Hounslow

Hounslow is a large town in West London, England, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 14 metropolitan centres in Greater London.
It is bounded by Isleworth to the east, Twickenham to its south, Feltham to its west and Southall to its north.
The Hounslow post town covers the TW3, TW4, TW5 and TW6 postcodes. Most of the post town is in the London Borough of Hounslow, but parts fall within the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and the London Borough of Hillingdon, notably including Heathrow Airport.

History

Etymology

In old records, Hounslow is spelt 'Hundeslow' which points to the Anglo-Saxon phrase 'Hundes hlāw', translating to 'the Hound's barrow' or more accurately 'the barrow of a man named or nicknamed Hound'.

Hounslow Town

Hounslow was centred around the Holy Trinity Priory founded in 1211. The priory developed what had been a small village into a town with regular markets and other facilities for travellers heading to and from London. Although the priory was dissolved in 1539, the town remained an important staging post on the Bath Road.
The construction of the Great Western Railway line from London to Bristol from 1838 reduced long-distance travel along the Bath Road. By 1842, the local paper was reporting that the 'formerly flourishing village' was suffering a 'general depreciation of property'. The Hounslow Loop Line was constructed in 1850 – which prompted new development. Hounslow Hospital opened in 1876 and closed in 1978. Hanworth Road drill hall was built for the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, The Middlesex Regiment.
The construction of the Great West Road in the 1920s attracted the building of factories and headquarters of large companies and led to a great deal of housing development. After a decline in the 1970s, offices largely replaced factories and further expansion in hotel and housing stock started to take place.

Hounslow Heath

has a continuous recorded history dating back to the Norman period, in which it lent its name to the hamlet of Heathrow. It was infamously known for the numbers of highwaymen and footpads in the area, who targeted wealthy individuals and noblemen.
The Heath once had strategic importance as its routes acted as a throughway from London to the west and southwest of Britain. The present northern boundary of the Heath - Staines Road - was the Roman Road later known as the Devils Highway. There are several historic references to Roman camps surrounding the Heath. Both Oliver Cromwell and James II used the heath as a military encampment.
In 1784 the first accurate measurements were made on the heath to establish the base line for the Ordnance Survey trigonometrical survey of Great Britain. The event was attended by King George IV and Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society.
In 1793, the Cavalry Barracks were constructed and were extended with the Beavers Lane Camp. Between 1914 and 1920 the heath became Hounslow Heath Aerodrome.
Hounslow Heath Aerodrome was a grass airfield and was operational from 1910 to 1920. It was in the London borough of Hounslow, and in 1919 was where the first scheduled daily international commercial air services began.

Emergency services

The territorial police force is the Metropolitan Police. Hounslow Police Station is located on Montague Road, adjacent to the High Street.
The statutory fire and rescue service in Hounslow is the London Fire Brigade, with the nearest fire station in Isleworth on London Road.
The nearest accident and emergency hospital is West Middlesex University Hospital, in Isleworth, which is part of the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and a teaching hospital of the Imperial College School of Medicine. London Ambulance Service provides emergency ambulance services.

Governance

Hounslow forms part of the London Borough of Hounslow, governed by Hounslow Council based at Hounslow House at 7 Bath Road. As part of Greater London it is also covered by the London Assembly and Mayor of London for certain strategic functions.
The original settlement of Hounslow grew up on the boundary between the ancient parishes of Heston and Isleworth, both in the Isleworth Hundred of Middlesex. Hounslow was made its own ecclesiastical parish in 1835, whilst continuing to straddle Heston and Isleworth for civil purposes.
In 1875 a local government district was created covering the whole of the two civil parishes, governed by an elected local board. The district was initially divided into three electoral wards: Heston, Hounslow and Isleworth. Such local government districts were converted into urban districts under the Local Government Act 1894.
A referendum of local electors was held in 1927 on whether to change the urban district's name from Heston and Isleworth to Hounslow. A significant majority of those who voted supported the change of name, but it was vetoed by Middlesex County Council. The urban district was incorporated to become the Municipal Borough of Heston and Isleworth in 1932.
The borough of Heston and Isleworth was abolished in 1965. Its area was transferred from Middlesex to Greater London and merged with the abolished Municipal Borough of Brentford and Chiswick and Feltham Urban District to become the London Borough of Hounslow.
Hounslow is part of multiple constituencies for elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.; Brentford & Isleworth, Feltham & Heston, Hayes and Harlington and Twickenham.
Hounslow is covered by multiple wards for elections to Hounslow London Borough Council; Hounslow Central, Hounslow East, Hounslow Heath, Hounslow South and Hounslow West.

