Yiewsley

To the west of Yiewsley, beyond the River Colne lie the Buckinghamshire villages of Iver, Richings Park and Thorney. To the north, over the River Pinn is Cowley Peachey. To the northeast of Yiewsley is Hillingdon and the villages of Colham Green and Goulds Green. To the west lies Stockley Park and to the south, across the Great Western Railway is West Drayton.

Within the brickearth and gravels deposited by the Thames significant quantities of early human tools were found when commercial excavations began in Yiewsley on an industrial scale in the 19th century. The first person to start collecting artifacts from Yiewsley was John Allen Brown (1833-1903) a Fellow of the Geological Society who collected between 1889 and 1901.[4] The principle collector was Robert Galloway Rice (1852-1933), a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries who recorded over 2600 items from the Yiewsley area between approximately 1905 and 1929.[4] In 1937 his collection of Lower Palaeolithic and Middle Palaeolithic artifacts was donated to the Museum of London.[5]

In his 1978 Archaeological Report, Early Man in West Middlesex, The Yiewsley Palaeolithic sites, Palaeontologist Desmond Collins states the following with regard to the archaeological significance of the Yiewsley sites:

“..the Yiewsley pits have yielded one of the largest series of Lower Palaeolithic stone hand tools in Europe and the area remains one of the richest Palaeolithic sites in Britain.”[4]

“A feature unique to Yiewsley is the presence in a higher level of stone tools of a Middle palaeolithic (Mousterian) date, isolated for the first time, and indicating occupation during the Neanderthal period some 70,000 years ago – a period of man’s development otherwise poorly resented in the archaeology of Britain”[4]

In 1913-1914,[6] there was the discovery of a Bronze Age urnfield cemetery with the excavation of 14 Deverel-Rimbury cinerary urns.[7] These and other Bronze Age items have been cataloged at the British Museum.[8]

In the spring of 893, after overwintering at Appledore and then plundering through Kent and Sussex, a Viking raiding army turned to head for the Danish controlled lands in the east (later known as the Danelaw). However they were intercepted by Alfred the Great’s son Edward with his West Saxon Fyrd at Farnham in Surry. The Danes were routed, fleeing over the River Thames with the West Saxon army in pursuit. Having reached the River Colne the Danes mounted a defence on what was known as Thorney Island, believed to be land between the Colne and an offshoot channel of the river between Thorney and Iver, approximately half a mile west from Yiewsley High Street today. The West Saxons began a siege of the island, but were unable to gain a decisive victory. After several weeks of stalemate an agreement was reached for the Danes to leave peacefully. Hostages were taken as collateral and vows made by the Danes that they would go directly to the Danelaw which they duly did, without any of their plundered spoils.[9][10]

For the majority of its existence Yiewsley was a hamlet in the Parish of St John the Baptist Church, Hillingdon, with a tenurial relationship with Colham Manor. Before the Norman Conquest, Colham Manor had belonged to Wigot of Wallingford. By the time of Domesday Book in 1086 it was the property of one of William the Conqueror’s principle advisors, Roger de Montgomery.

In Colham Manor’s fertile arable fields in the late 1300's, wheat was the predominant crop grown, but also rye and oats were farmed.[11] Surplus grain was sold in London or Uxbridge.[11] By the 12th Century Uxbridge had become the market town for the Parish of Hillingdon[12] and it is thought by the 14th Century the town’s population had exceeded that of the rest of the Parish, and this remained the case until the 1821 census.[11] By 1600 Uxbridge was the principle Corn market for West Middlesex and much of south Buckinghamshire.[12]

With plentiful and consistent supplies of water from the River Colne and its tributaries, water mills played an important role in the Parish becoming a major flour milling centre.[11] The Fray's River is believed to have been cut or modified for the use of water mills by John Fray in the 15th century. By 1641 the Fray’s River powered at least five mills in Hillingdon Parish: Town or Frays mill, Rabbs mill, Cowley Hall mill, Yiewsley mill, and Colham mill.[11] The nearest mills to Yiewsley were Colham Mill (called Lower Colham Mill from around 1746) in the south of the Parish and Yiewsley Mill which was situated on the northern side of Yiewsley Moor, at today’s Little Britain Lake.

