River Crane - Isleworth
River Crane.
The River Crane flows northwards and into the Thames.
The Duke of Northumberland’s River flows eastwards and into the Thames
This posting relates only to sites north of the river. South of the river is Richmond Old Deer Park Riverside
Post to the south St. Margaret's
Post to the west Mogden
Post to the north Isleworth
Byfield Road
Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The hall was registered by them in 1942
Butler’s Almshouses. Built and endowed by Elizabeth Butler in 1885. Designed by G.H. Boundaries, for the Isleworth United Charities Trust in red brick. Inside the porch is a tablet with inscribed ‘These alms houses were erected and endowed by Elizabeth Butler as a thank offering to God October 24th 1883’.
Church Street
Isleworth Manor Mill. This was behind Church Street and dated from, at least, the early middle ages.
Isleworth Flour Mill was destroyed by fire in 1795. There had been flour mills here since the 16th
Samuel Kidd took over the rebuilt mill in the early 1800sand in 1846 added two steam engines. As Kidd’s Mill, it was bought by Rank in 1934 and immediately closed and then demolished in the 1940s. Its site was an area of woodland to the east of Silverhall Park and some new housing.
6 Holland House. 18th house with a 1840’s façade
20 Riverside Mill House. New flats
Duke of Northumberland's River
In the early Middle Ages this was a stream called The Bourne
This is an artificial watercourse dating from the 16th to improve the flow of water to mills.
Wooden bridge, dating from the 1980s
Wider section of the river as it nears its junction with the Thames
Gumley Gardens
Gumley House Convent School. The school began in Gumley House, in 1841. This is a large brick mansion built about 1709 by John Gumley, glass manufacturer, cabinetmaker who specialised in mirrors, one of which still hangs in Hampton Court Palace and two in Chatsworth House, Derbyshire. He had a shop in the Strand, lived in Isleworth, taking an active part in local life. He became MP for Steyning in Sussex and was Commissary General. In 1795 the house was sold to Benjamin Angell a Wiltshire Quaker chintz printer and dyer. In 1841 it was sold to Madame d’Houët. She was the founder of the Faithful Companions of Jesus and she turned Gumley House into two Catholic schools - a boarding school for the wealthy and a day school for the poor. In 1890 St Mary's High School was opened followed by more buildings. The school became an approved secondary school and was the first Catholic School in Middlesex to be recognised by the Board of Education. In the 1960s the school no longer took boarders.
Harcourt Close
Harcourt Cottages. These are managed by the Old Isleworth Housing Cooperative. This started in 1985 but dates back to the 1960s when a group of young people came together through the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and local Folk Clubs and looked for practical co-operative solutions for some of their needs. The Freeman Syndicate was set up to and then the Middlesex Housing Association in 1969. They were involved with a number of projects. In 1982 Speyhawk Property developers negan redevelopment of Old Isleworth MHA secured a deal for new, Government subsidised, affordable housing. Their second scheme was Harcourt Cottages. These were built next to Sermon’s Almshouses which got a Civic Trust Award. These appear to be on the site of a previous Methodist church.
Hartland Road
Mission opened by H. W. P. Richards was vicar of Isleworth 1855-88 in 1878 for parochial and charitable work. In 1916 the mission was attached to the parish church. It was rebuilt in 1922 and part of the building was used as a church hall in 1958.
Herons Place
Private estate which stands behind Nazareth House and built in what were the grounds
Isleworth Ait
Island where at low tide the river retreats, leaving a land bridge across to the island and the Romans are said to have crossed the Thames here in AD 54. This was once four islands but the channels between them have silted up. It is now owned by Thames Water. The Metropolitan Water Board bought it from the Duke of Northumberland in the 1930s. Because of the importance of its wildlife sites it is managed by the London Wildlife Trust – there is a colony of Hairy German snails and of the Two-Lipped Door Snail
B.J. Woods, boatyard and floating dry docks
Swimming pool. In 1859 the Duke of Northumberland permitted a swimming pool to be built on the island for school children. No remnants of this remain.
Penstock sluices. In 1935 the embankment on the eastern side was raised and the sluices were installed to discharge treated sewage from Mogden Sewage works.
Kilmorey Road
Clifton Lodge. Detached villa, Built between 1852 and 1865 in Italianate style. The ground floor front rooms probably include the remains of a 19th orangery belonging to Twickenham Park. It is now home to the Rambert School of Ballet and contemporary dance. Marie Rambert began teaching in London in 1919 and founded the Rambert School which, was based at Notting Hill Gate. Out of it grew Rambert Dance Company. By the late 1970s Ballet Rambert found it had grown away from the and thus founded the present School at Twickenham. In 1981 this School became part of the West London Institute of Higher Education. This was subsumed into Brunel University in 2001 and in 2003; the School became independent of the university.
Violet Needham Chapel. Violet Needham was a children’s writer, the granddaughter of the Earl of Kilmorey, and she died in 1967. This chapel is clearly older and was built when the site was part of the Royal Naval Female School. They fund raised for a chapel, built in 1867, and this could be it.
Lion Wharf Road
Lion Wharf. River transportation companies operated from here, including Morgan’s from 1929. They handled among other things used to land timber, clay, rubber - for the Firestone factory - coal and chemicals. Gunpowder was handled for the Curtis and Harvey mills on Hounslow Heath. The site included quayside cranes and a travelling crane
Lion tug built for Morgan’s in 1937 and operated from here. Still afloat as the Caroline.
