Uxbridge () is a
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
an town in
west London
West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary.
The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North London ...
and the administrative headquarters of the
London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of
Charing Cross
Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; ...
, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the
London Plan.
Uxbridge formed part of the parish of
Hillingdon in the 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 ...
, and was a significant local commercial centre from an early time. As part of the suburban growth of London in the 20th century it expanded and increased in population,
becoming a municipal borough in 1955, and has formed part of
Greater London
Greater may refer to:
*Greatness, the state of being great
*Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality
*Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film
*Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record
*Greater (song), "Greate ...
since 1965.
A few major events have taken place in and around the town, including attempted negotiations between King
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
and the
Parliamentary Army
The New Model Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Thr ...
during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
. The
public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
at the centre of those events, since renamed the
Crown & Treaty, still stands.
RAF Uxbridge houses the
Battle of Britain Bunker, from where the air defence of the south-east of England was coordinated during the
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
especially from its
No. 11 Group Operations Room, also used during the
D-Day landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...
.
Today the town serves as a significant retail and commercial centre; it is also considered as a
university town
A college town or university town is a community (often a separate town or city, but in some cases a town/city neighborhood or a district) that is dominated by its university population. The university may be large, or there may be several smal ...
as it houses
Brunel University London
Brunel University London is a Public university, public Research universities, research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It was founded in 1966 and named after the Victorian era, Victorian engineer and pioneer of the I ...
as well as the Uxbridge campus of
Buckinghamshire New University. A part of the town which has large converted flour mills adjoins
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
, the boundary being the
River Colne.
Government data analysts have confirmed within its Borough are suburbs
Harefield,
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 ...
,
Hillingdon,
Newyears Green and
Cowley; with Uxbridge these are represented by six
electoral wards
The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ward is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and distri ...
(units for the election of councillors to
Hillingdon Council and commonly for statistical purposes). The
2011 Census recorded a population figure of 70,560 for these wards combined.
History
Toponymy
The name of the town is derived from "Wixan's Bridge", which was sited near the bottom of Oxford Road where a modern road bridge now stands, beside the ''Swan and Bottle'' public house. The Wixan were a 7th-century
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
tribe from
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
who also began to settle in what became
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 ...
.
[Cotton 1994, p. 8.] Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
began to settle and farm in the area of Uxbridge in the 5th century, clearing dense woodland.
Two other places in Middlesex bore the name of the Wixan: ''
Uxendon'' ("Wixan's Hill"), a name now preserved only in the street names of Uxendon Hill and Crescent in Harrow, and ''Waxlow'' ("Wixan's Wood") near
Southall.
Archaeologists found
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
remains (before 700 BC) and medieval remains during the construction of ''The Chimes'' shopping centre; two miles (3.2 km) away at
Denham, Upper
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...
remains have been found. Uxbridge is not mentioned in the ''
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
'' of the 11th century, but a hundred years late
St Margaret's Church was built. The town appears in records from 1107 as "Woxbrigge", and became part of the
Elthorne Hundred with other settlements in the area.
Early developments
![Crown and Treaty, Uxbridge, UB8 (7970434724)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Crown_and_Treaty%2C_Uxbridge%2C_UB8_%287970434724%29.jpg)
The Parliamentary Army garrisoned the town upon the outbreak of the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
in 1642 and established their headquarters there in June 1647 on a line from
Staines to
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
,
[Cotton 1994, p. 23.] although the king passed through Uxbridge in April 1646, resting at the
Red Lion public house for several hours. Charles I met with representatives of Parliament at the Crown Inn in Uxbridge in 1645, but
negotiations
Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties to reach the desired outcome regarding one or more issues of conflict. It is an interaction between entities who aspire to agree on matters of mutual interest. The agreement ...
for the end of hostilities were unsuccessful due in part to the king's stubborn attitude.
The town had been chosen as it was located between the Royal headquarters at
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
and the Parliamentary stronghold of London.
The covered market was built in 1788, replacing a building constructed in 1561. In the early 19th century, Uxbridge had an unsavoury reputation; the jurist
William Arabin said of its residents "They will steal the very teeth out of your mouth as you walk through the streets. I know it from experience." For about 200 years most of London's flour was produced in the Uxbridge area.
The
Grand Junction Canal
The Grand Junction Canal is a canal in England from Braunston in Northamptonshire to the River Thames at Brentford, with a number of branches. The mainline was built between 1793 and 1805, to improve the route from the Midlands to London, by-p ...
opened in 1794, linking Uxbridge with
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
and 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 ...
at
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 whi ...
. By 1800 Uxbridge had become one of the most important market towns in
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 ...
, helped by its status as the first stopping point for stagecoaches travelling from London to Oxford. The development of Uxbridge declined after the opening of the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
in 1838, which passed through
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 ...
