| Chiswick | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Chiswick Location withinGreater London | |
| Area | 5.72 km2 (2.21 sq mi) |
| Population | 34,337 (Chiswick Homefields, Chiswick Riverside, Turnham Green wards 2011)[1] |
| • Density | 6,003/km2 (15,550/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | TQ205785 |
| • Charing Cross | 6 mi (9.7 km) E |
| 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 | |
| 51°29′N0°16′W / 51.49°N 0.26°W /51.49; -0.26 | |
Chiswick (/ˈtʃɪzɪk/ ⓘCHIZ-ik)[2] is a district inWest London, split between theLondon Boroughs ofHounslow andEaling. It containsHogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artistWilliam Hogarth,Chiswick House, aneo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England andFuller's Brewery, London's largest and oldest brewery. In ameander of theRiver Thames used for competitive and recreational rowing, with several rowing clubs on the river bank, the finishing post forthe Boat Race is just downstream ofChiswick Bridge.
Old Chiswick was anancient parish in the county ofMiddlesex, with an agrarian and fishing economy beside the river; from theEarly Modern period, the wealthy built imposing riverside houses onChiswick Mall. Having good communications with London, Chiswick became a popular country retreat and part of the suburban growth of London in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was made theMunicipal Borough of Brentford and Chiswick in 1932 and part ofGreater London in 1965, when it merged into theLondon Borough of Hounslow. Modern Chiswick is an affluent area which includes the early garden suburbBedford Park,Grove Park, the Glebe Estate,Strand-on-the-Green andtube stationsChiswick Park,Turnham Green, andStamford Brook, as well as theGunnersbury Triangle local nature reserve. Some parts of Bedford Park andActon Green are in the Chiswick W4 postcode area but theLondon Borough of Ealing. The main shopping and dining centre isChiswick High Road.
Chiswick Roundabout is the start of theNorth Circular Road (A406). AtHogarth Roundabout, theGreat West Road from central London becomes theM4 motorway, while theGreat Chertsey Road (A316) runs south-west, becoming theM3 motorway.
People who have lived in Chiswick include the poetsAlexander Pope andW. B. Yeats, the Italian poet and revolutionaryUgo Foscolo, the paintersVincent van Gogh andCamille Pissarro, the novelistE. M. Forster, the rock musiciansPete Townshend,John Entwistle, andPhil Collins, the stage directorPeter Brook, and the actressImogen Poots.
Chiswick was first recordedc. 1000 as theOld EnglishCeswican meaning 'Cheese Farm'; the riverside area of Duke's Meadows is thought to have supported an annual cheese fair up until the 18th century.[3][4] The area was settled in Roman times; an urn found at Turnham Green contained Roman coins, and Roman brickwork was found under theSutton manor house.[5]
Old Chiswick grew up as a village aroundSt Nicholas Church fromc. 1181 on Church Street, its inhabitants practising farming, fishing and other riverside trades including a ferry, important as there were no bridges between London Bridge and Kingston throughout the Middle Ages.[6] The area included three other small settlements, the fishing village ofStrand-on-the-Green, the hamlet ofLittle Sutton in the centre, andTurnham Green on the west road out of London.[6]
Adecisive skirmish took place on Turnham Green early in theEnglish Civil War. In November 1642, royalist forces underPrince Rupert, marching from Oxford to retake London, were halted by a larger parliamentarian force under theEarl of Essex. The royalists retreated and never again threatened the capital.[7]
From 1758 until 1929 theDukes of Devonshire ownedChiswick House, and their legacy can be found in street names all over Chiswick.[a][8]
In 1864,John Isaac Thornycroft, founder of theJohn I. Thornycroft & Company shipbuilding company, established a yard at Church Wharf at the west end ofChiswick Mall.[9][10] The shipyard built the first navaldestroyer,HMS Daring of theDaring class, in 1893.[11] To cater for the increasing size of warships, Thornycroft moved its shipyard toSouthampton in 1909.[12]
In 1822, theRoyal Horticultural Society leased 33 acres (13.4 ha) of land in the area south of the High Road between what are now Sutton Court Road and Duke's Avenue.[13] This site was used for its fruit tree collection and its first school of horticulture, and housed its first flower shows. The area was reduced to 10 acres (4.0 ha) in the 1870s, and the lease was terminated when theSociety's garden at Wisley, Surrey, was set up in 1904. Some of the original pear trees still grow in the gardens of houses built on the site.