Lion Wharf. New buildings by Broadway Malyan, 1987. Post-modern in style
Shrewsbury House, This mansion was in the area of Lion Wharf which was one time called Beck's or Shrewsbury Wharf. There is said to have been a Catholic chapel there since 1675Around 1778 it was converted to a school for Roman Catholic boys. The house was demolished by 1810. The house is also said to have burnt down in 1795. In 1798 the Shrewsbury Place buildings were demolished and a free-standing chapel provided by the Earl of Shrewsbury, one of the first to be built under the 1779 Act. A school for poor boys was 1854, and this included a new chapel which was still there in 1958, when it was used as a store.
Crane. A small crane is located on the riverside as a sculptural feature.
Lower Square
Lawrence Parade. Modern development of shops, flats, and offices. Built in 1988 by Broadway Malyon.
10 Northumberland House. Housing in what was the Northumberland Arms pub. It was built for H. Limpus in 1834, the licence being transferred from the Phoenix Inn nearby. In 1837 it was leased to John and Charles Farnell of the Isleworth Brewery. Beer was served here to river workers and the latest prices for goods trading through Isleworth Dock were displayed. The name changed to The Duke of Northumberland in 1981 and then to The Inn on the Square. It closed in 1983.
Blue School. This was the old town school which was founded as a charity school for boys in 1630 and was called Blue School because of its blue uniforms. It moved to another site in the late 19th but the school buildings were used by the primary until 1939. It is a free-standing building which looks rather like a market house, designed in 1841 by C.F. Maltby, in pale brick. Originally it had with open arcades on the ground floor and a little turret with a clock. After the school left it became a factory bringing in an income which was used to support the North Street School.
John Day House. Stone-fronted 18th house named after the Day family who were doctors and surgeons and residents in the house...
Manor House Way
Site of the medieval manor house
Mill Plat
The name reflects that this was a mill site. It means a small piece of flat ground.
Ingram's Almshouses. These were founded in 1666 by Sir Thomas Ingram, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Lord Mayor of London and earlier owner of the house later belonging to the Duke of Shrewsbury. Six single storey red brick almshouses with a bed sitting room a kitchen and bathroom and, at the back, a garden. There is a central pediment with inscribed stone tablet surmounted by arms and a motto
Silverhall Neighbourhood Park. This was formerly the grounds of a 17th house in North Street house called Silver Hall built by John Smith which was demolished in 1801. It was named for called Silver Oliver who was the son of an 18th owner. A replacement was built in 1813 by William Farnell, owner of Isleworth Brewery on the north side and was used by the Vicar of All Saints Church until 1855. From 1880 it housed a Carmelite Convent which had who had moved here from Fulham Carmel. They moved out in 1908 and the house remained empty until 1914 when it was let and in 1917 rented to Miss Palmer for a boarding school. It was last known as Collingwood College and was derelict by the 1940s and demolished in the 1950s. The Duke of Northumberland's River runs through the park.
Nature Reserve. The northern part of the park is managed as a nature reserve, with the formal park on the south side. Trees include sweet chestnut, yew, oak, and a pocket handkerchief tree.
Icehouse. There are remains in the grounds.
North Street
5-6 British Legion Club
Silverhall Gates. John Smith was created a baronet in 1694 and his arms are on the gate piers.
The Blue School. This is now a local authority primary school. The school originated in the building now in Lower Square where the name was established. In 1870 the girls' department was moved to North Street from there. In 1939 the boys too were transferred to North Street and the school continues there.
Percy Gardens
Tower block of flats which dates from the 1960s
Arm of the Duke of Northumberland’s River. east of here was by 1851 the only evidence left of the moat of the original medieval manor-house.
Moated Manor. This belonged to the Crown from 1312
Percy Road
Twickenham Academy. This was formerly Whitton School and is now sponsored by the Swedish company Kunskapsskolan.
Whitton School. Opened in 1959
Railshead
The name of Railshead dates from at least the early 15th and is thought to refer to broken stakes at Isleworth Weir. These could still be seen in the early 20th
Weir. This medieval weir was called Isleworth Weir and it was broken down by 1538 and rebuilt later. It was much complained of by local fishermen as were illegal weirs to catch lampreys. .
Railshead Bridge. The first bridge over the Crane here carried the road to Twickenham and was a footbridge. In the mid 17th a brick bridge to take coaches was built
Rails-head Ferry still existed in 1959; over sixty years after the nearby footbridge had been built. It had been established in Isleworth the end of the reign of George III and carried pedestrians and carriages to Sheen. Until the mid-18th the south bank towpath ended here and barges were towed on the north Middlesex bank to Twickenham Ait where it switched again to the other side. Towing was by men, and latterly with horses. Nearby was a premises called “The Ferry House”. In 1959 the ferry was operated by a Con Dargon.
A pottery was established here by Joseph Shore from Worcester in around 1750 at the mouth of the Crane. The buildings straddled both the current scout site and that of Isleworth House. The main part was probably in the part still in Nazareth House grounds and excavations show floor surfaces and walls from the pottery buildings. There were 23 small houses and a stable as well as the house, pottery and yard. The pottery was red earthenware, sometimes decorated with brown zig-zag slip and yellow glaze. The works consisted of 2 kilns, one for biscuit and one for glazing. In 1825 it moved to Hounslow and closed around 1850. Later the site was used a parish rubbish tip
Waterside Business Centre on the site of an earlier works
Thistleworth Marine. This is a residential co-operative marina at the mouth of the Crane. It dates from 1973. It includes houseboats, barge conversions, Humber keels and Dutchmen, narrow boats, lifeboats and a twin engined diesel yacht converted from an Admiralty steam harbour launch.