. A branch line to Uxbridge was opened in 1856, but it was the opening of the Metropolitan Line in 1904 which restarted Uxbridge's growth by giving the town its first direct link to London.
Harman's Brewery was established in Uxbridge by George Harman in 1763, and moved into its new headquarters in Uxbridge High Street in 1875. The eventual owners of the brewery,
Courage
Courage (also called bravery or valor) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in battle.
Physical courage is bravery in the face of physical pain, h ...
, closed the headquarters in 1964. It was demolished and replaced by a Budgen's supermarket, which in turn was demolished with the construction of The Chimes shopping centre. The brewery building in George Street remained in place until it was demolished in 1967. The office building Harman House was built on the site in 1985, named after the brewery.
Urban development
![Uxbridge Common - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Uxbridge_Common_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1756609.jpg)
The main
enclosure
Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...
s effected in the parish of Hillingdon, by statute in 1819, saw the reduction of Uxbridge Common, which at its largest had been in circumference. It originally straddled Park Road, north of the town centre, but now covers .
In 1871 the town's first purpose-built police station was built in Windsor Street. The building included three cells and stables. The
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
continued to use the building until 1988, when operations moved to a new site in Harefield Road. The building subsequently became the ''Old Bill'' public house in 1996, renamed the ''Fig Tree'' in 2006.
In the early 1900s the Uxbridge and District Electricity Supply Company had been established a
power station
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.
Many p ...
in Waterloo Road, and much of the town was connected by 1902, although some houses still had gas lighting in 1912. A water tower on Uxbridge Common was built in 1906, resembling a church tower, to improve the supply to the town.
Wood panelling from a room in the ''Crown & Treaty'' public house was sold in 1924 to an American businessman, who installed it in his office in the
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...
in New York. It was returned in 1953 as a gift to the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II and returned to the house, although the monarch retained ownership.
On 31 August 1935 Uxbridge Lido, an outdoor swimming pool built in the "Moderne" or
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
style, was officially opened. Before the opening, many residents swam in a section of the
Frays River
Frays River is a semi-canalised short river in England that branches off the River Colne at Uxbridge Moor and rejoins it at West Drayton. It is believed to be a mainly man-made anabranch north of the confluence with the River Pinn to feed wat ...
near Harefield Road, and 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 ...
. The pool, pavilion building, entrance building and both fountains were designated
Grade II
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
listed buildings in 1998. Despite the listing, the pool was closed to the public and the buildings became subject to heavy vandalism. Uxbridge open-air pool was fully refurbished during 2009 and re-opened in May 2010. Added to the site, now named Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex, is a 50 m indoor competition pool, a leisure pool, a 100-station gym, a wide range of exercise classes, an athletics stadium and track, 3G floodlit pitches, a sports hall, a café and a crèche. The Grade II listed buildings are still standing.
During the Second World War Uxbridge adopted the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
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 ...
in 1942, to help towards the ship's costs; ''Intrepid'' was lost to enemy action the following year. The town and surrounding areas suffered bombing by the
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
.
V1 flying bombs fell on the town between June 1944 and March 1945. The first recorded bombing using a V1 was on 22 June 1944 at 07:00, when the bomb passed over the top of a bus and hit four houses nearby. Seven people were killed and 25 injured, leaving 46 houses in the area uninhabitable. In all the Uxbridge Urban District suffered 79 civilian deaths through enemy action in the war.
![Brunel university01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Brunel_university01.jpg)
In 1958 the Lowe & Shawyer
plant nursery to the west of RAF Uxbridge entered voluntary liquidation. The nursery had stood in Kingston Lane since 1868, and was the largest producer of cut flowers in the country. Demolition work began in 1962, and the construction of
Brunel University
Brunel University London is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It was founded in 1966 and named after the Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In June 1 ...
commenced.
Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemums (), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants of the genus ''Chrysanthemum'' in the family Asteraceae. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia and the center ...
s are included the coat of arms of the Borough of Uxbridge in memory of the nursery. The
Uxbridge (Vine Street) railway branch line, which partly ran alongside the site, was closed in 1964 and in 1966 the university opened,
purchasing the land where the railway had run from the local council for £65,000.
The Uxbridge Cricket Club moved from Cricketfield Road in 1971 to make way for the new Civic Centre. The club had been at Cricketfield Road since 1858, but moved to a new site on part of Uxbridge Common on Park Road. The Market Square shopping precinct in the town centre was built in the late 1970s, but its lack of shelter made it unpopular and it did not attract the expected levels of custom. Many buildings along the High Street and Windsor Street had been demolished to make way for the new precinct, which was eventually sold to the
Prudential Assurance Company
Prudential plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It was founded in London in May 1848 to provide loans to professional and working people.
Prudential has dual primary listings on the London Stock E ...
and redeveloped with a roof in the early 1980s to become the
Pavilions Shopping Centre.
