Georgian Neighbours at Stamford Brook
An introduction to the people of the tiny hamlet of Stamford Brook, in the north-west corner of Chiswick Parish, in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Two of the three houses still stand. Not only did their residents include women property owners but the men have proved to be an mixture of successful and wealthy business people and lawyers, some of whom were owners of enslaved people in the Caribbean.
Val Bott
The Books at Boston Manor
While researching the library collections of 17th century merchants, the author discovered the details of the Clitherows’ substantial private library of books and manuscripts within almost 800 files of family archives at the London Metropolitan Archives. Using family book lists, details of purchases, catalogues prepared for future sales and surviving books in collections across the world, he has reconstructed their interests in the 17th and 18th centuries and revealed part of the library of Boston Manor House.
Dr Angus Vine
Farming in Chiswick in the 18th Century – Daniel Burford’s Inventory
Sutton Court Farm was the largest in 18th century Chiswick. When its owner, Daniel Burford, died in 1726 two assessors worked with his widow Elizabeth to assemble an inventory of his property. This reveals the contents of the large farm house and outbuildings. It lists both the stored crops and those growing in the ground as well as farm livestock and equipment. The location of most of Burford’s fields has been laid out on Rocque’s 1746 map.
James Wisdom
The Oxford & Cambridge Hotel in Brentford
After publishing a history of Brentford Football Club – A Pub on each Corner – the author turned his attention to the history of the hotel where the founding meeting of the Club took place. In a terrific piece of detective work, he has traced images of the premises in the corners of photos and postcards and even found an aerial view of 1920. He also describes its owners and users. This enabled the best location to be identified for a 2023 Bees’ commemorative plaque on a building just upstream of Kew Bridge.
Jonathan Burchill
Roger Lowen, Hanged at Turnham Green in 1706
This is the tragic story of a murder caused by extreme jealousy. Lowen, the murderer, was hanged close to the scene of his crime at Turnham Green, then exhibited there in an iron-framed gibbet. This caused outrage amongst local people, a fact demonstrated by the rare survival of a petition in the British Library in which they demanded its removal. Property nearby had become impossible to let and some residents had moved away from this disgusting spectacle. The author has identified and described almost all of the signatories to the petition.
Val Bott
Restoring the Tabard Inn sign
By chance the original Victorian inn sign for The Tabard in Bedford Park survived beneath a later panel. It was the work of Thomas Mathews Rooke, a significant late 19th century artist and local resident. The Bedford Park Society was given the sign and has funded its conservation. The sign was installed in 2024 in the Michael Hall at St Michael & All Angels church, opposite the pub itself. A full colour image of the design appears on the back cover of this Journal
Nicholas Bueno de Mesquita
