Chiswick from the river Harrison's History of London c

Old Chiswick is the area of the original village beside the

river Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

for which the modern district of

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Full ...

is named. The village grew up around St Nicholas Church, founded c. 1181 and named for the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of fishermen. The placename was first recorded c. 1000 as ''Ceswican'' ('Cheese farm'). In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

the villagers lived by fishing, boatbuilding, and handling river traffic. The surrounding area was rural until the late 19th century. The village's main street, Church Street, includes the half-timbered former Burlington Arms pub from the 15th century, and the former Lamb Tap pub. The old

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

was once the home of

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

. The riverside street,

Chiswick Mall Chiswick Mall is a waterfront street on the north bank of the river Thames in the oldest part of Chiswick in West London, with a row of large houses from the Georgian and Victorian eras overlooking the street on the north side, and their gard ...

, grew from humble beginnings to a row of grand houses, including

Walpole House The Grade I listed building Walpole House is the largest, finest, and most complicated of the grand houses on Chiswick Mall, a waterfront street in the oldest part of Chiswick. Both the front wrought-iron screen and gate, and the back boundary ...

, from the 17th century onwards. The street still floods on high

spring tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ca ...

s. Behind the riverfront is the

Griffin Brewery Fuller's Brewery in Chiswick in the west of London was a family-run business from its foundation in 1845 until 2019. In that year, the brewing division of Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC was sold to the Japanese international beverage giant Asahi. ...

, the only survivor of the five malthouses in Chiswick in 1736. Nearby is the 18th century Chiswick Square, the houses in brown brick with red dressings, and the

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

Gothic St Mary's Convent. The village was once the home of the

Chiswick Press The Chiswick Press was founded by Charles Whittingham I (1767–1840) in 1811. The management of the Press was taken over in 1840 by the founder's nephew Charles Whittingham II (1795–1876). The name was first used in 1811, and the Press continu ...

, where William Morris had some of his books printed. John I. Thornycroft & Company founded their shipyard at Church Wharf at the west end of Chiswick Mall in 1864, building the first naval

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

, , there in 1893.

Geography

Old Chiswick occupies a roughly rectangular area between the

with

running beside it to the southeast, Church Street to the southwest, Chiswick Lane South to the northeast, and Mawson Lane (now beside the Great West Road) to the northwest, while Chiswick Square is off Burlington Lane, to the west of Church Street. The small island of

Chiswick Eyot Chiswick Eyot is a narrow, uninhabited ait (river island) of the Thames. It is a tree- and reed-covered rise on the Tideway by Chiswick, in London, England and is overlooked by Chiswick Mall and by some of the Barnes riverside on the far b ...

lies off the downstream half of Chiswick Mall, a street that still floods on high

s. Not far away to the west are

Hogarth's House Hogarth's House is the former country home of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth in Chiswick, adjacent to the A4. The House now belongs to the London Borough of Hounslow and is open to visitors as a historic house museum free of c ...

and Chiswick House and Gardens; they are not in the Old Chiswick Conservation Area. Of the other constituent medieval villages of modern Chiswick,

Strand-on-the-Green Strand-on-the-Green is one of Chiswick's four medieval villages, and a "particularly picturesque" riverside area in West London. It is a conservation area, with many "imposing" listed buildings beside the River Thames; a local landmark, the Ke ...

lies to the west; Little Sutton and

Turnham Green Turnham Green is a public park on Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, London, and the neighbourhood and conservation area around it; historically, it was one of the four medieval villages in the Chiswick area, the others being Old Chiswick, Little S ...

to the north. The area is in the

London Borough of Hounslow The London Borough of Hounslow () is a London borough in West London, England, forming part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 when three smaller borough councils (forming part of the former Middlesex County Council area) amalgamated under ...

; to the northeast is Hammersmith Mall; across the river is

Barnes Barnes may refer to: People * Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name) Places United Kingdom *Barnes, London, England **Barnes railway station ** Barnes Bridge railway station ** Barnes Railway Bri ...

History

The name "

" was first recorded c. 1000 as ''Ceswican'', with the meaning from

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 "cheese farm". Between 1600 and 1900 the area of the old village was known as "Chiswick town" or locally as "the town". By 1980 the usual name for the area was "Old Chiswick". Old Chiswick was a definable place with a recorded population by 1590. The community lived beside and from the river; in 1458, the church was dedicated to Saint Nicholas, who was the

of fishermen. The village had a ferry, and people made their living by fishing, boatbuilding, and handling river traffic. The risk of flooding from the tidal river kept the fields of the Chiswick peninsula free of housing until 1900.

