Brentwood Information
Local Government
There was an established dell (valley) running north-south along the boundary, and a crossing point at a shallow ford to the west. The dell is illustrated on John Rocque's map of London dated 1746, with the past tense name 'Brent'marked on Rocque's map. The chapelry of New Brentford later became known as simply Brentford (and Old Brentford is today termed "Oddington"). As developing transport infrastructure increased trade along what became known as the Great West Road in the 18th century, the area became prosperous and prosperous new buildings were erected through the early 19th century.
The name Brentford is Anglo-Saxon and means 'Breguntford', meaning 'wide ford'(Bregunt is an old English word meaning 'great'), Brentford (brentford.org.uk). The location of the settlement probably allowed access to the crossing of the River Brent. West Bridge, which is the oldest bridge in Greater London still carrying traffic, was probably built before the construction of London Bridge in the Middle Ages. Worship would have been founded by St Mary as the chapel as been recorded since 1018, when it was given to St Albans Abbey.
The parish and chapelry were part of Ealing Rural Sanitary District from 1875. In 1888, under the Local Government Act 1887, the rural sanitary district became Ealing Rural District. The boundary between the Nether Street area and Old Brentford was the River Brent, which follows a roughly north-south line in this area. The western boundary with Hanwell was not so well-defined owing to various exchanges of church land. The New Brentford area was made up of a number of small estates which included Springfield Priory, Cray Valley, Littlebury Wood and Northfield Farm.
The land was originally owned by the church and had been occupied by small scale farmers for generations. By the 18th century these farmers would be known as yeomen. For example, in 1725 Andrews'survey of the West End of London considered Old Brentford to be. Old Brentford's eastern boundary was the Grand Junction Canal. Its northern boundary was roughly parallel to the London and North Western Railway (LNWR)’s West London Line. To the west, Old Brentford’s boundary with New Brentford was the Great Western Railway Main Line which separates the two areas today.
Landmarks
LandmarkEdit is the first platform that allows you to edit historical geotagged metadata from your smartphone. Think about it, most people do not use their smartphone to take pictures of monuments, they are mostly used for communicating with friends and family. This means that your smartphone pictures will be a lot more personal than an ordinary Google Street View car that just drives by. Built in the 1680s, Syon House is a fine example of Jacobean architecture, with many influences from the classical Palladian style.
Upon the Duke of Northumberland’s death in 1827, Syon passed to his nephew, Algernon Percy, the fifth duke. I’ve climbed the pyramids of Egypt, walked through the gardens at Versailles, and stood atop ancient ruins in Rome. But there is one location which, to me, is more fascinating than any of these: Syon House. Syon House, the historic London residence of the Duke of Northumberland, has recently undergone a fabulous renovation. This year, the house will open as a museum celebrating its 400-year history.
Sports
Griffin Park is a football stadium located in the London Borough of Hounslow, west London. It is the home ground of League Two team Brentford and has also hosted Premier League football including games involving Chelsea. The stadium was built on the site of an old dog track by architect Archibald Leitch and opened in 1920. The stadium's name derives from the griffin, featured in the logo of Brentford FC, who had played at the stadium since World War I.
It has a capacity of 12,763 and is situated in South Kew, with the closest railway station being Kew Bridge station on the South Western Railway line from London Waterloo to Reading and Basingstoke. Founded in 1889, Brentford was a founding member of the old Southern Football League in 1894, and is one of only a few clubs (the last being Darlington) to have played in each season of the English football league system, from its foundation in 1888 until the present day.
The club was an early member of both the Football League and the Premier League. The football stadium has a capacity of 12,763, consisting of 8,280 seats and 4,483 terraces. The current record attendance is 21,573 for a game against Chelsea in 1924. It is also the only English league ground to have housed three professional football teams – Brentford, Chelsea and QPR. Griffin Park turns 100 on the 22 September 2006, and will be officially reopening after refurbishment when Chelseafc reserves play Burnley reserves in a League match on that day.
