Twickenham

Excavations have revealed settlements in the area dating from the Early Neolithic, possibly Mesolithic, periods. Occupation seems to have continued through the Bronze Age, the Iron Age and the Roman occupation. The area was first mentioned (as "Tuican hom" and "Tuiccanham") in an 8th-century charter to cede the area to Waldhere, Bishop of London, "for the salvation of our souls".[4] The charter, dated 13 June 704, is signed with 12 crosses. The signatories included Swaefred of Essex, Cenred of Mercia and Earl Paeogthath.

In Norman times Twickenham was part of the Manor of Isleworth – itself part of the Hundred of Hounslow, Middlesex (mentioned in Domesday Book of 1086).[5] The manor had belonged to Ælfgār, Earl of Mercia in the time of Edward the Confessor, but was granted to Walter de Saint-Valery (Waleric) by William I of England after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. The area was farmed, while the river provided opportunities for fishing, boatbuilding and trade.

The Thames at Twickenham c. 1700, depicted by Peter Tillemans

St Mary's Church today

The Shot Tower by the River Crane

Pope's villa, painting c. 1759

All Hallows Twickenham, as seen from the A316

Bubonic plague spread to the town in 1665 and 67 deaths were recorded. It appears that Twickenham had a pest house in the 17th century, although the location is not known.

There was also a watch house in the middle of the town, with stocks, a pillory and a whipping post whose owner was charged to "ward within and about this Parish and to keep all Beggars and Vagabonds that shall lye abide or lurk about the Towne and to give correction to such...".

In 1633 construction began on York House. It was occupied by Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester in 1656 and later by Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon.[6]

1659 saw the first mention of the Twickenham Ferry, although ferrymen had already been operating in the area for many generations. Sometime before 1743 a "pirate" ferry appears to have been started by Twickenham inhabitants. There is speculation that it operated to serve "The Folly", a floating hostelry of some kind. Several residents wrote to the Lord Mayor of the City of London:

...Complaining that there is lately fixed near the Shore of Twickenham on the River Thames a Vessell made like a Barge and called the Folly wherein divers[e] loose and disorderly persons are frequently entertained who have behaved in a very indecent Manner and do frequently afront divers[e] persons of Fashion and Distinction who often in an Evening Walk near that place, and desired so great a Nuisance might be removed,....

In 1713 the nave of the ancient St Mary's Church collapsed, and the church was rebuilt in the Neo-classical style to designs by a local architect, John James.[7]

In 1736, the noted pharmacist and quack doctor Joshua Ward set up the Great Vitriol Works to produce sulphuric acid, using a process discovered in the seventeenth century by Johann Glauber in which sulphur is burned together with saltpetre (potassium nitrate), in the presence of steam. The process generates an extremely unpleasant smell, which caused objections from local residents. The area was also soon home to the world's first industrial production facility for gunpowder, on a site between Twickenham and Whitton on the banks of the River Crane. There were frequent explosions and loss of life. On 11 March 1758, one of two explosions was felt in Reading, Berkshire, and in April 1774 another explosion terrified people at church in Isleworth.[8]

In 1772 three mills blew up, shattering glass and buildings in the neighbourhood. Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, wrote complaining to his friend and relative Henry Seymour Conway, then Lieutenant General of the Ordnance, that all the decorative painted glass had been blown out of his windows at Strawberry Hill.

The powder mills remained in operation until 1927 when they were closed. Much of the site is now occupied by Crane Park, in which the old Shot Tower, mill sluices and blast embankments can still be seen. Much of the area along the river next to the Shot Tower is now a nature reserve.

The 1818 Enclosure Award led to the development of 182 acres (0.74 km²) of land to the west of the town centre largely between the present day Staines and Hampton Roads, where new roads – Workhouse Road, Middle Road, 3rd, 2nd and 1st Common Roads (now First to Fifth Cross Roads respectively) – were laid out.[9] During the 18th and 19th centuries, a number of fine houses were built and Twickenham became a popular place of residence for people of "fashion and distinction". Further development was stimulated by the opening of Twickenham station in 1848.

In 1898 some buildings on London Road, near the east end of King Street, were demolished, and a new road was built, in order to relieve congestion on the older Church Street. This new road was named York Street and opened on 1 March 1899.[10]

Electricity was introduced to Twickenham in 1902[11] and the first trams arrived the following year.

