Editing Brentford (section)

==History==
{{further|History of London}}

===Toponymy===
The name is recorded as ''Breguntford'' in 705 in an [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] charter and means [[Ford (crossing)|ford]] over the [[River Brent]]'.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gover |first1=J. E. B. |title=The Place Names of Middlesex |date=1922 |publisher=Longmans, Green and Co. |location=London, UK |url=https://archive.org/details/placenamesofmidd00goverich/mode/2up |access-date=9 June 2021}}</ref>{{rp|10}}

The name of the river derives from * ''brigant-'', a [[Common Brittonic|Brythonic]] word, meaning "high" or "elevated" (possibly in a holy sense). The river may also have been associated with the goddess [[Brigantia (goddess)|Brigantia]]. The suffix '-ford' is [[Old English]].<ref name="Mills">{{ cite book |last=Mills |first=D. |title=Oxford Dictionary of London Place Names |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford}}</ref> The ford was most likely located where the main road crossed the river. ''New Brentford'' is recorded as ''Newe Braynford'' in 1521 and was previously known as ''Westbraynford''. ''Old Brentford'' is recorded as ''Old Braynford'' in 1476 and was previously known as ''Estbraynford''.<ref name="Mills"/>

===Early Brentford===
The settlement pre-dates the Roman occupation of [[Great Britain|Britain]], and thus pre-dates the founding of nearby London. Many pre-Roman artefacts have been excavated in and around the area in Brentford known as 'Old England'. [[Bronze Age]] pottery and burnt flints have been found at separate sites in Brentford. The quality and quantity of the artefacts suggests that Brentford was a meeting point for pre-Romanic tribes. One well known [[Iron Age]] piece from about 100 BC – AD 50 is the Brentford horn-cap<ref>{{cite web|title=Bronze chariot fitting from Brentford|url=http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/archive/lbl/pages/moreObjResult.asp?id=4542&code=O1760&terms=horn+cap&search=&whichobj=&go=Go|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312112913/http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/archive/lbl/pages/moreObjResult.asp?id=4542&code=O1760&terms=horn+cap&search=&whichobj=&go=Go|archive-date=12 March 2007|website=museumoflondon.org.uk}}</ref> – a ceremonial chariot fitting that formed part of local antiquarian Thomas Layton's collection,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/archive/lbl/pages/toursCollectors1.asp|title=Tour 1: Antiquarians, collectors and dealers: Thomas Layton|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527080241/http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/archive/lbl/pages/toursCollectors1.asp|archive-date=27 May 2011|website=museumoflondon.org.uk}}</ref> now held by the [[Museum of London]]. The [[celtic art|Celtic]] knot pattern (the 'Brentford Knot') on this item has been copied for use on modern jewellery.

[[File:Thames Lock, Brentford, Spring Tide, Twilight, 20050113.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The Thames Lock on the [[Grand Union Canal]] at Brentford]]
[[File:Brentford Dock lock gates and Justin Close - geograph.org.uk - 1086302.jpg| thumb|right|200px| Brentford Dock lock gates and Justin Close [[Brentford Dock]] is a basin off the Thames, with modern housing around it.]]
[[File:Brentford GWR Station (site) 1894854 78770255.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The former [[Brentford (GWR) railway station|Brentford GWR Station]] view eastward on Brentford High Street. The station, on a branch from Southall to Brentford Docks, had been on the left. The passenger station and the service from [[Southall]] were closed in May 1942, but although Brentford Dock was closed in 1964, goods trains ran to [[Brentford Town Goods]] until December 1970.]]
[[File:Confluence of Rivers Thames and Brent at Brentford - geograph.org.uk - 1444076.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Confluence of Rivers Thames and Brent at Brentford. The photograph was taken from the redeveloped docklands at Brentford. In the foreground is the River Brent, and in the background is the River Thames with the carpark [[Kew Gardens]] car park.]]

