The London/Buckinghamshire border. West Drayton
TQ 80 05
The London, Hillingdon/ Buckinghamshire boundary goes northwards along the River Colne
The River Colne flows south east and south west it is joined by Frays River from the north west
Post to the north Cowley
Post to the south West Drayton
Post to the west Thorney
Sites on the London, Hillingdon, side of the border
Avenue Close
Barn.
Alley. Walls in the Avenue are very old.
Church Road
Manor House Walls
Courting Alley
Frays Close
Frays Island
Nature reserve managed by London Wildlife
Mabey’s Meadow
Nature reserve named after naturalist Richard Mabey
Mill Road
The Copse 16th refaced and 18th additions
Old Mill House. Large, late 18th building of brown brick
Money Lane
This was once Mill Lane
Baptist Chapel
Horticultural reminders. Firm survived into the 1960s famous for pansies
The Frays 15th timber faced with brick. It is a hall with a cross-wing.
Railway Line
The West Drayton and Staines Railway crossed the Colne.
Swan Road
1
76
78
The Green
This was the area of Town Street
1-11
15
20 St. Catherine RC church
24
25 stable block and buildings
26 Hope Cottage
27 and rear buildings
31 and associated wall
33
33a51 Daisy villas 1896
71 Beechwood. This is now a B&B
73 Avenue House. This has a 16th wing although the main part is 18th
Barn and associated walls
Brittanie Court. Premises of Wilkins, Campbell & Co. Ltd. Who made soap and waxes there from 1915 into the 1950s. Before that it was used by the Britannia Brewery and before that as a malt house. Now offices
Dr. Corkery's house,
Elmsdale House
Old Cottage
Old Manor House.
Old Oak Lodge
Old Shop 16th
Southlands. 18th Tudor farmhouse. Tudor bit replaced in 1864. Sun Fire mark 1743. Now Arts Centre. Associated walls and gardens
Swan
West Drayton
Name means 'west farm nearby a place things are carried from', 'West' distinguishes it from Drayton further east of here near Ealing. It is ‘Dragtun’ 939, ‘Draitone’ 1086, ‘Westdrayton’ 1465. Stuff must have been dragged from the Colne.
Wilkinson, Heywood and Clark. 19th industrial chemists with a varnish works at West Drayton. An 1871 survey of their works noted white lead manufacture and also use of the chamber process. Instead of awh8ite lead stack, a chamber was used in which strips of lead were hung over parallel bars. Carbon dioxide was produced by burning charcoal in an oven with its flues passing into the chamber. Pans containing acetic acid were placed on the floor of the chamber and the chamber was heated by steam. The process of making white lead took 4 to 5 weeks instead of the usual 13 weeks in stacks. Further processing of the white lead was exactly the same as before.
Sites on the South Buckinghamshire side of the border
Thorney Mill Road
Frays Cottage
Thorney Broad 19th trout fishing
Race course for a while in the 19th
Thorney Mills. In the 1960s processing vast amounts of oil and scrap metal. Sending out 360 tons of scrap a week. Coming in by rail on the West Drayton and Staines railway, which was by then closed to passengers.
Coal post north side east of bridge over Bigley Ditch
Coal post in the parapet of the bridge has been moved
Sources
Pevsner and Cherry. North West London
Stevenson. Middlesex
Middlesex County Council. The History of Middlesex
London Wildlife Trust. Wildlife Sites
London Encyclopaedia
Walford. Village London
The London, Hillingdon/ Buckinghamshire boundary goes northwards along the River Colne
The River Colne flows south east and south west it is joined by Frays River from the north west
Post to the north Cowley
Post to the south West Drayton
Post to the west Thorney
Sites on the London, Hillingdon, side of the border
Avenue Close
Barn.
Alley. Walls in the Avenue are very old.
Church Road
Manor House Walls
Courting Alley
Frays Close
Frays Island
Nature reserve managed by London Wildlife
Mabey’s Meadow
Nature reserve named after naturalist Richard Mabey
Mill Road
The Copse 16th refaced and 18th additions
Old Mill House. Large, late 18th building of brown brick
Money Lane
This was once Mill Lane
Baptist Chapel
Horticultural reminders. Firm survived into the 1960s famous for pansies
The Frays 15th timber faced with brick. It is a hall with a cross-wing.
Railway Line
The West Drayton and Staines Railway crossed the Colne.
Swan Road
1
76
78
The Green
This was the area of Town Street
1-11
15
20 St. Catherine RC church
24
25 stable block and buildings
26 Hope Cottage
27 and rear buildings
31 and associated wall
33
33a51 Daisy villas 1896
71 Beechwood. This is now a B&B
73 Avenue House. This has a 16th wing although the main part is 18th
Barn and associated walls
Brittanie Court. Premises of Wilkins, Campbell & Co. Ltd. Who made soap and waxes there from 1915 into the 1950s. Before that it was used by the Britannia Brewery and before that as a malt house. Now offices
Dr. Corkery's house,
Elmsdale House
Old Cottage
Old Manor House.
Old Oak Lodge
Old Shop 16th
Southlands. 18th Tudor farmhouse. Tudor bit replaced in 1864. Sun Fire mark 1743. Now Arts Centre. Associated walls and gardens
Swan
West Drayton
Name means 'west farm nearby a place things are carried from', 'West' distinguishes it from Drayton further east of here near Ealing. It is ‘Dragtun’ 939, ‘Draitone’ 1086, ‘Westdrayton’ 1465. Stuff must have been dragged from the Colne.
Wilkinson, Heywood and Clark. 19th industrial chemists with a varnish works at West Drayton. An 1871 survey of their works noted white lead manufacture and also use of the chamber process. Instead of awh8ite lead stack, a chamber was used in which strips of lead were hung over parallel bars. Carbon dioxide was produced by burning charcoal in an oven with its flues passing into the chamber. Pans containing acetic acid were placed on the floor of the chamber and the chamber was heated by steam. The process of making white lead took 4 to 5 weeks instead of the usual 13 weeks in stacks. Further processing of the white lead was exactly the same as before.
Sites on the South Buckinghamshire side of the border
Thorney Mill Road
Frays Cottage
Thorney Broad 19th trout fishing
Race course for a while in the 19th
Thorney Mills. In the 1960s processing vast amounts of oil and scrap metal. Sending out 360 tons of scrap a week. Coming in by rail on the West Drayton and Staines railway, which was by then closed to passengers.
Coal post north side east of bridge over Bigley Ditch
Coal post in the parapet of the bridge has been moved
Sources
Pevsner and Cherry. North West London
Stevenson. Middlesex
Middlesex County Council. The History of Middlesex
London Wildlife Trust. Wildlife Sites
London Encyclopaedia
Walford. Village London
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