Gunnersbury’s past glories
We have reported in Around Ealing about the restoration project for Gunnersbury Park and its listed buildings. They have had an illustrious past. In 1663, Serjeant Maynard, a well-known lawyer, bought the estate. He led the prosecution in the 1640s against some of Charles I’s major supporters and his career prospered, not just under Cromwell, […]
Ealing and the Blitz
September 2010 marks the 70th anniversary of the start of the aerial attacks on Britain by the German air force – which were known collectively as ‘the Blitz’. These night-time attacks took place from September 1940 to May 1941. It was an attempt to cause as much damage and death as possible in order to weaken […]
An obscure little river?
Is that what you think of Ealing’s river, the River Brent, asks borough archivist Dr Jonathan Oates? It flows through Greenford and Hanwell before joining the canal and then into the Thames and it is true that it is not wide or deep enough to handle boats either for pleasure or for commerce. Yet it […]
Was Ealing the ‘Queen of the Suburbs’?
Some residents think of Ealing by this soubriquet; but what exactly does it mean, and why was it used? Clearly the term is meant to be a complimentary one. It was first coined by Ealing’s borough surveyor, Charles Jones, in a book published in 1902. In it he refers to Ealing as ‘Queen of Suburbs’. […]
How the council spent your money 100 years ago
From horses to hot baths, council budgets were a bit different a century ago, as Richard Nadal discovered in a 1902 account book from the archives. The old financial yearbook was for Ealing Town Council and its surrounding wards (Castlebar, Drayton, Grange, Lammas, Manor and Mount Park) together, formed the Borough of Ealing at the […]
What’s in a name? Our town’s origins
Our borough has reached a milestone. It was 45 years ago when, in 1965, the old boroughs of Ealing, Acton and Southall were abolished. They were merged into one new local authority, Ealing Council, administering the new London Borough of Ealing. Our borough now has a population of more than 300,000, but the origins of […]
Delius in Hanwell
An exhibition and booklet recently provided a unique insight into a period of Hanwell’s past. Gillian Spragg, artistic director of the Ealing Autumn Festival, tells the story of the detective work and inspiration behind it all. Since its inception in 2010, an essential element of the Ealing Autumn Festival has been to find slightly out […]
Second World War: ‘They were all very brave’
It has been 70 years since Megan Avery was last in Northolt. As she came back to visit the Polish War Memorial and pay her respects, the memories came flooding back. Lorien Nash was there to witness it. “I remember the Polish airmen were fantastic dancers,” Megan recalled. “They’d be dancing in the target nightclub […]
The art of democracy
To mark the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, an exhibition is being held in libraries across the borough. The exhibition opened in June with a special, themed event at Ealing Central Library which featured a talk by borough archivist Dr Jonathan Oates. The exhibition has remained in Ealing but will start touring all the other […]
When the Olympics were on our doorstep
This summer, London will make Olympic history by becoming the first city to host the Games for a third time, Dr Martin Polley writes. The 2012 Olympics will follow on from those of 1908 and 1948, giving London a unique hat-trick and placing it ahead of the other two-time hosts Athens (1896 and 2004), Los […]
The tale of two Dickens
Charles Dickens was born in 1812, two hundred years ago, and it is fair to say that his novels and short stories have lost little of their appeal. The great author has a few links, however slight, to our borough. Indeed, Charles, one of the writer’s two sons, gave readings in Ealing of his father’s […]
Southall Manor House
Southall Manor House is Southall’s oldest building. It used to tower over the surrounding houses when it was first built, the centre of a small agricultural economy in the countryside, miles from the bustle of London. It is a grade two listed building and one of a very small number of Elizabethan manor houses still […]