The population of Chiswick grew almost tenfold during the 19th century, reaching 29,809 in 1901,[14] and the area is a mixture of Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian housing. Suburban building began inGunnersbury in the 1860s and inBedford Park, the firstgarden suburb, on the borders of Chiswick and Acton, in 1875.[15]
During theSecond World War, Chiswick was bombed repeatedly,[16] with both incendiary and high explosive bombs. Falling anti-aircraft shells and shrapnel also caused damage. The firstV-2 rocket to hit London fell onStaveley Road, Chiswick, at 6.43pm on 8 September 1944, killing three people, injuring 22 others and causing extensive damage to surrounding trees and buildings. Six houses were demolished by the rocket and many more suffered damage.[17] There is a memorial where the rocket fell on Staveley Road,[18] and a War Memorial at the east end of Turnham Green.[19]
Refuge was founded in 1971 in Chiswick, as the modern world's first safe house for women and children escaping domestic violence.[20]
By the start of the 21st century, Chiswick had become an affluent suburb.[21]
Chiswick St Nicholas was an ancient, and later civil, parish in theOssulstone hundred ofMiddlesex.[23] Until 1834 itsvestry governed most parish affairs. After thePoor Law Amendment Act (1834), local administration in Chiswick began to be devolved to authorities beyond the vestry. Then, Chiswick poor relief was administered by the BrentfordPoor Law Union.[24] Briefly, from 1849 to 1855, responsibility for Chiswick drains and sewers passed to theMetropolitan Commission of Sewers under its 'Fulham and Hammersmith Sewer District.'[25] From 1858, under the Chiswick Improvement Act of that year,[25] responsibility for drains and sewers, paving and lighting was vested in an elected board of eighteenImprovement Commissioners.[25] This operated as Chiswick's secular local authority for a quarter of a century until its replacement with aLocal Board in 1883.[25] In 1878 the parish gained a triangle of land in the east which had formed a detached part ofEaling.[26] From 1894 to 1927 the parish formed theChiswick Urban District.[27][28] In 1927 it was abolished and its former area was merged with that ofBrentford Urban District to formBrentford and Chiswick Urban District.[29] The amalgamated district became a municipal borough in 1932. The borough of Brentford and Chiswick was abolished in 1965, and its former area was transferred toGreater London to form part of theLondon Borough of Hounslow.[30] With these changes,Chiswick Town Hall is no longer the local government centre but remains an approved venue for marriage and civil partnership ceremonies.[31]Chiswick forms part of theBrentford and Isleworth Parliament constituency, having been part of theBrentford and Chiswick constituency between 1918 and 1974.[32] TheMember of Parliament (MP) isRuth Cadbury (Labour), elected at theMay 2015 general election replacingMary Macleod (Conservative).[33][34][35] For elections to theLondon Assembly Chiswick is in theSouth West constituency, represented since 2024 byGareth Roberts, of the Liberal Democrat Party.[36][37] For elections toHounslow London Borough Council, Chiswick was represented by threeelectoral wards: Turnham Green, Chiswick Homefields and Chiswick Riverside. Each ward elects three councillors, who serve four-year terms. For 2010–14, all nine councillors wereConservatives.[38][39][40] It was one of 35 major centres identified in the statutory planning document of Greater London, theLondon Plan of 2008.[41] Since2022, Chiswick has been represented by three wards:Chiswick Gunnersbury,Chiswick Homefields andChiswick Riverside.[42]
Areas of Chiswick | |
|---|---|
Chiswick occupies a meander of theRiver Thames, 6 miles (9.7 km) west ofCharing Cross. The district is built up towards the north with more open space in the south, including the grounds ofChiswick House andDuke's Meadows. Chiswick has one main shopping area, theChiswick High Road, forming a longhigh street in the north, with additional shops on Turnham Green Terrace and Devonshire Road. The river forms the southern boundary withKew, including North Sheen,Mortlake andBarnes in theLondon Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It includes the uninhabited island ofChiswick Eyot, joined to the mainland at low tide. In the east Goldhawk Road and British Grove borderHammersmith in theLondon Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. In the north areBedford Park (like Chiswick, within the London W4 postcode area) andSouth Acton in theLondon Borough of Ealing, with a boundary partially delineated by theDistrict line. On the west, within Hounslow, are the districts ofGunnersbury, which is within the bounds of the early 19th century parish of Chiswick,[43] andBrentford.