Editing Chiswick (section)

== History ==

[[File:The Old Burlington XVth century Church Lane Chiswick.JPG|thumb|left|[[Old Chiswick]]: the fifteenth-century Old Burlington, one of two former pubs on Church Street, Chiswick. The tower of the former Lamb Brewery is behind it on the left.]]

Chiswick was first recorded {{circa}} 1000 as the [[Old English language|Old English]] ''Ceswican'' meaning 'Cheese Farm'; the riverside area of Duke's Meadows is thought to have supported an annual cheese fair up until the 18th century.<ref name=room>{{cite book| last=Room |first=Adrian |chapter=Chiswick |title=Dictionary of Place-Names in the British Isles | url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofplac0000room | url-access=registration |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=1988|isbn=9780747501701 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas. CP 40/629; Year 1418 |publisher=National Archives |url=http://aalt.law.uh.edu/H5/CP40no629/aCP40no629fronts/IMG_0444.htm |pages=third entry – Chesewyk is the home of John Meryman, carpenter, a defendant}}</ref> The area was settled in Roman times; an urn found at Turnham Green contained Roman coins, and Roman brickwork was found under the [[Little Sutton, Chiswick|Sutton manor house]].{{sfn|Baker|1982|loc=Growth}}

[[Old Chiswick]] grew up as a village around [[St Nicholas Church, Chiswick|St Nicholas Church]] from {{circa|1181}} on Church Street, its inhabitants practising farming, fishing and other riverside trades including a ferry, important as there were no bridges between London Bridge and Kingston throughout the Middle Ages.{{sfn|Clegg|1995|p=17}} The area included three other small settlements, the fishing village of [[Strand-on-the-Green]], the hamlet of [[Little Sutton, Chiswick|Little Sutton]] in the centre, and [[Turnham Green]] on the west road out of London.{{sfn|Clegg|1995|p=17}}

A decisive skirmish took place on Turnham Green early in the [[English Civil War]]. In November 1642, royalist forces under [[Prince Rupert]], marching from Oxford to retake London, were halted by a larger parliamentarian force under the [[Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex|Earl of Essex]]. The royalists retreated and never again threatened the capital.{{sfn|Clegg|1995|pp=29–30}}

From 1758 until 1929 the [[Duke of Devonshire|Dukes of Devonshire]] owned [[Chiswick House]], and their legacy can be found in street names all over Chiswick.{{efn|There are streets named after their title (Duke Road, Dukes Avenue, Devonshire Road, Devonshire Gardens); their surname (Cavendish Road); their courtesy titles (Hartington Road, Burlington Lane); their estates (Chatsworth Road, Bolton Road); and the village on their main estate (Edensor Road).{{sfn|Clegg|1995|p=38}}}}{{sfn|Clegg|1995|p=38}}

In 1864, [[John Isaac Thornycroft]], founder of the [[John I. Thornycroft & Company]] shipbuilding company, established a yard at Church Wharf at the west end of [[Chiswick Mall]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Arthure |first=Humphrey | title=Thornycroft Shipbuilding and Motor Works in Chiswick | date=n.d. | pages=24 | isbn=<!--none-->}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Arthure |first=Humphrey | title=Life and Work in Old Chiswick | date=March 1982 | isbn=<!--none-->}}</ref> The shipyard built the first naval [[destroyer]], {{HMS|Daring|1893|6}} of the [[Daring-class destroyer (1893)|Daring class]], in 1893.<ref>{{cite book | last=Lyon |first=David | title=The First Destroyers | year=1996 | pages=40–41 |publisher=Caxton Editions | isbn=1-84067-364-8}}</ref> To cater for the increasing size of warships, Thornycroft moved its shipyard to [[Southampton]] in 1909.{{sfn|Clegg|1995|pp=87–88}}

[[File:Chiswick High Road postcard.jpg|thumb|Postcard photo of [[Chiswick High Road]] and [[King Street, Hammersmith]], {{circa|1900}}]]