The oldest buildings in Yiewsley today date from the late 16th century or early 17th century and are situated at either end of Yiewsley High Street. At the northern end of the High Street is Yiewsley Grange which overlooks the River Pinn and is Hillingdon Manor School today.[13] Next to Yiewsley Grange is the Six-bay Barn at Philpot’s Yard (Formally Philpot’s Farm).[14] At the southern end of the High Street is the De Burgh Arms Public house.[15].

Yiewsley’s agrarian way of life started to change with the opening of the Grand Junction Canal. Construction began at Brentford in 1793. Initially routing west, it followed the natural 100 foot contour to avoid the building of expensive and time consuming locks.[16] It was cut through Yiewsley, turning north to follow the route of the River Colne. In 1795 the canal was opened between the River Thames and Uxbridge and in the next year 1796, Yiewsley’s first dock, Colham wharf was opened next to Colham Bridge. In 1801 the Paddington Arm of the canal opened from Bulls Bridge near Hayes and would be of national importance as a trade route into and from the Capital.[17]

The building of the canal enabled the bulk transportation of what became known as 'Cowley Stock bricks', made from Yiewsley’s rich deposits of brick-earth. In 1820 a branch of the canal known as Otter Dock was opened. It would become the longest of nine arms and docks that were constructed in Yiewsley to service the outgoing transportation of bricks and the importing of coal from the Midlands to fire Yiewsley’s clamp kilns. The finished bricks were then transported along the Grand Junction Canal to South Wharf in the Paddington Basin, or to wharves along the Regent's Canal.[16]

By the 1820’s brick-making had became a significant industry in Yiewsley and by 1856 at least five million bricks per year were being moulded and fired in brick-fields in the Parish of Hillingdon.[18] By the 1890's it is estimated 100 Million bricks per year were being produced in West Middlesex supplying the demand for building materials of Victorian London.[16] With this huge production rate the deposits of brick-earth began to become depleted around the turn of the century. Brick-earth was still being extracted from Hide Field to the east of Yiewsley in 1913 but by 1930 the Stockley brickworks were producing only 2 million bricks a year. The brick-field was closed in 1935,[11] but the underlying gravels continued to be extracted until the 1970's.

The construction of the Great Western Railway (GWR) began in 1835 and the line between Paddington and Maidenhead was opened in 1838 with West Drayton being its first station.[19] A GWR branch line to Uxbridge Vine Street via Cowley was completed in 1856. West Drayton Station was relocated east to its present position on Station Approach from Tavistock Road on the 9th April 1884, four months before a second branch line, operated by the Staines and West Drayton Railway (S&WDR) was opened on the 9th August 1884.[19] In 1895 the station was renamed West Drayton and Yiewsley station.[20]

By the 1960’s the demand for rail travel was falling. The branch line to Uxbridge Vine St was particularly affected by competition from the town’s Tube lines. Passenger services to Uxbridge were stopped in 1962, however part of the line was used for freight traffic until 1979.[19] The Staines line was closed to passengers in 1965 as a consequence of 1963 report ‘The Reshaping of British Railways’ by Dr Richard Beeching, Chairman of the British Railways Board (BRB).[21] The line continues to be used for freight services as far as Colnbrook.[19]

Another consequence of the Beeching report was the closure of over 2000 railway stations across Great Britain. A policy was adopted by the British Railways Board from 1968 until 1980 to shorten the remaining station’s names where possible. This policy resulted in Yiewsley being removed from the station name after 79 years on the 6th May 1974.[20]