Richmond Road
The road originally ran along the riverside but was diverted by Sir William Cooper to its present route.
Stock brick wall. This surrounds the seven acres of Nazareth House and curves along the road to the junction with South Street and Lion Wharf Road.
Nazareth House Gatehouse. Built in the 19th single storey with Doric columns around the doorway
Isleworth House, later known as the White House. In 1832 rebuilt by Edward Blore for George III's chaplain, Sir William Cooper. White stuccoed mansion with an Italian campanile and bow windows. Cooper enlarged his grounds both by buying up and demolishing houses to both the north and south of the estate and by diverting Richmond Road. There are some original fitting inside
Service range – this was built at the same time as the house. This includes a stable with a courtyard and a clock turret.
Nazareth House. The Poor Sisters of Nazareth, founded in the mid 19th in Hammersmith renamed Isleworth House and established a convent and old people’s home here in 1892. Closed in 2002 because of a shortage of nuns.
Red House. This faces Richmond Road gates and was built for the nuns as Nazareth House Industrial School for Roman Catholic Girls in 1899 for 120 girls'. Thus closed in 1922 and became a children's home which closed in 1985 and became a residential home for the elderly, Closed in 2002
Chapel in red brick built in 1902. This is next to the stables and also links to the house. Over the door is a niche with statue of Mary. Inside are a Marble Altar and an arcade to the nuns' choir. Designed by Pugin and Pugin.
Burial ground – part of the convent complex
Ice house. One-storey octagonal building, latterly used for poultry. There were other garden buildings
Sewers. In 1938 Middlesex County Council placed sewers under the Nazareth House grounds taking the effluent from Mogden sewage works to the outfall on Isleworth Ait.
Elements Scout Network. Third Osterley Sea Scout Group was set up in Spring Grove, Osterley as a land scout group. Moving to the riverside they became the Third Osterley Sea Scouts. The group moved around originally from churches to other accommodation. In 1943 they were able to erect an asbestos hut on some of the land of Nazareth House and they eventually bought the site in 1950. A Nissen hut was acquired and various bits of equipment and boats. Sea rangers also used the facilities. The group has continued to flourish and expand ever since.
Gordon House. This was probably built around 1720. It is a grand two storey brick house with lavish features and fronting onto the river. Some of the inside designed by Robert Adam and there are many decorative features and a grand oak staircase. Adam also undertook alterations to the house in 1758. It was originally called Seaton House and later purchased by William IV for his daughter, Lady Augusta FitzClarence, who later married Lord John Frederick Gordon. It was later owned by T.C. Haliburton and then by Lord Kilmorey in 1865 who carried out extensive alterations. It then became the Gordon House Girls Home which was a certified Industrial School for 60 girls founded by the London School Board. The school closed in 1921 and the buildings were taken over by The Royal Naval Female School. In 1946 it was taken over by the Maria Grey College moving here from Fitzroy Square. This was a women’s teacher training college which in 1976 merged with others to become the West London Institute of Higher Education. In 1995 this became part of Brunel University. Over the time of its institutional use many ancillary buildings were put in place. The site was sold when the department moved in 2005
Grounds. Within the grounds is a large plane tree, an orangery and a mound
Tunnel. The Earl of Kilmorey is said have built a tunnel from here to his mausoleum which is now to the south in St. Margaret’s Road. The tunnel itself was plastered and painted with a green trellis design.
Gate house. Stone eagle carving and the stylized 'K' design of Lord Kilmorey, on the house itself.
Coach and Horses. This was on the north side of the road opposite Railshead. It disappeared in the 20th.
River Crane
The Crane has been described is the only remaining true tidal natural tributary of the Thames; others having been piped or have weirs. The present course is not original. It was slightly diverted during the 19th and now runs at right angles to the Thames.
Shrewsbury Walk
Commemorates Shrewsbury Place, where the Duke of Shrewsbury, an ex Catholic, died in 1718.
1 Sunvil Holidays. This was originally built as a bank, latterly Barclays
South Street
Isleworth War Memorial. In the form of a clock tower. Erected in 1922 and designed by A. P. Green, built by Keates and Company of Hampton, in honour of the 386 Isleworth men killed in the First World War. There is an inscription about payment by public subscription and it’s unveiling. The Clock was supplied by. Gillett and Johnston of Croydon. Another memorial slab to 1939 – 45 war dead is on the south steps.
79 Foundry Cars. Site of Winterborne Foundry where William Winterbourne was in business into his 90s.
St Mary’s Catholic Church school. A Roman Catholic school for poor children was a girls' school of St. Mary's, started by the nuns of Gumley House in 1841. This had its own building by 1844 and a mixed infants' department in 1889. In 1922 to a building previously used by the private convent school. A Roman Catholic boys' school moved to Shrewsbury Place in 1855. In 1908 the boys' school moved with the church to Twickenham Road 1908 on land given by the Misses Saunders of Silver Hall. It is now a primary school for boys and girls.