Local Fair
The Brentford Festival was first started in 1700 by the Corporation of Brentford, a local borough corporation (see Politics section). The fair became a four-day event in 1860, three months after Queen Victoria granted a charter to the town making Brentford a borough. The fair was traditionally held at Honey Lane, where a mural on the wall records the history of the festival. A well-known event held annually in Brentford is the Brentford Festival.
It features a carnival procession, live entertainment, a parade, booths and stalls, fashion shows and dog shows. The festival has taken place every year since 1900 except for 1915-1919 (World War I) and 1940-1946 (World War II). The Brentford Festival is an annual fair which takes place each year in mid-September on the streets surrounding the town centre of Brentford, in the London Borough of Hounslow. The traditional fete with a mixture of stalls, shows, sports and entertainments continues today.
The Brentford Festival has been a celebrated local event since the year 1899. The festival is usually held around mid September over a period of eight days. The event is organised by the Rotary Club of Brentford, and the week of events is dedicated to charitable causes. The Brentford Festival is an annual local festival that has taken place on the streets of Brentford in West London since 1900. The River Colne flows through the parish of Stanwell.
Brentford Dock
The Brentford Dock estate is a waterfront site in Brentford, London, formerly the location of a large cargo and dock facility. The site is bounded to the north by Kew Bridge and to the south by Brentford High Street. The Grand Union Canal forms the eastern boundary and there are two internal canals within the site, the remains of two docks run almost parallel with Kew Bridge and connect at either end with the Grand Union Canal.
South of these canals are further isolated docks off Warburton's Way running parallel to the river. To the north-east is Kiln Road leading to Kew Bridge railway station. St Katharine's Hospital and private housing lie to the south-west. There are bridges north-eastwards leading. The Dockyard's main gate, Wapping Gate, was completed in 1858. An Act of Parliament allowed the construction of a series of docks by the Brentford Dock Company from 1855. The first dock was formally opened by Lady Brudnell, daughter of the Earl of Jersey on 17th July 1859.
This was followed by Evelyn, Victoria and Albert (subsequently named Victoria) Docks. These were all linked to the Grand Junction Canal running northwards towards Paddington. The dock was built in Brentford on the south bank of the River Thames, 3 miles (5 km) upstream from its confluence with the River Brent. It included an area known as Twigg's Island at its northern end. Built mostly of timber itself, Brentford Dock became the upper basin for a much larger downstream dock system which also had a long-term rail connection: this was never very successful owing to its tortuous alignment and other limitations.
Googling "Brentford + dock" I find 58 million matches. A little further down the page is a link to Brentford Dock Marina and Leisure Centre. If I had been able to take a picture of the live result PageRank (PR) and load it up on SEOMoz/Open Site Explorer then I or better yet, you could have found the URL of that page and entered it into your favourite backlink checker tool, Majestic Site Explorer for example.
The H & C F Brentford Dock was a trading ship. She was built in 1861, by the West Hartlepool Shipbuilding Co, West Hartlepool. She was of 278 tons gross, 143 nett register and originally launched as the Jane and Elizabeth for John M Pitt & Co of London. The ship was rebuilt in 1881 and renamed Brentford Dock. Brentford Dock is a canal, river and dock in the west of London in England, with an area of around 100 acres (40 hectares).
Timeline
During the 12th century, a stretch of this Roman road was appropriated and paved by one of the Anglo-Saxon kings with stone recovered from the ruins of London's Roman amphitheatre, which lay nearby. This formed part of the major coaching route from London to Bath and Bristol. In more recent times it was known as York Road (named after the reigning monarch, King George III), and the section between what is now Brentford's Bourne Hill (by virtue of an ancient burial ground) and Kew Bridge it became known as Brentford High Street.
