Harmondsworth Hall
When
writing about history the biggest part of the project is research. Research is
not just looking at documents in archives and reading academic books, but being
out there walking the streets; talking to people.
I went on a
research trip this week. I am researching the lost community of Heathrow,
Middlesex, as well as the soon to be lost Middlesex villages of Longford,
Harmondsworth and Sipson. The adventure began at the Hillingdon archives in
Uxbridge Library. Pre-ordered documents were waiting for me and in four hours I
had photographed them all. Reading and interpreting the handwriting will take diligence,
but I hope I will absorb some of the concerns and thoughts of the originator of
the document whilst doing so. It will be a labour of love that I will take my
time over.
After
leaving the library and having a quick meal I drove on to Harmondsworth where I
had booked a room in a B and B called Harmondsworth Hall in the centre of the
village of Harmondsworth. This grand-sounding building was built in the early
1700s, but still has elements of an older building that was on this site. It
once had four acres of beautiful gardens on which were held church garden
parties, tea dances, and barbeques (such a novelty in 1957 that they asked a
member of the U.S.A.F. in nearby West Drayton to do the cooking). In 1910 this
house was the first to have electricity. It had a 7hp Hornsly Ackroid Oil
engine and accumulators (batteries) which provided electric light for the house,
but it still got its water from a well underneath the scullery and had no mains
drainage. The village itself had only just got gas piped in to provide
street-lighting.
The
ownership of Harmondsworth Hall passed through many families and in 1957
belonged to Mr S.D. Brown and his family. Mr Brown worked in Paris but
frequently flew home to the nearby London Airport at weekends. He used the
excuse that there was a shortage of housing for airport workers to apply for
planning permission to build five detached houses in the 4 acres garden. The Middlesex County Council
rejected the plan so the application went to an Inquiry. Today there is a whole
new street of twentieth-century homes close to the Hall which only retains a modest
amount of outdoor space around its walls.
The house
itself still has its original marble black and white chequered hall floor, wood
panelling, and huge fireplaces. Externally the large sash windows are
interspersed with window spaces bricked up to avoid paying a heavy tax bill during
the eighteenth century when tax was levied on the number of windows in a
building. It is beautifully kept, both inside and out, the rooms are
comfortable and majestic, and the whole place has an air of grand antiquity. It
was a pleasure and privilege to have had the experience of visiting this
historic building and sad to know that it is threatened with demolition.
If the
London Airport Expansion plans go ahead eleven listed buildings in Longford,
and twelve in Harmondsworth will be obliterated, along with many other homes.
Only Harmondsworth medieval Great Barn and its Norman church will survive the
destruction, but who will want to visit them when they will be metres from the
airport’s perimeter fence?
Progress
cannot be stopped, and humankind must grow to survive, but there is still a
need to have reminders of the past in our midst. Without visible history to
excite our curiosity we cannot measure progress and judge the effect of our
actions on the future.