22 The King's Arms. This pub was established before 1853. It was rebuilt in 1898 and closed in 2005. Now demolished.
The Blue School New Hall. Used by the school in the day and community use in the evening,
Isleworth Public Hall. Reading Room, built in 1863 with a public hall added in 1887-8 designed by S Woodbridge In brick. Inside the entrance hall is a tessellated floor and a marble Boer War memorial. In 1872 a local baths association built a small swimming pool and slipper baths was built at the rear of the reading room. A new reading room was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee in 1887 and the hall was built with money Subscribed and pomade by a partner at the Kidd's Flour Mill. This was initially a private library until 1904 and then a public library until 1936. In the Second World War it was a British Restaurant.
St Johns Road
Isleworth Working Men’s Club
St Margaret’s Road
Lacy House. This was a 17th house rebuilt in 1750 for James Lacy, of Drury Lane Theatre. His son inherited the property but he sold to Edward Walpole and it later came into the ownership of playwright Richard Sheridan, Lacy House was demolished in the 1830s. It was replaced by St Margaret's House built by the 1st Marquis of Ailsa. Thus was replaced by Kilmorey House 1853 Built for 2nd Earl of Kilmorey by Louis Vulliamy. It became the Royal Naval School for Girls in 1856 until 1940 when it was destroyed by bombing. The site of the house was within the area of the campus of what was later Brunel University. The walls of the house lie along the east side of the road.
Main entry gate and gate house to St. Margaret's House with reclining lion statues and on the house moulded stone work 'K' design of Lord Kilmorey
Swan Street
House of Lord Grey of Warke lay on the south side of the street in in 1695.
1 Swan Inn. Pub which is a Fuller Smith and Turner house.
Town Wharf. This was a general wharfage area where boats from as far away as Scandinavia berthed. Cargos were mainly wood and coal but there were also barges with ice.
Town Wharf. A large modern pub with terraces by Hunt Thompson Associates. This is a Sam Smith's house.
Thames House
Twickenham Road
Running parallel to the river this is the A 310 which takes traffic to Twickenham, Teddington and beyond. It was part of the King's Highway to Hampton Court
Sarah Sermon's Almshouses, built in 1849 it consists of six one-storey homes in polychrome brick. They were built and endowed by Mrs. Sarah Sermon.
114 The George. With a 18th brick front of four bays and a cornice below gables. Gay pub.
146 The Isleworth Health Centre, NHS
158-160 Holme Court, a substantial house of 1700 with three storeys, and rubbed brick surrounds to the window. Van Gogh taught here when it was a Methodist boys' boarding school run by the Reverend J.S. Jones. In 1876 and there is a plaque to him. It later became Holme Court Truant School, established in 1891 by the Chiswick & Heston School Boards. This complex of buildings is now flats
Congregational Church. The first Independent congregation in Isleworth was registered in 1798. A place of worship for Congregationalists is mentioned in 1831, and in 1849 a chapel at the corner of Worton Road was opened.
A British school was attached to the congregational church it from 1840 to the 1880. It was in a building behind the chapel and was closed following inspections
Methodist church. Built in 1924. Now gone, seems to be the site of Harcourt Cottages.
Isleworth Recreation Centre. This is the site of Isleworth Pools opened in 1939.
Library. The library is now an integral part of the Leisure Centre and called something like Fusion.
Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Bridget of Sweden. In 1909 a new church was built next to the South Street Boys' School. It was paid for by Mrs. Macdonnell of Nazareth House. A bell tower was added to the church in 1927 and a parish hall in 1931. The dedication to St. Bridget is a reminder of the local Brigantine nun’s house. The church was built to the design of F. Doran Webb by Erwood and Morris of Bath. It is of brick and stone oolitic limestone from a quarry near Bath. The street facade has a large low-relief sculpture of the Crucifixion and in the arch over the front door is a relief depicting the Annunciation. When the church was designed, provision was made for a bell tower which was not built until 1927. The bell is a memorial to two late Victorian writers, Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper, who used the joint pen name of Michael Field.
Isleworth Explorers Boys' Club began in 1960 as a small club for meeting once a week in the hall of Isleworth Town Primary School. The Rotary Club of Isleworth obtained the lease of land in Twickenham Road and with funding from the Middlesex Association of Boys' Clubs the new club was opened by Simon Dee in 1969. In the 1980s there were girls there too. In 2008 the club underwent extensive renovation
Mogden House. Early 18th house in brick
Upper Square
18 Castle. Young’s pub which dates back to the late 18th
Drinking fountain to the memory of Henry Glossop, Vicar of All Saints' Isleworth who lived here 1822-1855
Worple Road
Old Police Station. This is now housing.
Worple Primary School. The school originates from a school started by the local authority in 1897
The Victoria Tavern
Lissenium Works. Lissen Ltd originated in Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush, in 1924 founded by a Mr. Cole in 1922 as a Manufacturer and retailer of parts for radio receivers including audio transformers, variable resistances and rheostats. In the late 1920s they became involved with Ever Ready and taken over by them in the 1930s and they were wound up after the Second World War.
Sources
British History Online. Twickenham
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Field. London Place Names
Grace’s Guide. Web site
Gumley House School. Web site
Isleworth Explorers. Web site
Isleworth. Wilkipedia web site
London Borough of Hounslow Web site
London Gardens Online. Web site
Lost Hospitals of London. Web site
Old Isleworth Housing Co-operative. Web site
Osborne. Defending London
Our Lady of Sorrows. Web site
Stevenson. Middlesex
Thames Discovery. Web site
Third Osterley Sea Scout Group. Web site
Twickenham Academy. Web site
The River Crane flows northwards and into the Thames.
