Editing Harmondsworth (section)

== History ==
[[File:Detail_of_'A_Map_of_the_County_of_Middlesex_Reduced_from_the_an_Actual_Survey_in_four_Sheets_By_John_Rocque'.jpg|thumb|Detail of ''A Map of the County of Middlesex Reduced from an Actual Survey in four Sheets By [[John Rocque]]'' or ''Carte de la Province de Middlesex reduite D'apres un arpanlage en quatre feuilles Par Jean Rocque'', 1757.]]
[[File:Harlington as seen on Ordnance Survey map sheet 71, 1822-1890, with railway added 1891.jpg|thumb|left|Harmondsworth as seen on Ordnance Survey map sheet 71, 1822–1890, with railway added 1891.]]
Harmondsworth is mentioned in [[Domesday Book]], its name coming from the [[Old English language|Anglo-Saxon]] ''Heremōdes worþ'', meaning "Heremōd's [[enclosure]]", or ''Heremundes worþ'', meaning "Heremund's [[enclosure]]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Middlesex/Harmondsworth|title = Key to English Place-names}}</ref>

Harmondsworth remains an [[ecclesiastical parish]], with the name first recorded in AD 780 when [[Offa of Mercia|King Offa]] granted land to his servant Aeldred.<ref>Philip Sherwood, ''Harlington and Harmondsworth'', Tempus, Stroud, 2002, pp. 8–9. (& Sherwood, ''Heathrow, 2000 Years of history'', Sutton Publishing, 1999, p. 15)</ref>

Before 1066 the manor was owned by [[Harold Godwinson]] (Earl Harold), and at the Conquest (1066) it passed to William I. In 1069 it was granted by the king, on the suggestion of [[William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford]] ({{circa|1020}} – 1071),<ref name="auto">''The Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria in Early Medieval Europe'', by Christine Walsh, Ashgate, 2007, p. 125.</ref> to the [[Benedictine]] Abbey of Holy Trinity, Rouen, afterwards known as [[Catherine of Alexandria|St. Catherine's]], which held it in 1086 and then until 1391.{{NoteTag|It seems appropriate considering the possible future and present Harmondsworth beset by airplane wheels that the 325 years owner of the manor was named after St Catherine of Alexandria whose attribute was the wheel on which she was martyred.}}<ref>V.C.H. Middlesex, volume i. pp. 123–4, and ''A History of the County of Middlesex, volume iv, Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood With Southall, Hillingdon With Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow With Pinner'', published by Victoria County History, London, 1971, and ''Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum'', i, ed. H. W. C. Davis, no. 29.</ref>

[[File:Harmondsworth Great Barn, 19 July 2015, from the west.jpg|thumb|The Great Barn, 19 July 2015, from the west, showing its new roof and the church tower on the right.]]
[[File:Vues abbaye Sainte-Catherine.jpg|thumb|Owner from 1069: Abbaye [[Catherine of Alexandria|Sainte-Catherine]] du Mont, or Abbey of the Holy Trinity and Saint Katherine, at [[Rouen]] in Normandy.]]
[[File:Eudes Rigaud Rouen.png|thumb|Seal of [[Eudes Rigaud]] or Odo Rigaldus (c.1200–1275), the Archbishop of Rouen, who visited the priory at Harmondsworth in 1265 and 1268 and recorded only two monks in the priory.<ref name="auto" />]]

{{Blockquote|HARMONDSWORTH (Virgin Mary), a parish, in the [[Poor law union|union]] of [[Staines upon Thames|Staines]]...[[Middlesex]], 2½ miles (E. by N.) from Colnbrook; containing 1330 inhabitants. The [[benefice|living is a vicarage]], with that of [[West Drayton]] united, net income, £530; patron, H. De Burgh, Esq...The church has a Norman door, and a tower with angular turrets, On Hounslow heath, in the parish, is a square intrenchment, each side measuring 100 yards, supposed to have been the work of [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]] in his war with [[Cassivelaunus]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51008 |title = Harlow – Harraton |editor-first = Samuel |editor-last = Lewis |work = A Topographical Dictionary of England |publisher = Institute of Historical Research |year = 1848 |access-date = 23 November 2014 }}</ref> ''A Topographical Dictionary of England''||[[Samuel Lewis (publisher)|S. Lewis]], 1848}}

The manor and [[advowson]] (this grant did not include the knight's fees held in the king's hands nor the property farmed out by the priory), together with those of [[Tingewick]] (Buckinghamshire), were acquired from the abbey and prior in 1391 by [[William of Wykeham]], Bishop of Winchester, and formed part of the endowment of [[Winchester College]] and [[New College, Oxford]], aka ''St. Mary College of Winchester in Oxford''. Winchester College and New College retained the manor until 1543 when it was surrendered to Henry VIII in exchange for property elsewhere.<ref>Cal. Pat. 1388–92, 378, 434; E 212/D.S. 98; M.R.O., Acc. 446/ED. 108. And L. & P. Hen. VIII, xviii (2), p. 124. And C 66/729/6. Via ''A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4, Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood With Southall, Hillingdon With Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow With Pinner'', published by Victoria County History, London, 1971, pp. 7–10.</ref>