[Cotton 1994, p. 138] The ''Peacock'' public house (later renamed The Chequers) in one of the two main squares was built partially underground having two flights of steps down into the pub at either end. It was demolished and replaced with a café named also named The Chequers, which remains. Rayner's pharmacy shop was also demolished during the Market Square development, although the shopfront was saved by the
Museum of London
The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall, London, Gui ...
and is held in storage.
The Chimes shopping centre was built beside Uxbridge station in 2001, incorporating many of the existing buildings into the new structure. The centre was originally to be named St George's Centre in plans dating back to the early 1990s, though this name was eventually taken by
another shopping centre in
Harrow
Harrow may refer to:
Places
* Harrow, Victoria, Australia
* Harrow, Ontario, Canada
* The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland
* London Borough of Harrow, England
** Harrow, London, a town in London
** Harrow (UK Parliament constituency)
...
. Instead, The Chimes was said to refer to the sound of the bells from the nearby market house on the High Street. An
Odeon
Odeon may refer to:
Ancient Greek and Roman buildings
* Odeon (building), ancient Greek and Roman buildings built for singing exercises, musical shows and poetry competitions
* Odeon of Agrippa, Athens
* Odeon of Athens
* Odeon of Domitian, Rome
...
cinema opened as a major part of the centre, with the smaller cinema at the opposite end of the High Street closing. Some houses on Chippendale Way and the St George's car park were demolished to allow for the construction of the new shopping centre car park. The offices of the local building company Fassnidge were also included in the new development; built in the 19th century, they now house a
Pizza Express restaurant. Preserved timber from earlier demolished buildings in Uxbridge was used in the construction of a new building beside the former offices of Fassnidge, designed to resemble a much older structure.
In 2002 the dry ski slope near Park Road and the Uxbridge Lido was closed and the remaining buildings and structures removed. The Hillingdon Ski Centre had been subject to several arson attacks during 2001 and the company operating it became insolvent. The slope, which had been built in 1977, was left to return to nature.
Work began in 2008 to extensively refurbish and extend Uxbridge Lido, and it reopened to the public in February 2010 as the
Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex
The Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex is a leisure centre in Uxbridge, operated by Fusion Lifestyle on behalf of the London Borough of Hillingdon. The complex is centred on the Grade II listed outdoor swimming pool, known as Uxbridge Lido ...
. On 8 September 2010 the 75th anniversary of the first opening of the Lido was celebrated at the pool.
Governance
Uxbridge is known from tithe assignments to the vicar of Hillingdon in 1281 and hundreds of later documents as a
chapelry
A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century.
Status
It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel of ease (chapel) which was the communi ...
in the large parish of
Hillingdon;
[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/pp87-9] the town core was only upgraded to a full parish (and thus its large chapel to a church) in 1827.
[ Eleven years later a parish of Saint John added in Uxbridge Moor, Hillingdon.][ A parish of Saint Andrew, Uxbridge, was added in 1865.][ From Tudor times parishes had a select or elect ]vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...
which determined much local maintenance, including poor relief, however under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 broader local poor law unions took on the relief role and shifted funds towards workhouses and associated hospitals.
Uxbridge was in the first main wave of the new, secular system of civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
es, gaining such a council and territory in 1866, and, at the usual time for a town, an Urban District
Urban district may refer to:
* District
* Urban area
* Quarter (urban subdivision)
* Neighbourhood
Specific subdivisions in some countries:
* Urban districts of Denmark
* Urban districts of Germany
* Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...
under the Local Government Act 1894
The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...
. In 1955 the council successfully petitioned for a charter of incorporation and became a municipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...
. This stood for ten years, followed by incorporation into the new system of London Boroughs, as the London Borough of Hillingdon. Within the borough, Uxbridge is usually warded into near-precisely two electoral wards, for fair voter strength (the avoiding of malapportionment) across the borough. Reinforcing identity, Uxbridge is a post town which has very similar boundaries to its traditional boundaries.
Uxbridge gave its name to a parliamentary constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...
from 1885 until the similar weight of any other part(s) included was simple enough to express, which happened as Greater London developed. This was reflected by changes which came in at the 2010 general election which saw the town become part of the Uxbridge and South Ruislip
Uxbridge and South Ruislip is a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The seat has been held by the Conservative Party since its 2010 creation. Since 2015 it has been represented by Boris J ...
seat which includes parts of Ickenham. The seat is held by the former UK Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
, of the Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
. His forerunners are John Randall until 2015 and Sir Michael Shersby, who died shortly after the 1997 general election.
Geography
Uxbridge lies at a mean elevation of above mean sea level. Like much of the rest of the UK its climate is generally temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
, with few extremes of temperature or weather.
