Brentford History

Brentford is old. Old, as in old, not as in a couple of hundred years, but seriously old. How old? I'll tell you...

Brentford, as is obvious from it's name, is where the old route to the south west crossed the River Brent, just before it enters the Thames; it's also considered to be an old point for fording the Thames.

Remains of a pre-Roman settlement were found on land that now forms part of Syon Park and Brentford Dock, the site being known as Old England. Meanwhile two major Roman roads - Akeman St (on more or less the current A4 route) and the Silchester Road meet in Chiswick, and continue on together to Staines, through Brentford. Evidence of the Roman road itself was found under the site now occupied by the supermarket. There was never any significant Roman settlement here, although it is thought that Old England remained settled and in some ways became romanised.

The name of the river 'Brent' comes from 'Brigantia' - meaning holy, or high, water. Hence 'Breguntford' - where the King of Wessex & his courtesans met with the East Saxons in AD705, due to it's close location to the borders of both Kingdoms. King Offa held a council here - 'Bregentforda' - in AD780 with all his cronies; in AD781 the local Synod helped settle a minor squabble between Offa & the Bishop of Worcester.

The first Battle of Brentford occurred in 1016 between Canute & Edward Ironside. I'll try to find out more about that one...

The oldest building in Brentford is thought to be the tower of St Lawrence's church, now deconsecrated and standing empty. There is thought to have been a church on the site since Edward the Confessor's reign; the tower dates back to the thirteenth century. This stands close to the bridge over the Brent; the first bridge is thought to date back to at least 1280. After this time Brentford grew, despite being split politically down the middle; the eastern end (Old Brentford) being part of Ealing parish, the western end (New Brentford) part of Hanwell. The market was instigated in 1306.

The Second Battle of Brentford happened during the Civil War, through the narrow alleys and passageways of the old town, generally trashing everything - buring down buildings, raping the locals, all that sort of thing. Apparently it was a turning point in the Civil War; the King's nephew (hanging out in Syon House) decided to break a truce with the parliamentarians (a small garrison of whom were stationed in Brentford) and had a go at them, Of course after that the parliamentarians got more than a little pissed off, and everything got out of control, including the Battle of Turnham Green. I can just see all those roundheads on the 237 bus... sorry that's all a bit vague, I'll look in a book one day.

Brentford Turnpike trust was set up in 1717 to raise funds to maintain the road from Kensington to Hounslow, which was still the main route to the South West, and suffering. In 1754 it was called the 'worst public road in europe'. A bit like the M4 today... It's at this point people starting slagging off Brentford - it was 'particularly offensive, and might be avoided by a new road being made on the north side' - that didn't happen until 1925!

The Grand Junction Canal to the midlands was completed in 1800; by this time Brentford also had a large flour mill, a malt distillery, a brickworks and large pottery. Soon afterwards were added a Brewery, and the start of the infamous Gasworks. Also by now the local elections were held here; apparently it was due to these, along with the anuual fair, that Brentford became known for 'drunkenness and brawling'. In 1849 Brentford Central railway station was opened, on a line into Waterloo; ten years later the GWR branch from Southall to Brentford Dock was built.

The twentieth century brought the Great West Road & lots of local industrial jobs; whilst we stil have a fair amount of industry, like everywhere else it's all turning over to sales & office space. Meanwhile the High St got completely decimated over the century; some buildings were removed to let the trams through (i.e. the old Drum pub on the bottom end of Ealing Road; that was replaced by a grotty blues & bikers pub, the Red Lion. A MacDonald's now stands on the site), and then in the sixties, in the name of progress, everything was knocked down to be replaced by shops & flats above. Horrible. There's still a lot of old buildings around; in the meantime we have to think of what to do with the shitty stuff; it can always replaced by something worse! There's a couple of new development sites at the moment, big areas earmarked for posh new houses, bars & restraunts. The yuppiefication of Brentford. Help.

The Brentford Regeneration Partnership is a good place to start if you want to find more about the future of Brentford; 191 the High St.


Much of this has been learnt from '2000 years of Brentford', edited by Roy Canham, specifically the chapter 'Brentford: the historical background' written by G H Glanville', pub HMSO 1978 - there's a copy in Brentford Library.