Editing Isleworth (section)

==History==

===Roman and Anglo Saxon===
Excavations around the eastern end of the [[Syon Park]] estate have unearthed evidence of a Romano-British settlement. 'Gislheresuuyrth', meaning in [[Old English language|Old English]] ''Enclosure belonging to [a man called] Gīslhere'', is first referred to as a permanent settlement in an Anglo-Saxon charter in the year 695.<ref>[http://thames-landscape-strategy.org.uk/tlsdocument Thames Landscape Strategy, the Arcadian River Thames between Hampton and Kew] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724194256/http://thames-landscape-strategy.org.uk/tlsdocument |date=24 July 2008 }}</ref> [[The Domesday Book]] says that during the reign (1042–1066) of [[Edward the Confessor]] the manor belonged to "Earl Algar" (probably [[Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia|Ælfgar of Mercia]]), and a modern road off South St today carries his name.<ref name="Make a City Here p68">'And So Make a City Here' by G E Bate F.R.Hist.S. p68 published: Thomasons Hounslow 1948</ref>

===Granted to St Valeri Barons===
Isleworth was a well-cultivated farming and trading settlement, more valuable than many of its neighbours, stretching from the [[Middlesex]] bank of the River Thames west to the centre of [[Hounslow]] (including the land of later [[Hounslow Priory]]) and as far as the borders of Southall (in Hayes parish at the time) at the time of the [[Norman Conquest of England|Norman Conquest]] in 1066. The [[Domesday Book]] (1086) as ''Gistelesworde'' records its 55 [[ploughland]]s, 118 households and amount rendered, £72 per year, to its [[feudal system]] overlords.<ref>[http://www.domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TQ1675/isleworth/ Domesday map] Retrieved 25 December 2013</ref><ref>Mills, A. D. (1996). ''Dictionary of English Place-Names'', p.188. Oxford University Press, Oxford. {{ISBN|0-19-283131-3}}.</ref> After the Conquest, successive Norman barons of the St Valeri family held the [[Manorialism|manor]] of Isleworth but there is no evidence that they ever lived there – it being held as a source of revenue and power. One of the later barons gave several manorial rents and privileges to London's Hospital of St Giles. He also gave the church and advowson to the Abbey of St Valeri, which stood at the mouth of the [[Somme (river)|Somme]] in [[Picardy]].<ref>'And So Make a City Here' by G E Bate F.R.Hist.S. p68 publisher: Thomasons, Hounslow 1948</ref>

===Transfer to Earldom of Cornwall===
[[File:Arms of Richard of Cornwall, Earl of Cornwall.svg|thumb|left|160px|Coat of arms of Richard, First Earl of Cornwall]]
In 1227, when he took control of England from his childhood regents, [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] seized Isleworth and other property of the St Valeri family and gave the manor to his brother, [[Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall]]. He built a new moated manor house, which is described in the Black Book of the Exchequer – having a tiled roof, chimney, two bedchambers and an inner courtyard. Beyond the moat was an outer courtyard with a number of buildings for servants and supplies, and a short distance away was a [[watermill]]. 

The exact location of this house is not recorded, but a report of an area long ago known as 'Moated Place' puts the likely place between the Northumberland Arms and Twickenham Road, with the watermill being near Railshead, on the River Crane (not where the traditional Isleworth mill 'Kidd's Mill', because the stream there is artificial and did not exist at that time).<ref name="Make a City Here p68"/> The seemingly classic medieval manor house was burned down during the [[Second Barons' War]] in 1264.

===Advowson, right to appoint the vicar===
The Abbey of St Valeri in Picardy held the livings ([[benefice]]s) and revenues of several English parish church lands and, responding to growing disquiet over these foreign holdings, in 1391 it transferred those of Isleworth (for a fee) to William of Wykeham, who endowed them to [[Winchester College]], which he founded. The Wardens and Scholars of Winchester College therefore became proprietors of productive rectory (which had [[glebe]]lands). This lasted for 150 years, then in 1543 [[Henry VIII of England|King Henry VIII]] exchanged with Winchester certain manors elsewhere for five churches in Middlesex, including All Saints. 

Four years later he gave the Isleworth rectory and advowson to the [[Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset]], but they returned to the crown when the Duke was executed in 1552. Soon after, they were given to the [[Dean (religion)|Dean]] and [[Canon (priest)|Canons]] of [[St George's Chapel, Windsor]], with whom they remain today.<ref>'And So Make a City Here' by G E Bate F.R.Hist.S. pp106/7 published: Thomasons Hounslow 1948</ref>  The castle-like stone church tower by the river remains from this period, see below.

