The river built for a King’s vanity.

 

The bridge built by King William IV at Longford in 1834

The Longford River, in Middlesex, UK, is not a river but a canal cut by a King and now owned by a King. It starts from a place on the Colne/Wraysbury river in the village of Longford at a point just after a four-acre island. The main river flows on to join the Thames at Staines, whilst the man-made river flows south. This passes through the Middlesex villages of Stanwell and Bedfont where it is only metres away from one of Europe’s busiest Airports. It then flows through Feltham, Hanworth Park, Hampton and Bushy Park before fulfilling its purpose in the Hampton Court Palace water gardens and exiting into the River Thames.

This artificial river was dug on the orders of Charles I in 1638 to improve the flow of water to the Hampton Court fountains.[1] He designed the fountains to impress his wife, Henrietta Maria. It was often known as the King’s, Queen’s or Cardinal’s river, but is now universally known as the Longford River and is still Crown property.

Soon after the river leaves the River Colne at the Saxon village of Longford it crosses The Great Bath Road. This busy road, which leads to Windsor, Reading and Bath, was once in constant use by horses, carts and carriages. After years of coachmen having to negotiate the narrow bridge that crossed the Kings River, and over which successive Monarchs had been driven on their journey’s to and from Windsor, King William IV decided to do something about it. In 1834 he had built a cast iron bridge bordered on each side by an elliptical arch with a parapet with a trellis design. In the centre of the arch is a plaque with a raised crown and underneath “WR IV 1834”. This is now a Grade II listed structure.

 

As Crown property the river was strictly monitored to prevent any external encroachments on the river or its surroundings. In Victorian times only those granted permission by Mr. Jesse the Superintendent of Palaces were allowed to fish in the river. One of those granted a line permit was William Singleton, a grocer from Hampton. He was fishing at 7pm on 31 August 1846 when he saw two men retrieving stunned or dying fish that were floating on the surface from the river. The following morning about 6am a local Surgeon, Henry Jepson, who also had a permit, was fishing with a line when he was asked by Mr Plumbridge, a river inspector, whether he had seen anyone on the riverbank. Mr Plumbridge had received information that fish had been seen floating in the river, and a passerby had pointed out two suspicious men. Fifteen minutes later, the Doctor saw two men on the bridge looking down into the shallow water. It was a while before he saw what they were looking at until he spotted, laying on the bottom of the river, several large fish some dying, and some dead—they appeared to be under the influence of some narcotic and as he looked he saw more. They were everywhere. He pulled a couple of the roach out of the water and took them home to examine them. Later that evening, in the presence of Mr Plumbridge and of Mr Benbow, the local chemist, he surgically cut them open and discovered they had deep yellow matter in their stomachs, which he knew to be characteristics of the coculus indicus plant. This plant often called the Indian berry or fishberry induces stupefying effects, and although a poison was, until it was banned in the mid-nineteenth century, sometimes added to cheap beer to make it more intoxicating. Adding the berries or a paste of the berries would have stupefied the fish making them easier to catch. At the subsequent trial at the Old Bailey on 21 September 1846, nineteen year old Jesse Lucas, one of the men looking over the bridge, stood in the Dock. George Henry Benbow, a chemist from Hampton gave evidence that the accused came into his shop on the afternoon of 31 August and bought half-an-ounce of coculus indicus.

Mr Benbow said, “he did not ask for it by that name—I do not remember the name he called it—it is called by so many names—it was the common name—but I sold him half an ounce of coccnlus indicus—he did not say what he wanted it for—before he left the shop I cantioned him—I told him it was transportation to use it—I did not say what for”.

He told the Court that he was present when Mr Jepson opened the fish that had been removed from the river. “I am satisfied that what was found was coculus indicus—I know that it is sometimes mixed with dough and put into the water.”

Jesse Lucas was born in Hampton Common.[2] His father had died when he was a baby and he had been in trouble before, but had been holding down a job as a bricklayers’ labourer for the last 18 months. Now he was in serious trouble. When the two men were arrested, Lucas’s companion, Jim Lee, sprinted away and was never found. At the trial Jesse Lucas’ defence statement was, “I never chucked any stuff in.” Nevertheless he was found guilty and sentenced to transportation for seven years. He was first taken to Pentonville Prison and then transferred to Millbank and a prison hulk. Weighing 9st 11lbs he had to do hard labour until after eighteen months he was put on board the Anna Maria and sailed for Port Phillip, Melbourne, Australia. He then disappears from the records.