St Nicholas Church

St Nicholas Church, Chiswick was founded c. 1181. Most of the current church dates from 1882 to 1884, when it was rebuilt to a design by the

Gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

architect

John Loughborough Pearson John Loughborough Pearson (5 July 1817 – 11 December 1897) was a British Gothic Revival architect renowned for his work on churches and cathedrals. Pearson revived and practised largely the art of vaulting, and acquired in it a proficiency ...

, except for the surviving west tower, which was built for William Bordall (vicar 1416–1435). There are some fine 18th century wall-mounted monuments in the tower, and an exceptional one in the south chapel to

Sir Thomas Chaloner Sir Thomas Chaloner (1559 – 17 November 1615) was an English courtier and Governor of the ''Courtly College'' for the household of Prince Henry, son of James I. He was also responsible for introducing alum manufacturing to England. He was Mem ...

, 1615. The

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that includes ...

sculpture portrays Chaloner,

chamberlain Chamberlain may refer to: Profession *Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure People *Chamberlain (surname) **Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...

to king

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

; he and his wife are kneeling at a prayer desk under a curtained canopy, held open by men in boots. File:Engraving St Nicholas Church Chiswick by Schnebbelie 1807.jpg, Engraving by Robert Blemmell after

Jacob Schnebbelie Jacob Schnebbelie (30 August 1760 – 21 February 1792) was an English draughtsman, specialising in monuments and other historical subjects. Early life Jacob Schnebbelie was born in Duke's Court, St Martin's Lane, London, on 30 August 1760. His f ...

, 1807, showing the church before its

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

rebuilding, and the fisherman's village, Slut's Hole, that stood below it File:St Nicholas, Chiswick 05.JPG, St Nicholas, Chiswick, rebuilt 1882-4, with early 15th century tower File:Chiswick, St Nicholas's Church, Monument of Sir Thomas Chaloner.jpg, Monument of

, 1615 Richard Taylor memorial St Nicholas Chiswick 1716.JPG, Richard Tayler memorial 1716, in the church tower File:Stone recording St Nicholas Churchyard wall rebuilt 1623, 1831, 1884.jpg, Stone recording St Nicholas Churchyard wall rebuilt 1623, 1831, 1884

Church Street

The village of Chiswick grew up around the church. Church Street runs northwest from the corner with Chiswick Mall, by the slipway down to the river, past the church which is on the west of the street, up to the junction with Burlington Lane and the

Hogarth Roundabout The Hogarth Roundabout sees the merger of two of the nine direct feeders to the main radial roads to or from London. Namely the A316 Great Chertsey Road and the A4 Great West Road in Chiswick. In addition Dorchester Grove, becoming Chiswick Lan ...

. The oldest surviving secular building is the former Burlington Arms pub, a half-timbered 15th-century building, now a private house; it closed in 1924. The former Lamb Tap pub, closed in 1909, was just to its north. Leading off Church Street westwards is an "informally landscaped intimate cul-de-sac", Pages Yard, with four 2-storey Grade II cottages from the 17th century. The old Post Office was once home to

the Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

philosopher

. File:Church Street, Chiswick from the north, with old shop and Ferry House.jpg, Church Street from the north, with the former post office, 18th century File:Ferry House, Church Street, Chiswick.jpg, Ferry House, 18th century File:Wistaria House, Church Street, Chiswick.jpg, Wistaria House, 18th century File:20210709 141454 Pages Yard, off Church Street, Old Chiswick.jpg, Pages Yard, 17th century File:The Old Burlington XVth century Church Lane Chiswick.JPG, The former Burlington Arms, 15th century

Chiswick Mall

Chiswick Mall is a riverside street running downstream from St Nicholas Church. It is largely occupied by a series of grand houses, built by the wealthy to take advantage of its riverside setting. The largest and one of the finest is the Grade I listed

. File:Chiswick by George Cooke after William Havell 1834.jpg, Engraving by George Cooke after

William Havell William Havell (9 February 1782 – 16 December 1857) was an English landscape painter, one of the Havell family of artists, and a founding member of the Society of Painters in Watercolours. Life and work Havell was born in Reading in Berkshi ...

