Turnham Green

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Turnham Green
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Turnham Green
Location within Greater London
Population11,448 (2011 Census. Ward) [1]
OS grid reference TQ212786
London borough
Ceremonial county Greater London
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town LONDON
Postcode district W4
Dialling code 020
Police Metropolitan
Fire London
Ambulance London
UK Parliament
London Assembly
List of places
UK
England
London
51°29′31″N00°15′58″W / 51.49194°N 0.26611°W / 51.49194; -0.26611

Turnham Green is a public park on Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, London, and the neighbourhood and conservation area around it; historically, it was one of the four medieval villages in the Chiswick area, the others being Old Chiswick, Little Sutton, and Strand-on-the-Green. Christ Church, a neo-Gothic building designed by George Gilbert Scott and built in 1843, [2] stands on the eastern half of the green. A war memorial stands on the eastern corner. On the south side is the old Chiswick Town Hall.

Contents

The green is the site of local community events, including a travelling funfair, church events and charity table-top sales.

The nearest London Underground station is Chiswick Park on the District line.

Turnham Green tube station is on Chiswick Common, the site in 1642 of The Battle of Turnham Green.

History

Turnham Green was a village on the main road between London and the west. It was recorded as 'Turneham' in 1235 and 'Turnhamgrene' in 1369. [3]

On 13 November 1642, the Battle of Turnham Green was fought nearby during the First English Civil War resulting in the Parliamentarians blocking the King's advance on London. [4]

In 1680 the homicidal Philip Herbert, 7th Earl of Pembroke murdered a watchman, William Smeeth, after a drunken evening in the local tavern. [5] A similar but far less serious episode in the tavern, the Old Packhorse Inn, in 1795 saw the young Daniel O'Connell arrested for drunken and riotous behaviour. [6]

From 1912 until its closure in 1959, the Chiswick Empire theatre stood facing the north side of Turnham Green. [7]

Buildings

At the eastern end of the green stands Chiswick war memorial. It is in the form of a stone obelisk at the top of a flight of five steps, encircled by a metal fence and a yew hedge. It was unveiled on 13 November 1921 by the 9th Duke of Devonshire and Arthur Winnington-Ingram, the Bishop of London. It is made of Cornish granite. It was designed by a local architect, Edward Willis. It was given Grade II listed status in 2015. [8]

In the middle of the green stands the tall Christ Church, Turnham Green, designed in the Gothic revival style by George Gilbert Scott and opened in 1843. The chancel was extended in 1887. [9]

Along the southern side of the green is Heathfield Terrace; its largest buildings are the Italianate 1876 Chiswick Town Hall, designed by W. J. Trehearne, and the former Army and Navy Furniture Repository, built around 1900, and now converted into flats. Further west, at the corner with Heathfield Gardens, is the red brick 1913 Turnham Green Church Hall with Arts and Crafts style decoration; it was built here as residents objected to having it in the park beside the church. It is now used as a school. [10] [11] Facing the southwestern corner of the green is Fromow's Corner, an "attractively detailed" [12] curved red brick building with brick pilasters; a plaque at the corner of the roofline proclaims "Fromow & Sons Estd 1829, Erectd 1889". [12]

In 2021, Hounslow Council reappraised the Turnham Green Conservation area. [12] This is adjacent to the Chiswick High Road conservation area (which is further east), covering the part of the High Road from Chiswick Road in Gunnersbury to the west, via the whole of Turnham Green common and the buildings facing its north side along the High Road, to Clifton Gardens in the east. It takes in a substantial area to the south of the common, and was extended in 2019 to include the streets between Sutton Court Road and Duke's Avenue down to the Great West Road. [12]

In culture

Highwayman

The 18th century highwayman broadside ballad "Alan Tyne of Harrow" includes the couplet: [13]

"One night by Turnham Green I robbed a revenue collector,
and what I took from him I gave to a widow to protect her". [13]

Charles Dickens's novel A Tale of Two Cities , set in the time of the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century, mentions "that magnificent potentate, the Lord Mayor of London, [who] was made to stand and deliver on Turnham Green, by one highwayman, who despoiled the illustrious creature in sight of all his retinue." [14]

Other mentions

The song "Suite In C" on the eponymous album McDonald and Giles , which alludes to places in London, includes the line "The sun shone 'til Turnham Green". [15]

The song "Junkie Doll" by Mark Knopfler includes the line "Turnham green, Turnham green, You took me high as I've ever been". [16]

Residents

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiswick</span> Riverside district of London, England

Chiswick is a district in the London Borough of Hounslow, West London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Fuller's Brewery, London's largest and oldest brewery. In a meander of the River Thames used for competitive and recreational rowing, with several rowing clubs on the river bank, the finishing post for the Boat Race is just downstream of Chiswick Bridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Borough of Hounslow</span> London borough in United Kingdom

The London Borough of Hounslow is a London borough in west London, England, forming part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 when three smaller borough councils amalgamated under the London Government Act 1963. It is governed by Hounslow London Borough Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gunnersbury</span> Human settlement in England