 

Fishing was not the only activity restricted by the Crown authorities. It was an offence to use the water for irrigation or to damage the river or its banks with any type of construction other than that authorised by the Crown authorities. In 1836 William Stevens of Longford was summoned before the Magistrates Court by the Superintendent of the water supply belonging to her Majesty to Hampton Court. Stevens was charged with pulling down and damaging the palisade fence enclosing the river. He was convicted with a penalty of twelve shillings and costs and sent to the treadmill for one month.[3]

 

The Crown employed men to help maintain the river, one such riverman was Thomas Hedges. He lived at the Kings Arms in Longford village. He used a long shallow boat like a punt to dredge the river and keep the banks clear of weeds. Hedges also had an obligation to report on misuse of the river. On 12 August 1878 Mr. Hedges was in the Kings Arm’s tap room when a labourer called Edmund Buckland accused Hedges of not lending him his boat. Hedges said he wouldn’t lend it to him and an argument broke out which resulted in a fight, although Hedges did not return the blows. Buckland was drunk and had previous convictions and was upset that Hedges had caught him netting the river. Buckland was found guilty of assault and was fined fifteen shillings (a week’s wages).[4]

 

The bridges over the Longford river had been maintained by the Crown authorities, but complaints about the narrowness of the bridges for modern traffic, caused conflict between the local council and H.M. Office of Works in the late 19th century. The Board declared it did not have a budget for replacing the bridges, nor were they willing to assign additional land for a wider bridge. In 1901 an attempt was made for the Middlesex County Council to take over the ownership of the bridges from the Crown, but negotiations broke down. The issue was still unresolved in 1913, when H.M. Office of Works said they had no money for bridge improvements but they were willing to re-open negotiations about the ownership of the bridges.[5] In fact under the Crown Lands Act 1906 bridges owned by the Crown could be transferred to any authority “willing and able to accept such a conveyance”. So one by one the local councils along the route of the Longford river applied to take responsibility for a bridge in their area and removing the necessity to keep applying the Crown when maintenance or improvements were necessary. They were however to do nothing that would interfere with the flow of the river.[6]

As well as the issue of the bridges there were other construction issues. There was a smallpox outbreak in 1907 and the Staines council wanted to build an isolation hospital near the Longford River. The Crown authorities objected strongly to this, the inference being that the river could be contaminated in some way.[7] In 1914 Feltham council applied to H.M. Office of Works for permission to utilise a portion of the Longford River as a bathing place, but permission was refused. However they did concede that if the Council wanted to build a swimming bath near to the river then, on receiving details, they would sanction the use of the water from the river. Council Surveyors estimated that such a swimming bath would cost £830, but with the start of the First World War, the Council decided to defer the proposal at that time.[8]

 

Occasionally nature interfered with river. In severe winters the river would freeze over. At other times the storms caused flooding. Cottages next to the river in Stanwell were flooded in 1914 and the council requested that the surface water be allowed to drain into the Longford river, but the Crown objected as they felt it would cause pollution.[9]

 

This water hazard also caused tragedy. In Hanworth in 1894 72 year old Charlotte Penfold accidentally fell in the river. Her body was seen floating down stream face down by a neighbour William Morgan. He managed to get her out of the water and called a doctor, but she was pronounced dead. At her inquest it was explained that she had recently had influenza and was still groggy when she went to the river bank to feed the ducks. It was thought she had become dizzy and fallen in and a verdict was returned of Accidental Death. Mrs Penfold had been a respected member of the parish of Hanworth for 35 years. Her late husband was the foreman at Curtis and Harveys Mills (gunpowder mill on Hounslow Heath) for many years. Another long-term worker from Curtis and Harvey accidentally drowned in the river in 1922. George Rowe, aged 71, of River View Villas, Bedfont, fell in the river. He was in the habit of rising early and walking along the banks to see his son.[10] Not all drownings were accidental. Elizabeth Martin, aged 31, was found drowned in the river, after leaving her three children with a neighbour and a note for her husband, who was working away. The inquest verdict was suicide.[11]

 

When Charles I began his quest for a picturesque water garden at Hampton Court and spared no expense in getting twelve miles of waterway cut from the Colne River to feed it, he probably never envisaged the growth of Middlesex surburbia, nor transport such as planes and automobiles. But the fact that it has survived for 385 years through changing times, and its tranquil waters and natural habitats have given pleasure to many over that time means that the river is well-loved and admired. It will be sad to see it disappear into a culvert at Longford if the third runway is built at Heathrow airport and the village of Longford is demolished.

