Turnham Green

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Turnham Green
Middlesex

Turnham Green
Location
Grid reference: TQ212786
Location: 51°29’30"N, 0°15’59"W
Data
Post town: London
Postcode: W4
Dialling code: 020
Local Government
Council: Hounslow
Parliamentary
constituency:
Brentford and Isleworth

Turnham Green is an urban village in Middlesex, within the wider town of Chiswick. It runs along Chiswick High Road, and its most distinctive characteristic is it large village green, also named 'Turnham Green'.

The parish church, Christ Church, stands on the eastern part of the green. It was designed by the architect George Gilbert Scott, and built 1843.[1]) A war memorial stands on the eastern corner. On the south side of the green is the old Chiswick Town Hall.

The Green

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

History

Christ Church, Turnham Green

Turnham Green was once a distinct a village on the main road between London and the west. It was recorded as Turneham in 1235 and Turnhamgrene in 1369.[2]

On 13 November 1642, the Battle of Turnham Green was fought nearby during the First Civil Wara Parliamentarian victory, it blocked the King's advance on London.

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

The artist William Hogarth had a 'Country cottage' nearby on what is now known as Hogarth Roundabout.

As the area developed, it became part of Chiswick.

In literature

Charles Dickens refers to "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."[3]

Stations

There are two London Underground stations here, both on the District Line: Turnham Green Station, north of the High Road beside Chiswick Common, and half a mile west is Chiswick Park, north of the Green.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Green Turnham Green)

References

  1. Robbins, Michael: "Middlesex", Phillimore & Co. Ltd, 2003, ISBN 1-86077-269-2, page 234
  2. Clegg, Gillian: "The Chiswick Book", Historical Publications Ltd, 2004, ISBN 0-948667-96-6.
  3. Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities Book I, ch. I.