Throughout much of its modern history Brentford High Street was a main trunk route for through traffic, connecting to Shepperton Lock, Staines Bridge, Egham Hythe and. The main entry point to the present town centre however is from a single road which turns sharply off the Great West Road (A4), changing from that highway's orientation of WNW to ESE, and hence known as London Road. The high street as seen today is made up of Brentford High Street and Brentford Market Place which meet in front of the late 19th century Town Hall (currently an Odeon cinema) at an oblique angle.
Both parts of the high street are pedestrianised in sections on Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings, respectively. The Brentford High Street area was first settled in Roman times when there was a small town on the southern bank of the River Thames. The river was much wider than it is today, with the northern bank being up to 0. 5 miles (0. 8 km) away. This acted as an effective barrier and allowed the settlement on the southern bank to develop independently from London, which at that time occupied only a small portion of its modern urban area.
Local Government And Politics
The first Mayor of Brentwood was a man called Ralph Doddington. He was elected in 1295. No one knows who the first monarch was as it hasn’t been recorded! (FYI – It wasn’t a King or Queen, it was Edward I). Under the local government reform of 1974, the borough lost its status as a county borough and became part of the much larger Essex County Council. Since then, its administration has been run from Chelmsford.
The original Brentwood council building is located in South Hanningfield, now used by Suffolk County Council, Brentford (brentford.org.uk). Brentwood was in the historic and administrative county of Essex, bounded to the north by Harlow and Uttlesford, to the east by Chelmsford, to the south by Basildon and to the west by Laindon and Rochford. The parish church is dedicated to St Mary and All Saints. There are a number of other churches in Brentwood for various Christian denominations,[ which?] as well as a mosque, Buddhist centre and Sikh temple.
Brentwood Town Council is the lowest level of local council in the area, covering the town centre and one of its suburbs. It is a parish council, with eleven councillors elected every four years. It has been controlled by the Conservative party since its inception. The Brentwood Town Council is a local government district in Essex, England. It is a part of the East of England (European Parliament constituency). However, it proved a shrewd appointment as Brentford achieved promotion in the 199091 season to return to Division 2 after an absence of 46 years, finishing in 3rd place behind Stevenage (champions) and Stoke City (play-off winners).
Arts And Media
The Brentwood Theatre opened in 1976 and seats 644 people. It hosts the annual Brentwood Festival and a variety of other performances including those by the Brentwood Operatic and Dramatic Society (BODS) and Cine-Jukeboxes, who both regularly stage productions at the theatre. The Hermitage is another significant cultural venue located on the site of a former Methodist chapel. Built in 1829, it was converted into a theatre in 1971, seating 400 people. The Hermitage has staged several plays since its conversion, including works by Agatha Christie and Monty Python.
There are two arts venues in Brentwood. The Hermitage (formerly the Priory Cinema) has good quality theatre productions including pantomime, plays and comedy acts. The Brentwood Theatre is a larger venue with more scope to offer cultural events. It includes a cinema as well as regular performances, lectures and concerts. In the centre of Brentwood town itself is a collection of statues of great writers and philosophers including Karl Marx, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Blake, Sigmund Freud and Oscar Wilde.
. The Brentwood Theatre is a newly restored 1930s Art Deco building and stages a varied programme of drama, dance, music and comedy. The Hermitage is a grade II listed building that was built between 1770 and 1772 for Joseph Archer. It is now used as a public library, concert hall and art gallery and houses a permanent collection of fine art including paintings by Rembrandt and Canaletto. The Brentwood Theatre and The Hermitage are the main theatre venues in Brentwood.
The theatre first opened on 16 May 1879, with a performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance and celebrated its 125th anniversary on 16 May 2004, with a recreation of a performance of the original, starring Steve Furst as the Pirate King. Many events such as plays, concerts and lectures are held there. The town centre contains several art galleries such as Acme Studio and the Arthouse, while The Hermitage is a leading arts venue and hosts regular fine art exhibitions.