 

Wendy Tibbitts is the author of “Longford: A Village in Limbo” now available in paperback and ebook.

For a “Look Inside” option for this book go to  https://b2l.bz/WUf9dc 

 

[1] Wikipedia. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Longford_River_at_Bedfont_-_water_for_Hampton_Court_-_geograph.org.uk_-_112074.jpg

[2] Ancestry.co.uk

[3] Windsor and Eton Express – Saturday 24 December 1836.

[4] Uxbridge & W. Drayton Gazette - Saturday 24 August 1878]

[5] Uxbridge & W. Drayton Gazette - Saturday 27 September 1913

[6] Crown Lands Act 1906 An Act to amend the Crown Lands Acts, 1829 to 1894 1906 CHAPTER 28 6 Edw 7

[7] Uxbridge & W. Drayton Gazette - Saturday 28 September 1907

[8] Middlesex Chronicle - Saturday 07 November 1914

[9] Uxbridge & W. Drayton Gazette - Saturday 11 April 1914

[10] Uxbridge & W. Drayton Gazette - Friday 17 February 1922

[11] Uxbridge & W. Drayton Gazette - Saturday 18 April 1908

Murder at the Colnbrook Tollhouse

 

Colnbrook Tollhouse 1933

Murder at the Colnbrook Tollhouse

When Bath became a fashionable place for Society to visit, the Great Bath Road (A4), which passed through Hounslow Heath to Longford and Colnbrook and onwards to Bath, saw an increase in the long-distance carriage trade. The constant movement of carriage-wheels damaged the compressed earth road and often resulted in a quagmire of deep mud through which pedestrians, riders and coaches had to pass. When the mud dried out the crushed mud then covered travellers in clouds of dust.

Local people would sometimes spread gravel on the road to improve the surface, but it soon became clear a proper maintenance policy was needed. Turnpike Trusts were formed on all major roads. They would charge users a toll to travel along the roads and this money paid for the cost of road maintenance. Gates were set up across the road where the toll was to be collected and toll houses built for the toll-house keeper and his family to live in.

The Colnbrook Turnpike Trust was set up in 1727 to maintain a length of road from Cranford Bridge to Maidenhead Bridge. A turnpike gate was built at Salt Hill in Slough, but the main gate was west of Colnbrook. This gate was later thought to be inconvenient and collected insufficient funds, so in 1739 it was moved to the eastern side of Colnbrook near the road to Poyle and a tollhouse built alongside it.[1] Two toll gatherers were employed to collect the tolls. The tollhouse was often isolated and vulnerable to thieves who knew that sums of money were held there.

On 16 June 1735 the Colnbrook Toll keeper was robbed of all the previous days takings.[2] In April 1768 the tollhouse keeper, Benjamin Harvey was robbed of not only his takings, but his silver watch and eight shillings and ninepence of his own money. The Colnbrook Turnpike Trust refunded him £2.18s.3d for his loss.

Joseph Pierce from Langley Marish had married his London-born sweetheart in 1764 when he was 26. Later Joseph became the tollhouse keeper and moved his growing family into the tollhouse at Colnbrook. On the night of 23 February 1781 he heard a noise in the tollbooth and went to investigate. At two in the morning a butcher from Windsor, with another traveller, entered the tollhouse to pay their turnpike toll and found the keeper badly injured on the floor, covered in blood, and dying. His head appeared to have been caved in from the use of a blood-covered poker that lay nearby and there was a large pool of blood around his body. It was later found that twelve pounds had been stolen.[3] Joseph Pierce did not survive the night. He was 43 and left his wife with a teenage daughter and three young children. The family lost their home and their wage-earner on that terrible night.

 

The murder shocked the nation and the hunt was on for the killer. In March a man was arrested in London and confessed to the murder and robbery at Colnbrook turnpike, but appeared to be “disordered in his senses” and it was discovered that he had arrived from India since the murder and robbery were committed.[4]

It was not until three years later that the culprit was discovered by chance. In April 1784 a man called Robert Griffith was employed by Samuel Dixon who lived in the 16th century Wallingtons Manor, a large manor house in the village of Kintbury, Berkshire. On the night of 7 April Samuel Dixon was staying in London when the manor house was badly damaged by fire. Robert Griffith was sent to London to tell Mr Dixon about the fire, but his suspicious behaviour caused Dixon to question Griffith about the fire. He eventually confessed that he started the fire to cover up the fact that he had stolen a brace of pistols, a gun, and a quantity of money.