The Duke of Northumberland’s River flows eastwards and into the Thames
This posting relates only to sites north of the river. South of the river is Richmond Old Deer Park Riverside
Post to the south St. Margaret's
Post to the west Mogden
Post to the north Isleworth
Byfield Road
Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The hall was registered by them in 1942
Butler’s Almshouses. Built and endowed by Elizabeth Butler in 1885. Designed by G.H. Boundaries, for the Isleworth United Charities Trust in red brick. Inside the porch is a tablet with inscribed ‘These alms houses were erected and endowed by Elizabeth Butler as a thank offering to God October 24th 1883’.
Church Street
Isleworth Manor Mill. This was behind Church Street and dated from, at least, the early middle ages.
Isleworth Flour Mill was destroyed by fire in 1795. There had been flour mills here since the 16th
Samuel Kidd took over the rebuilt mill in the early 1800sand in 1846 added two steam engines. As Kidd’s Mill, it was bought by Rank in 1934 and immediately closed and then demolished in the 1940s. Its site was an area of woodland to the east of Silverhall Park and some new housing.
6 Holland House. 18th house with a 1840’s façade
20 Riverside Mill House. New flats
Duke of Northumberland's River
In the early Middle Ages this was a stream called The Bourne
This is an artificial watercourse dating from the 16th to improve the flow of water to mills.
Wooden bridge, dating from the 1980s
Wider section of the river as it nears its junction with the Thames
Gumley Gardens
Gumley House Convent School. The school began in Gumley House, in 1841. This is a large brick mansion built about 1709 by John Gumley, glass manufacturer, cabinetmaker who specialised in mirrors, one of which still hangs in Hampton Court Palace and two in Chatsworth House, Derbyshire. He had a shop in the Strand, lived in Isleworth, taking an active part in local life. He became MP for Steyning in Sussex and was Commissary General. In 1795 the house was sold to Benjamin Angell a Wiltshire Quaker chintz printer and dyer. In 1841 it was sold to Madame d’Houët. She was the founder of the Faithful Companions of Jesus and she turned Gumley House into two Catholic schools - a boarding school for the wealthy and a day school for the poor. In 1890 St Mary's High School was opened followed by more buildings. The school became an approved secondary school and was the first Catholic School in Middlesex to be recognised by the Board of Education. In the 1960s the school no longer took boarders.
Harcourt Close
Harcourt Cottages. These are managed by the Old Isleworth Housing Cooperative. This started in 1985 but dates back to the 1960s when a group of young people came together through the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and local Folk Clubs and looked for practical co-operative solutions for some of their needs. The Freeman Syndicate was set up to and then the Middlesex Housing Association in 1969. They were involved with a number of projects. In 1982 Speyhawk Property developers negan redevelopment of Old Isleworth MHA secured a deal for new, Government subsidised, affordable housing. Their second scheme was Harcourt Cottages. These were built next to Sermon’s Almshouses which got a Civic Trust Award. These appear to be on the site of a previous Methodist church.
Hartland Road
Mission opened by H. W. P. Richards was vicar of Isleworth 1855-88 in 1878 for parochial and charitable work. In 1916 the mission was attached to the parish church. It was rebuilt in 1922 and part of the building was used as a church hall in 1958.
Herons Place
Private estate which stands behind Nazareth House and built in what were the grounds
Isleworth Ait
Island where at low tide the river retreats, leaving a land bridge across to the island and the Romans are said to have crossed the Thames here in AD 54. This was once four islands but the channels between them have silted up. It is now owned by Thames Water. The Metropolitan Water Board bought it from the Duke of Northumberland in the 1930s. Because of the importance of its wildlife sites it is managed by the London Wildlife Trust – there is a colony of Hairy German snails and of the Two-Lipped Door Snail
B.J. Woods, boatyard and floating dry docks
Swimming pool. In 1859 the Duke of Northumberland permitted a swimming pool to be built on the island for school children. No remnants of this remain.
Penstock sluices. In 1935 the embankment on the eastern side was raised and the sluices were installed to discharge treated sewage from Mogden Sewage works.
Kilmorey Road
Clifton Lodge. Detached villa, Built between 1852 and 1865 in Italianate style. The ground floor front rooms probably include the remains of a 19th orangery belonging to Twickenham Park. It is now home to the Rambert School of Ballet and contemporary dance. Marie Rambert began teaching in London in 1919 and founded the Rambert School which, was based at Notting Hill Gate. Out of it grew Rambert Dance Company. By the late 1970s Ballet Rambert found it had grown away from the and thus founded the present School at Twickenham. In 1981 this School became part of the West London Institute of Higher Education. This was subsumed into Brunel University in 2001 and in 2003; the School became independent of the university.
Violet Needham Chapel. Violet Needham was a children’s writer, the granddaughter of the Earl of Kilmorey, and she died in 1967. This chapel is clearly older and was built when the site was part of the Royal Naval Female School. They fund raised for a chapel, built in 1867, and this could be it.
Lion Wharf Road
Lion Wharf. River transportation companies operated from here, including Morgan’s from 1929. They handled among other things used to land timber, clay, rubber - for the Firestone factory - coal and chemicals. Gunpowder was handled for the Curtis and Harvey mills on Hounslow Heath. The site included quayside cranes and a travelling crane
Lion tug built for Morgan’s in 1937 and operated from here. Still afloat as the Caroline.