The landscape upon which the settlement of Uxbridge was established is largely unchanged from the Mesolithic
The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...
era. Much of it was covered by oak and elm trees, which were gradually cleared by early settlers. An archaeological excavation by the Museum of London
The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall, London, Gui ...
in the 1990s found evidence of flint items shaped by Mesolithic hunters, as well as various animal bones and traces of charcoal from the remains of campfires.
The River Pinn
The Pinn is a suburban, outer west London river. It has dendritic headwaters, the furthest is considered its sourcein Harrow Weald. Its confluence with Frays River makes it a tributary of the Colne. It is one of three principal rivers wholly ...
runs through Uxbridge, passing through the former site of RAF Uxbridge and the grounds of Brunel University. It joins the Frays River
Frays River is a semi-canalised short river in England that branches off the River Colne at Uxbridge Moor and rejoins it at West Drayton. It is believed to be a mainly man-made anabranch north of the confluence with the River Pinn to feed wat ...
, which branches off from the River Colne and acts as the boundary between Uxbridge and the neighbouring county of Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
.
Uxbridge is centred from Charing Cross
Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; ...
in Central London; from Hayes
Hayes may refer to:
* Hayes (surname), including a list of people with the name
** Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president of the United States
* Hayes (given name)
Businesses
* Hayes Brake, an American designer and manufacturer of disc brakes
* Ha ...
; from Ruislip; from Northolt; from Slough
Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...
; and from High Wycombe.
Demography
The table below shows housing data for Uxbridge, broadly defined, and its neighbourhoods.
The human, resident population of Uxbridge North was estimated in 2009 by the Office for National Statistics as 11,812, and 11,887 for Uxbridge South.[.] Around 85% of residents of Uxbridge North are projected as White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 6% more than the borough average, and by coincidence, Uxbridge South. Other residents are mixed-race, Asian or Asian British
British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian people, Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as As ...
, Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
or Black British
Black British people are a multi-ethnic group of British citizens of either African or Afro-Caribbean descent.Gadsby, Meredith (2006), ''Sucking Salt: Caribbean Women Writers, Migration, and Survival'', University of Missouri Press, pp. 76–7 ...
, and Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
or other ethnic groups. Uxbridge South is projected as having more Black and Chinese residents, than any other Hillingdon ward.
By the time of the 2011 UK Census
A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...
, the population of Uxbridge had reached 12,048 in Uxbridge North and 13,979 in Uxbridge South. The most common ethnic group was White British in Uxbridge North, was in that survey taken as 69.8%, followed by Asian or Asian British (19.5%) and Black or Black British (4.1%). The remaining percentage was made up of mixed-race and other unspecified ethnic groups. White British was also the largest ethnic group in Uxbridge South, at 62.1%, followed by Asian or Asian British (22.6%), Black or Black British (7.3%) and mixed-race (4.3%). The remaining percentage was made up of other unspecified ethnic groups.
Uxbridge North saw its most common category of employment as those in management, as at the 2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
and 2011 census.
The life expectancy for men was estimated at 77 years in Uxbridge North, compared with 74 years in Uxbridge South. The figures for women are 83 years in Uxbridge North and 81 years in Uxbridge South.
Religion
In the 2011 census, 72.8% of residents in the Uxbridge North ward answered that they had a religion, compared with 19.3% who did not and 7.9% who did not answer. Of those who answered, 53% identified as Christian, followed by 6.7% who identified as Muslim and 6.2% as Sikh. The percentage identifying as Hindu was 5.4%. Figures for residents identifying as either Jewish, Buddhist or other unspecified religions were each below 1%.
Within the Uxbridge South ward, 69.2% of residents answered that they had a religion, compared with 23.8% who did not and 7% who did not answer. As with Uxbridge North, the majority (46.4%) identified as Christian, followed by 13.4% who identified as Muslim and 5% as Hindu. The percentage identifying as Sikh was 2.3% and those identifying as Buddhist were 1.2%. Figures for residents identifying as either Jewish or other unspecified religions were each below 1%.
Churches
St Margaret's Church
This is the original parish church of Uxbridge, and one of the oldest buildings in the town. Located in Windsor Street, it is known to have existed since at least 1245, when a series of hearings took place there in which the Abbot of Bec in Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
brought an action against the rector of Great Wratting
Great Wratting is a village and civil parish in England, about four miles from Haverhill, Suffolk, Haverhill, Suffolk, in the valley of the River Stour, Suffolk, River Stour. There is a ford across the Stour in the centre of the village, where b ...
in Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
for non-payment of tithes. On parchments kept at St. George's Chapel, Windsor
St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is both a Royal Peculiar (a church under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch) and the Chapel of the Order of the Gart ...
, in connection with this event, St. Margaret's is mentioned by name, and there are several other references between 1245 and 1247 to the "chapel at Uxbridge".