===Transfer of Manor to Syon Monastery===
In 1415 [[Henry V of England|Henry V]] granted nuns from the Swedish [[Bridgettines|Bridgettine order]] land on the bank of the Thames, in Twickenham parish opposite his new [[Richmond Palace|Sheen Palace]], where they built their first house [[Syon Monastery]]. In 1422 Henry V transferred ownership of Isleworth Manor from the [[Duchy of Cornwall]] to Syon Monastery,<ref>Aungier, p.39; Rot. Parl. 9 Hen V, p.1, m.7
</ref> which in 1431 selected a new location within their manor to rebuild their monastery. This is the site of the present [[Syon House]].<ref>Aungier, G.J. History and Antiquities of Syon Monastery, London, 1840</ref>

===Granted to Duke of Somerset===
[[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] demolished most of Syon Monastery after 1539 and the site and manor was granted to [[Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset]]. It was Seymour who built [[Syon House]] in 1548. Lady Jane Grey was taken from here to the Tower by Royal barge in anticipation of her being crowned Queen of England.

===Acquired by Earl of Northumberland===
Forty-six years later, in 1594 Queen Elizabeth I granted a lease of the manor of Syon to [[Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland]] on his marriage to [[Dorothy Devereux]]  the younger daughter of [[Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex]], who later received a grant of the freehold from King James I in 1604.<ref>Victoria County History, A History of the Co. of Middlesex, Vol.3, Syon House, pp.97–98</ref> It has remained in the possession of the Percy family, now the Dukedom of Northumberland, for over four hundred years. The Royalist army occupied the house during the [[Battle of Brentford (1642)|Battle of Brentford]] in November 1642. Syon Park was rebuilt and landscaped by the Adam brothers and [[Lancelot "Capability" Brown|"Capability" Brown]] between 1766 and 1773. It became the new home of the [[Duke of Northumberland|Dukes of Northumberland]] when [[Northumberland House]] in the Strand was demolished in 1874.[[File:Old Isleworth.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Georgian houses in Church Street, next to the parish church and facing the Thames]]

===Georgian and Victorian times===
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2017}}
Much of Isleworth became orchards in the 18th century (including part of [[Hugh Ronalds]]' renowned nursery),<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> and then market gardens in the 19th century, supplying the London markets. Lower Square and Church Street still have buildings dating from the 18th and early 19th centuries. A striking element of this period was the establishment in Isleworth of many mansions and large houses, principally for aristocrats and high achievers. This phenomenon arose owing mainly to the collection of royal and noble residences and ecclesiastical establishments that already existed nearby. The subject is examined in depth in the "Notable houses" section.

There is evidence of a [[History of African presence in London|Black community]] in Isleworth in the 18th century. This community was primarily made up of enslaved people of colour, from Africa, Asia or the Caribbean. Some of these people had fled from bondage and chose to seek their freedom in the streets of London.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Garzina |first=Gretchen |title=Black London: Life before Emancipation}}</ref> With very few exceptions, little is known about people of colour in 18th century London. However, as a result of contemporary sources like advertisements seeking the capture and return of runaway slaves, an insight can be gained into the lives of two people, Marina Dellap and Prince, who resided in the area in 1765.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser - 1765-05-27 |url=https://www.runaways.gla.ac.uk/database/display/?rid=350 |website=Runaway Slave Database}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser - 1765-06-24 |url=https://www.runaways.gla.ac.uk/database/display/?rid=351 |website=Runaway Slave Database}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser - 1765-08-20 |url=https://www.runaways.gla.ac.uk/database/display/?rid=352 |website=Runaway Slave Database}}</ref>

===20th century===
The first half of the 20th century for Isleworth generally was characterised by a very substantial amount of artisan and white-collar residential development throughout the town, at the expense of numerous market gardens. <ref>{{Cite journal |title=The Coming of the Mass Market, 1850–1914 |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-349-16685-5 |journal=SpringerLink |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-16685-5.pdf}}</ref> The former western area was ceded to the town and parish of [[Hounslow]], which was invested as a civil parish in 1927. This period also included the building of several new factories and offices, mostly towards the north-east, up to the town's eastern boundary with New Brentford. This rapid spread of building transformed the nature of Isleworth's layout in the space of just fifty years, from an agrarian pattern to an urban one.

Isleworth's former Thames frontage of approximately one mile, excluding that of the [[Syon House|Syon estate]], which is shared with Brentford, was reduced to {{convert|0.5|mi}} in 1994 when a borough boundary realignment was ordered by the UK's Local Government Minister to add land to the district of [[St Margarets, London|St Margarets]], Twickenham.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si1993/Uksi_19931391_en_1.htm|title=The Greater London and Surrey (County and London Borough Boundaries) (No.4) Order 1993|website=www.opsi.gov.uk|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref>