Brentford in Old Photographs by Carolyn and Peter Hammond, the Archive Photographs Series, published by the Chalford Press, 1996. 128 pages, paperback, ISBN 0 7524 0627 2, £9.99

Review by Gillian Clegg

Carolyn and Peter Hammond have now done for Brentford what they did for Chiswick in 1994, and produced a book of fascinating old photographs which provide a valuable record of Brentford’s rich heritage. More than 200 illustrations capture the essence of Brentford before what many consider to be its disastrous redevelopment in the 1960s.

They show its bustling narrow High Street with its jumble of alleyways and old houses; the large market selling the produce of the many market gardens; its industry centred on the junction of the Grand Union Canal and the Thames and, later, the art deco factories of the Golden Mile, and its fine municipal buildings confirming Brentford’s civic pride as one of the foremost towns in Middlesex. They also, as the fine cover photo of market porters confirms, convey a strong sense of Brentford’s people as well as the place.

Brentford & Chiswick Local History Journal 6 (1997)