Lion Wharf. New buildings by Broadway Malyan, 1987. Post-modern in style
Shrewsbury House, This mansion was in the area of Lion Wharf which was one time called Beck's or Shrewsbury Wharf. There is said to have been a Catholic chapel there since 1675Around 1778 it was converted to a school for Roman Catholic boys. The house was demolished by 1810. The house is also said to have burnt down in 1795. In 1798 the Shrewsbury Place buildings were demolished and a free-standing chapel provided by the Earl of Shrewsbury, one of the first to be built under the 1779 Act. A school for poor boys was 1854, and this included a new chapel which was still there in 1958, when it was used as a store.
Crane. A small crane is located on the riverside as a sculptural feature.
Lower Square
Lawrence Parade. Modern development of shops, flats, and offices. Built in 1988 by Broadway Malyon.
10 Northumberland House. Housing in what was the Northumberland Arms pub. It was built for H. Limpus in 1834, the licence being transferred from the Phoenix Inn nearby. In 1837 it was leased to John and Charles Farnell of the Isleworth Brewery. Beer was served here to river workers and the latest prices for goods trading through Isleworth Dock were displayed. The name changed to The Duke of Northumberland in 1981 and then to The Inn on the Square. It closed in 1983.
Blue School. This was the old town school which was founded as a charity school for boys in 1630 and was called Blue School because of its blue uniforms. It moved to another site in the late 19th but the school buildings were used by the primary until 1939. It is a free-standing building which looks rather like a market house, designed in 1841 by C.F. Maltby, in pale brick. Originally it had with open arcades on the ground floor and a little turret with a clock. After the school left it became a factory bringing in an income which was used to support the North Street School.
John Day House. Stone-fronted 18th house named after the Day family who were doctors and surgeons and residents in the house...
Manor House Way
Site of the medieval manor house
Mill Plat
The name reflects that this was a mill site. It means a small piece of flat ground.
Ingram's Almshouses. These were founded in 1666 by Sir Thomas Ingram, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Lord Mayor of London and earlier owner of the house later belonging to the Duke of Shrewsbury. Six single storey red brick almshouses with a bed sitting room a kitchen and bathroom and, at the back, a garden. There is a central pediment with inscribed stone tablet surmounted by arms and a motto
Silverhall Neighbourhood Park. This was formerly the grounds of a 17th house in North Street house called Silver Hall built by John Smith which was demolished in 1801. It was named for called Silver Oliver who was the son of an 18th owner. A replacement was built in 1813 by William Farnell, owner of Isleworth Brewery on the north side and was used by the Vicar of All Saints Church until 1855. From 1880 it housed a Carmelite Convent which had who had moved here from Fulham Carmel. They moved out in 1908 and the house remained empty until 1914 when it was let and in 1917 rented to Miss Palmer for a boarding school. It was last known as Collingwood College and was derelict by the 1940s and demolished in the 1950s. The Duke of Northumberland's River runs through the park.
Nature Reserve. The northern part of the park is managed as a nature reserve, with the formal park on the south side. Trees include sweet chestnut, yew, oak, and a pocket handkerchief tree.
Icehouse. There are remains in the grounds.
North Street
5-6 British Legion Club
Silverhall Gates. John Smith was created a baronet in 1694 and his arms are on the gate piers.
The Blue School. This is now a local authority primary school. The school originated in the building now in Lower Square where the name was established. In 1870 the girls' department was moved to North Street from there. In 1939 the boys too were transferred to North Street and the school continues there.
Percy Gardens
Tower block of flats which dates from the 1960s
Arm of the Duke of Northumberland’s River. east of here was by 1851 the only evidence left of the moat of the original medieval manor-house.
Moated Manor. This belonged to the Crown from 1312
Percy Road
Twickenham Academy. This was formerly Whitton School and is now sponsored by the Swedish company Kunskapsskolan.
Whitton School. Opened in 1959
Railshead
The name of Railshead dates from at least the early 15th and is thought to refer to broken stakes at Isleworth Weir. These could still be seen in the early 20th
Weir. This medieval weir was called Isleworth Weir and it was broken down by 1538 and rebuilt later. It was much complained of by local fishermen as were illegal weirs to catch lampreys. .
Railshead Bridge. The first bridge over the Crane here carried the road to Twickenham and was a footbridge. In the mid 17th a brick bridge to take coaches was built
Rails-head Ferry still existed in 1959; over sixty years after the nearby footbridge had been built. It had been established in Isleworth the end of the reign of George III and carried pedestrians and carriages to Sheen. Until the mid-18th the south bank towpath ended here and barges were towed on the north Middlesex bank to Twickenham Ait where it switched again to the other side. Towing was by men, and latterly with horses. Nearby was a premises called “The Ferry House”. In 1959 the ferry was operated by a Con Dargon.
A pottery was established here by Joseph Shore from Worcester in around 1750 at the mouth of the Crane. The buildings straddled both the current scout site and that of Isleworth House. The main part was probably in the part still in Nazareth House grounds and excavations show floor surfaces and walls from the pottery buildings. There were 23 small houses and a stable as well as the house, pottery and yard. The pottery was red earthenware, sometimes decorated with brown zig-zag slip and yellow glaze. The works consisted of 2 kilns, one for biscuit and one for glazing. In 1825 it moved to Hounslow and closed around 1850. Later the site was used a parish rubbish tip
Waterside Business Centre on the site of an earlier works
Thistleworth Marine. This is a residential co-operative marina at the mouth of the Crane. It dates from 1973. It includes houseboats, barge conversions, Humber keels and Dutchmen, narrow boats, lifeboats and a twin engined diesel yacht converted from an Admiralty steam harbour launch.
