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Ealing

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This article is about the town in England. For the locality in New Zealand, see Ealing, New Zealand
Ealing
OS grid referenceTQ175805
London borough
Ceremonial countyGreater London
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townLONDON
Postcode districtW5, W13, W7
Dialling code020
PoliceMetropolitan
FireLondon
AmbulanceLondon
UK Parliament
London Assembly
List of places
UK
England
London

Ealing is a town in the London Borough of Ealing. It is a suburban development situated 7.7 miles (12.4 km) west of Charing Cross. It is one of ten major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan and is often referred to as the "Queen of the Suburbs".[1]

History

Archaeological evidence shows that parts of Ealing have been occupied for at least 7,000 years. Iron Age pots have been discovered in the vicinity on Horsenden Hill. The name Ealing comes from the Saxon place-name Gillingas. A settlement is recorded here in the twelfth century amid a great forest that carpeted the area to the west of London. The earliest surviving English census is that for Ealing in 1599. This list was a tally of all 85 households in Ealing village giving the names of the inhabitants, together with their ages, relationships and occupations. It survives in manuscript form in the Public Record Office (PRO E 163/24/35), and has been transcribed and printed by K J Allison.

Ealing Town Hall

Settlements were scattered throughout the parish. Many of them were along what is now called St. Mary's Road, near to the church in the centre of the parish. There were also houses at Little Ealing, Ealing Dean, Haven Green, Drayton Green and Castlebar Hill.

The Church of St. Mary's, the parish church, dates back to the early twelfth century. The parish of Ealing was divided into manors, such as those of Gunnersbury and Pitshanger. These were farmed; the crops being mostly rye, but also wheat and maslin. There were also animals such as cows, sheep and chickens. Standing near Charlbury Grove, Ealing Abbey was founded by a community of Benedictine monks in 1897. Twinned with the convent of St. Augustine's Priory, the giant abbey is a unique example of a traditional, working monastery.

The first known maps of Ealing were made in the 18th century. Mount Castle Tower, an Elizabethan structure which stood at the top of Hanger Hill, was used as a tea-stop in the nineteenth century. It was demolished to make way for Fox's Reservoir in 1881. This reservoir, with a capacity of 3 million gallons, was erected north of Hill Crest Road, Hanger Hill, in 1888 and a neighbouring reservoir for 50 million gallons was constructed c. 1889.

Ealing was mostly made up of open countryside and fields where, as in previous centuries, the main occupation was farming. However, there was an important road running from west to east through the centre of the parish. This road, later to be known as the Uxbridge Road, ran eastwards to London and westwards to Oxford. A large number of inns were situated along this route, where horses could be changed and travellers refresh themselves, prompting its favour by highwaymen. Stops in Ealing included The Feathers, The Bell, The Green Man and The Old Hats.

Perceval House

As London developed, the area became predominantly market gardens. In the 1850s, with improved travel (the Great Western Railway and two branches of the Grand Union Canal), villages began to grow into towns and merged into unbroken residential areas. At this time Ealing began to be called the "Queen of the Suburbs".

The most important changes to Ealing occurred in the 19th century. The building of the Great Western Railway in the 1830s, part of which passed through the centre of Ealing, led to the opening of a railway station on the Broadway in 1879. In the next few decades, much of Ealing was rebuilt, predominantly semi-detached housing designed for the rising middle class. Better transport links, including horse buses as well as trains, enabled people to more easily travel to work in London whilst living in what was still considered to be the countryside. Much of the countryside was rapidly disappearing, however parts of it were preserved as public parks, such as Lammas Park and Ealing Common. Walpole Park was named after Robert Walpole and belonged to Pitshanger Manor.

It was during the Victorian period that Ealing became a town. This meant that roads had to be built, drainage provided, and schools & public buildings erected. The man responsible for much of all this was Charles Jones, Borough Surveyor from 1863–1913. He planted the horse chestnut trees on Ealing Common and designed the Town Hall, both the present one and the older structure which is now a bank (on the Mall). Ealing Broadway became a major shopping centre.

