By the 1840s, Perivale was former wheat fields – which had grown wheat of some prestige – had been converted to grow hay. The coming of the Grand Union Canal made the formerly isolated village better connected to serve London’s growing population of horses. John Betjeman’s poem ’Return to Ealing’ states:
“…And a gentle gale from Perivale / blows up the hayfield scent.”
The population of Perivale remained very low until the start of the twentieth century. In 1901, the census counted only 60 people.
In the 1930s, the Western Avenue was built, running east-west across the fields of Perivale and led to its rapid expansion. In the 1930s, many factories and houses arrived in Perivale. The Hoover Building opened in 1932 and employed more than 3000 people at its height. Sanderson’s wallpaper factory also went up in 1929, eventually employing some 2000.
In contrast to the pattern of development in many of neighbouring suburbs, the earliest factories preceded housing developments.
London Transport extended the Central line from North Acton to Greenford via Perivale in 1947.
Residential estates followed. Houses were built on and around Horsenden Lane South and at Bilton Road. The Medway Estate was also developed. The Perivale Park estate, including Conway Crescent, was built to the west of the station by Cliffords Estates, who boasted ’20 different styles of elevation’. Selbourne Primary School was constructed at the heart of the new estate.