[44] A short distance south of the High Road in the centre of Chiswick is the Glebe Estate, consisting of small terraced houses built in the 1870s onglebe land once owned by the local church, and now a desirable place to live.[45]Chiswick is in theW4 postcode district of theLondon post town, which in a tribute to its ancient parish includes Bedford Park andActon Green, mostly within the London Borough of Ealing.[46]
Some of the most beautiful period mansion blocks in Chiswick, such as Heathfield Court and Arlington Mansions, line the sides ofTurnham Green – the site of theBattle of Turnham Green in 1642. Other suburbs of Chiswick includeGrove Park (south of the A4, close to Chiswick railway station) andStrand on the Green, a fishing hamlet until the late 18th century.[47] As early as 1896, Bedford Park was advertised as being in Chiswick,[48] though at that time much of it was inActon.[26]
Chiswick High Road contains a mix of retail shops, restaurants, food outlets and office and hotel space. The wide streets encourage cafes, pubs and restaurants to provide pavement seating. Lying between the offices at theGolden MileGreat West Road andHammersmith, office developments and warehouse conversions to offices began from the 1960s. The first in 1961 was 414 Chiswick High Road on the site of the oldChiswick Empire. Between 1964 and 1966, the 18-storeyIBM headquarters was built aboveGunnersbury station, designed to accommodate 1500 people. It became the home of theBritish Standards Institution in 1994.[49] Chiswick has an annual book festival.[50]
Chiswick is home to theGriffin Brewery, whereFuller, Smith & Turner and its predecessor companies brewed their prize-winningales on the same site for over 350 years. The original brewery was in the gardens of Bedford House in Chiswick Mall.[51]
A weeklyfarmers' market is held every Sunday by Grove Park Farm House, Duke's Meadows.[52] A monthly flower market is held on the first Sunday of each month on Chiswick High Road in the old market place, now mostly used as a car park, near the Hogarth statue.[53] An antiques market is to be held on the second Sunday of each month, and a "Cheese and Provisions" market with 23 stalls on the third and fourth Sundays of each month in the same area, so there will in effect be a weekly market event on the High Road once again.[54][55]
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Chiswick House was designed by theThird Earl of Burlington, and built for him, in 1726–29 as an extension to an earlierJacobean house (subsequently demolished in 1788); it is considered to be among the finest surviving examples ofPalladian architecture in Britain, with superb collections of paintings and furniture. Its surrounding grounds, laid out byWilliam Kent, are among the most important historical gardens in England and Wales, forming one of the firstEnglish landscape gardens.[56] It was used asan asylum from 1892 to 1928; up to 40 private patients were housed in wings which were demolished in 1956 when the house was restored.[57]
St Nicholas Church, near the river Thames, has a 15th-century tower, although the remainder of the church was rebuilt byJ.L. Pearson in 1882–84. Monuments in the churchyard mark the burial sites of the 18th-century English artistWilliam Hogarth andWilliam Kent, the architect and landscape designer; the churchyard also houses a mausoleum (forPhilip James de Loutherbourg) designed byJohn Soane, and the tomb ofJosiah Wedgwood's business partner,Thomas Bentley, designed byThomas Scheemakers.[58] One ofOliver Cromwell's daughters, Mary Fauconberg, lived at Sutton Court and is buried in the churchyard.[59] Enduring legend has it that the body of Oliver Cromwell was also interred with her, though as theFauconbergs did not move to Sutton Court until 15 years after his disinterment, it is more likely he was reburied at their home atNewburgh Priory.[59] PrivateFrederick HitchVC, hero ofRorke's Drift, is also buried there.[60]
The church ofSt Michael, Sutton Court was designed byW. D. Caröe in 1908–1909. It is a red brick building on Elmwood road, in Tudor style.[61] St Paul's Church, Grove Park is a Gothic style stone building designed by H. Currey. It was built largely at the Duke of Devonshire's expense in 1872.[61]