It was also in 1901 that Ealing Urban District was incorporated as a municipal borough, Walpole Park was opened and the first electric trams ran along the Uxbridge Road — a mode of transport due to be reintroduced some 110 years later in the form of the West London Tram scheme. As of 2006, there is great resistance to this and many residents display anti-tram posters up in their windows.

The building of the new shopping centre, which opened in 1984, drastically altered the centre of Ealing.

At midnight, Thursday, August 2, 2001 a 40 kg bomb hidden in a vehicle exploded near Ealing Broadway railway station, damaging numerous shops in the immediate vicinity. Seven people suffered mild injuries. The bomb was placed by "Irish dissidents" thought to be members of the Real IRA.This is found in canada

Etymology

The name Ealing was recorded c.700 as 'Gillingas', meaning 'place of the people associated with Gilla', from the personal name Gilla and the Old English suffix '-ingas', meaning 'people of'. [2] Over the centuries, the name has changed, and has been known as Yealing, Zelling and Eling, until Ealing became the standard spelling in the nineteenth century.

Cultural/race

Ealing has a large Polish community. This developed during World War II when Polish pilots fighting in the Battle of Britain flew from the nearby aerodrome, RAF Northolt, where there is a landmark Polish War Memorial. The Polish community has grown considerably since Poland joined the EU and its migrant workers have been able to come freely.

In Ealing there is a famous Hindu Temple for Amman(Goddess) called Sri Kanaga Thurkai Amman Temple.

Ealing Studios

Main article: Ealing Studios

Ealing is best known for its film studios which are the oldest in the world and known especially for the Ealing comedies including Kind Hearts and Coronets, Passport to Pimlico, The Ladykillers and The Lavender Hill Mob. The studios were taken over by the BBC in 1955 so Ealing locations appeared in television programmes ranging from Doctor Who to Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Most recently, these studios have been used for movies again, including Notting Hill, The Importance of Being Earnest and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

Famous people and achievements

Ealing in fiction

  • Ealing was the setting for children's comedy show Rentaghost.
  • In James Hilton's novel Goodbye, Mr Chips (1934), Katherine, the lovely young wife of the shy schoolmaster protagonist Mr Chipping, is said to have been living with an aunt in Ealing following the death of her parents.
  • Ealing and the surrounding area is mentioned in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932). Lenina observes a Delta gymnastic display in the Ealing stadium as she flies overhead in a helicopter with Henry Foster.
  • The John Sanders department store (now a branch of Marks & Spencer) was the location for the scenes of the Autons breaking through the shop window and beginning their killing rampage in the 1970 Doctor Who story Spearhead From Space.
  • The main character Kendra Tamale of the book 'Marshmallows for Breakfast' by Dorothy Koomson, was said to have grown up or lived in Ealing or nearby.

Further reading

History:

  • Oates, Jonathan. Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Ealing (paperback). Barnsley, South Yorkshire UK: Wharncliffe Books. ISBN 1-84563-012-2. Retrieved 2006-09-13. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |origdate= ignored (|orig-date= suggested) (help)
  • Hounsell, Peter. Ealing and Hanwell Past. London UK: Historical Publications Ltd. ISBN 0-948667-13-3. {{cite book}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
  • Neaves, Cyrill (1971). A history of Greater Ealing. United Kingdom: S. R. Publishers. ISBN 0-85409-679-5.

References

  1. ^ http://www.ealingtimes.co.uk/ealingguide/
  2. ^ Room, Adrian: “Dictionary of Place-Names in the British Isles”, Bloomsbury, 1988
  3. ^ 'Ealing and Brentford: Growth of Ealing', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden (1982), pp. 105-13. Date accessed: 15 June 2007.
  4. ^ Nevil Shute Norway Foundation. Biography. Retrieved 2006-11-16

See also

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