Richmond Road
The road originally ran along the riverside but was diverted by Sir William Cooper to its present route.
Stock brick wall. This surrounds the seven acres of Nazareth House and curves along the road to the junction with South Street and Lion Wharf Road.
Nazareth House Gatehouse. Built in the 19th single storey with Doric columns around the doorway
Isleworth House, later known as the White House. In 1832 rebuilt by Edward Blore for George III's chaplain, Sir William Cooper. White stuccoed mansion with an Italian campanile and bow windows. Cooper enlarged his grounds both by buying up and demolishing houses to both the north and south of the estate and by diverting Richmond Road. There are some original fitting inside
Service range – this was built at the same time as the house. This includes a stable with a courtyard and a clock turret.
Nazareth House. The Poor Sisters of Nazareth, founded in the mid 19th in Hammersmith renamed Isleworth House and established a convent and old people’s home here in 1892. Closed in 2002 because of a shortage of nuns.
Red House. This faces Richmond Road gates and was built for the nuns as Nazareth House Industrial School for Roman Catholic Girls in 1899 for 120 girls'. Thus closed in 1922 and became a children's home which closed in 1985 and became a residential home for the elderly, Closed in 2002
Chapel in red brick built in 1902. This is next to the stables and also links to the house. Over the door is a niche with statue of Mary. Inside are a Marble Altar and an arcade to the nuns' choir. Designed by Pugin and Pugin.
Burial ground – part of the convent complex
Ice house. One-storey octagonal building, latterly used for poultry. There were other garden buildings
Sewers. In 1938 Middlesex County Council placed sewers under the Nazareth House grounds taking the effluent from Mogden sewage works to the outfall on Isleworth Ait.
Elements Scout Network. Third Osterley Sea Scout Group was set up in Spring Grove, Osterley as a land scout group. Moving to the riverside they became the Third Osterley Sea Scouts. The group moved around originally from churches to other accommodation. In 1943 they were able to erect an asbestos hut on some of the land of Nazareth House and they eventually bought the site in 1950. A Nissen hut was acquired and various bits of equipment and boats. Sea rangers also used the facilities. The group has continued to flourish and expand ever since.
Gordon House. This was probably built around 1720. It is a grand two storey brick house with lavish features and fronting onto the river. Some of the inside designed by Robert Adam and there are many decorative features and a grand oak staircase. Adam also undertook alterations to the house in 1758. It was originally called Seaton House and later purchased by William IV for his daughter, Lady Augusta FitzClarence, who later married Lord John Frederick Gordon. It was later owned by T.C. Haliburton and then by Lord Kilmorey in 1865 who carried out extensive alterations. It then became the Gordon House Girls Home which was a certified Industrial School for 60 girls founded by the London School Board. The school closed in 1921 and the buildings were taken over by The Royal Naval Female School. In 1946 it was taken over by the Maria Grey College moving here from Fitzroy Square. This was a women’s teacher training college which in 1976 merged with others to become the West London Institute of Higher Education. In 1995 this became part of Brunel University. Over the time of its institutional use many ancillary buildings were put in place. The site was sold when the department moved in 2005
Grounds. Within the grounds is a large plane tree, an orangery and a mound
Tunnel. The Earl of Kilmorey is said have built a tunnel from here to his mausoleum which is now to the south in St. Margaret’s Road. The tunnel itself was plastered and painted with a green trellis design.
Gate house. Stone eagle carving and the stylized 'K' design of Lord Kilmorey, on the house itself.
Coach and Horses. This was on the north side of the road opposite Railshead. It disappeared in the 20th.
River Crane
The Crane has been described is the only remaining true tidal natural tributary of the Thames; others having been piped or have weirs. The present course is not original. It was slightly diverted during the 19th and now runs at right angles to the Thames.
Shrewsbury Walk
Commemorates Shrewsbury Place, where the Duke of Shrewsbury, an ex Catholic, died in 1718.
1 Sunvil Holidays. This was originally built as a bank, latterly Barclays
South Street
Isleworth War Memorial. In the form of a clock tower. Erected in 1922 and designed by A. P. Green, built by Keates and Company of Hampton, in honour of the 386 Isleworth men killed in the First World War. There is an inscription about payment by public subscription and it’s unveiling. The Clock was supplied by. Gillett and Johnston of Croydon. Another memorial slab to 1939 – 45 war dead is on the south steps.
79 Foundry Cars. Site of Winterborne Foundry where William Winterbourne was in business into his 90s.
St Mary’s Catholic Church school. A Roman Catholic school for poor children was a girls' school of St. Mary's, started by the nuns of Gumley House in 1841. This had its own building by 1844 and a mixed infants' department in 1889. In 1922 to a building previously used by the private convent school. A Roman Catholic boys' school moved to Shrewsbury Place in 1855. In 1908 the boys' school moved with the church to Twickenham Road 1908 on land given by the Misses Saunders of Silver Hall. It is now a primary school for boys and girls.