Whilst in custody he also confessed to the murder of the Colnbrook Tollhouse keeper. At the time of the murder Griffith had been the second toll-gatherer at Colnbrook and it was thought Joseph Pierce had surprised him whilst he was stealing the takings. Griffith was sent to Reading Goal where he tried to slit his own throat, but he missed his windpipe and, after the cut was sewn up, he survived.[5] His sentence is unrecorded, but the crime would have been classed as highway robbery for which a death sentence is mandatory.

The tollhouse was demolished in 1962. There is a rumour that it was haunted by the ghost of Joseph Pierce, and that his spirit is said to walk at Halloween.

For more historical stories about Colnbrook, Longford, and Harmondsworth read “Longford: A Village in Limbo” by Wendy Tibbitts.

[1] Rosevear, Alan. A booklet on the Turnpike Road around Reading. http://www.turnpikes.org.uk/Reading%20turnpike%20roads.htm

[2] Newcastle Courant - Saturday 21 June 1735

[3] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 01 March 1781

[4][4] Reading Mercury - Monday 19 March 1781

[5] Northampton Mercury - Monday 26 April 1784

Tales from Longford: The King's Secret Island

The Island House, Longford, by Archibald Robertson 1792.

There is a four-acre inhabited island at Longford, Middlesex, little known to outsiders.  The residents of the island would like to keep it that way. It is a peaceful haven surrounded by the River Colne in an unexpectedly tranquil setting considering its location in between the M4, the M25 and London’s Heathrow airport.

Ancient folk knew the advantage of making settlements near water. The water was needed for drinking, washing, crop irrigation and cattle rearing. The banks of the River Colne in Middlesex attracted the Saxon invaders who began to settle in clearings they made in the Middlesex Forest and gave the settlements appropriate names.[1]  Longford is part of the parish of Harmondsworth which belonged to Harold Godwinson the last crowned Saxon King who died at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. William the Conqueror then gave the parish to Abbey of Holy Trinity, Rouen, before it passed to the Bishop of Winchester, and was acquired by King Henry VIII in 1543.[2] The King assigned the parish to a nobleman, but kept ownership of the island at Longford and it remained Crown property until 1874.

There was a mill on the island at Longford mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086. At various times it was repaired or replaced and the waterpower was used for a variety of commodities.  Sometime before 1745 a substantial house, known as Island House, was built on the tip of the island nearest the bridge that led to the Bath Road. The site is now an apartment block. As well as the mill and its outbuildings there were two acres of meadow land, and footbridges led to smaller islands. The strip of land running along the opposite bank of the river, with its fishing rights, was also the King’s property.

Island House was one of the largest buildings in Longford.  It was leased to various London gentry who used it as their country abode, and the meadow and mill were often leased separately.  In 1747 when there were 16 taxpayers in Longford, Mr Hurst was paying nineteen shillings and sixpence in land tax for the island.  By 1767, when George III was on the throne, there were 25 tax-paying households in Longford, and a Mr Burnet was paying taxes on Island House.  George III’s long reign was marked by continual global conflicts and more taxes were needed in order to raise money to fight these wars. In 1770 a window tax was imposed on the residents. From the returns for Longford we can see that the two largest buildings in Longford were the Tudor-built ‘Yeomans’,  and Island House.[3]  Both had 19 windows and were paying £1.11s.6d in tax.  By 1772 Thomas Willing was the occupant at Island House and paying the same amount of tax as his predecessor.

Thomas Willing was a Quaker businessman from London, originally from Bristol, whose brother was Mayor of Philadelphia, and whose nephew was later involved in the formation of the American Independence movement.[4]  Thomas Willing died at Island House in 1773 and was buried in the chancel of St. Mary’s, Harmondsworth.  In his will he left the lease of Island House  to his niece, Dorothy Stirling whose husband was Admiral Sir Walter Stirling. Dorothy brought up her three children at Island House while her husband was away at sea, but by 1782 with her children all grown up she journeyed to Scotland to visit her married daughter. There she became ill and died aged 42. Her husband lived another four years and on his death his body was brought back to Harmondsworth to be buried in the church.

