Hanwell, Middlesex

Historical Description

Hanwell, a village and a parish in Middlesex. The village stands on the river Brent, adjacent to the G.W.R., on which it has a station, near the Grand Junction Canal, 2½ miles NNW from Brentford; was known at Domesday as Hanewelle, belonged then to Westminster Abbey; has a post, money order, and telegraph office in the Ealing suburban district (W), and a police station. It is governed by a local board of nine members, formed in 1885. The parish includes also the hamlet of Dormans Wells, and comprises 1054 acres of land and 13 of water; population, 6139. The manor belongs to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Hanwell Park, Brent Lodge, The Spring, and The Grove are chief residences, and there are many good villas. The extensive buildings of the Central London District School stand on Cuckoo Farm, and afford accommodation for upwards of 1300 children. The Middlesex county asylum for pauper lunatics bears the name of Hanwell Asylum, but is beyond the parish, within Norwood precinct, was erected at a cost of £125, 000, stands so on an eminence as to be well seen over a long distance around, has undergone great improvement, possesses large gardens with beautiful walks, and contains accommodation for about 1900 inmates. A viaduct of 8 arches takes the railway here over the Brent. There are market-gardens. The living is a rectory in the diocese of London; gross value, £530 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of London. The church was rebuilt in 1841 at a cost of £4000, is a handsome edifice in the Early English style, and contains the remains of Jonas Hanway, the founder of the Marine Society. St Mark's Church, which was erected' in 1883, is a building of brick in the Gothic style. There are Baptist, Roman Catholic, and Wesleyan chapels, a Roman Catholic convalescent home, two cemeteries, and charities worth about £150 a year.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

We have transcribed the marriage records for the parish of St. Mary, Hanwell, Middlesex, 1571-1812. This parish includes the chapelries of New and Old Brentford. We will be transcribing the baptism and burial records in due course, and marriages up to 1921.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Hanwell from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Hanwell (St. Mary))

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Middlesex is online.

Maps

Online maps of Hanwell are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)