Brentford property to let

Black Katz have flats and houses to rent in Brentford

Brentford is a suburb in the London Borough of Hounslow at the confluence of the River Thames and the River Brent in West London, situated 8 miles (12.9km) west south-west of Charing Cross.

To find a flat or house to rent in Brentford, London contact the Black Katz Chiswick office. Black Katz have flats and houses to rent in Brentford and across London. If you are a landlord wishing to rent out your property contact Black Katz.

Today

Brentford is a suburban development subsumed into the conurbation of Greater London, although just outside the London postal district.

Etymology

Brentford, as the name suggests, was built on a fording point on the River Brent. The town is named as Bregentforda at the time of the Council of Brentford 781 and as 'Bregentforda' and 'Brentforda' in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 1016. The root 'Bregent-', naming the river is thought to originate from the name of the Celtic goddess 'Brigantia', tutelary goddess of the Brigantes tribe (whose territory was considered to be 150 miles north of Brentford, though the cult of the goddess spread across a wide area of Europe.)

History

The settlement pre-dates the Roman occupation of Britain, and thus pre-dates the founding of London itself. Many pre-Roman artifacts have been excavated in and around the area in Brentford known as 'Old England'. Bronze Age pottery and burnt flints have been found in separate sites in Brentford. The quality and quantity of the artefacts suggests that Brentford was a meeting point for pre-Romanic tribes where part of tribal rituals included the ceremonial casting of weapons into the river. One well known Iron Age piece from about 100 BC - AD 50 is the Brentford horn-cap - a ceremonial chariot fitting that formed part of local antiquarian Thomas Layton's collection, now held by the Museum of London. The Celtic knot pattern (the 'Brentford Knot') on this item has been copied for use on modern jewellery.

It has been suggested that Brentford was also a main fording point on the River Thames, and was the point where Julius Cæsar crossed the Thames during his invasion of Britain. It is asserted, without strong evidence, on the Brentford Monument, that a documented battle fought at this time between Cæsar's forces and Cassivellaunus took place at Brentford. There are, however, two other historically accredited battles of Brentford in 1016 and 1642.

New Brentford was first described as the county town of Middlesex in 1789, on the basis that it was the location of elections of knights for the shire (or Members of Parliament) from 1701. In 1795 New Brentford (as it was then) was "considered as the county-town; but there is no town-hall or other public building" causing confusion that remains to this day.

Rent a flat, house or apartment in Brentford with Black Katz.

Notable present and former residents

Dates are dates of residence in Brentford, where known

  • Pocahontas 1616-17
  • Sarah Trimmer 1762–1810
  • J. M. W. Turner 1785-86
  • Thomas Hardwick Junior, architect of the 18th & 19th century.
  • Percy Bysshe Shelley 1802-04
  • John Quincy Adams 1815-17
  • John Macallan Swan, RA, Painter and Scultptor, born in Brentford 1847
  • John Bardon, Character actor (born in Brentford, 1939)
  • Anna Ford, BBC TV newscaster
  • Kate Adie, BBC TV reporter
  • Bob Friend, former BBC TV reporter and Sky News presenter
  • Rat Scabies, former drummer of The Damned
  • Nick Lowe, musician and producer
  • Jake Riviera, co-founder of Stiff Records
  • Stan Bowles, former England football player
  • Annie Vernon, choreographer
  • Christopher Dawes, author of Rat Scabies And The Holy Grail
  • Ian Ridpath, astronomy author and occasional UFOlogist
  • Robert Rankin, author of the The Brentford Trilogy
  • Janey Godley, stand up comedian and abuse victim
  • Lisa Burke, Sky News weather forecaster and science reporter
  • Princess Amelia second daughter of George II, lived in Gunnersbury Park.
  • Richard O'Sullivan, actor

To join these notable people, find a house or flat to rent in Brentford with Black Katz. Black Katz are London's largest lettings only agency and have flats and houses to rent in Brentford and across London.

The Hardwicks

A notable family from Brentford was the 18th/19th century architectural father and son partnership, the Hardwicks. Thomas Hardwick Senior (1725-1798) and Thomas Hardwick Junior (1752-1829) were both from Brentford and are buried in the old church of St Laurence. Hardwick Senior was the master mason for the Adam Brothers during the construction of Syon House. Hardwick Junior assisted in the building of Somerset House and was known for his designs of churches in the capital. He was also a tutor of J.M.W Turner whom he helped start Turner's illustrious career in art. Both father and son did a great deal of remodelling and rebuilding on the church of St Laurence.