In 1939, when All Hallows Lombard Street was demolished in the City of London, its distinctive stone tower designed by Christopher Wren, with its peal of ten bells and connecting stone cloister, and the interior furnishings, including a Renatus Harris organ and a pulpit used by John Wesley, were brought to Twickenham to be incorporated in the new All Hallows Church on Chertsey Road (A316) near Twickenham Stadium.

There was a high-profile murder on 19 August 2004, when French woman Amelie Delagrange (aged 22) died in hospital after being found with a serious head injury (caused by battery) in the Twickenham Green area. Within 24 hours, police had established a link with the murder of Marsha McDonnell, who was killed in similar circumstances in nearby Hampton 18 months earlier.[12] Levi Bellfield was found guilty of both murders on 25 February 2008 (as well as a further charge of attempted murder against 18-year-old Kate Sheedy) and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2011 he was found guilty of the murder of Milly Dowler,[13] a teenage girl who vanished from Walton-on-Thames in March 2002 and whose body was later found in Hampshire woodland.[14]

The main railway station in the town is Twickenham itself, although St Margarets, Whitton, Fulwell and Strawberry Hill stations are also within the Twickenham post town. Stations in nearby towns (all, except for Richmond and Isleworth, once part of the former Borough of Twickenham) are:

• Hampton railway station
• Hampton Wick railway station
• Isleworth railway station
• Richmond station
• Teddington railway station

London Buses serving Twickenham are:

All above routes serve King Street in the town centre apart from the 110 and the 481. The 481 runs through western Twickenham and the 110 runs through northern Twickenham. The N22 and the N33 only operate at night (00:00–05:00).

• Steve Allen, radio presenter, lives in Twickenham.[33]
• Tony Blair, former UK Prime Minister, lived in a house in Twickenham in 1972, which he rented from a member of the Vineyard Church in Richmond, and used the Vineyard's crypt every Sunday for promotional events.[34]
• Jason Bradbury, children's writer and TV presenter, lives in Twickenham.[35]
• Rob Brydon, comedian, lives in Strawberry Hill.[36]
• Michael Fish, television and radio weather forecaster, lives in Twickenham.[37]
• Oliver Golding, former child actor and current LTA junior tennis player, has lived in Twickenham.[38]
• Keeley Hawes, actress, and Matthew Macfadyen, actor, live in Twickenham.[39]
• Graham Henderson, arts consultant and Chief Executive of the Rimbaud and Verlaine Foundation, lives in Twickenham.[40]
• Roxanna Panufnik, composer and musician, was brought up in the Panufnik family home at Riverside House in Twickenham overlooking the Thames.[41][42]
• Tim Rowett, renowned toy collector and YouTube personality, lives in Twickenham.[43]
• Pete Townshend, guitarist for The Who, who lives at The Wick on Richmond Hill,[44] previously lived at Chapel House, Twickenham, now called 15 Montpelier Row.[45]

