![Elthorne Hundred in Middlesex](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Elthorne_Hundred_in_Middlesex.svg)
Elthorne was a
hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...
(ancient subdivision) of the
historic county of
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
Toponymy
The name is a standard contraction in
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
of El(ɘ's) thorn – El likely being a man, perhaps one of the eorls (earls) in the same way as
Spelthorne Hundred
Spelthorne was a hundred (dated subdivision) of the historic county of Middlesex, England. It contained these parishes and settlements:
* Ashford
*East Bedfont
**The hamlet of Hatton
*Feltham
*Hampton
**The settlement of Hampton Hill developed ...
, adjacent, and the thorn would accurately reflect that most of the land, like
Hounslow Heath
Hounslow Heath is a local nature reserve in the London Borough of Hounslow and at a point borders Richmond upon Thames. The public open space, which covers , is all that remains of the historic Hounslow Heath which covered more than . The prese ...
of today, until and unless manually cleared was covered or underlain as it naturally is here with hawthorns, blackthorns and brambles. The most distinctive of these is the sometimes tree-height genus, the hawthorn, which is in warm months heavy with small white flowers and is endemic to the local gravel-rich soil and banks of rivers across all England save for the north and south-west, where its larger type also extends to. Blackthorns are alongside hawthorns the ancient underlayer of the local
Ten Acre Wood, an oak plantation.
Antiquaries have suggested a meeting-point tree, in the same way as
Ossulstone
Ossulstone is an obsolete subdivision (hundred) covering 26.4% of – and the most metropolitan part – of the historic county of Middlesex, England.British History Online Hundreds of Middlesex/ref> It surrounded but did not include the ...
was a meeting point, however, in the same way as "broom" and "gorse" are used whether the noun refers to single thorn tree is unascertainable.
Parishes
It was a north-west portion having these parishes:
*
Cranford, and
Harlington and
West Drayton
West Drayton is a suburban town in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex and from 1929 was part of the Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District, which became part of Greater London in 1965. The se ...
small parishes north of the south-west projection, Harmondsworth
*
Harmondsworth
Harmondsworth is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon in the county of Greater London with a short border to the south onto Heathrow Airport, London Heathrow Airport. The village has no railway stations, but adjoins the M4 motorway and t ...
, the far south-west projection. It as such covered most of the fields and former homes of
Heathrow (hamlet)
Heathrow or Heath Row was a wayside hamlet along a minor country lane called Heathrow Road in the ancient parish of Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, on the outskirts of what is now Greater London. Its buildings and all associated holdings wer ...
taken up to become
London Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the Airports of London, London airport sys ...
*
Greenford
Greenford () is a suburb in the London Borough of Ealing in west London, England, lying west from Charing Cross. It has a population of 46,787 inhabitants, or 62,126 with the inclusion of Perivale.
Greenford is served by Greenford Station (Lo ...
, between Northolt and Perivale in the east
*
Hanwell
Hanwell () is a town in the London Borough of Ealing, in the historic County of Middlesex, England. It is about 1.5 miles west of Ealing Broadway and had a population of 28,768 as of 2011. It is the westernmost location of the London post t ...
a
strip parish
A strip parish is a parish with a narrow, elongated shape, typically formed during the Anglo-Saxon and early medieval period. The shape is influenced by landscape, political and economic factors. Evidence of such parishes can be found throughout E ...
east of Norwood Green.
*
Hayes, the south-east half of which was
Norwood, a precinct from the founding of its 12th century chapel, then chapelry until its 1859 upgrade to a parish, during the early centuries seeing its
Southall
Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divided ...
manor build up significantly and build its own community. The first mention of a priest in the precinct of Norwood is of Simon, the chaplain of Southall, in 1394.
**
Yeading
Yeading ( ) is a settlement in west London, forming part of the London Borough of Hillingdon, having been developed after the Second World War.
Etymology
Yeading is very early Saxon and was originally ''Geddingas'' or ''Geddinges'', meaning "the ...
developed late in the county in the north of Hayes proper (outside of the precinct). It saw its first mission church in 1890.
*
Hillingdon
Hillingdon is an area of Uxbridge within the London Borough of Hillingdon, centred 14.2 miles (22.8 km) west of Charing Cross. It was an ancient parish in Middlesex that included the market town of Uxbridge. During the 1920s the civil pari ...
, a large area, a fairly neat upright rectangle. The western parish with the main indent of the
Colne
Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds.
The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne Val ...
, a
braided river
A braided river, or braided channel, consists of a network of river channels separated by small, often temporary, islands called braid bars or, in English usage, ''aits'' or ''eyots''.
Braided streams tend to occur in rivers with high sediment l ...
.
**
Cowley, a parish scattered about in Hillingdon parish
**
Uxbridge
Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...