The oldest portion of the existing building is part of the north tower, which was built in the late 14th century. The north aisle, together with the nave and its arcades, dates from the early 15th century, while the south aisle, with its fine hammer-beam roof, was added about 1450. The carved stone font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design.
In mod ...
was placed in the church soon afterwards, dating from about 1480.
For most of its history, St Margaret's served as a chapel-of-ease
A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently.
Often a chapel of ease is deliberately bu ...
to St John the Baptist's Church in Hillingdon; it was not until 1827 that it was given its own parish.
St Andrew's Church
By the 1850s the population of both Hillingdon and Uxbridge was beginning to rise. With new housing being built between the two centres the then Vicar of Hillingdon, Richard Croft (served 1856–69) gained permission to build a new local church for a newer part of the town traditionally called Hillingdon West. He asked the well-known architect Sir George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...
:
Scott produced his plans and local Uxbridge builder William Fassnidge was employed to construct the church. On St Peter's Day, 29 June 1864, the foundation stone was laid at the south end of the chancel arch by the Lord Bishop of London, Archibald Campbell Tait. He returned to consecrate and open the church on the feast day of saints Philip and James, 1 May 1865.
The spire was completed the next year. Together with the bells, vestry and organ and other embellishments, the building cost £12,000 ().
Church of Our Lady of Lourdes and St Michael
After the Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
in the 16th century, there was no official Roman Catholic place of worship in Uxbridge until the late 19th century, following the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Act
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...
. In 1892 Father Michael Aloysius Wren bought a presbytery at 37 Lawn Road, next to which a temporary church was built of corrugated iron, dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes and St Michael. St Mary's School was also founded on Rockingham Road at this time. Fr Wren was helped by his nephew John, who acted as his assistant priest. They covered an extensive area, including the modern Catholic parishes of Ruislip and Hillingdon.
The mission grew from strength to strength, and by 1907 the congregation numbered 150, with school attendance at 60. In time plans were made for a larger, more permanent church. This was the brainchild of Father Thomas Moloney, who bought the current presbytery and acquired the land that stood at the back so that a church could be built. The foundation stone was eventually laid on Low Sunday 1931 by Archbishop Alban Goodier, an English Jesuit who had been Archbishop of Bombay between 1919 and 1926. The new church, in Oxford Road, was designed by the diocesan architect, T. H. B. Scott. It was built of brick in the Romanesque style, seating 350. The church was built quickly and opened by Cardinal Bourne
Francis Alphonsus Bourne (1861–1935) was an English prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the fourth Archbishop of Westminster from 1903 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1911.
Biography
Early life
Francis Bo ...
on 29 September 1931. It was officially consecrated on 14 May 1936, after its debts were cleared.
Faith Assembly, Uxbridge
The Redeemed Christian Church of God states it teaches the whole counsel of God and welcomes people from all nations. Based at 2 Harefield Road, worship is in the Kate Fasnidge Hall next to Tesco: Sundays at 11:00 am. It is contemporary and Pentecostal.
Economy
As of 2012, Uxbridge had of town centre floorspace. Uxbridge has two shopping centres, The Pavilions and The Chimes (formerly Intu Uxbridge). Much of the town centre is pedestrianised. Just off the High Street is Windsor Street, a short street with older shops.
The town centre consists of retail outlets and office buildings, including the main UK and European offices of international companies such as Coca-Cola European Partners
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners plc (CCEP), formerly Coca-Cola European Partners (2016–2021) is a British company formed as a result of the combination of the three main bottling companies for The Coca-Cola Company in Western Europe: Coca-Col ...
, Cadbury
Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mar ...
, Xerox
Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...
, General Mills
General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...
, F. Hinds
F. Hinds is a jewellery retailing chain, operating in England and Wales. There are currently 116 F Hinds stores within the United Kingdom.
History Beginnings (1856-1990)
The chain is an independent retailer which was founded in 1856 by Georg ...
, PAREXEL, Arri
The Arri Group () is a German manufacturer of motion picture film equipment. Based in Munich, the company was founded in 1917. It produces professional motion picture cameras, lenses, lighting and post-production equipment. Hermann Simon menti ...
, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Monster Energy, APL, Herbalife Europe. Other employers include NetApp
NetApp, Inc. is an American hybrid cloud data services and data management company headquartered in San Jose, California. It has ranked in the Fortune 500 from 2012–2021. Founded in 1992 with an IPO in 1995, NetApp offers cloud data services ...
, Anixter International
Anixter International Inc. is a company based in Glenview, Illinois, United States and founded in 1957. The company supplies goods and services for communications, security, networking, audio-visual, and industrial control applications.
The com ...
, PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...
, WMS Gaming WMS Gaming is a manufacturer of slot machines, video lottery terminals and software to help casinos manage their gaming operations. It also offers online and mobile games. WMS was originally a subsidiary of WMS Industries, which became a wholly owne ...
