Turnham Green is a public park on

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

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 F ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and the neighbourhood and

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

around it; historically, it was one of the four medieval villages in the Chiswick area, the others being

Old Chiswick Old Chiswick is the area of the original village beside the river Thames for which the modern district of Chiswick is named. The village grew up around St Nicholas Church, founded c. 1181 and named for the patron saint of fishermen. The placen ...

, Little Sutton, and

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 ...

. Christ Church, a neo-Gothic building designed by

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 ...

and built in 1843, stands on the eastern half of the green. A war memorial stands on the eastern corner. On the south side is the old

Chiswick Town Hall Chiswick Town Hall stands on Heathfield Terrace, Chiswick, London, facing Turnham Green. It is a Grade II listed building. History In the mid 19th century St Nicholas Parish Council had met in a variety of different locations including, latte ...

. The green is the site of local community events, including a

travelling funfair A traveling carnival (US English), usually simply called a carnival, or travelling funfair (UK English), is an amusement show that may be made up of amusement rides, food vendors, merchandise vendors, games of chance and skill, thrill acts, ...

, church events and charity table-top sales. The nearest London Underground station is Chiswick Park on the

District line The District line is a London Underground line running from in the east and Edgware Road in the west to in west London, where it splits into multiple branches. One branch runs to in south-west London and a short branch, with a limited serv ...

Turnham Green tube station Turnham Green is a London Underground station in Chiswick of the London Borough of Hounslow, west London. The station is served by the District and Piccadilly lines although currently Piccadilly line trains normally stop at the station only ...

is actually on Chiswick Common, some to the east, on a street named Turnham Green Terrace which does not touch the park it is named after.

History

Turnham Green was a village on the main road between London and the west. It was recorded as 'Turneham' in 1235 and 'Turnhamgrene' in 1369. On 13 November 1642, the

Battle of Turnham Green The Battle of Turnham Green took place on 13 November 1642 near the village of Turnham Green, at the end of the first campaigning season of the First English Civil War. The battle resulted in a standoff between the forces of King Charles I a ...

was fought nearby during the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Angl ...

resulting in the Parliamentarians blocking the King's advance on

. In 1680 the homicidal

Philip Herbert, 7th Earl of Pembroke Philip Herbert, 7th Earl of Pembroke, 4th Earl of Montgomery KB (1652/53 – 29 August 1683) was an English nobleman and politician who succeeded to the titles and estates of two earldoms on 8 July 1674 on the death of his brother William Her ...

murdered a watchman, William Smeeth, after a drunken evening in the local tavern.David L. Smith, 'The infamous seventh earl of Pembroke, 1653–1683' (a sub-section of 'Herbert, Philip, first earl of Montgomery and fourth earl of Pembroke (1584–1650), courtier and politician') in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (OUP, 2004) A similar but far less serious episode in the tavern, the Old Packhorse Inn, in 1795 saw the young

Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...

arrested for drunken and riotous behaviour. From 1912 until its closure in 1959, the

Chiswick Empire The Chiswick Empire was a theatre facing Turnham Green in Chiswick that opened in 1912 and closed and was demolished in 1959. A venue for touring artists, some of the greatest names in drama, variety and music hall performed there including George ...

theatre stood facing the north side of Turnham Green. Civil war reeanactment.JPG, Reenactment of the 1642 Civil War

File:Old Pack Horse, Chiswick, W4 (2446507593).jpg, The

Old Packhorse The Old Pack Horse is a Grade II listed public house in a prominent position on the corner of Chiswick High Road and Acton Lane in Chiswick, London. Architecture The current structure was built in 1910 by the architect Nowell Parr, the house ...

, 1910, replacing an earlier building File:Chiswick Empire postcard 1913.jpg,

theatre, 1913

Buildings

At the eastern end of the green stands Chiswick

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

. It is in the form of a stone obelisk at the top of a flight of five steps, encircled by a metal fence and a

yew Yew is a common name given to various species of trees. It is most prominently given to any of various coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Taxus'': * European yew or common yew (''Taxus baccata'') * Pacific yew or western yew (''Taxus br ...

hedge. It was unveiled on 13 November 1921 by the 9th Duke of Devonshire and

Arthur Winnington-Ingram Arthur Foley Winnington-Ingram (26 January 1858 – 26 May 1946) was Bishop of London from 1901 to 1939. Early life and career He was born in the rectory at Stanford-on-Teme, Worcestershire, the fourth son of Edward Winnington-Ingram (a C ...

