Category: Local history

I’ve read the recently published book which tells the story of John Quincy Adams’ stay in Ealing as US representative to Great Britain before he became the 6th President of the United States.  For two years, 1815-1817 he lived at Little Boston House just across from Boston House. The book is based on his detailed diaries and gives a facsinating insight in to life and society in Ealing. He was a great walker and he visited the Ealing Races at Ealing Dean (including what is now Dean Gardens) which was well known for pony and donkey racing – leading to its nickname of ‘Jackass Common’.  This talk on Wednesday 8th July at The Log Cabin near Northfields station should be worth the £2 admission fee.

It should come as no surprise that many of our names have royal connections, partly for patriotic reasons but also reflective of the fact that Duke of of Kent (1767 -1820) Edward Augustus, father of Queen Victoria lived at Castle Hill Lodge from 1801-12. A replacement house was built in 1845 and a small part still exists and is now occupied by St David’s Home. So we have Kent Gardens, Regina Road/Terrace and Victoria Road/ Cumberland Road in W5/W7. 

An interesting name of agricultural origins is Hessel Road and a member of Steel family told me that the family use to grow the Hessel Pears, hence this name. “Excellently hardy pear. Ready October. Round to conical fruit. Pale yellow with small russeted dots. Quite a sweet fruit. Does well in the north of country. Crops very heavy. Found in Hessle, Yorkshire.” An internet search reveal you can buy a tree for £12.75. Other fruit names which are just in W5 in Little Ealing are named after varieties of cooking apples Bramley, Julian & Wellington roads, which were built on land developed by the Steel family.

While on the agricultural theme, the names of fields often find themselves being used for street names. The obvious ones Broomfield Road/Place, Churchfield, Courtfield, Glenfield Road/Terrace, Kirkfield, Mayfield, Middlefielde, Northfields, Westfield. A very un-obvious one is Northcroft  Road, which probably takes it name from a field called North Kings Croft. The road itself follows a footpath that linked Windmill road in Little Ealing with West Ealing.

Northfield’s school site is bordered on one side by Balfour Road and nearby are Salisbury and Chamberlain Roads, all of these undoubtedly take their name from politicians of the period. Balfour was Prime Minister in 1902 when the Education Act of that year, made education compulsory. The previous 1870 act had allowed local communities if they so decided to offer education and to recoup the cost through the “rates” (now Council Tax), consequently the provision was patchy. The passing of act prompted much school building and Northfield school dated from this period. The building design was used for Little Ealing School as well, which saved on the cost. Balfour had previously served in his Uncle’s – Lord Salisbury cabinet, which is where we get Salisbury Road from. Chamberlain Road is named after Joseph Chamberlain (1836 – 1914) who in his early years was a campaigner for educational reform, serving as Mayor of Birmingham before becoming an MP, rather than his more famous son Neville Chamberlain. It was Neville who signed the Munich Agreement in 1938, which was popular with most people in Britain because it appeared to have prevented a war with Nazi Germany. Charles Steel was a a conservative party supporter and was probably behind the naming of these roads.

Whilst in this area Marder road takes its name from the Marder Estates, which was land purchased by the Steel family and for a while they were early estate agents with an office at 2 Plough Terrace called (The South Marder Estates Co ). Ironically, the building is still used today as an estate agents.

David Shailes (to be continued).

Over the years we’ve published a wide range of articles on local history in our newsletters.  I keep saying to myself that I must collect them together on our website and make them easily accessible as they are a bit hard to find. In the meantime, I thought I’d publish some of them on our blog as not everyone will have had the chance to read them. This one gives a glimpse in to West Ealing’s history as a market garden for the ever-growing population of London.

In Victorian times much of the land of West Ealing south of the Uxbridge Road was used for agriculture and, in particular, market gardens, nurseries and orchards. Local historian David Shailes has researched the history of West Ealing in considerable detail and this short extract from his work gives a fascinating insight into an important part of our local history and has helped inspire West Ealing Neighbours’ Abundance project.

On the 6^th February 1832 the Bishop of London transferred what was then known as ‘Jackass Common’ to the Parish for use as allotments. At the north end of Northfield Avenue there remains one set of allotments. Similar allotments existed on the other side until the early 1980’s when the western allotment site was compulsorily purchased and developed for housing with the Sherwood Close Estate along with sheltered accommodation belonging to what is now the Pathways charity – the owner of the two allotment sites. These two allotments together with Dean Gardens(created in 1911) formed part of ‘Jackass Common’ which was described at the time as being covered in rough furze. The Jackass referred to the annual donkey races held until they were deemed too unruly (what we would now call anti-social behaviour!).