Transport
Public transport in Brentwood is coordinated by a partnership of Essex County Council, Essex Police and the Borough Council. The council's fleet of six zonal buses free travel around the borough, linking all major bus stops and bus shelters. Passengers'views have been sought in redeveloping this service, through surveys available at relevant bus stops. The service is supported by all three councils with local revenue funding. The other main public transport providers include Ensignbus, Arriva Shires & Essex and Stagecoach London.
London Buses route 498 links Romford with Brentwood and operates daily. There is a healthy amount of competition between bus operators, and this helps keep services frequent and cheap. The majority of buses in the area are now either Mercedes-Benz Citaros or Volvo Olympians, with Wright Cadet 3s, MCW Metrobuses and Bristol VRTs also seen. Transport in the Borough is provided by a variety of bus companies. First Essex, Ensignbus, Arriva Shires & Essex and Stagecoach London operate through the town and services include regular routes to Chelmsford City Centre or Southend-on-Sea via the A12.
railway station with its services towards London Liverpool Street and Shenfield, Colchester and Ipswich on the main line, and Southend Victoria on the branches to Shoeburyness and Southend Central. It is the busiest junction in North Essex. Route X38 links Brentwood with fellow First Essex destinations Islington, Elephant & Castle, Epping and Harlow. The route operates daily 5am 11:30pm (less frequently on Sundays). There are also several art galleries in the town centre, with the main one being based at the Brentwood Centre.
Early History
During the Roman occupation of Britain it is very unlikely that Brentwood was inhabited as the Romans kept their settlements and roads on the low ground, whereas in Brentwood there was a steep hillside sloping down into the valley with only minimal views from the top. Also around 1000 A. D, all land north of the Tower of London (and including what is now called Essex) was given by the Crown to St. Pauls Cathedral, so it is likely that any early civilisation resided at what is now known as Chelmsford or West Ham where there are some traces of civilisation from pre-Roman Britain.
The first settlement of Partney consisted of a group of around three houses situated by a rowing boat lake provided for the enjoyment of Brentwood's kith and kin. The settlement was founded sometime in the mid-18th century by the Woodard family, the house at that time being called "Woodards Wick". A well-known wealthy family in Brentwood, they settled on the heath to keep away from the bubonic plague which struck Brentwood in 1723. The earliest indications of settled medieval life can be seen in the form of a mound of overgrown earth at Crouch Hill, about halfway between Chipping Ongar and Ingatestone.
Although the summit is now almost entirely artificial, there is an artificial trench running from north to south and a row of post-holes on it. To this day, no one knows what this was for. The earliest evidence of occupation is a late Iron Age or early Celtic site at Great Parndon with one corner defended by a ditch, bank and palisade in the style of that at Brentwood. However, not enough work has been done to establish whether it represents the same settlement.
Military History
During the War of the Roses, Warley Camp was the site where Lancastrians from Manchester and Yorkshire, led by Lord Clifford assembled in 1461 for the Battle of Towton. Clifford had been instructed to meet Neville on 16 March 1461 at York. However, he was delayed for four days in an unsuccessful attempt to reach that city via Tadcaster. The weather had turned against him and Clifford was anxious not to be trapped outside York with a large body of men.
The delay took its toll since hundreds died from exposure or starvation at Pontefract and Headingley while waiting for the order to march again. Finally, as Sir Thomasmultiply Serle wrote, ". the Lords were so hasty they overshot York almost a. The whole military history of Warley is full of evidence that it was central to the affairs of the nation. At the time of the Spanish Armada Warley Place was used as a rendezvous for 900 mounted champions from eight east and midland counties, who came together and marched on to Tilbury.
In 1800, 23 local men marched off to fight for their country in Egypt (and many never returned), and in 1914-18 Warley produced almost half of the 2,000 men who went on to serve in four armies overseas. Churchill's article also tells how 50 cars covered with camouflage netting, stored in underground huts at this camp to be used for raids on Germany had been 'left'by 1942 "all that remained". When Edward the Elder built the burgh of Maldon in 901, he stationed a commander, or reeve, at Maldon.