An amateur local history and an inscription outside the County Court claim that [[Julius Caesar|Julius Cæsar]] crossed the Thames here during his invasion of Britain in 54 BC, and fought a battle with [[Cassivellaunus]] close by.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thomaslayton.org.uk/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=36&Itemid=42 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120914090624/http://www.thomaslayton.org.uk/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=36&Itemid=42 |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 September 2012 |title=The Thomas Layton Collection, Inscription on the Brentford Monument |publisher=Thomaslayton.org.uk |access-date=3 June 2014 }}</ref> Cæsar describes the place as fortified with sharp stakes. The discovery of sharp stakes in the river-side at [[Brentford Dock]] in the early 20th century was taken by [[Montagu Sharpe]] as evidence of a fortified crossing-site, and Caesar's battle.<ref>Sharpe, Montagu (1926). Some accounts of bygone Hanwell. Page 7,8,9, & 10. Brentford Printing and Publishing Coy., Ltd. London. UK.</ref> The stakes were removed as a hazard to river-traffic, and Sharpe's claims are not supported by further excavations.

[[Historic counties of England|Historically]] part of [[Middlesex]], in the south-eastern corner of [[Elthorne Hundred]], it has formed part of [[Greater London]] since 1965.

===English Civil War===
{{See also|Battle of Brentford (1642)}}
In November 1642 a Royalist army advancing on London overcame a much smaller Parliamentarian force in battle at Brentford. The town was ransacked in the immediate aftermath of the engagement.<ref>Civil War: The Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1638-1660, Trevor Royle, p205. Abacus, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-349-11564-1}}</ref>

===Local fair===
A local town fair, the Brentford Festival, has been held in Brentford every September since 1900.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.brentfordfestival.org.uk/BF2010.htm |title=Brentford Festival 2010 |publisher=Brentfordfestival.org.uk |access-date=3 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140601214715/http://www.brentfordfestival.org.uk/BF2010.htm |archive-date=1 June 2014  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brentfordfestival.org.uk/BF2010PressRelease2.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=6 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316022925/http://www.brentfordfestival.org.uk/BF2010PressRelease2.pdf |archive-date=16 March 2012  }}</ref>

===Brentford Dock===
{{main|Brentford Dock}}
The building of [[Brentford Dock]] was started in 1855<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brentforddock150.co.uk/history.shtml |title=Brentford Dock History |access-date=15 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911045726/http://www.brentforddock150.co.uk/history.shtml |archive-date=11 September 2011  }}</ref> and it was formally opened in 1859. The [[Dock (maritime)|dock yard]] is now a [[marina]] and [[housing estate]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brentforddock150.co.uk/ |title=Brentford Dock's 150th Anniversary |access-date=15 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106075510/http://www.brentforddock150.co.uk/ |archive-date=6 January 2010  }}</ref>

===The Hardwick family===
A notable family from Brentford was the 18th-/19th-century architectural father and son partnership, the Hardwicks. Thomas Hardwick Senior (1725–1798) and [[Thomas Hardwick|Thomas Hardwick Junior]] (1752–1829) were both from Brentford and are buried in the old church of St Laurence. Hardwick Senior was the master mason for the [[Robert Adam|Adam Brothers]] during the construction of [[Syon House]]. Hardwick Junior assisted in the building of [[Somerset House]] and was known for his designs of churches in the capital. He was also a tutor of [[J. M. W. Turner]] and he helped start Turner's illustrious career in art. Both father and son did a great deal of remodelling and rebuilding on the church of St Laurence.