St Michael and All Angels, Bedford Park was initially a temporary iron building from 1876 on Chiswick High Road facing Chiswick Lane. The current building's foundation stone was laid in 1879 and consecrated in 1880. It was designed, along with much of Bedford Park, byNorman Shaw, and was called "a very lovely church" byJohn Betjeman. It is anAnglo-Catholic church, and was attacked on the day it was consecrated for "Popish and Pagan mummeries" by the brewer Henry Smith, churchwarden of St Nicholas, Chiswick.[62]
Christ Church, Turnham Green is an early Victorian Gothic building of flint with stone dressings. The main part of the building, byGeorge Gilbert Scott and W. B. Moffat, is from 1843; the chancel and northeast chapel were added in 1887 by J. Brooks.[61]
Chiswick's principalRoman Catholic church,Our Lady of Grace and St Edward (the Confessor) in theDiocese of Westminster, lies on the corner of Duke's Avenue and the High Road. It is a red brick building; the parish was founded in 1848, a school began c. 1855, and a church was opened byCardinal Wiseman on the present site in 1864. It was replaced by the present building in 1886, opened byCardinal Manning. The heavy debts incurred were paid off and the church consecrated in 1904. The square tower was added after the First World War by Canon Egan as a war memorial.[63]
TheCathedral of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God and the Holy Royal Martyrs with its characteristic blue onion dome with gold stars is in Harvard Road. TheRussian Orthodox church built it in 1998.[64]
Chiswick Mall is a waterfront street on the north bank of the River Thames in the oldest part of Chiswick near St Nicholas Church. It consists mainly of some thirty "grand houses"[65] from theGeorgian andVictorian eras, many of them now listed buildings, overlooking the street on the north side; their gardens are on the other side of the street beside the river.[66] The largest and finest[65] house on the street isWalpole House, a Grade I listed building; part of it is Tudor, but the building now visible is late 17th to early 18th century.[67]
Strand-on-the-Green is the most westerly part of Chiswick, "particularly picturesque"[68] with a paved riverside path fronted by a row of "imposing"[68] 18th-century houses, interspersed with three riverside pubs, the Bell and Crown, Bull’s Head, and the City Barge. The low-lying path is flooded at high tides. It became fashionable in 1759 whenKew Bridge opened just upstream, with the royal family atKew Palace nearby.[68]
TheBedford Park neighbourhood was described byNikolaus Pevsner as the first place "where the relaxed, informal mood of amarket town or village was adopted for a complete speculatively built suburb".[69] In 1877 the speculatorJonathan Carr hired Shaw as his estate architect. Shaw's house designs, in theQueen Anne Revival style with red brick,roughcast, decorativegables, andboth oriel anddormer windows, gave the impression of great variety using only a few types of house.[70] These were scaled-down versions of the more expensive houses that he had designed for wealthy areas such asChelsea,Hampstead, andKensington. He also designed the focal buildings of the garden suburb, including the church of St Michael and All Angels and the Tabard Inn opposite it.[69][71][72]
Duke's Meadows stands on land formerly owned by theDuke of Devonshire. In the 1920s, it was purchased by the local council, who developed it as a recreational centre. A promenade and bandstand were built, and the meadows are still used for sport with a rugby club, football pitches, hockey club, several rowing clubs and a golf club. In recent years a local conservation charity, the Dukes Meadows Trust, has undertaken extensive restoration work, which saw a long-term project of a children's water play area opened in August 2006.[73]
TheGunnersbury Trianglelocal nature reserve, opposite Chiswick Park Underground station, is managed byLondon Wildlife Trust. The area, a railway triangle, was saved from development by a public inquiry, and became a reserve in 1985. Its 2.5 hectares are covered mainly in secondarybirch woodland, withwillowcarr (wet woodland) in the low-lying centre, andacid grassland on the former Acton Curve railway track. The reserve runs a varied programme of activities including wildlife walks, fungus forays, open days and talks.[74][75][76]