, 1834. Looking upriver; a boat is unloading goods near some small shops. File:20210602 111138 The Old Vicarage, Chiswick Mall.jpg, The Old Vicarage, with St Nicholas Church on the left File:20210602 111740 Bedford House, Chiswick Mall.jpg, Bedford House File:Walpole House Chiswick Mall 702.JPG,

, the largest of the grand houses on

File:20210602 115945 Strawberry House, Chiswick Mall.jpg, Strawberry House, with Morton House on right

Chiswick Square

Just off Burlington Lane, between the George and Devonshire and St Mary's Convent, is Chiswick Square, one of the smallest squares in London. It is paved, and has a formal arrangement of walls and flowerbeds. Facing the square's entrance is the large 3-storey Grade II listed Boston House, built in 1740, behind its wrought-iron railings at the end. It was refaced later in the 18th century by

Viscount Boston A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

with brown brick and red dressings. When the house was sold in 1772 it was described as "the great house and offices ... with a great parlour hung with green Embos'd Paper and Prints compleat". It became a young ladies' school, possibly (along with Walpole House) helping to inspire

Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel '' Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...

to feature such a school in his novel '' Vanity Fair''; after that it became Nazareth House with Catholic nuns. Either side of the square are houses of dark brick, built c. 1680. A plaque in the square states that "into this garden Thackeray in ''Vanity Fair'' describes Becky Sharp as throwing the dictionary". File:20210709 145053 From Chiswick Square to George and Devonshire.jpg, From Chiswick Square to the George and Devonshire along Burlington Lane File:20210709 145235 Boston House, Chiswick Square.jpg, Boston House, Chiswick Square, built 1740

Breweries and public houses

Chiswick was and remains a place for brewing beer. By 1736, there were at least five

malthouse A malt house, malt barn, or maltings, is a building where cereal grain is converted into malt by soaking it in water, allowing it to sprout and then drying it to stop further growth. The malt is used in brewing beer, whisky and in certain food ...

s in Chiswick. Beer was brewed at the

and the Lamb Brewery; their old buildings survive. The Lamb brewery, right beside the Griffin, was run by the family of John Sich from 1790 to 1929. A large part of the area of Old Chiswick is still occupied by Fuller's Griffin Brewery. Only two public houses now remain in Old Chiswick, the

George and Devonshire The George and Devonshire is a Grade II listed public house at Burlington Lane, Chiswick, London. It was built in the 18th century, but the architect is not known. The pub claims that it dates back to 1650. In the 17th century, the pub on this ...

on Burlington Lane, just off Church Street, and the double pub the Mawson Arms / Fox and Hounds at the corner of Chiswick Lane South and Mawson Lane. File:20210711 Griffin Brewery old buildings.jpg, Griffin Brewery from Chiswick Lane South File:20210602 113055, Red Lion House, Prospect Cottage and Griffin Brewery, Chiswick Mall.jpg, The Red Lion

inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

(closed 1916), Prospect Cottage and

, Chiswick Mall File:George and Devonshire, Chiswick, W4 (4794395278).jpg, The

on Burlington Lane File:Mawson Arms Fox and Hounds, Chiswick, W4 (4793764297).jpg, The Mawson Arms / Fox and Hounds, on Chiswick Lane South and Mawson Lane File:Former Lamb pub, Lamb Brewery and Burlington Arms, Church Street, Chiswick.jpg, The Lamb Tap, Lamb Brewery and Burlington Arms, all now with other uses

Industry

In 1809,

Charles Whittingham Charles Whittingham (16 June 1767 – 5 January 1840) was an English printer. Biography He was born at Caludon or Calledon, Warwickshire, the son of a farmer, and was apprenticed to a Coventry printer and bookseller. In 1789 he set up a small ...

founded the

at High House (now Orford House) on Chiswick Mall; in 1818 it moved to College House. This was near the drawdock where loads of old marine rope made of

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants o ...

could be unloaded, to be recycled into a strong, silky paper by Whittingham's own

paper-making Papermaking is the manufacture of paper and cardboard, which are used widely for printing, writing, and packaging, among many other purposes. Today almost all paper is made using industrial machinery, while handmade paper survives as a speciali ...

process. The press made small low-priced books of high quality.