Warley is mentioned in the "Domesday Book" as a manor solely owned by Edith of Wessex in 1066. She had been wife to Edward the Confessor (who was English) before her marriage to Harold Godwinson (who was Norman). It has been suggested that Warley might have belonged to Edith on account of her Dorset origin and her children's close association with Dorset. It seems Normans living in Essex regarded Maldon as a place alien to them not just politically, but culturally and linguistically too.
Warley's strategic importance changed when the Royal Small Arms Factory was built in 1802. The factory took over as the dominant social and economic influence in Warley. 'Wondering down'to work each day as weavers before production ceased in 1821, women and children would spend up to ten hours travelling for their work a day (Westwood, 2003). The factory employed more than 2,500 people at its peak and became famous for the quality of their arms (Small Arms).
The first official record of the name "Warley" is from 959 AD when King Edred ordered that "the land of Warlingesætan be divided amongst them". The area later had associations with the Anglo Saxon Heptarchy as it is recorded in the Domesday Book with a Manor at Warley which was then owned by Geoffrey de Mandeville. This part of Essex was, for over twenty years a stronghold for many of the barons who rebelled against King John.
Today
The small town of Shenfield, in Essex, is a commuter town and has a relatively short history. It was built from scratch in the late 1920s by Jarvis & Sons Ltd, the land developers who also built Garden Village in Romford and Brentwood (including Brentwood School) and the London Bus Company (who would have liked to use the name "Jarvis") called it Shenfield. Having begun building near Bowers Mill at the foot of Castle Hill, building progressed over about a decade eastwards down Hornchurch Road (now Hornchurch Road South), toward Upminster.
The High Street has been transformed in recent years, with a large Tesco Extra store built on the site of a former car dealership. The redevelopment of the stores is now complete with Waitrose locating to the West of the town centre. The new development is now known as [ brentford.org.uk High Street West]. There is a large park, known as Shenfield Common, that has bowls facilities, an outdoor gym, tennis court and children's play area.
The common is run by Essex County Council and is home to various events throughout the year. The area is one of developing countryside, with several small farms still operating in the district; consequently, there are some small areas of open common, for example at Shenfield Common. There have been attempts to re-brand the area, for instance the name "Shenfield Village" was proposed in 2002 but the idea was rejected by residents. Clean, well kept surroundings and pleasant neighbourly suburbia describe Shenfield.
Buses
With Oyster, travel around Brentwood on the bus for less. Tickets use pay as you go credit on your Oyster card, which can be topped up at any time. Tickets are valid for the date you've selected so there's no need to book in advance. If you're looking for cheap bus fares from Brentwood, check route 498 to Romford and back again. It's one of our most affordable routes and there's only one stop in between, making it great value for money.
You can always stay on the same bus and hop off at Brentwood station if you fancy getting straight back into town again. The 409 service, operated by Arriva Shires & Essex has a number of services to Chigwell via High Beach, Forty Hill and Little Waltham. Various other buses operated by First Essex also serve these villages such as the 450/455 from Ongar to Brentwood with various stops in South Woodford including the Tesco and Co-operative stores.
A Monday to Friday daytime service that links Brentwood with Epping is also provided by the 473 which runs throughout North Weald Bassett and Epping Forest. The 498 bus route provides a service between Romford and Brentwood. It is operated by First Essex with double deckers. It runs every 30 minutes from Monday to Saturday daytimes, hourly evenings and on Sundays. This is a good service for shoppers as it links Brentwood with the Lakeside Shopping Centre in Thurrock which has an Argos department store as well as other shops including Boohoo.
com, Pets at Home, Poundworld and Marks & Spencer Simply Food (formerly Netto). There are 14 HGV depots in the borough, and an increasing number of Brentwood residents find employment in one of these. The largest bus fleets present in the borough include Abbey Travel Services, Arriva London, Ensignbus and Stephensons of Essex. Stagecoach East London has a smaller presence, with only two depots in the borough. Buses run from Romford to Brentwood every 10–15 minutes at peak times on the 725 route.
