Hillingdon

This is the penultimate station on the Uxbridge branch of the Metropolitan line and  also the Piccadilly Line. The station was resited in 1992 and is the most recently constructed Metropolitan line station. To enable the widening of the A40 (Western Avenue) at Hillingdon Circus, the old station was demolished and a new station built to the South. The word Swakeleys on the roundel refers to the nearby junction of the A40. 

Unusual to see a glass covered track and platform.

Going up the steps from the platform the first thing I noticed was the noise. It was coming from the A40. All the time I was walking around the area the noise was ever present. The A40 is a major road between London and Wales.

You can see here the railway bridge crossing the A40. 

I do like the blue clock on the church. I have seen a few churches in this area with similar clocks. The church was first consecrated in 1933, but the clock is a more recent addition in 2018

This won't be a long post as there wasn't much to see. The main town in this area is Uxbridge, the next station on the line which I intend visiting after my brief visit to Hillingdon. I am still very much in Metroland where the railway bought up adjacent land and built land on it promoting living a rural life but working in a city.

A short walk from the station is Hillingdon Court Park. With its football pitches, tennis courts, play area, formal gardens and woodland, it seems to cater for all the community.

 I walked back towards the station past this row of mock tudor shops. It was still quite early on a Sunday morning so most of them were closed.

Crossed the bridge over the A40. Doesn't look that busy when this photo was taken.

I followed the signs to Swakeleys Park which wasn't really that far from the station.

Swakeleys Park is part of the former Swakeleys estate which covered 429 acres. The Jacobean mansion Swakeleys dominated the landscape. The park itself was privately owned until the 1920s, when it was given to the council to be preserved as public open space.   

More recently, additional recreational facilities have been added to the park with this outdoor gym and a children's playground.

Swakeleys House was built between 1629 and 1638 and is an example of Jacobean architecture. It is a Grade I listed building. The house has been open to the public on Open House weekends but in 2015 the property was put on the market for £45 million. In winter you can just about see the house from the park

On the way back to the station I walked past these gates which I assume is the driveway to Swakeleys House. Other than the noise from the A40 this seemed a very pleasant residential area. Houses were all different. Many had large gardens at the front and I assume at the back as well. There were lots of green spaces and the wide tree lined roads gave a feeling of space. Just a pity about the noise.

Ickenham

 

This was my second underground visit of the day. It was only a few minutes on the tube from the previous station at Ruislip to this, the 20th station I've visited on the Metropolitan Line. 

The Metropolitan Railway completed the line through Ickenham to Uxbridge in 1904. Initially the trains were operated by steam but track electrification was soon completed and electric trains began operating in 1905. At first Ickenham was just a halt. A halt is a small station, usually unstaffed with no facilities. The trains stop only on request from the passengers onboard or from passengers on the platform. The halt brought day trippers from London and villagers sold flowers from their gardens and served teas. A shelter was built at the halt in 1905 followed by a booking hall in 1910. The platforms were fully extended in 1922. The halt structures from 1905 were replaced in 1970/71 when the station was rebuilt. In 2021 lifts were installed making the station step free. Due to the age of many underground stations, there are still numerous stations that are not step free and so not accessible to a number of people. Transport for London began a programme of making stations more accessible in 2016 and I think the current figure is now 92 out of 272 are step free.

In 1910 District Line trains were introduced and in 1933 Piccadilly line trains also began to use this track so for a while all three services came through Ickenham but the District line was later discontinued and from 1965 the station served just the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines. The name of the area was listed in the Doomsday book of 1086 as 'Ticheham' and consisted of 3 estates and this seems to be the origin of the village name of Ickenham. Other interesting information from the Doomsday book tells us that 31 people inhabited the area in 1086. 3 knights, 3 Englishmen, 13 villeins, 9 borders and 3 cottars. Villein was a type of serf who was expected to labour on the lord's land in exchange for some land. He was not a freeman and could not leave without permission of the lord of the manor. A bordar was a middle ranking peasant who farmed more land than a cottar but less than a villein. He was also required to work on his lord's land. A cottar occupied a cottage with a small piece of land in exchange for labour.

 

           

Turning left out of the station took me past a small parade of shops. 

I followed the road round to the right.

Past the modern looking library and into the heart of the old village.

I'm not sure how long ago this was built but at British History online it states that there is 17th century work incorporated into the building. During the 19th cent the pub was used as a venue for the 'Court Baron'. This was a local court used for cases of theft, land encroachment and non payment of rents. On an early 20th cent map it shows that the pub had a blacksmiths attached to it.

Ickenham pump was erected in 1866 under the will of Mrs Charlette Gell of the Buntings who died in 1863. Before the pump was built many of the villagers had no water supply of their own. The well is 144ft deep, sunk through 64ft of clay and sand and then a further 80 ft into the chalk bed. The water rose into the air under artesian pressure and the pond was dug to take the overflow. The pump remained in use until 1914 and was finally sealed in 1921 when piped water supplies made it redundant and the increasing number of motorists considered it a traffic hazard. Plans in 1927 to remove the pump met with strong local opposition.

The octagonal canopy above the pump is supported by twisted columns and decorative arches and was erected to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. The G in the weather vane is for Charlette Gell 

Not much greenery around the pond at the moment but I'm sure that will change over the coming weeks.

Although this was the centre of the old village the pump and pub are now opposite a very busy road junction.

On the opposite side of the road from the pump is St Giles's church which started out as a small hamlet church over 770 years ago. Although a Sunday when I visited, it was closed as it was late afternoon. The oldest part of the building is the nave which dates back to 1250. 

I turned off the main road onto Austen Lane. This used to be farmland but has now been developed into an estate with cottages and flats. The large timbered barn still remains. It has been restored and is used for social events. 

The Hillingdon Trail, a walk of 20 miles through the greener sections of the London Borough of Hillingdon takes you along Austen Lane and through Ickenham Marshes. Ickenham Marsh was one of the commons of Ickenham where villagers were entitled to graze animals. Today it is a nature reserve managed since 1987 by London Wildlife Trust.

There was a small children's playground just off the lane. 

I walked back towards the station across this field.

This is Ickenham Hall, built in the 1700s this substantial building was home to the Crosiers. It is known that the family have farmed the land here since the 11th century. Originally their home was a mud and brick thatched hut. Over the centuries they improved their living conditions by building themselves a farmhouse. In 1700, as the family acquired more land and prospered they were declared 'Gentlemen' farmers and were no longer Yeomen.  To demonstrate their new status they demolished their farmhouse and built Ickenham Hall. The site included a range of outbuildings and another cottage. Since 1990 the hall has been used  as council offices for the Youth and Music services.

Adjacent to the Grade II listed Ickenham Hall is the Compass Theatre. This 158 seat theatre is owned by the London Borough of Hillingdon and was built in 1968. I returned to  the road to discover I had walked in a large circle and was now back at the station. It had been a long but interesting day and I was only too pleased to get on the tube for the long journey back home.