“May 24 was a mild, overcast day with no hint of the heatwave to follow that long, hot summer of 1976. It was the day 400 women voted in West London’s Boston Manor Park, to take strike action for equal pay.” (Sally Groves) In 1976, one of the most far-reaching equal pay strikes was successfully won at the Trico-Folberth factory in Brentford. An American company … Continue reading Trico: A Victory to Remember
From 1914 competitive football ended and teams played instead as The London Combination. The Brentford team had struggled with only 11 contracted players, relying on numerous guest players. Some had been called up, some had been killed and one had died of influenza in October 1918. After the Armistice attendances increased and Brentford ended the 1918-10 season as champions. Brentford FC v Chelsea, report from … Continue reading Peace Brings the Crowds Back to Football
All Canal Traffic held up. Owing to the excess of wet, a tremendous volume of land water has been flowing down the Brent of late. This culminated in the Weir near Col. Clitherow’s property bursting on Sunday afternoon. It was about two o’clock when a swift rush of water broke the weir down, the effect of which has been to empty the canal between the … Continue reading A Burst Weir, 1914
From returns made to the Commissioners of Metropolitan Police by the superintendents of the F, K, L, M, P, and R divisions of police, and transmitted this day to the General Board of Health, it appears that, between the 18th and 28th instant,there have occurred in those districts 20 cases of cholera, of which eight have resulted fatally. In one instance one patients died … Continue reading Cholera in 1853
At the end of the thirteenth century the Manor of Boston was given to the Priory of St Helen’s, Bishopsgate by King Edward I. It’s thought that the Priory may have used the Manor as a country retreat and as a place to grow food. Later they were granted a charter to hold a weekly market and an annual six day fair around St Lawrence’s Day in August.
The stalls would originally have been along the High Street – at that time little more than a wide track – but the market flourished due to easy access by river and locally grown produce for sale. By about 1587 it expanded in to an orchard on the north side of the High Street still called Market Place and expanded in to the Butts.
Locally grown produce was sold to merchants from London. Transport links by road and river were good and the carts and boats carrying fruit and vegetables returned filled with what was politely called ‘night soil’ which was used as fertiliser. Baskets for carrying the fruit and vegetables were made locally from the osiers cut from the willow trees grown on the aits or islands in the Thames. Continue reading “The Markets and Growers of Brentford”
BRENTFORD & CHISWICK TIMES
Friday May 29th 1942
WATERMEN AT WAR
Barges and Canal Boats are Vital Links in Supply Chain
BRENTFORD MEN’S EXPERIENCES.
Through Fires and Bombs Up River in London Blitz
On the late afternoon of September 6th 1940 a solitary pair of boats, frail river craft, moved steadily up the Thames between banks of blazing warehouses, flying masonry, and under a sky noisy with ‘planes and the crash of anti-aircraft fire. The boats’ crew of five, including two Brentford men, were maintaining the slogan ‘Keep Moving’, which river and canal workers have nailed to their masts for the duration. Continue reading “Watermen at War”
Memory of Mr Stan Prince who lived at No. 92 Brook Road:
“On days when the bikes used to come around, my dad would give me a couple of shillings for helping him. People used to cycle all the way from Windsor and Staines to watch Brentford play.
“This was before cars began to come in, and trains were expensive. Blokes used to jump off the bikes, we’d give them a ticket; we slapped a ticket on the bike and they’d run off to get into the queue for the ground.
“We used to run ’em through the house. We’d have loads of bikes in there. Threepence a time. You might rake in about 15 shillings. At the end of the game, they’d be saying, ‘where’s my bl**dy lamp gone; where’s my pump!’ Continue reading “Looking after bikes during football matches”
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert journeyed through Brentford for their honeymoon. Brentford as it looked on that occasion. Continue reading 1840 – The Marriage of Queen Victoria
The History of Brentford 