Dorothy had left the lease of Island House to her eldest son, Sir Walter Stirling, who was a banker in the City of London. His bank was doing well and he married an heiress from Kent. He also became an MP, a fellow of the Royal Society, and a High Sheriff of Kent. He and his wife, Susanna had a son and four daughters, but shortly after giving birth to her last daughter, Mother and daughter died. Both were buried in one coffin in St Mary’s church, Harmondsworth.  More bad news was on the way for Sir Walter. There was  a banking crisis in 1825 which resulted in a run on the banks and small bank’s like Sir Walters were unable to pay their depositors. The bank collapsed owing thousands to their customers. Sir Walter had to sell all his assets including his property in Kent and Middlesex. It took him two years, but he did eventually manage to pay all his debts and restore his reputation. When he died in 1832 aged 74 he was brought back to Harmondsworth and laid to rest at St Mary’s.  In 1833, his brother, Charles, who was an Admiral like his father, died and was brought back to Harmondsworth to be buried next to his wife. This ended the 60-year association the Willing/ Stirling family had with Harmondsworth.

In April 1788 plans were put forward for a new mill to be built on the Island on the tributary nearest the village.[5] This replaced the paper mill which had ceased running eighty years earlier. It is now the site of Colne Cottage. The new water Mill with its spacious yard and a range of workshops and buildings was leased to a series of calico printers by George III's Crown estates.

In 1791 it was Robert Buchanan who was insuring he premises, [6] and in 1799 the tenants were Edmund Hill and John Thackrah we were paying rent of £17.7s.6d per annum.[7] Thackrah and Hill renewed the lease in 1806 for 41 years. Island House and two acres of meadow were leased to a member of the Jarvis family. The Jarvis family were a long-term dynastic Baptist family that had lived in Longford for centuries. Thomas Jarvis was occupying the Island House when he died in 1823. He and his wife did not have children, but he amassed a fortune as a property auctioneer in the late 18^th century and when he died his bequests changed the fortunes of most of his nieces and nephews. He left land to two of his nephews, Thomas and William, and his bequest virtually doubled their landholdings. The condition of the bequests were that their mother, who was already living in Island House, would remain there for her lifetime and the two brothers would support her. In his will he rather pointedly left them the land and stipulated that they should carry on the farming business as tenants in common, “without any difficulties” implying that the brothers had had “difficulties” in the past and he was hoping to restore peaceful relations between them.

The leaseholders of the mill, Hill and Thackrah,  sublet the house and business in 1833 when the sale of the lease was advertised as being sold “without reserve”. The house and its garden, together with a length of the opposite bank of the Colne, which had fishing rights, was sold to John Batchelor.  Andrew Inight bought the lease to the Mill and its own patented machinery for printing of calico and other fabrics on a flat bed press, plus other presses, boilers, stoves, winches, and other equipment.[8]  These two purchasers either did not know that the properties were leasehold, or hoped that if they kept quiet long enough the freehold would revert to them, but the Crown caught up with them.

On 13th May 1850 the pair’s solicitor was in court to defend an action brought by the Attorney General over who actually owned the island.  Their defence was that they did not recognise the  Crown as owners of the island and claimed that as they had not been paying “rent or profits” to the Crown for 20 years the island had reverted to their ownership.  However the Receiver General for the Crown produced receipts that showed the rent had been paid annually in the name of the original leasees until the expiration of the lease in October 1847 when the payments ceased.  After hearing all the evidence the Judge ruled in favour of the Crown and the defendants were evicted from the disputed land and premises.[9]

By 1874, with Queen Victoria on the throne, the Crown were selling the Freehold of the whole island and all the buildings on it. It included a separate island and a thin strip of land along the opposite river bank plus all the buildings.[10]

There is no mention of a mill in the sale details, but there are two meadows each of over an acre in land and a kitchen garden with fruit trees, where violets were being grown for sale. The main Island House is described as “Old-Fashioned” and there is a stable for two horses, a coach house, cottage, wash-house  and baking oven. The occupier was James William Jarvis, Market Gardener, a yearly tenant who was under notice to quite at Michaelmas 1874. At the auction the whole island was bought for £750 by George Shuter, of London, a potato salesman.  His Company, George Shuter Ltd, was a very successful Potato Sales business which was still trading at Covent Garden in 1971.

George Shuter also happened to be married to James William Jarvis’s eldest daughter and he had bought it so that his father-in-law could continue his tenancy. However, the 1870s was a bad time for British agriculture when there was a collapse in grain prices. Jarvis was struggling. By 1880 he was in the bankruptcy court.[11] He continued to live in Longford, but to make ends meet he became a travelling salesman before eventually moving to Park Lane, Hayes, where he died in 1894.

