As mentioned elsewhere Brentford has a long history with markets and still continues today as Western International Market. Chiswick has no real history of markets, Gillian Clegg never mentioned one, William Roe’s only mention is “.... there is a separate pavement and carriageway, part of which was occupied, in those days, by an underground “Gents” toilets, and only a few years before 1936 that area was utilised by enterprising “entrepreneurs” as a market place, which was very popular with the local public but not so popular with the local council authorities.” The preface of the reprint of Warwick Drapers book also mentions “On the south side of the High Road a street market introduced after the 1914-18 war created so many complaints that in 1926 it was replaced by a covered market, which declined in popularity and financial viability in the 1930s. The borough Council closed it in 1937, when the premises were adapted for the fire service......“ So for most of its short life the market was on the site of the New Police station* not the car park, in the 1922 Kellys it is listed as Chiswick New Market at number 209. It looks like the Chiswick market was set up by a bunch of chancers without permission, just before the Great Depression, was known for creating lots of complaints and closed because it wasn’t financially viable. Is that what the current markets want to be associated with? When did the LCC join PETA, if they rename they area because it is called a CAR park, how long before they ask for CARnaby Street to be renamed? The area in front of the George would once have been all carriageway and would have been the start of Wellesley Road. You can still see the southside of the carriageway today in Linden Passage, Bourne Place and Barley Mow Passage. The site of the post office would once have been on the south of the High Road (or Turnham Green, as it was then). You can see on old maps the space in front of the George was open land and had troughs for the horses to drink from while the owners visited the local hospitality and gathered supplies for their journey west, the Heston Services of its day. The rate books from 1874 list the High Road as Prospect House, Bleak House, Kings Row, Afton House (still there today), Bolton House (now Duke Road), Linden House (now Linden Gardens). They then list 13 properties as Camden Terrace next to the George and the Prince of Wales, which were on Lawn Terrace. You can have a look at some of the rate books here, https://chiswickratebooks.weebly.com/1874.html Thankfully when the High Road was numbered in 1901 there were numbers left out for future development. As late as 1920 Bourne Place and Afton House were still listed in Kellys Directory as a parade of shops on the High Road. Afton House was never given a High Road number, they were saved for the shops built on the front gardens, otherwise it could of got confusing. Before the church and shop numbers 213 to 269 were built, that space was the front gardens to the houses on the High Road. Before that, it would also have been carriageway. It was after the Great Fire of London that roads were given minimum widths to prevent future fires spreading, this had the opposite effect on wider carriageways in places like Chiswick, where roads were narrowed and the gardens were extended.** If it wasn’t for the law change the island of shops in the middle of the road may not exist. Further down when Barclays was first opened as a bank the address was 7 Bank Buildings, Turnham Green Branch. It was a few years later when the High Road was numbered that it moved to Chiswick. The shops between Annadale Road and Devonshire Road were 1 to 6 Bank Buildings, the numbering was in the opposite direction to Lawn Terrace and Camden Terrace. The area is known as car park on Chiswick High Road or car parking in front of numbers 167 to 211 to be more specific and doesn't need changing, all the extra names on the high road were removed when it was numbered to simplify things, we’ve coped for over a 100 years without them***. But if you were to give the area a name that reflects the history of the site for at least the last 300 years, maybe as long as 700 years ago when Turnham Green was first mentioned. Old Packhorse Parking would probably be more appropriate!? *There is already an old police station across the road, so although it has closed and is an old police station, I’ve called it New Police station so as not to confuse it with the old police station. ** My research of the High Road doesn’t go that far back (yet). The Great Fire of London laws only covered London. Chiswick wasn’t in London then, but as landowners would have profited and the parish would have lower costs maintaining a narrower road, they may have been influenced by them. In 1801 there was the enclosure act that had the same effect. Minimum widths were introduced to make roads wider, but what happened was roads that were wider were narrowed. Or it could be the creation of Dukes Avenue that created the island. *** From Annadale Road the High Road shops were known as Bank Buildings, Lawn Terrace, Camden Terrace, Linden Arcade, The Bourne, The Promenade and Kings Row. Bleak House was one of the few buildings listed as on the High Road in Kellys. That was just the south side, the north side had just as many different names.
Colin Potter ● 1428d