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.

Ruislip

Early on a cold Sunday morning I set out to try and visit two stations. Ruislip was the next one on the Metropolitan branch line to Uxbridge. It services both the Piccadilly and the Metropolitan lines. There are five underground stations which include the name Ruislip. West Ruislip, Ruislip Gardens and South Ruislip all on the Central line and Ruislip Manor and Ruislip on the Metropolitan line. 

The word Ruislip first appeared in the Doomsday book, a record of land and ownership, in 1086. It is thought the word is derived from the Old English words for 'rush' and 'leap' refering to a place where the local River Pinn is narrow enough to jump across.  

Although not an enclosed waiting room, it still provides adequate shelter from the wind and rain.

The station is the oldest one on this branch line and originally was the only intermediate station between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Uxbridge. When it opened in 1904 the services were operated by steam trains until the line was electrified the following year. Ruislip was part of Metroland. The area of suburban London where thousands of houses were built alongside the railway land. Metroland was advertised as a 'rural retreat for those who worked in Central London'.

From the end of the platform you have a good view of this old signal box. It was opened in 1905 and closed in August 1990 when signalling passed to Marylebone Integrated Electronic Control Centre. In 2000 the signal box and the footbridge were given Grade II listed status. It looks as though it has recently been painted possibly for the 160th anniversary of the Metropolitan line in 2023. 

 

The footbridge over the platforms dates from 1904 but was moved to its present site in 1928.

Other than the installation of the ticket barriers I doubt this ticket hall has changed much since it was built.

I left the station and followed the road round to the High Street. As it was a Sunday it was very quiet but there were numerous shops.

It was good to see that few had closed down. A number of shops did not survive the Covid lockdown and in many towns it is common place to see a closed down sign, on not just small shops, but a number of the larger department stores as well.

Ruislip's department store still looks to be doing ok. They even have two different bank branches here which is unusual these days.

At the bottom of the High street is St Martin's Church. I was surprised to see the Christmas tree was still there in March.The flint and stone building dates from the 13th cent and the tower along with a bell chamber was added in the 15th cent. The church was restored in the 19th century by Sir Gilbert Scott.

The stained glass windows date back to the 19th and 20th cent

It is known that the church already had a set of bells in 1463 when Thomas Bettz died and left £26 13s 4d in his will for the 'mending of Ruislip bells'. This would have been a vast sum of money in those days. A new bell chamber housing the bells in their present position was added in Tudor times. In 1801 the bells were recast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry at a cost of £149. In 1868 the very heavy six bells were replaced by eight lighter ones. These eight bells are still rung today from here on the ground floor. 

Behind the church and running alongside the High street is the churchyard.

On the north side of the churchyard are the Ruislip almshouses. The old timber framed parish house (priest/clergyman's residence) was converted in 1616 into small two roomed dwellings which were used to provide cheap or free dwellings for the poor. During the 18th century the almshouses were used as a workhouse and in 1776 there were 30 paupers living and working here. In 1838 the workhouse closed and the inmates were moved to another workhouse in nearby Hillingdon. The building was then sold and converted into flats. After it was renovated in the early 20th cent, it became a private house.

Standing on the other side of the High street you can see the blue clock on the tower of the church and in front of the white houses is the village pump.

The pump was placed over a well sunk in 1864. It has been moved a couple of times and was put into this prominent position on the High street in 1982. I imagine the village pump would be a place where the women of the village would meet for a chat and gossip whilst filling their water carriers.

I left the village and decided to walk to Ruislip Lido. A place I had heard about but never seen. On the way. I walked past the Ruislip Woods National Reserve which is an ancient semi natural woodland. Some parts of it are a remnant of the Wildwood that once completely covered England after the last ice age about 8000 years ago.  During the Middle Ages the woods were harvested for timber which was used in the construction of buildings which are still in use today.  The Tower of London in 1339, Windsor Castle in 1344 and the old Palace of Westminster in 1346.

It was a long walk to the Ruislip Lido, much further than I had anticipated, but it was worth it. The information board informed me that: The reservoir was dug in 1811 to feed the Grand Junction Canal and for drinking water for Paddington. In times of drought you can see several dwellings from the former hamlet of Park Hearn, drowned by the lake. In the 1930s the canal company turned the reservoir into 'the Lido' with boating, swimming and fishing. You can no longer swim or boat here but there is still a sandy beach and play areas. In the summer there is a 12 inch gauge  railway which does a round trip of two and a half miles around the lake.

I walked round the lake to the beach area and observed many different water birds.

I was really pleased I had made the effort to see Ruislip Lido and enjoyed the short time I spent there. I decided to get a bus back into the town and visit one of the numerous cafes I had noticed on the High Street.

I liked the look of this one which looked impressive from the outside.

I wasn't disappointed when I went  inside. The staff were very friendly and welcoming. I ordered some buttermilk pancakes and a pot of tea. I had a delightful conversation with a family sitting next to me as they spoke about the joys of living in Ruislip. Sadly, after waiting 25 minutes for a pot of tea and another 35 minutes for the pancakes, I changed my mind about the great choice of venue for lunch. Had it not been for the company of the people on the next table I would have left long before my food arrived. An hour's wait for a simple food order is unacceptable. I did leave a review on their website and received an apology with a shortage of staff being their issue that day. Other than that I enjoyed my visit to Ruislip and decided I still had time to visit the next station before going home.