There are several historicpublic houses in Chiswick, some of themlisted buildings, including theMawson Arms,[77] theGeorge and Devonshire,[78] theOld Packhorse[79] andThe Tabard in Bath Road near Turnham Green station. The Tabard is known for itsWilliam Morris interior and its Norman Shaw exterior; it was built in 1880.[80] Three more pubs are inStrand-on-the-Green, fronting on to the Thames river path.[81]
Chiswick had two well-known theatres in the 20th century.[82] TheChiswick Empire (1912 to 1959) was at 414 Chiswick High Road. It had 2,140 seats,[83] and stagedmusic hall entertainment, plays, reviews, opera, ballet and an annual Christmaspantomime. The Q Theatre (1924 to 1959) was a small theatre opposite Kew Bridge station. It staged the first works ofTerence Rattigan andWilliam Douglas-Home, and many of its plays went on to the West End.[84]
The 96-seatTabard Theatre (1985) in Bath Road, upstairs from the Tabard pub but a separate business, is known for new writing and experimental work.[85]
TheSanderson Factory in Barley Mow Passage, now known as Voysey House, was designed by the architectCharles Voysey in 1902. It is built in white glazed brick, withStaffordshire blue bricks (now painted black) forming horizontal bands, the plinth, and surrounds for door and window openings, and dressings inPortland stone. It was originally a wallpaper printing works, now used as office space. It is a Grade II*listed building. It faces the main factory building and was once joined to it by a bridge across the road. It was Voysey's only industrial building, and is considered an "importantArts and Crafts factory building".[86]
In 1971,Erin Pizzey established the world's first domestic violence refuge at 2 Belmont Terrace, naming her organisation "Chiswick Women's Aid". The local council attempted to evict Pizzey's residents, but were unsuccessful and she soon established more such premises elsewhere, inspiring the creation of refuges worldwide.[87][88]
Chiswick is home to theArts Educational Schools in Bath Road.[89]
The house used for filming the comedy showTaskmaster, a former groundskeeper's cottage, is just off Great Chertsey Road, nearChiswick Bridge.[90]
Chiswick is situated at the start of theNorth Circular Road (A406),South Circular Road (A205) and theM4 motorway, the latter providing a direct connection toHeathrow Airport and theM25 motorway. TheGreat West Road (A4) runs eastwards into central London via theHogarth Roundabout where it meets theGreat Chertsey Road (A316) which runs south-west, eventually joining theM3 motorway.[92]
The southern border of Chiswick runs along the River Thames, which is crossed in this area byBarnes Railway and Foot Bridge,Chiswick Bridge,Kew Railway Bridge andKew Bridge. River services betweenWestminster Pier andHampton Court depart fromKew Gardens Pier just across Kew Bridge.[93]
Bus routes on or near Chiswick High Road are the94,110,237,267,272,440,E3 andH91.[94] The 94 is a 24-hour service, and the High Road is also served at night by theN9.[95][96]
TheDistrict line serves Chiswick with fourLondon Underground stations,Stamford Brook,Turnham Green,Chiswick Park andGunnersbury.[97] Turnham Green is an interchange with thePiccadilly line, but only before 06:50 and after 22:30, when Piccadilly line trains stop at the station.Chiswick railway station on theHounslow Loop Line is served by a regularSouth Western Railway service toLondon Waterloo viaClapham Junction.[97] TheNorth London line crosses Chiswick (north-south);London Overground stations areGunnersbury andSouth Acton.[97]
Chiswick's local rugby union teams include Chiswick RFC, formerly Old Meadonians RFC. The team plays league games on a Saturday at Dukes Meadows.[98] Chiswick's cricket club, formerly known as Turnham Green and Polytechnic, plays at Riverside Drive.[99] On Chiswick Common is the Rocks Lane Multi Sports Centre, where there are tennis, five-a-side football and netball courts available to hire to the public.[100] Private tennis coaching for individuals and groups is also available.[101]