Poster for the annual ‘Jackass Races’ from the early 1800s

The next field along the Uxbridge Road stretched from what is now Dean Gardens to Coldershaw Road and in the 1839/40 Tithe survey was owned by the Loveday Estates and known as ‘Green Man Field’ being used as arable land by Elizabeth Humphreys. Directly beneath this was a field which stretched down to what is now Leighton Road, from appoximately Leeland Terrace in the north to Coldershaw Road in the west. This was farmed by John Meacock of Little Ealing.

Entry from a Victorian trade directory

The first nursery on part of the site which stretched all the way to what is now Leighton Road in the south, was bordered by the allotments in the east, the Uxbridge Road in the north to what is Westfield Road in the west was run by Charles Lee & Sons.  This is first mentioned in an advertisement the Kelly’s Directory of 1895/6:

‘Close to Castle Hill Station(West Ealing) on the Great Western Main Line and a mile to Ealing Station there is an avenue of conifers, fruit trees and roses  half a mile long – 30,000 fruit trees, 20,000 Standard & dwarf roses. Shrubs of various kinds and also a collection of herbaceous plants.’

They left the site in about 1902 when the Loveday Estates sold their land for housing development. They moved for a few years to a site on the Uxbridge Road at Ealing Common, before disappearing. But they left us with the street names Leeland Road/Terrace.

From what is now Melbourne Avenue to St James Avenue was occupied by Charles Steel & Sons. The Steel family had a market garden business in Ealing from about 1837, but the first entry in a trade directory is in Mason’s (1853) on land at Boston Gardens, Boston Road. This was tucked behind Boston Farm and was on part of the land which forms the allotments to west end of Northfields Recreation Grounds. They were still here in the 1860 directory. Charles Steel Jnr is shown as having a market garden in Gunnersbury in the 1877 directory and by 1878 has a further garden at Castle Bar Hill.

The Steel Fruit Warehouse

By 1886 the first street of houses has appeared in Northfields and this was Northfield Road and at the western end Charles Steel & Sons had premises on the northside. These premises are still extant and have always looked out of place with the rest of the area, as they are a three-storey warehouse type building which incorporates Ivy Cottage.

In the 1891 census this was occupied by G.A.Simmonds – Agricultural Foreman and an additional location known as Steel’s Farm was occupied by H.Hallet – Gardeners Foreman. Quite a few of the inhabitants of Northfield Road were connected with gardening or were described as agricultural labourers.

Lido Junction circa 1905

By 1894/5 Charles Steel is living at 228 Uxbridge Road, which was virtually opposite the northern end of his market garden. In his obituary in the Middlesex County Times in July 1911 it states that he had a market garden which stretched from the Uxbridge Road in the north to the District Railway in the south.  This is more or less confirmed by the Ealing General Rate book in the GLO dated 4/4/1889. He died on 19^th July 1911 at the age of 74 and had lived all his life (bar the first 3mths) in Ealing – initially at Boston Gardens.

In the pursuit of his profession he had visited Australia, which in the days of no aviation was no mean feat. He served for the first year of the new Borough as a Councillor (1902) and stood down, as in those days the Council was not re-elected en-masse every 4 years, but a proportion of ward councillors stood for re-election each year. He did not stand for re-election.

Adelaide Road is one of the ‘Australian- named’ roads on land developed by the Steel family

The ordnance survey map for 1894/5 clearly shows trees to the west of Steel’s warehouse, which I have presumed were orchards as Charles Steel’s business is described as a Fruit Grower. As his market garden shrank in size he retained these premises and appeared to have moved out by 1912 the year after his death.

He had let space to Albert Harris a Horticultural builder from 1907. Initially after Steel’s death only Harris is shown as the occupant. In 1926  the occupants are Sanders who are using them as a Furniture Depository.

When Charles Steel died his Estate was worth £59,706 17s 6d (Somerset House). Charles had a brother Richard J. who was an Auctioneer and Land Agent who initially had an office in Hanwell (Kelly’s Directory 1887/8)and is also shown as a Market Gardener at Boston Gardens. By 1894/5 he had given up his Hanwell offices to establish his Auctioneering business at Southall market. He was still living at Boston Gardens when he died on 12/8/1916. His Estate on his death was worth £26,115 5s 1d (Somerset House).

(Our newletters have three articles about the origins of local street names. This link is to the first of these articles. The July and September newsletters have the two subsequent articles on street names.)