Gunnersbury is an area of West London, England.

Toponymy

The name "Gunnersbury" means "Manor house of a woman called Gunnhildr", and is from an old Scandinavian personal name + Middle English -''bury'', manor or manor house.

Development

Gunnersbury consists mainly of pre-war housing of a variety of types, including flats, terrace, semi detached, and detached houses, some of which are ex-local authority built. The defining symbol of Gunnersbury is the 18-storey high BSI (

British Standards Institution The British Standards Institution (BSI) is the national standards body of the United Kingdom. BSI produces technical standards on a wide range of products and services and also supplies certification and standards-related services to business ...

) building on

Chiswick High Road Chiswick High Road is the principal shopping and dining street of Chiswick, a district in the west of London. It was part of the main Roman road running west out of London, and remained the main road until the 1950s when the A4 was built acros ...

. Between 1966 and 1992 the block housed a divisional headquarters of IBM UK. Below this building

Gunnersbury station Gunnersbury is a London Overground and London Underground station in Gunnersbury in London, England on the North London line. The station opened on 1 January 1869 and is served by District line trains to and from Richmond, and by Arriva Rail Lo ...

serves the

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

branch of the District line and the London Overground to Stratford. On the north side of the High Road is The Gunnersbury, formerly the John Bull pub, built in 1853, with a billiards saloon built a little later. It became a music venue, visited by bands including The Who. In August 1921,

London General Omnibus Company The London General Omnibus Company or LGOC, was the principal bus operator in London between 1855 and 1933. It was also, for a short period between 1909 and 1912, a motor bus manufacturer. Overview The London General Omnibus Company was fo ...

established a bus overhaul facility off Chiswick High Road. It incorporated a Training School with a bus Skid-Pan. In 1989, London Transport closed the works. In 2001 the site was redeveloped as the Chiswick Business Park with 12 medium density office buildings. It houses companies including SBS Broadcasting Networks,

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', '' CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 ...

, Technicolor,

Discovery Channel Europe Discovery Channel (Europe) is the Pan-European version of the Discovery Channel. Over the years, the Discovery Channel has been split into many different channels for specific regions. Most language regions in Western Europe now have their own ve ...

Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (formerly INTEL-SAT, INTELSAT, Intelsat) is a multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States. Originally formed as In ...

, Singapore Airlines,

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...

Foxtons Foxtons Group plc is a British estate agency company dealing with both lettings and sales. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. History Foxtons was founded by Jon Hunt in 1981 in Notting Hill, London, as a two-person estate agency. 2 ...

, and a

Virgin Active Virgin Active is a chain of health clubs in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Italy, Australia, Singapore, Thailand and the United Kingdom. History Virgin Active was founded in 1999. Their first club opened in Preston, Lancashire that year. ...

health club. Immediately to the east is

Gunnersbury Triangle Gunnersbury Triangle is a local nature reserve in Chiswick, in the London boroughs of Ealing and Hounslow, immediately to the east of Gunnersbury. It was created in 1983 when, for the first time in Britain, a public inquiry ruled that a plan ...

nature reserve. An area of woodland, it supports many species of birds, plants, and animals. It has free admission and its entrance is on the south of Bollo Lane, a few yards from

Chiswick Park Tube Station Chiswick Park is a London Underground station in the Acton Green district of Chiswick in West London. The station is served by the District line and is between Turnham Green and Acton Town stations. It is located at the junction of Bollo La ...

. Just to the north of Gunnersbury Triangle,

Chiswick Park Footbridge Chiswick Park Footbridge is a pedestrian bridge north of Gunnersbury Triangle Nature Reserve in Chiswick, London that connects Chiswick Business Park with Chiswick Park tube station. Construction The bridge was designed by London-based compa ...

connects Gunnersbury's

Chiswick Business Park Chiswick Business Park is a business park in Gunnersbury, West London, fronting on to Chiswick High Road. History Bus maintenance site The land on which the Chiswick Business Park was built had been owned by the Rothschild family and planted ...

with

Chiswick Park tube station Chiswick Park is a London Underground station in the Acton Green district of Chiswick in West London. The station is served by the District line and is between Turnham Green and Acton Town stations. It is located at the junction of Bollo La ...

. It was designed by

Expedition Engineering Expedition Engineering is a London-based consulting firm, delivering structural engineering services. History Expedition Engineering was founded in 1999 by Professor Chris Wise (engineer for the Millennium Bridge, London) and Seán Walsh, b ...

and Useful Studios. Gunnersbury lends its name to a nearby secondary school, formerly a

Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary sch ...

, in

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings which ...

. Gunnersbury Catholic School is a boys-only

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

comprehensive with co-educational sixth form. It used to be located on Gunnersbury Avenue and it backed on to

Gunnersbury Park Gunnersbury Park is a park in the London Borough of Hounslow between Acton, Brentford, Chiswick and Ealing, West London, England. Purchased for the nation from the Rothschild family, it was opened to the public by Neville Chamberlain, then Mini ...

. Since 1984, it has been located in The Ride, Brentford. In 1886, Gunnersbury was given its own parish church, dedicated to Saint James. The church stood on

, near Chiswick Roundabout. The church was decommissioned just over a century later, in 1987, and demolished soon afterwards. The parish was united with that of St Paul's, Brentford. File:Gunnersbury, Gunnersbury, W4 (4802189047).jpg, ''The Gunnersbury'' pub File:Gunnersbury Baptist Church.jpg, Gunnersbury Baptist Church File:BSI-building--Gunnersbury-312.JPG, BSI building over

Image:Russian-orthodox-church-Chiswick-314.JPG, Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Harvard Road File:18th Century Temple at Gunnersbury.JPG, 18th-century mock temple in

File:Chiswick_Park_-_geograph.org.uk_-_8932.jpg,

Nearest places

Transport

Nearest tube stations

Acton Town tube station Acton Town is a London Underground station in the south-west corner of Acton, West London, in the London Borough of Ealing, close to the border with the London Borough of Hounslow. The station is served by the District and Piccadilly lines an ...

Toponymy

Development

Nearest places

Transport

Nearest tube stations

Nearest railway station

References

External links