The Chiswick reach of the Thames is heavily used for competitive and recreationalrowing.Championship Course fromMortlake toPutney runs past Chiswick Eyot and Duke's Meadows.The Boat Race is contested on the Championship Course on a flood tide (in other words from Putney to Mortlake) with Duke's Meadows a popular view-point for the closing stages of the race. The finishing post is just downstream of Chiswick Bridge.[102] Other important races such as theHead of the River Race race the reverse course, on an ebb tide.[103] Chiswick is home to several clubs. TheUniversity of London Boat Club is based in its boathouse off Hartington Road, which also houses the clubs of many London colleges and teaching hospitals; recent members includeTim Foster, Gold medallist at the Sydney Olympics andFrances Houghton, World Champion in 2005, 2006 and 2007.[104]Quintin Boat Club lies between Chiswick Quay Marina and Chiswick Bridge.[105]Tideway Scullers School is just downriver of Chiswick Bridge; its members include single sculling World ChampionMahé Drysdale and Great Britain single scullerAlan Campbell.[106]
Chiswick High Road was once home to theChequered Flag garage and its associatedmotor racing team.[107][108]
Mary Cromwell, daughter ofOliver Cromwell, lived inSutton Manor in Little Sutton from 1676 to her death in 1713. She was married toThomas Belasyse, 1st Earl Fauconberg, who supported Parliament during theEnglish Civil War.[109][110]
In the 18th century, the poetAlexander Pope, author ofThe Rape of the Lock, lived in Chiswick between 1716 and 1719, in the building which is now theMawson Arms at the corner of Mawson Lane.[111][112] The actorCharles Holland was born in Chiswick in 1733.[113] The artistWilliam Hogarth bought the house now known asHogarth's House in 1749,[114][115] lived there until his death in 1764, and is buried in St Nicholas's churchyard.[116][117] The house later belonged to the poet and translator ofDante,Henry Francis Cary, who lived there from 1814 to 1833.[118] In February 1766Jean-Jacques Rousseau lived a few weeks with a local grocer, before moving toWootton, Staffordshire.[119] The painterJohann Zoffany lived on Strand-on-the-Green.[120]
Two prominent early 19th century politicians both died, in the same room, at Chiswick House -WhigForeign SecretaryCharles James Fox in 1806[121] andToryPrime MinisterGeorge Canning in 1827.[122]
The Italian writer, revolutionary and poetUgo Foscolo died in exile at Turnham Green in 1827,[123] and was buried at St Nicholas Churchyard, Chiswick, where his monument incorrectly states he was 50, not 49. In 1871 his remains were taken to Italy and given a national hero's burial inSanta Croce, Florence alongsideMichelangelo andGalileo, while his monument in Chiswick was lavishly refurbished.[124][125]
The inventor of theelectric telegraph,Francis Ronalds, lived on Chiswick Lane from 1833 to 1852.[126] Another engineer,John Edward Thornycroft was born in Chiswick in 1872;[127] his father,John Isaac Thornycroft, had founded the Chiswick-basedJohn I. Thornycroft & Company shipbuilding company in 1864, which Thornycroft later joined and developed.[128] The artistMontague Dawson, regarded as one of the best 20th-centurypainters of the sea, was born in Chiswick in 1895.[129]
The painterVincent van Gogh spent three years in Chiswick in the 1870s, teaching Sunday school pupils in the newly-constructed Chiswick Congregational Church, which was on the site of the Arlington Park Mansions on Turnham Green; he wrote of Chiswick as a "verdant" district of London.[131][132][130]
The poetW. B. Yeats lived in Woodstock Road as a boy from 1879, and came back in 1887 to live in Blenheim Road, where, inspired by Chiswick Eyot, he wroteThe Lake Isle of Innisfree.[133][134]
The Pissarro family of painters, the impressionistCamille Pissarro, his eldest sonLucien, as well as Felix and Ludovic-Rodo lived in 62 Bath Road, Chiswick around 1897; with Camille Pissarro painting a series of notable landscapes of the area.[135][136] The landscape artistLewis Pinhorn Wood lived at Homefield Road[137] from 1897 to 1908.
In the twentieth century, the novelistE. M. Forster (1879–1970) lived at 9 Arlington Park Mansions[138] from 1939 until at least 1961.[139]John Osborne (1929–1994) wrote his playLook Back in Anger on hishouseboat at Cubitts Yacht Basin.[140]
Notable people born before theSecond World War include the cricketersPatsy Hendren (1899–1962)[141] andJack Robertson (1917–1996),[142] the novelistIris Murdoch (1919–1999) who lived on Eastbourne Road,[143] the theatre and film directorPeter Brook (1925–2022),[144][145] theWinchester College headmasterJohn Leonard Thorn (1925–2023),[146] the zoologist and broadcasterAubrey Manning (1930–2018),[147] and marine geologistFrederick Vine (1939– ).[148] The comic song performerMichael Flanders (1922–1975) spent the last years of his life in Bedford Park.[149] The actressSylvia Syms (1934–2023), star of films such asIce Cold in Alex, lived on Dukes Avenue.[150]The Who rock musiciansJohn Entwistle (1944–2002) andPete Townshend (1945– ) were both born in Chiswick during theSecond World War.[151]Deep Purple lead singerIan Gillan was born in Chiswick on 19 August 1945.[152]
