Longford, London

Longford
King Henry's 'Public House' and The Stables, brick infilledtimber-frameolder homes
Bridge over the 17th century-createdLongford River
Longford Location withinGreater London
OS grid reference	TQ045765
•Charing Cross	15.8 mi (25.4 km)E
London borough	Hillingdon
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WEST DRAYTON
Postcode district	UB7
Dialling code	01753
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
UK Parliament	Hayes and Harlington
London Assembly	Ealing and Hillingdon

Longfordis a suburbanvillagein theLondon borough of Hillingdon,England.It is immediately northwest ofLondon Heathrow Airport,which is in the same borough. It is the westernmost settlement inGreater London,very close to the borders of bothBerkshireandSurrey.

It was formerly part ofHarmondsworthbytithes,land tax,vestryand still byChurch of Englandparish.As it has never had a church it can also be considered ahamlet.Until 1965 it was in thehistoric countyofMiddlesex.

Longford is 16 miles (25.5 km) west ofCharing Crossand within theM25 motorwaywhich marks its western boundary withColnbrook,Berkshire.

Etymology

The nameLongfordderives from the two words "long" and "ford", after the widefordacross theColnewhich is where the old Bath Road crosses it, a middle ditch, and theWraysbury River,carrying on west from the village street. Its old country residents pronounced its name as "Long Ford" with both syllables stressed.

History

The settlement developed by this multi-channelfordof theRiver Colneand itsdistributaries,which presented numerous obstacles for travellers to and from the west of the edge ofMiddlesex,on the oldBath Roadwest out of London. Longford may be founded on a smallSaxonsettlement dating from the 5th to 7th century AD. Historic buildings survive from themedievaland immediatepost-medievalperiods. Limited evidence survives ofRomanoccupation, thougharchaeologicalexcavations have revealed twobroochesof Roman date.

Longford, the only medieval settlement to grow up along the Bath Road inMiddlesex,had 30 inhabited buildings in 1337. An important part of theparisheconomy, aside from its fourmanor houses,48 houses were on Moor and Sheep Lanes inHarmondsworth.

In 1586 land on either side of the river was charged with the upkeep of Mad Bridge, which carried the Bath Road across the river. During the 18th and early 19th centuries this bridge was maintained by the Colnbrook turnpike trustees, who presumably erected in 1834 the bridge with cast-iron parapets which now stands.

Rocque's map of 1754, shows clearly the settlement pattern: at Longford, Harmondsworth, Sipson there were small compact groups of houses, and a straggling group atHeathrow.At Longford they lined both sides of the Bath Road from the east bank of the Longford River up to and across the Duke of Northumberland's River.

The uncultivated area west of the rivers was to the north known as Harmondsworth moors, south of the Bath Road the area between the Colne and the Longford rivers was meadowland and, between the Longford and the Duke's rivers, arable.

Parliament's Act ofcommon landinclosure(privatisation) came to Harmondsworth parish in 1819; in it Harmondsworth's threeopen fieldsand Harmondsworth Moor and a big tract to and around Heathrow (part ofHounslow Heath) were divided among the local residents. During this Enclosure two bad bends of the Bath Road in Longford were straightened.

By 1839 Longford and Harmondsworth andSipsonhad a shop serving the whole parish.

In 1929 the Longford and Colnbrook by-pass was built.

In 1930 the Road Research Laboratory on the Colnbrook by-pass opened. In the same year theFairey Aviation Companyopened an airfield, theGreat West Aerodrome,southeast of Heathrow village.

About 1930 a brickworks was set up east of the junction of Cain's Lane and Heathrow Road inHeathrow.Later the quarry's main purpose changed to excavating sand and gravel. The quarry company went bankrupt in 1943; after 1944 the airport obliterated the quarry along with every trace of Heathrow village.

Middlesex County Councilopened a large sewage sludge settlement works west of Perry Oaks farm; in the 1990s it was removed andHeathrow Airport's Terminal 5 is there now.

