forms the borough boundary. The first stretch of the canal was built in the late eighteenth century from Brentford to Uxbridge. Uxbridge Lock is further upstream, and a nearby flour mill belonging to Allied Mills was purchased in the nineteenth century by a Mister King, who named it "Kingsmill." The brand name is still one of the best-selling bread-makers in the UK. For about 200 years most of London’s flour was produced in the Uxbridge area.
In the early 19th century, Uxbridge had quite an unsavoury reputation. The jurist William Arabin said of it residents "They will steal the very teeth out of your mouth as you walk through the streets. I know it from experience."
In the 1930s George Orwell was a teacher at Frays College, now Frays Adult Education Centre. His novel A Clergyman’s Daughter was based on his experiences there.
There were breweries in Uxbridge but the last one was closed down in the 1930s. Near here, Ellen Terry - the Shakespearean actress - spent her final years, as a pub landlady.
There were once three railway stations - Uxbridge
Vine Street (originally just Uxbridge Station), Uxbridge High Street, and Uxbridge
Belmont Road. All three have now closed. The line formerly to
Belmont Road now terminates at the present station, Uxbridge, fronting the pedestrianised High Street, and is served by the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines from Rayners Lane.