, a chapelry from before 1248 until an 1827 upgrade to a parish. It centred on the town in the west
[Diane K Bolton, H P F King, Gillian Wyld and D C Yaxley, 'Hillingdon, including Uxbridge: Churches', in '' A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4'' ed. T F T Baker, J S Cockburn and R B Pugh (London, 1971), pp. 87-91. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol4/pp87-91 ccessed 17 May 2018]
**Yiewsley, a chapelry founded on an old hamlet in 1859, made a parish in 1874
[
*]Ickenham
Ickenham is an area in Greater London, forming the eastern part of Uxbridge and within the London Borough of Hillingdon.
While no major historical events have taken place in Ickenham, settlements dating back to the Roman occupation of Britain ...
, a small parish north-east of Hillingdon and north-west of Hayes
*Northolt
Northolt is a town in West London, England, spread across both sides of the A40 trunk road. It is west-northwest of Charing Cross and is one of the seven major towns that make up the London Borough of Ealing. It had a population of 30,304 at ...
between Ruislip and Hayes
*Perivale
Perivale () is an area of Greater London, west of Charing Cross. It is the smallest of the seven towns which make up the London Borough of Ealing.
Perivale is mostly residential, with a library, community centre, a number of parks and open s ...
, narrowly the bulk and extreme of the small eastern sub-projection
*Harefield
Harefield is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, northwest of Charing Cross near Greater London's boundary with Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the north. The population at the 2011 Census was 7,399. Haref ...
, with Ruislip the northern projection
*Ruislip
Ruislip ( ) is an area in the London Borough of Hillingdon in West London, and in the historic county of Middlesex. Ruislip lies west-north-west of Charing Cross, London.
The manor of Ruislip appears in the Domesday Book, and some of the ear ...
, with Harefield the northern projection. Parent parish of Eastcote and Northwood.
It thus closely corresponded to the present London Borough of Hillingdon
The London Borough of Hillingdon () is the largest and westernmost borough in West London, England. It was formed from the districts of Hayes and Harlington, Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, and Yiewsley and West Drayton in the ceremonial county ...
, plus the western half of the London Borough of Ealing
The London Borough of Ealing () is a London borough in West London. It comprises seven major towns: Acton (W3), Ealing (W5, W13, NW10), Greenford (UB6), Hanwell (W7), Northolt (UB5), Perivale (UB6) and Southall (UB1, UB2). With a population of 3 ...
. The eastern third of Ealing is mainly Ealing and Acton Acton may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Mount Acton
Australia
* Acton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra
* Acton, Tasmania, a suburb of Burnie
* Acton Park, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton
Canada ...
which lay in Ossulstone
Ossulstone is an obsolete subdivision (hundred) covering 26.4% of – and the most metropolitan part – of the historic county of Middlesex, England.British History Online Hundreds of Middlesex/ref> It surrounded but did not include the ...
Hundred.
Simplification of complex shapes
Major roads and housing estates have simplified the borders of localities — as shown on each local street name sign in these boroughs. The complexity of many old parish borders of Elthorne hundred has been reduced. This is seen in the modern borders of the local Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
ecclesiastical parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest ...
es, radically simplified. As to the smallest of old parishes most boundaries have greatly changed particularly Ickenham which has shifted west. Local councils have not gone so far as to redefine street signs on the basis of equal-electorate electoral wards
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...
. They locally take heed of a fusion of long history, wards and numbered postal districts.Map of Ickenham parish
Church of England. Accessed 17 May 2018
See also
*
UB postcode area
The UB postcode area, also known as the Southall postcode area,Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) is a group of eleven postcode districts in England, within six post towns. These cover parts of western and north-western Greater Lond ...
, a similar area but which excludes Ruislip and its progeny (particularly Eastcote and Northwood, see
HA postcode area
The HA postcode area, also known as the Harrow postcode area, is a group of ten postcode districts in England, within seven post towns. These cover part of northwest London, plus a very small part of south Hertfordshire.
The main sorting office ...
). Most of the UB numbered divisions are loosely based on the original parishes, redrawn for post service convenience. Harmondsworth by the 20th century attached to other Middlesex areas, such as the
Staines Rural District
Staines Rural District was a rural district of Middlesex in England from 1894 to 1930.
It was created in 1894 replacing the 1875-created Staines rural sanitary district. It co-governed with varying degrees of input from the civil parish counci ...
which existed from 1894 to 1930.
London Heathrow airport
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the Airports of London, London airport sys ...
which took much of its area as well as parts of Hatton (a hamlet of East Bedfont) and Stanwell is in the
TW postcode area
The TW postcode area, also known as the Twickenham postcode area,Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) is a group of twenty postcode districts in south-east England, within thirteen post towns. These cover parts of south-west London a ...
under Hounslow post town.
References and notes
;References
;Notes
{{Middlesex
Hundreds and divisions of Middlesex
History of local government in London (pre-1855)
History of the London Borough of Ealing
History of the London Borough of Hillingdon