In 1822, the [[Royal Horticultural Society]] leased {{convert|33|acre|ha|1}} of land in the area south of the High Road between what are now Sutton Court Road and Duke's Avenue.<ref name=elliot>{{cite book | last=Elliot |first=Brent | title=The Royal Horticultural Society: A History 1804–2004 |publisher=Royal Horticultural Society | year=2004}}</ref> This site was used for its fruit tree collection and its first school of horticulture, and housed its first flower shows. The area was reduced to {{convert|10|acre|ha|1}} in the 1870s, and the lease was terminated when the [[RHS Garden, Wisley|Society's garden at Wisley]], Surrey, was set up in 1904. Some of the original pear trees still grow in the gardens of houses built on the site.

The population of Chiswick grew almost tenfold during the 19th century, reaching 29,809 in 1901,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_TOT_POP&u_id=10021364&c_id=10001043&add=N |title=Chiswick St Nicholas CP/AP through time &#124; Population Statistics &#124; Total Population |publisher=Visionofbritain.org.uk |access-date=26 November 2010}}</ref> and the area is a mixture of Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian housing. Suburban building began in [[Gunnersbury]] in the 1860s and in [[Bedford Park, London|Bedford Park]], the first [[garden suburb]], on the borders of Chiswick and Acton, in 1875.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Clegg |first1=Gillian |title=People |url=https://brentfordandchiswicklhs.org.uk/search-discover/chiswick-history-homepage/people/ |publisher=Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society |access-date=10 June 2021 |archive-date=10 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610075657/https://brentfordandchiswicklhs.org.uk/search-discover/chiswick-history-homepage/people/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

During the [[Second World War]], Chiswick was bombed repeatedly,<ref>{{cite book |last=Roe |first=William P. |title=Glimpses of Chiswick's Development |publisher=W. P. Roe |pages=80–90 |year=1999 |isbn= 978-0951651223}}</ref> with both incendiary and high explosive bombs. Falling anti-aircraft shells and shrapnel also caused damage. The first [[V-2 rocket]] to hit London fell on [[Staveley Road]], Chiswick, at 6.43pm on 8 September 1944, killing three people, injuring 22 others and causing extensive damage to surrounding trees and buildings. Six houses were demolished by the rocket and many more suffered damage.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3634212.stm | work=BBC News | first=Paul | last=Rincon | title=V-2: Hitler's Last Weapon of Terror | date=7 September 2004}}</ref> There is a memorial where the rocket fell on Staveley Road,<ref>{{cite web |title=Commemorating the Chiswick V2 |url=https://brentfordandchiswicklhs.org.uk/local-history/war/commemorating-the-chiswick-v2/ |publisher=Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society |access-date=25 September 2024}}</ref> and a War Memorial at the east end of Turnham Green.<ref>{{cite web |title=Memorial Chiswick - WW1 and WW2 |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/12061 |publisher=Imperial War Museum |access-date=25 September 2024}}</ref> 

[[Refuge (United Kingdom charity)|Refuge]] was founded in 1971 in Chiswick, as the modern world's first safe house for women and children escaping domestic violence.<ref name="charity-commission.gov.uk">{{Cite web |url=http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends24/0000277424_AC_20130331_E_C.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=18 February 2014 |archive-date=23 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223123744/http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends24/0000277424_AC_20130331_E_C.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

By the start of the 21st century, Chiswick had become an affluent suburb.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thorgills.com/news/chiswick-from-ramshackle-fishing-village-to-a-leafy-and-affluent-suburb/thorg-000431 |title=Chiswick – From Ramshackle Fishing village to a Leafy and Affluent Suburb |publisher=Thorgills |access-date=25 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426080000/http://www.thorgills.com/news/chiswick-from-ramshackle-fishing-village-to-a-leafy-and-affluent-suburb/thorg-000431 |archive-date=26 April 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>