In 1648 the first bridge across the then-newLongford Riverwas demolished. This had been replaced by 1675. In the 19th century, when it was called Stone Bridge, the Crown, not a local authority, was responsible for its upkeep and by 1960 it had been renamed King's Bridge.

Geography

Longford village is alinear developmentastride theBath Roadimmediately north ofHeathrow Airportand as such to the south of theM4,It is also immediately north of Heathrow's Western Perimeter Road. The area is characterized by an historic village core and similar-sized greenbuffer zones.

The last bridge or ford in the west over theWraysbury Rivermarked the boundary ofColnbrookwhich has been superseded by theM25 motorwaywhich the road then crosses over.

TheDuke of Northumberland's Riverthat runs from here toIsleworthsince its construction in or about 1543.

Soil and elevation

Elevation is an almost uniform 22 metres (72 ft).

Longford's soil is therichwestern soil of the historic parish ofHarmondsworth,beingalluvial.Shortly south of the main streetgravelis instead close to the surface except near rivers and northeastward of the village, and less fertileclaysoil dominates for many miles.

Transport

Immediately to the north is a purpose-built bypass with a western junction connectedA4,to the M4 that is, which is parallel and has two junction with this road also directly north of Heathrow airport, with the newer Junction 14 for Terminal 5 a very limited access junction, for the airport roads only.

Access to theM25 motorwayis considerably shortest to the south, at Junction 14 (Stanwell Moor).

The Bath Road (A4) is anarterial roadand traffic along it became so dense so early that in 1928 a bypass to Longford andColnbrookwas opened.

Landmarks

Longford retains an old-fashioned community centre character, in particular a former and an existingpublic housewhich arelisted buildingsonly at Grade II mostly on age rather than simplyarchitecture.An old building, Yeomans, which has been subdivided into three flats is listed.Other listed buildings includeLongford Cottage,Queen River Cottage and adjoining Willow Tree Cottage,and King's Bridge which is the name of the 1834-built main bridge by the very last building at the west end of the (old) Bath Road street, which crosses the nearby siphoned offLongford River,whichCharles Ihad constructed — this feedsBushy ParkandHampton Court Gardens.

One of thelistedcottages is thatched.

Longford Village Conservation Area

Much of the land surrounding the village of Longford is within theMetropolitan Green Belt.Many of its buildings are included in the Longford Village Conservation Area, which was designated in 1988 with a minor boundary change in 1999. It includes seven listed buildings, one listed wall and a number of unlisted properties which are considered to make an important contribution to the character and appearance of the Conservation Area.

Effect of Proposed Heathrow Runway 3

On 1 July 2015, theAirports Commissionrecommended that the Government approve Heathrow Airport having a third runway in the form of the Northwest Runway scheme put forward by Heathrow Airport Ltd. The plan on page 99 of the Airports Commission report confirms that the proposal requires the demolition of every building at Longford.The stages involved in bringing forward the proposed development are set out on the Heathrow Expansion website.

Religion

Of residents of the output areaHillingdon 31A(Cranford,Longford and West Harmondsworth) 938 people (or 51.2%) declared themselves to be Christian in 2011. Also in this area 11.9% of people were Muslim, 11% Sikh, 1.9% Buddhist, 13.3% of no recognised religion, 5.9% gave no religious status and 1% were of other religions.

Theecclesiastical parishof theChurch of Englandremains inHarmondsworthat St Mary's.

• stmarysharmondsworth

TheCatholic Churchhave a church in centralWest Draytonto the north, as well as three chaplains who serve St George's Chapel in Heathrow's inner ring west or the Sunday Mass at Terminals 4 and 5.

Gurdwarasexist on Martindale and Hanworth Road,Hounslow,the latter beingSri Guru Singh Sabha.The nearest Islamic centre is the Al-Falah Muslim Centre, Tavistock Road,Yiewsleyto the north.

References

Philip Sherwood,History and Guide to Harlington and Harmondsworth(Harlington: PT Sherwood, 2002)

External links

• This is Longford (Longford Residents Association)
• Road Map