In 1547 the lordship and manor was granted to [[William Paget, 1st Baron Paget]], KG, PC.<ref>16. Cal. Pat. 1547-8, 45., via VCH, aka ''A History of the County of Middlesex, Volume 4, Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood With Southall, Hillingdon With Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow With Pinner'', published by Victoria County History, London, 1971.</ref>
The Pagets held on to the manor until the eighteenth century, selling most of early during the time of the heir of [[Henry Paget, 2nd Earl of Uxbridge]] (1719–1769), [[Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge (second creation)|Henry Bayley-Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge]] (1744–1812).<ref>Daniel and Samuel Lysons, ''An Historical Account of those Parishes in the County of Middlesex which are not included in the Environs of London'', (London, 1800), p. 139.</ref> [[William Paget, 5th Baron Paget|William, Lord Paget]] (1609–1678) sold some of it in 1672. Via his daughter [[Philip Foley|Penelope Foley]] the Pagets were ancestors of [[Charles Darwin]].

[[File:William Paget, 1st Baron Paget by Master of the Stätthalterin Madonna.jpg|thumb|[[William Paget, 1st Baron Paget|William Paget]], granted the lordship and manor in 1547.]]
 
Harmondsworth as an ancient parish of 30 [[Hide (unit)|hides]] (as assessed at [[Domesday]], 1086) or {{convert|3480|acres|km2}}<ref>[http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/3431 Imperial Gazetteer 1870–72 John Marius Wilson] Extract featured at Vision of Britain, University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 2014-11-23</ref> (rather than today's surviving [[nucleated village|village nucleus]]) changed from agrarian and a few, isolated London suburban homes to mostly industrial gradually in 1929 with the opening of the Colnbrook by-pass which by-passed diminutive Longford to the north.<ref>In the late 14th and early 15th centuries the manor, rather than parish, of Harmondsworth, was reckoned to consist of about 1,321 a.(VCH).</ref>

Harmondsworth [[civil parishes in England|civil parish]] from its 1880s creation until its 1964 abolition contained the same areas as its religious counterpart. Industrial development began in 1930 with the opening of the [[Transport Research Laboratory|Road Research Laboratory (RRL)]] on this road. In the same year, the [[Fairey Aviation Company]] opened an airfield, the Great West Aerodrome, south-west of Heathrow. This formed the nucleus of the later airport, and the Fairey hangar was eventually incorporated into Heathrow Airport as a fire station.

By the late 1930s some residential building had taken place, although almost entirely in the northern half of the parish. Small estates were built off Hatch Lane around Candover Close and Zealand Avenue and further building took place along Sipson Road, around Blunts Avenue, and along the north side of the Bath Road at [[Sipson]] Green. [[Longford, London|Longford]] remained virtually untouched. A brick-works was established by the corner of Cain's Lane and Heathrow Road and the area of former heathland was extensively worked for gravel, sand, and grit. In the 1930s Middlesex County Council opened a large sewage pumping station to the west of Perry Oaks, which was converted to [[Heathrow Terminal 5]] in the early 21st century. The [[A30 road (Great Britain)|Great South West Road]] touched the south-east corner of the parish but played no part in its development. Although many of the orchards survived, their numbers had been greatly reduced and it seems probable that much of the former fruit-growing area was being used for market gardening. In 1944 Harmondsworth and Sipson retained their agricultural character despite some suburban housing. It was then suggested that further expansion in the Yiewsley and West Drayton area should be curtailed, as the land was primarily in demand for agriculture, which was greatly adhered to until 1971.<ref name=b>{{cite web |url = http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22382 |title = Harmondsworth: Introduction |editor1 = T F T Baker |editor2 = J S Cockburn |editor3 = R B Pugh |author1=Diane K Bolton |author2=H P F King| author3=Gillian Wyld| author4=D C Yaxley |work = A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4 |publisher = Institute of Historical Research |year=1971 |access-date=23 November 2014 }}</ref>

[[File:Farm buildings on the eastern end of Harmondsworth, western Middlesex, UK, July 2015.jpg|thumbnail|Farm buildings at the eastern end of Harmondsworth, July 2015.]]
In 1944, however, the modern pattern of Harmondsworth began to emerge with the transfer of the Fairey airfield to the Royal Air Force and its subsequent development by the Air Ministry as Heathrow R.A.F. station. This entailed the complete demolition of Heathrow and Perry Oaks hamlets, and widespread draining of the old flooded gravel pits. Many of the small buildings along the south side of the Bath Road that were still standing in 1960 were erected by the R.A.F.<ref name=b/>

Although not a [[post town]], in printed form Harmondsworth is frequently seen in books.  From 1937 the offices and warehouses of [[Penguin Books]] were here until their gradual closure in the 1990s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.penguinfirsteditions.com/index.php?cat=history |title=Penguin First Editions :: Early First Edition Penguin Books :: penguinfirsteditions.com |newspaper=Penguinfirsteditions.com |access-date= 21 June 2016}}</ref> In this period its books published in the country bore the publication location, "Harmondsworth, Middlesex".

In 1965 it became part of the London Borough of Hillingdon in the newly formed ceremonial county of Greater London.<ref>{{cite act| url = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1965/654/made| title = The London Government Order 1965| date=1965 | legislature = Parliament of the United Kingdom | type= Statutory Instrument}}</ref>