J. M. W. Turner's home, Sandycombe Lodge, in 1814

• Brothers Arthur Anderson (1886–1967) and Gerard Anderson (1889–1914) were born in Twickenham[46][47] and competed in track and field events in the 1912 Summer Olympics. Gerard was also the world record holder in the 440 metres hurdles. Gerard served as a second lieutenant in the Cheshire Regiment in the First World War. He was mentioned in despatches[47] and was killed in combat in 1914.[48][49]
• Trevor Baylis (1937–2018), inventor of the clockwork radio, lived, worked and died on Eel Pie Island, Twickenham.[50]
• Richard Owen Cambridge (1717–1802), poet, lived at Cambridge House, Twickenham.
• Kitty Clive (1711–1785), actress, who retired in 1769 to a villa in Twickenham that had been a gift from her friend Horace Walpole, dying there in 1785. She was buried at St Mary's. At the northeast corner of the church, there is a memorial to her[51] on which a poem praises her generosity.
• Walter de la Mare (1873–1956), poet, lived at South End House in Montpelier Row from 1940 until his death.[52]
• Henry Du Pre Labouchere (1831–1912), Liberal MP and journalist, lived at Pope's Villa, Cross Deep, Twickenham. The site is marked by a blue plaque.[53]
• Katie Edith Gliddon (1883–1967), watercolour artist and militant suffragette, was born in Twickenham.[54]
• Ron Greenwood (1921–2006), manager of West Ham United F.C. and the England national football team, lived in Twickenham early in his career.[55]
• Harry Hampton (1870–1922) was born in Crown Terrace, Richmond and died in Twickenham. He is buried in Richmond Old Cemetery.[56]
• The Hon. Nellie Ionides (1883–1962) lived at Riverside House, Twickenham.[57] A collector, connoisseur and philanthropist, she is best known for saving the 18th-century Octagon Room at Orleans House in Twickenham from destruction, and for donating this and also many pieces from her extensive art collection to the local council (now the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames).
• Norman Cyril Jackson (1919–1994) died in Hampton Hill and is buried in Twickenham Cemetery.[58]
• Harriet Kendall (1857–1933), elocutionist, singer, pianist, poet and composer of ballads, lived at Elsinore, 8 Park Road, East Twickenham.[59]
• Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (1646–1723), portrait painter, who lived in Whitton, was a churchwarden at St Mary's, Twickenham when its 14th-century nave collapsed in 1713 and he was active in the plans for the church's reconstruction by John James. Kneller's remains were interred in the church.[7][60]
• Batty Langley (1696–1751), garden designer, was the son of a jobbing gardener in Twickenham and was baptised there.[61]
• Charles Lightoller (1874–1952), the most senior officer to survive the Titanic sinking; in retirement from 1947 until his death in 1952, he lived at and managed Richmond Slipways in East Twickenham (No. 1, Duck's Walk),[62] which built and maintained motor launches for the river police.
• The future Louis Philippe I, Duc d’Orleans, who was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, went into exile in 1793 and, before his return to France in 1815 on the fall of Napoleon, lived mostly in Twickenham. He and his two younger brothers lived in relative poverty from 1800 to 1807 at Highshot House, Crown Road; the house was demolished in 1927. From 1815 to 1817 Louis Philippe leased a house on the Twickenham riverside and gave it the name Orleans House. The house was demolished in 1926 but the octagon and some outbuildings survived and are now the Orleans House Gallery.[63] After the 1848 revolution, many members of Louis Philippe's large family were forced into exile and took residences in the Richmond area.[64]
• King Manuel II of Portugal (1874–1952) lived in exile at Fulwell Park, Twickenham, following the 5 October 1910 revolution in Portugal. He died in the house in 1932.[65]
• Andrzej Panufnik (1914–1991), Polish-born composer, lived and died in a house on Twickenham Riverside.[66]
• Alexander Pope (1688–1744), poet, lived in Twickenham.[67] Pope was known as the Bard of Twickenham, or sometimes, on account of his acerbity, the Wasp of Twickenham.[68] He lies in St Mary's, Twickenham under a stone slab engraved simply with the letter P, near a bronze memorial plate.[51]
• Peter Sallis (1921–2017), actor, was born in Twickenham.[69] He was the voice of Wallace in the Wallace and Gromit films.
• James Saunders (1925–2004), playwright, lived in East Twickenham.[70]
• Sir Ratan Tata (1871–1918), a Parsee and a major industrialist in India, who bought York House, Twickenham in 1906 and lived there until 1914, when he returned to India. His widow Navajbai decided to sell the house and its contents in 1924.[71]
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892), author and poet, lived at Chapel House, now 15 Montpelier Row from 1851 until 1853.[72] His son Hallam Tennyson (1852–1928), second Governor-General of Australia, was born there.[73] and was christened at St Mary's, Twickenham in 1852.[74]
• J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851), artist, designed and commissioned the building of Solus Lodge in Sandycoombe Road, on the border of East Twickenham and St Margarets. The house survives as Sandycombe Lodge.[75] The site is marked by a blue plaque.[53]
• Thomas Twining (1675–1741) was a merchant, and the founder of the tea company Twinings. In about 1722 he bought a property later known as Dial House, next door to the church of St Mary's, Twickenham, where he either rebuilt, or converted and extended, the buildings already there. The sundial on the façade carries the date 1726, possibly the time when the new building was finished. After Twining died in 1741, he was buried at St Mary's, where there is a memorial to him at the north-east corner of the church.[76][51]
• Horace Walpole (1717–1797), art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and politician, built and lived at Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham.[77]
• Paul Whitehead (1710–1774), poet and satirist, secretary to the infamous Hellfire Club, who lived at Colne Lodge, Twickenham from about 1755.[78]
• William Goode (1907-1986), a colonial administrator and 1st Yang di-Pertuan Negara of Singapore, was born in Twickenham in 1907.[79]