Gunnersbury is an area of West London, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isleworth</span> Suburb of West London

Isleworth is a suburban town located within the London Borough of Hounslow in West London, England. It lies immediately east of the town of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane. Isleworth's original area of settlement, alongside the Thames, is known as 'Old Isleworth'. The north-west corner of the town, bordering on Osterley to the north and Lampton to the west, is known as 'Spring Grove'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turnham Green tube station</span> London Underground station

Turnham Green is a London Underground station in Chiswick of the London Borough of Hounslow, west London. The station is served by the District and Piccadilly lines although currently Piccadilly line trains normally stop at the station only at the beginning and end of the day, running through non-stop at other times. To the east, District line trains stop at Stamford Brook and Piccadilly line trains stop at Hammersmith. To the west, District line trains run to either Chiswick Park or Gunnersbury and Piccadilly line trains stop at Acton Town. The station is in both Travelcard Zone 2 and Zone 3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiswick railway station</span> British railway station

Chiswick railway station is a railway station within the Grove Park residential area of Chiswick in the London Borough of Hounslow. The station is on the Hounslow Loop Line, and all trains serving it are operated by South Western Railway. Journey time into London Waterloo is approximately 25 minutes and Clapham Junction 15 minutes. The station is in Travelcard Zone 3.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Turnham Green</span> 1642 battle during the First English Civil War

The Battle of Turnham Green took place on 13 November 1642 near the village of Turnham Green, at the end of the first campaigning season of the First English Civil War. The battle resulted in a standoff between the forces of King Charles I and the much larger Parliamentarian army under the command of the Earl of Essex. In blocking the Royalist army's way to London immediately, however, the Parliamentarians gained an important strategic victory as the standoff forced Charles and his army to retreat to Oxford for secure winter quarters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strand-on-the-Green</span> Riverside area in West London, England

Strand-on-the-Green is one of Chiswick's four medieval villages, and a "particularly picturesque" riverside area in West London. It is a conservation area, with many "imposing" listed buildings beside the River Thames; a local landmark, the Kew Railway Bridge that crosses the River Thames and the Strand, is itself Grade II listed. Oliver's Island is just offshore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiswick Town Hall</span> Municipal building in London, England

Chiswick Town Hall stands on Heathfield Terrace, Chiswick, London, facing Turnham Green. It is a Grade II listed building.

Acton Green is a residential neighbourhood in Chiswick and the London Borough of Ealing, in West London, England. It is named for the nearby Acton Green common. It was once home to many small laundries and was accordingly known as "Soapsuds Island".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grove Park, Chiswick</span> Human settlement in England

Grove Park is an area in the south of Chiswick, now in the borough of Hounslow, West London. It lies in the meander of the Thames occupied by Duke's Meadows park. Historically, the area belonged to one of the four historic villages in modern Chiswick, Little Sutton. It was long protected from building by the regular flooding of the low-lying land by the River Thames, remaining as orchards, open fields, and riverside marshland until the 1880s. Development was stimulated by the arrival of the railway in 1849; Grove Park Hotel followed in 1867, soon followed by housing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Chiswick</span> Village in London

Old Chiswick is the area of the original village beside the river Thames for which the modern district of Chiswick is named. The village grew up around St Nicholas Church, founded c. 1181 and named for the patron saint of fishermen. The placename was first recorded c. 1000 as Ceswican. In the Middle Ages the villagers lived by fishing, boatbuilding, and handling river traffic. The surrounding area was rural until the late 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Sutton, Chiswick</span>

Little Sutton was one of the four constituent medieval villages of Chiswick, in what is now West London, and the site of a royal manor house, Sutton Manor, later Sutton Court. The great house was accompanied by a small hamlet without a church of its own.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Michael's Church, Grove Park</span> Church in London, England

St Michael's Church, Grove Park is an Anglican church in the Grove Park district of Chiswick, opened in 1909. Its red brick architecture by W. D. Caröe & Herbert Passmore has been praised by Nikolaus Pevsner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Fire Station, Chiswick</span> Fire station building in Chiswick

The Old Fire Station, Chiswick is an 1891 brick building with stone facings on Chiswick High Road. It served as a fire station until 1963, and has since been used as a restaurant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiswick High Road</span> Street in the London Borough of Hounslow

Chiswick High Road is the principal shopping and dining street of Chiswick, a district in the west of London. It was part of the main Roman road running west out of London, and remained the main road until the 1950s when the A4 was built across Chiswick. By the 19th century the road through the village of Turnham Green had grand houses beside it. The road developed into a shopping centre when Chiswick became built up with new streets and housing to the north of Old Chiswick, late in the 19th century. There are several listed buildings including public houses, churches, and a former power station, built to supply electricity to the tram network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of Bedford Park</span> Architectural design of a West London suburb

The architecture of Bedford Park in Chiswick, West London, is characterised largely by Queen Anne Revival style, meaning an eclectic mixture of English and Flemish house styles from the 17th and 18th centuries, with elements of many other styles featuring in some of the buildings.

References

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