, IBB Solicitors and Nexen
CNOOC Petroleum North America ULC, formerly known as Nexen, is a Canadian oil and gas company based in Calgary, Alberta.
Originally the Canadian subsidiary of US-based Occidental Petroleum (known as Canadian Occidental Petroleum or CanOxy), it ...
.
Within the London Borough, 55.1% of residents travel to the Uxbridge North and Uxbridge South wards to work, and only 8% of residents working there who also live within the wards. The 2001 census measured a total of 6,007 (35.9%) of residents leaving the North ward to go to work. Uxbridge South had a figure of 5,666 (26.5%) of residents leaving the ward to work elsewhere.
In 2005 retail footprint research, Uxbridge ranked 9th in terms of retail expenditure in Greater London at £311 million.
A terraced landmark with tower on Vine Street is what was Randalls
Randalls operates 32 supermarkets in Texas under the ''Randalls'' and ''Flagship Randalls'' banners. The chain consists of 13 stores located around the Houston area and 15 stores located around the Austin area as of May 2020. Randalls today forms ...
, the Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
-architecture department store owned by relations of John Randall MP. It is a 1939, remodelled rebuilding of a 1900 building. The building has the initial, mainstream category of listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
since October 2008. The store closed in January 2015.
Education
Primary schools in Uxbridge include Hermitage Primary School, St Andrew's Church of England Primary School, St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Whitehall Infant School, and Whitehall Junior School. Uxbridge High School is a comprehensive secondary school in the town.
Uxbridge is also home to Brunel University
Brunel University London is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It was founded in 1966 and named after the Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In June 1 ...
and the Buckinghamshire New University's nursing campus. The main campus of Uxbridge College
Uxbridge College is a large general further education college in the London Borough of Hillingdon. Since 2017 the college has been merged with Harrow College, although it retains its individual identity. It has two campuses, in Uxbridge and in Hay ...
is also in the town.
Transport
Uxbridge tube station is the western terminus of branches of the Metropolitan
Metropolitan may refer to:
* Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories
* Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England
* Metropolitan county, a typ ...
and Piccadilly
Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Court, ...
lines of the London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...
. The station, built in 1933, is fronted by a pedestrian high street and is connected to a bus terminus with connections to Hillingdon, Hayes, Ealing, Ruislip, and Slough. Uxbridge Belmont Road was the first underground station, built slightly outside the town centre to allow for a possible extension to High Wycombe. This was subsequently replaced by the current station.
There were two Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
branch lines to Uxbridge with terminus stations at Uxbridge Vine Street (originally just Uxbridge Station) and Uxbridge High Street. The two railway lines were planned to be joined, with a new Uxbridge station to be built on the west side of the town replacing the existing station at Vine Street which had been opened in 1856. Work on the new branch line from the north at Denham started in 1900. However with the Metropolitan Railway being extended into Uxbridge Belmont Road station in 1904 it was decided to temporarily terminate the line at a bridge over Uxbridge High Street. The extension through Uxbridge to join the lines was never completed. Uxbridge High Street station opened on 1 May 1907 but had low passenger numbers and closed on 1 September 1939 as a war economy and never reopened. By the 1960s the Uxbridge Vine Street branch line to West Drayton station was being affected by competition on London services from the town's faster Underground lines. Passenger services were stopped on 10 September 1962. Goods traffic ceased two years later. Uxbridge Vine Street station was demolished in 1969.
The B483 road connects the centre of Uxbridge with the Swakeleys Roundabout junction of the A40. Uxbridge is also connected by major roads to Slough, Denham, Ickenham, Cowley, Iver Heath, Hillingdon Heath and Hayes.
The Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter st ...
, formerly the Grand Junction Canal
The Grand Junction Canal is a canal in England from Braunston in Northamptonshire to the River Thames at Brentford, with a number of branches. The mainline was built between 1793 and 1805, to improve the route from the Midlands to London, by-p ...
, connects London with Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
and passes immediately to the west of Uxbridge, forming part of the borough boundary. The first stretch was built in the late 18th century from 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 whi ...
to Uxbridge. Further upstream is Uxbridge Lock, and nearby is a derelict flour mill formerly owned by Allied Mills. The mill was bought in the 19th century by William King, who named it "Kingsmill". Kingsmill continues to be used as a brand of bread by Associated British Foods
Associated British Foods plc (ABF) is a British multinational food processing and retailing company headquartered in London, England. Its ingredients division is the world's second-largest producer of both sugar and baker's yeast and a major pr ...
.
London Buses
London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus se ...
routes 222, 331
__NOTOC__
Year 331 (Roman numerals, CCCXXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Bassus and Ablabius (or, less frequent ...