22 The King's Arms. This pub was established before 1853. It was rebuilt in 1898 and closed in 2005. Now demolished.
The Blue School New Hall. Used by the school in the day and community use in the evening,
Isleworth Public Hall. Reading Room, built in 1863 with a public hall added in 1887-8 designed by S Woodbridge In brick. Inside the entrance hall is a tessellated floor and a marble Boer War memorial. In 1872 a local baths association built a small swimming pool and slipper baths was built at the rear of the reading room. A new reading room was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee in 1887 and the hall was built with money Subscribed and pomade by a partner at the Kidd's Flour Mill. This was initially a private library until 1904 and then a public library until 1936. In the Second World War it was a British Restaurant.
St Johns Road
Isleworth Working Men’s Club
St Margaret’s Road
Lacy House. This was a 17th house rebuilt in 1750 for James Lacy, of Drury Lane Theatre. His son inherited the property but he sold to Edward Walpole and it later came into the ownership of playwright Richard Sheridan, Lacy House was demolished in the 1830s. It was replaced by St Margaret's House built by the 1st Marquis of Ailsa. Thus was replaced by Kilmorey House 1853 Built for 2nd Earl of Kilmorey by Louis Vulliamy. It became the Royal Naval School for Girls in 1856 until 1940 when it was destroyed by bombing. The site of the house was within the area of the campus of what was later Brunel University. The walls of the house lie along the east side of the road.
Main entry gate and gate house to St. Margaret's House with reclining lion statues and on the house moulded stone work 'K' design of Lord Kilmorey
Swan Street
House of Lord Grey of Warke lay on the south side of the street in in 1695.
1 Swan Inn. Pub which is a Fuller Smith and Turner house.
Town Wharf. This was a general wharfage area where boats from as far away as Scandinavia berthed. Cargos were mainly wood and coal but there were also barges with ice.
Town Wharf. A large modern pub with terraces by Hunt Thompson Associates. This is a Sam Smith's house.
Thames House
Twickenham Road
Running parallel to the river this is the A 310 which takes traffic to Twickenham, Teddington and beyond. It was part of the King's Highway to Hampton Court
Sarah Sermon's Almshouses, built in 1849 it consists of six one-storey homes in polychrome brick. They were built and endowed by Mrs. Sarah Sermon.
114 The George. With a 18th brick front of four bays and a cornice below gables. Gay pub.
146 The Isleworth Health Centre, NHS
158-160 Holme Court, a substantial house of 1700 with three storeys, and rubbed brick surrounds to the window. Van Gogh taught here when it was a Methodist boys' boarding school run by the Reverend J.S. Jones. In 1876 and there is a plaque to him. It later became Holme Court Truant School, established in 1891 by the Chiswick & Heston School Boards. This complex of buildings is now flats
Congregational Church. The first Independent congregation in Isleworth was registered in 1798. A place of worship for Congregationalists is mentioned in 1831, and in 1849 a chapel at the corner of Worton Road was opened.
A British school was attached to the congregational church it from 1840 to the 1880. It was in a building behind the chapel and was closed following inspections
Methodist church. Built in 1924. Now gone, seems to be the site of Harcourt Cottages.
Isleworth Recreation Centre. This is the site of Isleworth Pools opened in 1939.
Library. The library is now an integral part of the Leisure Centre and called something like Fusion.
Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Bridget of Sweden. In 1909 a new church was built next to the South Street Boys' School. It was paid for by Mrs. Macdonnell of Nazareth House. A bell tower was added to the church in 1927 and a parish hall in 1931. The dedication to St. Bridget is a reminder of the local Brigantine nun’s house. The church was built to the design of F. Doran Webb by Erwood and Morris of Bath. It is of brick and stone oolitic limestone from a quarry near Bath. The street facade has a large low-relief sculpture of the Crucifixion and in the arch over the front door is a relief depicting the Annunciation. When the church was designed, provision was made for a bell tower which was not built until 1927. The bell is a memorial to two late Victorian writers, Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper, who used the joint pen name of Michael Field.
Isleworth Explorers Boys' Club began in 1960 as a small club for meeting once a week in the hall of Isleworth Town Primary School. The Rotary Club of Isleworth obtained the lease of land in Twickenham Road and with funding from the Middlesex Association of Boys' Clubs the new club was opened by Simon Dee in 1969. In the 1980s there were girls there too. In 2008 the club underwent extensive renovation
Mogden House. Early 18th house in brick
Upper Square
18 Castle. Young’s pub which dates back to the late 18th
Drinking fountain to the memory of Henry Glossop, Vicar of All Saints' Isleworth who lived here 1822-1855
Worple Road
Old Police Station. This is now housing.
Worple Primary School. The school originates from a school started by the local authority in 1897
The Victoria Tavern
Lissenium Works. Lissen Ltd originated in Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush, in 1924 founded by a Mr. Cole in 1922 as a Manufacturer and retailer of parts for radio receivers including audio transformers, variable resistances and rheostats. In the late 1920s they became involved with Ever Ready and taken over by them in the 1930s and they were wound up after the Second World War.
Sources
British History Online. Twickenham
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Field. London Place Names
Grace’s Guide. Web site
Gumley House School. Web site
Isleworth Explorers. Web site
Isleworth. Wilkipedia web site
London Borough of Hounslow Web site
London Gardens Online. Web site
Lost Hospitals of London. Web site
Old Isleworth Housing Co-operative. Web site
Osborne. Defending London
Our Lady of Sorrows. Web site
Stevenson. Middlesex
Thames Discovery. Web site
Third Osterley Sea Scout Group. Web site
Twickenham Academy. Web site
Comments
The Kings Arms pub off South Street was not demolished but converted into part of a supermarket, with flats above.