Places of interest

Syon House is built upon part of the site of Syon Abbey. The exact location of Syon Abbey was unknown until archeological investigations in the grounds of Syon House (Syon Park) in 2003 (by Time Team) and 2004 revealed the foundations of the abbey church. It was larger than Westminster Abbey is now, but no above-ground structure remains. For more details on the abbey and the reasons for its destruction, see its own entry - Syon Abbey.

The London Butterfly House in Syon Park was an insectarium like a large glasshouse containing a butterfly zoo. Visitors could see butterflies and moths flying about, feeding, and emerging from Chrysalises. There was also a colony of large ants (kept with the butterflies), a small tropical bird aviary, and a small gallery of reptiles, amphibians, insects and spiders. The lease on the current site expired in Oct 07 and the Butterfly House closed on 28 October 2007.

Boston Manor House, built in 1622, is a Jacobean manor house, noted for its fine plasterwork ceilings.

Gunnersbury Park Museum is the local museum for the Boroughs of Ealing and Hounslow and situated in Gunnersbury House. It contains many archaeological finds including hundreds of flints, plus Roman and Viking weapons found in Brentford. It also has displays of costumes and changing displays on other subjects of local interest. The house was formerly occupied by the Rothschild family and although they did not leave any contemporary furniture or fittings, some of the decorative schemes have been well preserved.

The Weir, public house, formerly 'The White Horse' was where the artist J. M. W. Turner lived for one year at the age of ten. He is regarded as having started his interest in painting while living there. Later on in life, he lived nearby in Isleworth and Twickenham.

Syon Park House (demolished in 1953), not to be confused with Syon House, housed the 'Syon Park Academy' where the poet Shelley was educated between the ages of 10 and 12 before moving on to Eton. A Royal Mail depot stands on the site now. This may also be the site of the dwelling where Pocahontas lived in Brentford End between 1616 and 1617.

Brentford Dock, a freight terminus of the Great Western Railway, built at the confluence of the River Thames and River Brent, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and built between 1855 and 1859. A spur line from the GWR at Southall was constructed to the Brentford Dock railway station to facilitate easy transferral of freight from lighters and barges on the Thames to GWR-served destinations in the west of the United Kingdom. The dock was redeveloped as residential accommodation in the early 1970s, and little industrial archeology remains. However, Dock Road still retains some of its original fan pattern cobblestone road bed and examples of Brunel's broad-gauge 'bridge section' rail can be seen there.

The Brentford Dock flats (Originally named the Tiber Estate)were built alongside formerly important transport infrastructure as Brentford is the terminus of the Grand Union Canal, originally the Grand Junction Canal. This waterway is still in use for leisure traffic.

The 1000 Great West Road Building, an office building located in Brentford on the M4 motorway featured in Hard-Fi 's Living For The Weekend Music Video

Brentford Public Library is a Carnegie library.

Brentford Public Baths (1896) are a Grade II listed example of late Victorian architecture.

Kew Bridge Steam Museum houses the world's largest working beam engine.

The Musical Museum houses a large collection of mechanical musical instruments, such as player pianos.

Griffin Park is home to Brentford Football Club and Chelsea Football Club Reserves (from 2002 until 23 September 2005 it was the home of the London Broncos rugby league club - subsequently they were renamed Harlequins Rugby League and transferred to The Stoop).

Rent a flat, house or apartment in Brentford with Black Katz.

Interests of inhabitants

The launching of Google Trends in 2006 drew world attention to Brentford because of Brentford's unexpected prominence as a source of internet searches for terms relating to pornography and many sexual fetishes. This unexpected prominence probably reflected the presence of an ISP routing centre near Brentford rather than the interests of the inhabitants of Brentford themselves. However ... the Brentford football team appears to have generated a political party as a side effect, the A BEE C. Their political position on pornography on the Internet is not recorded.

Town twinning

Branford, Connecticut

Transport and locale

Nearest places

Nearest tube stations

  • Northfields tube station
  • Boston Manor tube station
  • South Ealing tube station
  • Gunnersbury tube station

Nearest railway stations

  • Brentford railway station
  • Kew Bridge railway station
  • Syon Lane railway station

Rent a flat, house or apartment in Brentford with Black Katz.