, 427
__NOTOC__
Year 427 (Roman numerals, CDXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Hierus and Ardabur (or, less frequen ...
, 607
__NOTOC__
Year 607 ( DCVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 607 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era b ...
, A10, U1, U2, U3, U4, U5, U7, U9, U10 and N207 serve the area, alongside 8 non- Transport for London (TfL) routes: First Berkshire & The Thames Valley
First Beeline Buses, trading as First Berkshire & The Thames Valley, is a bus operator providing services in and around Slough. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
History
In January 1986 Alder Valley North Limited, later renamed, The Berks B ...
route 3, Green Line route 724 and Carousel Buses
Carousel Buses is a bus company based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. Originally an independent company, it is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. It is grouped together with Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel, both of Oxfordshire, ...
routes 101, 102, 104, 105, 581 & 583.
The proposed West London Tram was postponed indefinitely by TfL in August 2007 after it was announced that the Crossrail project would be going ahead. TfL cited "an effective bus-based solution" as an alternative, delivered in conjunction with local councils. Since 2013 the route has been served by the 427, 207, and 607 bus services.
Landmarks
Civic Centre
The London Borough of Hillingdon's Hillingdon Civic Centre
Hillingdon Civic Centre is a municipal building in the High Street, Uxbridge. The civic centre, which is the headquarters of Hillingdon London Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building.
History
For much of the 20th century Uxbridge Urban D ...
was built in Uxbridge High Street in 1973, as part of an effort to unite the services of the council, which had formed in 1965 with the merger of the Municipal Borough of Uxbridge, Ruislip-Northwood Urban District
Ruislip-Northwood was an urban district in west Middlesex, England, from 1904 to 1965. From its inception Ruislip-Northwood fell within the Metropolitan Police District and from 1933 it was part of the London Passenger Transport Area.
The urban ...
, Hayes and Harlington Urban District
Hayes and Harlington (until 1930, Hayes) was a local government, urban district in west Middlesex, England from 1904 to 1965.
It was created in 1904 as Hayes Urban District - covering the Hayes parish transferred from Uxbridge Rural District (in ...
and Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District. Before the new building was completed, council services had been spread throughout Uxbridge and the rest of the borough and various buildings, as a result of the merging of the former district councils.
Part of the original Middlesex County Council
Middlesex County Council was the principal local government body in the administrative county of Middlesex from 1889 to 1965.
The county council was created by the Local Government Act 1888, which also removed the most populous part of the coun ...
office building that stood on site was incorporated into the new Civic Centre. The centre's clock tower is the only visible section from the old building. The Uxbridge Cricket Club Ground
Uxbridge Cricket Ground opened in 1971. Uxbridge Cricket Club moved here after a redevelopment of Uxbridge High Street saw the club move from their Cricketfield Road ground. The present ground is situated across from Uxbridge Common on which th ...
and Uxbridge fire station were relocated as part of the new development, which became controversial owing to its size and cost. Areas of the building, particularly the council chambers, continue to suffer from poor acoustics.
Uxbridge Magistrates' Court
The original Magistrates' Court opened in 1907 in an Edwardian
The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...
style. A new building with little exterior styling opened nearby in the 1990s and legal proceedings were transferred. The Magistrates' Court is often referred to in John Mortimer
Sir John Clifford Mortimer (21 April 1923 – 16 January 2009) was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author. He is best known for novels about a barrister named Horace Rumpole.
Early life
Mortimer was born in Hampstead, London, ...
's Rumpole of the Bailey
''Rumpole of the Bailey'' is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, a middle-aged London barrister who defended a broad variety of clients, o ...
short stories.
RAF Uxbridge, Battle of Britain Bunker and Hillingdon House
Uxbridge had a Royal Air Force station, known as RAF Uxbridge, until its closure on 31 March 2010. The station was built within the grounds of Hillingdon House
Hillingdon House is a Grade II listed mansion in 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 inclu ...
, a 19th-century mansion bought by the British government in 1915, and became most famous as the home of RAF Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War. It earned near-immortal fame during the Battle of Britai ...
's No. 11 Group Operations Room during the Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
. Fighter squadrons at airfields in the south-east of England were directed from the station, which was visited by Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
during the battle, and other foreign leaders throughout the rest of the war.
Following the station's closure, the replica No. 33 Squadron Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...
gate guardian was removed from the main entrance for restoration work and moved to the entrance of the Operations Room (now known as the Battle of Britain Bunker). The area around the bunker was retained as an enclave under the RAF Uxbridge name, under the care of RAF Northolt
("Ready to carry or to fight")
, pushpin_map = Greater London
, pushpin_label = RAF Northolt
, pushpin_map_caption = Shown within Greater London
, coordinates =
, type = Royal Air Force station
, code =
, site_area =
, height =
, owners ...