Road
There is a railway station in the town, served by the Fen Line from London Liverpool Street to Cambridge. The northeastern terminus of a separate rail line to Norwich and Lowestoft, known as the Wherry Lines, is located in the town at an interchange with the mainline station. This route runs alongside the river Waveney as far as Bungay, after which it branches off towards Lowestoft. In addition to normal intercity services, Abellio Greater Anglia also operate frequent local rail services between Norwich and Lowestoft.
Faster services operated by Wherry Line services take approximately thirty minutes to reach Norwich; slower services are nearer forty-five minutes. Raven Crouch is a small rural village and is on the A12 road, near its junction with the A1151. It is less than half a mile from the A1151 which runs east to Great Whelnetham, Beccles, Felixstowe and King’s Lynn. Clare is just south-west of the village and is a very small community with a chapel (St Mary's) and a public house (The Berry).
There are four main roads into the town. The A12 trunk road from London to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft; the A47 trunk road from King's Lynn and Peterborough to Norwich; the A1101 from Mildenhall in Suffolk; and the B1110 for Haverhill and Newmarket, as well as the B1040 which connects with the Leiston – Harleston – Eye road at Leiston. A number of bus companies operate routes from Frinton and Walton-on-the-Naze to Clacton-on-Sea and further afield.
The bus station is located near the tourist information centre in Church Street. National Express Coaches run services between London and Walton hourly and in an anti-clockwise route to Great Yarmouth three times a day. A regular bus service operated by the First company is provided, connecting the town with Beccles, Ipswich and Lowestoft. The typical frequencies are every 30 minutes (peak time) and every 60 minutes during off-peak. There are also two daily services to Norwich.
Railway
Owing to the town's growth as a commuter town in the late 19th century, Brentwood became a railway junction, with lines to Romford, London, Tilbury and Southend. Platform 0 was the first of three platforms built in the 1830s on the London-Tilbury line; platform 1 is today used by terminating services from Shenfield and Liverpool Street; platform 2 is the only one in use, having been lifted following electrification in 1960 and now being used as a carriage storage shed for heritage trains.
The town once boasted a goods depot served by an extensive network of railway tracks; these have been removed but not entirely replaced by parkland, as part of a redevelopment plan drawn up in 2007. Other railway stations serving the town include Shenfield and Ingatestone and Lambourne, formerly a joint station used for services to Stansted Airport, which are operated by c2c stopping services. Trains to and from London Liverpool Street station take 40 minutes to reach Shenfield, 13 minutes to reach Ingatestone & Lambourne, and 70 minutes to reach Brentwood.
The town has an extensive network of bus services, with services running to Essex, London, Braintree, Colchester, Maldon, South Woodham Ferrers and Stansted Airport. Coach services also run from the bus station to Harwich, Southend-on-Sea and Chelmsford. The service was formerly run by First Essex and was taken over by Stephensons of Essex in January 2017. Brentwood station opened in 1841 as a branch of the Great Eastern Railway (GER) from Romford. In 1862, it became the terminus for a GER branch stretching north to Ongar and south-east to Coggeshall and Braintree.
The Ongar branch closed in January 1967, under the Beeching Axe; passenger services on the Coggeshall branch ended in September that year. There are two railway stations in the town, both managed by Abellio Greater Anglia: Wickham Market and Wickham Market Town. This subsidised limited service provides transport to and from school children who live outside of London. The western part of the town is known as Shenfield Lodge. There is also a library in the town centre (located on Howletts Road) and a local history museum (situated here too).