Geography

Hounslow is separated from Twickenham by Hanworth Road Nelson Road, Hounslow Road and Whitton Dene/ Murray Park.
Hall Road, Bridge Road, the Hounslow Loop Line, Thornbury Park, Worton Way, the Piccadilly Line, Stucley Road and Osterley Park separate Hounslow and Isleworth.
The Norwood Green estate and Industrial area in North Hyde, separate Hounslow and Southall whilst the River Crane and Cranford Park form a natural boundary between Hounslow and Hayes
Historically, Hounslow's traditional western boundary followed the River Crane; however, it now extends to the Bath Road, Duke of Northumberlands River and Great South-West Road and back to the river.

Demography

The suburban district of Hounslow, including its localities Cranford, Heston, Hounslow West and Lampton, was 103,337 in the 2011 census, whereas the wider borough had a population of 254,000.

Ward	Detached	Semi-detached	Terraced	Flats and apartments	Caravans/temporary/mobile homes	Shared between households
Hounslow Central	257	1,455	930	2,687	3	52
Hounslow Heath	285	1,522	1,128	1,886	7	87
Hounslow South	223	2,155	967	588	0	11
Hounslow West	248	1,526	799	1,344	5	23

Hounslow has a high proportion of people who identify themselves as BAME, and it is the borough's most diverse town. In seven of Hounslow's eight electoral wards, the BAME proportion is above 70%. The town has a large British Asian and Somali community.

Economy

Hounslow is an economic hub within the west of the capital city, with it having a large shopping centre which adjoins its high street and many restaurants, cafés and small businesses, many of which are associated with product assembly, marketing, telecommunications and Heathrow Airport, which has many businesses and public sector jobs in and around it to which the local population commute. The settlement is also partially employed in the Commuter Belt with access between 45 and 60 minutes from most of Central London.
DHL Air UK has its head office in the Orbital Park in Hounslow.
Hounslow Town Centre is a busy predominantly retail centre, with a small number of commercial offices and civic buildings. There is a large shopping centre called the Treaty Centre which opened in 1987, containing JD, Next, H&M and many large branches of chain stores found in British high streets. It includes a food court along with over 50 shops. There is a large ASDA superstore located within the Blenheim Centre complex along with B&M, a local health centre, a gym run by The Gym Group and Jungle V.I.P.
A new retail area, the High Street Quarter, will be located near Hounslow High Street and is set to contain a 27-storey residential tower along with many shops, restaurants, and a ten-screen Cineworld cinema multiplex.
Gillette, the American razor manufacturer, built its UK factory and HQ here in 1936–1937. The art-deco style building was designed by architect Banister Flight Fletcher and is Grade II listed. The high clocktower with its illuminated clock became a landmark for traffic on the nearby Great West Road. The clock has recently been restored to working order and the main building will be converted into a state-of-the-art digital production studio.

Culture and community

is a large public open space and local nature reserve to the west of Hounslow, a London borough. It now covers about and is only the residue of the historic Hounslow Heath that once covered over.
Bell Square is an outdoor performance space next to the Bell pub. Hounslow Community Land Project was a community garden and sports area on a derelict piece of land on Hanworth Road.

Twinning

Hounslow is twinned with the following settlements around the world:

The London Borough of Hounslow also has a sister district agreement with Leningradsky District in Krasnodar Krai, Russia.