, the Bishop of London. It is made of

Cornish granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

. It was designed by a local architect, Edward Willis. It was given

Grade II listed 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 I ...

status in 2015. In the middle of the green stands the tall

Christ Church, Turnham Green Christ Church, Turnham Green is a Grade II listed Anglican church sited on the eastern half of Turnham Green in Chiswick, west London. The church and the green on which it sits are local landmarks, and are considered of special historic interest ...

, designed in 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 ...

style by

and opened in 1843. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. ...

was extended in 1887. Along the southern side of the green is Heathfield Terrace; its largest buildings are the Italianate 1876

, designed by W. J. Trehearne, and the former Army and Navy Furniture Repository, built around 1900, and now converted into flats. Further west, at the corner with Heathfield Gardens, is the red brick 1913 Turnham Green Church Hall with Arts and Crafts style decoration; it was built here as residents objected to having it in the park beside the church. It is now used as a school. Facing the southwestern corner of the green is Fromow's Corner, an "attractively detailed" curved red brick building with brick pilasters; a plaque at the corner of the roofline proclaims "Fromow & Sons Estd 1829, Erectd 1889". In 2021, Hounslow Council reappraised the Turnham Green Conservation area. This is adjacent to the Chiswick High Road conservation area (which is further east), covering the part of the High Road from Chiswick Road in

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

to the west, via the whole of Turnham Green common and the buildings facing its north side along the High Road, to Clifton Gardens in the east. It takes in a substantial area to the south of the common, and was extended in 2019 to include the streets between Sutton Court Road and Duke's Avenue down to the Great West Road. File:Rhythm'n'Brews building by Fromow 1889.jpg, Fromow's Corner, 1889 File:Former Army and Navy Furniture Repository, Heathfield Terrace, Chiswick.jpg, Former Army and Navy Furniture Repository, Heathfield Terrace, c. 1900 File:Chiswick Town Hall.jpg,

, Heathfield Terrace, 1876 File:Turnham Green Church Hall.jpg, Turnham Green Church Hall, 1913, now used as a school File:Chiswick War Memorial, Turnham Green 20190826 094723 (48622431983).jpg, Chiswick War Memorial, 1921, looking west across Turnham Green

In culture

Highwayman

The 18th century

highwayman A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to fo ...

broadside ballad A broadside (also known as a broadsheet) is a single sheet of inexpensive paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations. They were one of the most common forms of printed material between t ...

"Alan Tyne of Harrow" includes the couplet: ::"One night by Turnham Green I robbed a revenue collector,
and what I took from him I gave to a widow to protect her".

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

's novel ''

A Tale of Two Cities ''A Tale of Two Cities'' is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in ...

'', set in the time of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

at the end of the 18th century, mentions "that magnificent potentate, the Lord Mayor of London, howas made to stand and deliver on Turnham Green, by one highwayman, who despoiled the illustrious creature in sight of all his retinue."

Other mentions

The song "Suite In C" on the eponymous album '' McDonald and Giles'', which alludes to places in London, includes the line "The sun shone 'til Turnham Green". The song "Junkie Doll" by

Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Born in Scotland and raised in England, he was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits. He pursued a s ...

includes the line "Turnham green, Turnham green, You took me high as I've ever been".

Residents

Edward Adey Edward Adey (1799 - 1876) was a Baptist minister and abolitionist. Biography Edward Adey was born on 31 March 1799 in Turnham Green, but was christened in Hammersmith the following month. He was the second child and son of Daniel and Catherine ...

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

, was born here in 1799. *

Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Sha ...

, director, born here in 1925 and grew up at 27 Fairfax Road. * E. M. Forster, novelist, lived at 9 Arlington Park Mansions on Turnham Green from 1939 until at least 1961. *

Ugo Foscolo Ugo Foscolo (; 6 February 177810 September 1827), born Niccolò Foscolo, was an Italian writer, revolutionary and a poet. He is especially remembered for his 1807 long poem ''Dei Sepolcri''. Early life Foscolo was born in Zakynthos in the Io ...

, Venetian writer and poet, key figure of Italian

Neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism ...

and

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

, died here in 1827. * Patsy Hendren, (1899-1962), cricketer, born here. * Harold Hume Piffard, amateur pioneer aviator, built a plane in 1909 in a shed on Back Common Road Peter Brook.JPG, The theatre director

was born here. File:Arlington Park Mansions - Entrance.jpg, Arlington Park Mansions on Sutton Lane North, facing Turnham Green, with E. M. Forster blue plaque File:Ugo Foscolo.jpg, The Italian poet

, who died in exile here, by F.-X.-P. Fabre, 1813

References

{{Green London Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Hounslow Districts of the London Borough of Hounslow Areas of London Wards of the London Borough of Hounslow Chiswick Places formerly in Middlesex