===Timeline===
* 781 Council of Brentford recording settlement of a dispute between King [[Offa of Mercia]], and the [[Bishop of Worcester]]
* 1016 [[Battle of Brentford (1016)|Battle of Brentford]] between the invading [[Canute the Great|Canute]] and [[Edmund II of England|Edmund Ironside]]
* 1431 Relocation of [[Syon Abbey]] to Brentford from [[Twickenham]]
* 1539 Destruction of Syon Abbey by King [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]]
* 1616 – 1617 [[Pocahontas]], a [[Native American tribes in Virginia|Native American]] woman, belonging to the [[Powhatan people]], resided in Brentford with her husband, [[John Rolfe]] and son [[Thomas Rolfe|Thomas]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Pocahontas in England |url=https://www.historytoday.com/pocahontas-england |website=www.historytoday.com |access-date=5 January 2023}}</ref>
* 1642 [[Battle of Brentford (1642)|Battle of Brentford]] during the [[English Civil War]]
* 1682 "A very violent storm of rain, accompanied with thunder and lightning, caused a sudden flood, which did great damage to the town of Brentford."<ref name="british-history.ac.uk">{{cite web |title=Brentford {{!}} British History Online |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=45404 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk |access-date=9 June 2021}}</ref>
* 1717 Brentford [[Turnpike trust|Turnpike Trust]] founded to maintain the road between [[Kensington]] and [[Hounslow]]
* 1756 Ronalds nursery established by [[Hugh Ronalds]]' father on Brentford High Street (closed 1880)<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ronalds|first=B.F.|date=2017|title=Ronalds Nurserymen in Brentford and Beyond|journal=Garden History|volume=45|pages=82–100}}</ref>
* 1805 Start of operations of the [[Grand Junction Canal]] (later the [[Grand Union Canal]])
* 1806 [[James Montgomrey]]'s father James Montgomrey Snr commenced operating a large timber mill at Montgomrey's Wharf, a yard formerly occupied by his cousin (relocated 1911)<ref name="JM1">{{Cite journal|last=Ronalds|first=B.F.|date=2018|title=The Montgomrey Family of Brentford: Timber Merchants and Benefactors|journal=London's Industrial Archaeology|volume=16|pages=57–69}}</ref>
* 1815 – 1817 [[John Quincy Adams]], sixth President of the US, lived in Brentford.
* 1828 William Corder was arrested on Wednesday 23 April at Everley Grove House, Ealing Lane in Brentford, for the notorious [[Red Barn Murder]].
* 1841 Brentford was flooded, caused by the [[Brent Reservoir]] becoming overfull so that the overflow cut a breach in the earth dam. Several lives lost.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bott |first1=V. |title=Flood! : the Brentford flood of 1841 |date=2002 |publisher=Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society |location=London |isbn=0950802506}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/water/rs/pdf/defra_rs_flood-etc-16.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=21 August 2007 |archive-date=6 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406002331/http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/water/rs/pdf/defra_rs_flood-etc-16.pdf |url-status=bot: unknown }} Vol 2: Appendix D pg 34. Accessed 21 August 2007</ref>
* 1849 Start of operations of the [[Hounslow Loop Line|Hounslow Loop line]], providing service to Kew Bridge, Brentford Central and Syon Lane stations in the Brentford area.
* 1859 Start of operations of the [[Brentford branch line|Great Western & Brentford Railway]], built in part on [[James Montgomrey]]'s land and linking [[Brentford Dock]] to the [[Great Western Railway]] main line at [[Southall]]. Additional passenger station named [[Brentford railway station (1860-1942)|'Brentford Town']] later constructed just north of Brentford High Street.
* 1884 Start of operations of [[Boston Manor tube station|Boston Manor Underground station]] (then known as Boston Road).
* 1889 [[Brentford F.C.|Brentford Football Club]] founded by a rowing club seeking a winter sport.
* 30 May 1925 – Great West Road officially opened by King [[George V of the United Kingdom|George V]]. Later the Brentford section became known as the [[Golden Mile (Brentford)|Golden Mile]] due to the large number of factories that relocated there to take advantage of the good communications. The factories provided high employment and stimulation to the local economy.
* 1 January 1929 – Grand Junction Canal bought by the [[Regent's Canal]] and amalgamated with other canals to form the Grand Union Canal.
* 1965 Opening of elevated section of [[M4 motorway]].
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