In 1892 the freehold of the Island was once more up for sale by auction, but failed to sell. It was then sold by private treaty. The Island passed through several more owners and in 1897 was put up for auction by Mr J.T. Lane who advertised the remodelled family home as a ‘Summer residence’ or ‘Hunting Box’.[12] A London businessman, Thomas Fuller Toovey, bought it as a home for his retirement. Although only 40 he had made his money designing and manufacturing bicycles. He moved into his house on 30 June 1898. He had paid £1080 for it and spent another £800 in alterations.[13] He and his wife lived there most summers, but they would let it fully furnished for three months or more each October.  By November 1905 Toovey was selling the entire contents of the house and outbuildings, which included a 8hp Peugeot motor car and a 2¾ hp motor bicycle, as he was “going abroad”, although he retained the freehold.[14] From December 1905 Joseph Perrin, a button merchant had a seven-year lease on Island House. The Perrin family attended Poyle Congregational church where their son Edward was Secretary for the newly formed Poyle and Colnbrook Congregational Institute.

It appears that Joseph Perrin did not renew his lease because by February 1913 the house had been redecorated and was available for rent.  In October 1914 Mr Pagesmith was given a seven-year lease on Island House at £120 p.a.  There was a dispute however in August 1915 between owner and tenant over some tools and equipment on the property that Pagesmith had agreed to purchase from T.F. Toovey. The payment was not made and Toovey took Pagesmith to Uxbridge County Court before successfully getting his payment.

Mrs Pagesmith was a member of the Harmondsworth Women’s Institute. In August 1923 she hosted a summer garden party for all its member in the “old-world” garden of Island House. There was a jazz band, punting, games and refreshments. The party ended at 10pm with fireworks.[15] The family were still there in 1926 when Mrs Pagesmith was advertising for a house-keeper. By 1939 Frank Pagesmith was dead but his wife and son, Gordon, were still living in Island House.  Gordon had been a City of London rubber broker, but in 1930 had been declared bankrupt and was forbidden to deal after some of his speculations left a £56,000 deficit. By 1939 he was calling himself an “Estate Manager”. Another son, Norman was a Music Hall entertainer and the third son, Saxon, had the Fairfax plant nursery in Hounslow. Gordon and his mother breached the blackout regulations in 1941 and were fined 20 shillings. They continued to live at Island House until 1948 when Blanche Pagesmith died aged 84. Gordon moved to Staines and died there in 1957.[16]

By the time the  1939 register was drawn up there are several other residences on the Island. In Island Cottage lived Mr and Mrs Howard. Colne Cottage housed Mr and Mrs Begg. The Rees lived at Banco, and there were two other houses: Watersmeet, and Riverside.

The island has continued to be a delightful, hidden, part of residential Longford. Now the island is under threat from the proposed Heathrow Airport Expansion.  If the third runway is built the island will disappear, the buildings will be demolished and the tranquil river Colne, which has given sustenance and industry to Longford for centuries, will disappear into an underground culvert. We must treasure the island and its history while we can.

 The river Colne 2018

For more on the history of Longford read “Longford: A Village in Limbo” by Wendy Tibbitts

For a “Look Inside” option go to  https://b2l.bz/WUf9dc   or scan the QR code:

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[1] Bate, G.E. And So Make a City Here, (Hounslow, 1948)

[2] Impey, Edward, The Great Barn of 1425-27 at Harmondsworth, Middlesex. (Swindon, 2017)

[3] London Metropolitan Archives, LMA/4067/A/03/005

[4] Tibbitts, Wendy, Longford: A Village in Limbo, (Dorset, 2022)

[5] The National Archives, MPI 653, part 2, DSCF7826.jpg

[6] London Metropolitan Archives MS 11936/378/588220

[7] The National Archives E 367/6134

[8] Windsor and Eton Express - Saturday 26 January 1833

[9] London Daily News - Tuesday 14 May 1850]

[10] The National Archives, MPI 653, part 1

[11] https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/24902/page/5775/data.pdf

[12] Middlesex County Times - Saturday 08 May 1897

[13] 1910 Valuation Survey Field Book. TNA IR 58/39632

[14] West Middlesex Gazette - Saturday 25 November 1905

[15] Uxbridge & W. Drayton Gazette - Friday 10 August 1923

[16] Uxbridge & W. Drayton Gazette - Friday 14 March 1941

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