Those born in Chiswick during the post-war period include the rock musicianDave Cousins,[153] the cricketerMike Selvey (1948– ),[154] the musicianPhil Collins (1951– ),[155] the singerKim Wilde (1960– ),[156] illustratorClifford Harper (1949– ), the photographerDerek Ridgers (1952– ),[157] the actressKate Beckinsale (1973– ),[158] the comedianMel Smith (1952–2013),[159] and the cricketerDimitri Mascarenhas (1977– ).[160]
Among those who have lived in Chiswick are the novelistAnthony Burgess (1917–1993), at 24 Glebe Street in the mid-1960s;[161] the playwrightHarold Pinter (1930–2008) who lived at 373 Chiswick High Road;[143] the pianist and broadcasterSidney Harrison (1903–1986) who in the 1960s lived at 57 Hartington Road[162] and later at 37 The Avenue;[163] the musical double actBob and Alf Pearson, Bob (1907–1985) on Netheravon Road in the 1940s,[164] and Alf (1910–2012) on Linden Gardens in the 1950s;[165] the pop artistPeter Blake (1932–), in Chiswick since 1967,[166] with a "vast" studio in a formerironmonger's warehouse;[167] the actorHugh Grant (1960– ), who grew up in Chiswick, living next to Arlington Park Mansions on Sutton Lane; the singerBruce Dickinson (1958– ) of the bandIron Maiden;[168] the TV presenterKate Humble (1968– );[169] the actressElizabeth McGovern (1961– ) and her husband, film directorSimon Curtis (1960– );[170] the American lawyerJohn Lowenthal (1925–2003),[171][172] the singerLonnie Donegan,[153] the musician and songwriterNoel Gallagher (1967–),[173] and the modelCara Delevingne (1992– ).[174]
The playwrightMichael Frayn (1933– ) and his daughter the film maker and novelistRebecca Frayn live in Chiswick.[175] Chiswick residents have included the singerSophie Ellis-Bextor,[176] the TV journalistsJeremy Vine,[176]Rageh Omaar[176] andFergal Keane,[176] the actorsPhyllis Logan,[176]Colin Firth,[176]David Tennant,Georgia Tennant,[177] andVanessa Redgrave,[178] the TV presentersClare Balding,[174]Sarah Greene,[176]Gavin Campbell,[176] andMary Nightingale,[176] the journalistAlice Arnold,[176] and the celebrity duoAnthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.[179]
| Ward | Detached | Semi-detached | Terraced | Flats and apartments | Caravans etc. | Shared[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chiswick Homefields | 149 | 916 | 1218 | 2493 | 12 | 69 |
| Chiswick Riverside | 243 | 947 | 1136 | 2753 | 3 | 25 |
| Turnham Green | 179 | 675 | 1247 | 2423 | 2 |
| Ward | Population | Households | % Owned outright | % Owned w. loan | hectares[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chiswick Homefields | 11346 | 4857 | 25.8 | 28.1 | 203 |
| Chiswick Riverside | 11543 | 5107 | 24.8 | 31 | 192 |
| Turnham Green | 11448 | 5443 | 25.9 | 23.5 | - |
The novelVanity Fair (1847/8) byWilliam Makepeace Thackeray opens at Miss Pinkerton's Academy for Young Ladies in Chiswick Mall.Louis N. Parker's playPomander Walk (1910) has the imagined setting of "a retired crescent of five very small, old-fashioned houses near Chiswick, on the river-bank. ... They are exactly alike: miniature copies of Queen Anne mansions".[181]Ford Madox Ford'sParade's End tetralogy (1924/28) contains many scenes set in Chiswick, where the Wannop family resides. The BBC adaptation of the literary work featured filming on Bedford Park's Woodstock Road.[182]Basil Dearden's 1961suspense filmVictim, starringDirk Bogarde as the barrister Melville Farr, was set in Chiswick, and many of its scenes were filmed on Chiswick Mall, where Farr lived.[183] On 20 May 1966 the Beatles filmed two of their earliest promotional films for the songs "Paperback Writer" and Rain in the grounds of Chiswick House.[184] The BBC sitcomMy Family was set in Chiswick; it ran from 2000 to 2011.[185]
Adjoining districts | |
|---|---|
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) 3Aug15Mawson Arms Alexander Pope.
More than pretty gardens draw people to this leafy suburb. The other lures: trendy gastropubs, cheese toasties and the haunting traces of centuries of artists and writers.
... to return to live in Chiswick. The 30 year old daughter ...
retired crescent.
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