Brentford (disambiguation)

England Middlesex Middlesex Parishes Brentford

Parish History

BRENTFORD, a town, three chapelries, a subdistrict, and a district in Middlesex. The town stands at the influx of the river Brent to the Thames, 7½ miles W by S of London. The Grand Junction canal unites here with the Brent, and accompanies it to the Thames. The Southwestern, the Great Western, and the Metropolitan railways communicate with the town in various ways, and have stations for it with telegraph; and the Great Western connects here likewise with large docks for heavy traffic by water to London. The town is ancient; and took its name from a ford, on the line of a great thoroughfare, across the B rent. It was the scene, in 1016, of a destructive overthrow of the Danes, by Edmund Ironside; and, in 1642, of a still more important overthrow of the parliamentarians by the royalists. A chapter of the garter was held at it in 1445; and six martyrs were burnt in it in 1558. The "Two Kings of Brentford" have done great service with all sorts of poets and poetasters, from William Cowper to Tom D'Urfey. John Lowin, the landlord of the "Three Pigeons" here, in the time of Ben Johnson, was a famous actor, and performed in Shakespeare's own company.

The town is described by the poet Gay as a "tedious town, for dirty streets and white-legged chickens known;" and by the poet Thomson as "Brentford town -a town of mud." It now comprises one long principal street; and contains some good houses. A bridge connects the lower end of the town, across the Thames, with Kew; and another bridge, erected in 1825 on the site of a very ancient one, crosses the Brent. The town hall and market house is a handsome brick and stone edifice. St. Lawrence' church is at the end of the town, near the bridge. St. George's church was rebuilt, excepting the tower, in 1764; has been several times renovated; presents a light and pleasing appearance; and contains a splendid altar-piece, a large font, and monuments of the Clitherows, Dr. W. H. Ewin, Sarah Howell, and the father of John Horne Tooke. St. Paul's church was built in 1868; and is in the decorated English style, and highly ornate.

There are two Independent chapels, two Baptist chapels, a Wesleyan chapel, a Roman Catholic chapel, literary club and reading rooms, British schools built at a cost of about £3,000, three national schools, a dispensary, a workhouse built at a cost of £9,000, the Grand Junction waterworks, with a chimney 150 feet high, extensive foundries, nurseries, brickfields, tile and pottery works, saw mills, maltings, a brewery, a soap manufactory, a weekly market on Tuesday, and fairs of three days in May and three days in Sept. The town has post offices of Brentford† and Old Brentford, under London W., a banking office, two chief inns, and a policestation; is a seat of sessions and county courts, and the place of election for Middlesex; and comprises part of Isleworth parish. and all its own three chapelries. Sion House, a seat of the Duke of Northumberland, Osterley Park, the seat of the Earl of Jersey, Boston House, the seat of Col. Clitherow, and many handsome villas are in the neighbourhood. Pop. of the town in 1861, 9,521. Houses, 1,902.

The chapelries are St. Lawrence or New Brentford, a township of Hanwell parish, St. George-Old Brentford, in Ealing parish, and St. Paul-Old Brentford, also in Ealing. Pop. of St. L., 11,995; of St. G., 2,591; of St. P., 4,409. The livings are vicarages in the diocese of London. Value of St. L., £283;* of St. G., £300; * of St. P., £300. Patron of St. L., the Rector of Hanwell; of St. G., the Vicar of Ealing; of St. P., alternately the Crown and the Bishop. John Horne Tooke was incumbent of St. George.-The subdistrict includes also the rest of Ealing parish. Acres, 4,034. Pop., 13,958. Houses, 2,725.-The district comprehends likewise the subdistrict of Twickenham, conterminate with Twickenham parish; the subdistrict of Chiswick, conterminate with Chiswick parish, the subdistrict of Isleworth, containing the parishes of Isleworth and Heston; and the subdistrict of Acton, containing the parishes of Acton, Hanwell, Perivale, and Great Greenford. Acres, 20,405. Poor-rates in 1866, 29,895. Pop. in 1861, 50,516. Houses, 9,402. Marriages in 1866, 453; births, 2,030,- of which 101 were illegitimate; deaths, 1,245,-of which 483 were at ages under 5 years, and 31 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 2,925; births, 14,307; deaths, 9,909. The places of worship in 1851 were 17 of the Church of England, with 11,737 sittings; 10 of Independents, with 2,927 s.; 3 of Baptists, with 640 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 160 s.; 5 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 1,206 s.; 2 of Primitive Methodists, with 178 s.; 1 of Latter-Day Saints, with 80 s.; 1 undefined, with 40 s.; and 2 of Roman Catholics, with 250 s. The schools were 38 public day schools, with 4,252 scholars; 116 private day schools, with 2,306 s.; 27 Sunday schools, with 3,126 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 8 s.

1. John Marius Wilson, In “Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales,” (Edinburgh: A, Fullerton & Co., 1870). Online here. Adapted.

Resources

Civil Registration

Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records

To find the names of the neighbouring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes. Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, nonconformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection. Here is a list of church records on microfilm at the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City.

Census records

Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Probate records

Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Middlesex Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Poor Law Unions

Contributor: Add information about the pertinent poor law unions in the area.

Maps and Gazetteers

Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.

• England Jurisdictions 1851
• Vision of Britain

Web sites

Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.

Family History Library (FHL); now called, FamilySearch Library (FSL)