. An additional guardian, a Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...
in the colours of No. 303 (Polish) Squadron, was added to the area in November 2010.[.]
Sport and leisure
Uxbridge has a Non-League football
Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...
team, Uxbridge F.C.
The Uxbridge Football Club are a football club representing Uxbridge, based in Yiewsley, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England. They were established in 1871 and are one of the oldest clubs in the South of England. They were founding mem ...
, which plays at Honeycroft, Yiewsley.
Uxbridge Cricket Club
Uxbridge Cricket Club is a cricket club based in Uxbridge, Middlesex. Uxbridge CC is a member of the Middlesex County Cricket League which is a designated ECB Premier League.
History
There are records of Cricket being played in the Uxbridge ...
is also based in Uxbridge and is a member of the Middlesex County Cricket League
The Middlesex County Cricket League (MCCL) is the only adult Saturday league for recreational club cricket in the historic county of Middlesex, England. In practical terms, this means it encompasses teams from North and West London. The league ...
, a designated ECB Premier League
The ECB Premier Leagues are a series of regional cricket leagues organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that form the top tier of club cricket in England and Wales. The ECB published "Raising the Standard" in 1997, the ECB Manageme ...
.
Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex
The Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex is a leisure centre in Uxbridge, operated by Fusion Lifestyle on behalf of the London Borough of Hillingdon. The complex is centred on the Grade II listed outdoor swimming pool, known as Uxbridge Lido ...
has recently been refurbished and contains an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, an athletic track and large sports complex. The South Korean Olympic Team used the centre for training during the 2012 Olympic Games.
Neighbouring areas
Notable people
1850 to 1906
* Charles Brown (1827–1905), engineer and inventor of the Brown valve gear, born in Uxbridge.
* Annie Isherwood Annie Cecile Ramsbottom Isherwood (1862, in Uxbridge, England - 20 February 1906) was an Anglican nun and founder of the Community of the Resurrection of our Lord in Grahamstown. She was known as Mother Cecile CR (pronounced Cecil).
Early life
A ...
(1862–1906), Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
nun and founder of the Community of the Resurrection in Grahamstown, Southern Africa, was born in Uxbridge.
20th century
*Bernard Miles
Bernard James Miles, Baron Miles, CBE (27 September 190714 June 1991) was an English character actor, writer and director. He opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959, the first new theatre that opened in the City of London since the 17th ce ...
(1907–1991), actor, writer and director, attended Bishopshalt Grammar School and given a peerage.
* Peggy Eileen Whistler (1909–1958), poet, novelist and illustrator who used the pseudonym Margiad Evans, born in Uxbridge,
*Joan Dowling
Joan Dowling (6 January 1928 – 31 March 1954) was a British character actress.
Life and career
Dowling was the illegitimate daughter of Vera Dowling. A piece in ''The Laindon and District Times'', on 23 June 2015, written by her cousin Joh ...
(1928–1954), actress, best known for her role in the first " Ealing Comedy" '' Hue and Cry'', grew up in Uxbridge.
*John Stears
John Stears (25 August 1934 – 28 April 1999), known as the "Dean of Special Effects", was a British two-time Academy Award-winning special effects expert. He created James Bond's lethal Aston Martin DB5, Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder, the Jedi Kn ...
(1934–1999), Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning creator of James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
's Aston Martin DB5 and ''Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' robots, born in Uxbridge.
*Christine Keeler
Christine Margaret Keeler (22 February 1942 – 4 December 2017) was an English model and showgirl. Her meeting at a dance club with society osteopath Stephen Ward drew her into fashionable circles. At the height of the Cold War, she became s ...
, 1960s model, party to the 1963 Profumo affair, born in Uxbridge.[.]
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
* Bainbridge, John. (2001) ''Middlesex Photographic Memories''. Salisbury: Frith Book Company
* Cotton, Carolynne. (1994) ''Uxbridge Past''. London: Historical Publications
* Crozier, Hazel. (2007) ''RAF Uxbridge 90th Anniversary 1917–2007''. RAF High Wycombe: Air Command Media Services
* Hearmon, Carolynne. (1982) ''Uxbridge. A Concise History''. Uxbridge: Hillingdon Borough Libraries
* Pearce, K. R. (2009) ''Uxbridge From Old Photographs''. Stroud: Amberley Publishing
* Pearce, K. (2011) ''Uxbridge Through Time''. Stroud: Amberley Publishing
* Sherwood, Philip. (2007) ''Around Uxbridge Past & Present''. Stroud: Sutton Publishing
* Skinner, James. (2008) ''Growing Up In Wartime Uxbridge''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing
Further reading
*
External links
London Borough of Hillingdon
Faith Assembly Uxbridge
{{Authority control
Areas of London
Districts of the London Borough of Hillingdon
Metropolitan centres of London
Market towns in London
Places formerly in Middlesex