By the middle of the 19th Century brick production and flour milling were Yiewsley’s main industries; However new industry was beginning to develop. The Victoria oil works near Colham Wharf was established before 1855.[11] A chemical works owned by Alfred White and Sons in 1890 was established by 1864 in the south of the Parish.[11] Hillingdon Varnish works, situated to the west of Iron Bridge Road had been established by 1868.[11] Horizontal Condensing Engines were being made by Edwin Philip Bastin & Company as early as 1875[22] and the Electrical Engineering Corporation was making electrical equipment and Dynamos by 1890.[23] An Indian rubber mill had been established by 1894 on Trout Road, in 1900 it was owned J.E Hopkinson & Co.[24] By 1900 the Rotary Photographic Company was established opposite Lower Colham Mill[25] and in 1903 the Power Plant Co was established producing Helical Gears and couplings.[26] By 1913 printing works had been established on Tavistock Road and Horton Bridge Road and the Steam Fittings Company Limited was producing ‘Steam traps’. The company changed its name to the Drayton Regulator and Instrument Company in 1926.[27] In 1918 Frederick Bird & Co of the West Drayton Engineering Works on Horton Road had been manufacturing engineering products as part of the war effort during the Great War.[28] In 1919 The Anglo-Swiss Screw Company was established on Trout Road,[29] the same year as the S.C. Johnson & Son wax company opened their factory on the site of Colham Wharf.[25] In 1920 the Admiralty Engineering Laboratory was operational in the south of the Yiewsley Urban District, specializing in experimental work for the Navy, the building had opened five years earlier as the Sonic engineering works.[11]

It would seem to be a curiosity why most of the early companies in Yiewsley chose to have West Drayton as their business address, as they were neither in West Drayton nor in the Parish of West Drayton. West Drayton remained a largely rural village until the 20th Century. However the railway station had been called West Drayton station since its opening in 1838 and only change to West Drayton and Yiewsley in 1895. With the Railways being the principle form of long distance travel in the late 19th century it would appear to have made commercial sense for a business to adopt West Drayton as its address.

In the 1920’s Trout road developed as a centre for companies involved in oils and chemical production. In 1921 K.B Mavlankar was producing Essential Oils at the British Aromatic Chemical Works on Trout Road.[30] From 1928 the Kenilworth Chemical Manufacturing Company and the English Metal Powder Company operated factories in Trout Road. Their factory was transferred after 1935 to the Middlesex Oil and Chemical Works Ltd, manufacturing oils, petroleum jellies, and resins. The Kenilworth Chemical and English Metal Powder companies then moved to an adjoining site in Trout Road. From the 1930s a number of smaller companies engaged in manufacturing chemicals, plastics, and engineering components were established on and around Trout Road, this would develop to being more than forty companies in the area.[11]

Two firms began production of motor vehicles in Yiewsley after the Second World War. Road Machines of Horton Parade manufactured a range of vehicles including contractors' plant equipment and Mono-Rail transporters[31] and in 1952 James Whitson & Co began manufacturing coaches and fire engines in Yiewsley High Street.[11]

In the early part of the 19th Century Yiewsley was a district of the Parish of St John the Baptist Church, Hillingdon. After the opening of the brick-fields Yiewsley’s population started to grow. Work began to provide for the building of a Mission Church (also referred to as a Chapel of Ease). St Matthew’s Church was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and was consecrated on the 6th July 1859. Yiewsley became a separate Ecclesiastical Parish in 1874.[32]

With the population of Yiewsley continuing to grow in the latter half of the 19th Century more room was required in the Church. The foundation stone of the enlarged church was laid on September 24th 1897 and the Church was consecrated by the Bishop of London on 25th April 1898.[33]

West Drayton railway station is located at the southern end of Yiewsley High Street and is on the Great Western Main Line. TfL Rail operates a stopping service between London Paddington and Reading and Great Western Railway (GWR) operates a stopping service between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway.

There are regular London bus services from Yiewsley to Uxbridge, Hayes, Ruislip, Hounslow and to the Heathrow Airport Terminals.

Heathrow Airport lies 2.5 miles (4 km) south of Yiewsley.