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

used the press for some of his books, including his 1889 romance ''

A Tale of the House of the Wolfings ''A Tale of the House of the Wolfings and All the Kindreds of the Mark'' is a fantasy novel by William Morris, perhaps the first modern fantasy writer to unite an imaginary world with the element of the supernatural, and thus the precursor of muc ...

''.

John Isaac Thornycroft Sir John Isaac Thornycroft (1 February 1843 – 28 June 1928) was an English shipbuilder, the founder of the Thornycroft shipbuilding company and member of the Thornycroft family. Early life He was born in 1843 to Mary Francis and Thomas ...

, founder of the John I. Thornycroft & Company shipbuilding company, established a yard at Church Wharf at the west end of Chiswick Mall in 1864. The shipyard built the first naval

, of the Daring class, in 1893. To cater for the increasing size of warships, Thornycroft moved its shipyard to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in 1909. In 1878, Dan and Charles Mason started the Chiswick Soap Company on Burlington Lane. One of their chemists developed Cherry Blossom boot polish in 1906; a small tin of it retailed initially for one

penny A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...

, and it became a well-known product. The company became the Chiswick Polish Company in 1926, and Chiswick Products Ltd in 1930. The business was sold to

Reckitt and Colman Reckitt Benckiser Group plc, trade name, trading as Reckitt, is a United Kingdom, British multinational corporation, multinational fast moving consumer goods, consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, England. It is a producer of health, ...

in 1954; it built a new factory at the Hogarth Roundabout in 1967, on the site of the Hogarth Business Park; this was closed and demolished in 1974. File:Chiswick Lion.png,

trademark File:Rap in 1873.jpg, The

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of se ...

''Maelstrom'' at the John I. Thornycroft & Company yard in Chiswick, 1873

St Mary's Convent

In 1896, the Anglican Order of St Mary and St John built what is now St Mary's Convent and Nursing Home on Burlington Lane, consulting with

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

about the design of its hospital. It has at its core an

Gothic building by the ecclesiastical architect Charles Ford Whitcombe. Its chapel has a small square tower with a

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

atop a slender conical spire; inside the chapel is a classical

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...

, ceiling paintings by George Ostrehan, and a

tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...

panel by

Morris & Co Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. (1861–1875) was a furnishings and decorative arts manufacturer and retailer founded by the artist and designer William Morris with friends from the Pre-Raphaelites. With its successor Morris & Co. (1875–194 ...

. It is now run by the

Society of Saint Margaret The Society of Saint Margaret (SSM) is an order of women in the Anglican Church. The Order is active in England, Haiti, Sri Lanka, and the United States and formerly Scotland. History The Sisters of St Margaret were founded in 1855 by Dr John ...

. File:Chapel tower and weathervane, St Mary's Convent, Chiswick.jpg, Chapel tower and

, St Mary's Convent, 1896 File:Wrought Iron Gate, St Mary's Convent, Chiswick.jpg, Wrought iron gate File:'Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by', St Mary's Convent, Chiswick.jpg, 'Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by' File:Doorway, St Mary's Convent, Chiswick.jpg, Doorway

Chiswick New Town

The White Swan, Bennett Street, Chiswick

Just north of Hogarth Lane, Old Chiswick was extended northwestwards from the 1820s with a grid of small streets as far as Devonshire Road to create "Chiswick New Town". Some 375 houses were built over the next century on the 11-acre plot. The houses were poorly supplied with water and drainage. Some were destroyed by bombing in the Second World War, some by the widening of Hogarth Lane into the A4 dual carriageway, and the rest by the 1950s

slum clearance Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...

, leaving only one building, the White Swan pub, also called "The Dirty Duck". The building started out as "Florey's Brewhouse" on Bennett Street in 1834, built for Charles Florey. In 1882 it was sold to the brewers Crowley Bros., and renamed "The White Swan". The surviving facade is most likely of that date. The arch allowed

costermonger A costermonger, coster, or costard is a street seller of fruit and vegetables in British towns. The term is derived from the words ''costard'' (a medieval variety of apple) and ''monger'' (seller), and later came to be used to describe hawkers i ...

s to bring donkeys and carts through to stables behind the pub. Charrington's closed the pub in 1979.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{Chiswick Chiswick