Twickenham

History of Twickenham & House Rendering Twickenham

History of Twickenham

1. Introduction to Twickenham

Twickenham lies in the Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south-west London on the north bank of the tidal River Thames. As an area, it has fascinated many, from the early authors who enthused over ‘raw naturals’ and ‘beau mode’ to the shifting and punning ethnographers and essayists of a post-industrial age. In crass demographic fashion, one might say that Twickenham’s neighborhoods have been filled generation by generation. Each occupation, settlement, and habitation has its tales. So here, what conurbation studies call ‘pattern’, ‘grain’, and chronology are plain to see across a microscopic section of time and (local) space. Such conurbations as Twickenham are the sum of many parts, each undergoing elision, translation, and regeneration as houses or streets of houses are reused by new peoples.

Photo by Jack Finnigan on Unsplash

It is as if layers of tarmacadam, macadam, and dust are compressed on some endless roller flight — the intaglio of so many forgotten and inadvertently recorded lives. The essay describes the area, from the earliest records to today. Perhaps because early ventures in mankind’s history always strike a chord, it is the beginning of Twickenham as a ‘neighborhood’ of the boroughs of Harbledown and Isleworth that will be discussed. 5000 years ago or more, a small band of a few hundred farmers, which later Stonehenge would celebrate as descendants, were the first in the sediments washed down by the Thames to feel that this would be a good place to dock their canoes and make a community. These earliest folk left a record of their interest deep in the London clay and gravel in the form of the sharp-edged axes and awls chipped from precious cobble.

1.1. Geographical Overview

Twickenham is a town located in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, in southwest London. It is situated in a scenic area between the historic boundary of the River Thames and Richmond Park, one of London’s royal parks. The town is known for its close proximity to the Thames, which has helped shape the area in terms of industries and housing and has provided a picturesque setting for art, literature, and photography of the nature and boating activity in Twickenham. Twickenham is seen in the upper Wandle urban industrial section of the non-tidal Thames between Richmond and Molesey Locks. From the river, the town is known for the significant number of open green spaces it has, notably the former formal gardens and grounds of Marble Hill House and Twickenham Green. A large portion of West Twickenham became part of the Hampton Court estate of the Crown Estate.

In the immediate vicinity of Twickenham, there are historic areas confirmed up to 180,000 years ago, standing on deposits of the Thames riverbed that date back 60 million years, an important historical location, with evidence of human occupation in the form of the Chertsey skull of early man. The village of Twickenham is on gravel terraces arranged by the Thames. Half a mile to the south of the river are gravel and clay terraces, covered by Inwood Hill. To the north of the village, the river is approximately a hundred yards wide and runs west to the mill, which is on the border of a brook running into the Thames, with a fifty-yard gap on the right of the mill. To the south are the subsequently named Water Lane, Riverside, and Grove Avenues. Across these are two parallel large fields, of three and a half acres each. On the map of 1769, the Unterwald and main field have a rear road connection. A gallows has been plotted on the embankment on the eastern side of the river, about a mile north of Twickenham.

Twickenham is situated downstream and southward from Molesey Lock. Historically, it is westward of Kew Bridge. The Thames at Twickenham is still tidal to the east of the lock. The river station at Richmond preserved over two centuries the longest-running railway connection to Twickenham. The park boundary on Richmond Road is 568 feet, or a tenth of a mile south of the crest of Richmond Bridge. In 1618, the 14th-century bridge was replaced. The bridge was widened on several occasions. The width of the river at the bridge is 180 feet. The road, here known as Chertsey Road, then ascends to the top of Richmond Hill, where it heads southwest and joins a larger route, Big Park Hill, which goes beyond Kingston to Chertsey.

1.2. Early Settlements

The archaeological record shows clear evidence of prehistoric human activity around Twickenham. The transition from prehistoric times into recorded history is defined by the growth of communities and the emergence of cultural, social, and commercial practices. Before this period, there is no historical context surrounding the area, and written sources are often difficult to locate if settlements are not political or religious focal points. But it is from the River Thames that undeniably the first settlers were attracted to Twickenham. The river provided access across several kilometers of relatively dry land during periods when sea level was much higher, allowing settlers to exploit alluvial possibilities and embark upon a diverse range of agriculture and pastoral activities.

The area has been occupied for more than 2,000 years and has been home to hunter-gatherers, the earliest recorded inhabitants, Bronze Age traders, Iron Age settlers, Roman farmers, invader cemeteries, fishing Saxons, grazing Normans, shepherding Tudors, and Victorian pleasure gardens. By dint of geography, human communities have always had to make peace with the environmental conditions imposed upon them. Populations may wax and wane with migrations and invasions, and cultures assimilated or abandoned, but the local landscape endures with populations distributed in a consistent fashion over time. The region has experienced crises and mitigated disasters, suffered episodes of conflict, and has evidence of continuity and change. Long-term studies offer much deeper understanding of how people developed mechanisms of adapting to regional issues and how social and economic enterprises were developed. Early history provides some practical understanding of the challenges and opportunities confronting those settling along our stretch of river.

Photo by Bruno Martins on Unsplash

2. Twickenham in the Middle Ages

The fact that the population of what is now known as Twickenham changed very little for seven centuries is odd. Twickenham, as we understand it today, however, has a very short but rich history. Before the 16th century, the beginnings of the settlement that would eventually become the Twickenham we know today must have lain somewhere in the region’s history. Twickenham, as a component of this centralized system, serves not as an autonomous district, town, or neighborhood, but as a module in feudal Britain. Understanding the Middle Ages in general and feudalism in particular is therefore essential because they aid in the understanding of English social and cultural patterns and assist in typing the medieval history of Twickenham as “normal” rather than “individual” to be practiced throughout England.

Before the conquest in January 1066, Twickenham was assessed at seven-and-a-half hides and was almost certainly part of the conquests in south and western Middlesex made by Unwin, Earl of Mercia, and Brien FitzCount. The execution of a claim in the era, in this instance, did not result in a fracture of the possessory land system; the winners acquitted themselves as they knew best. The land was part of the manor of Isleworth, a “feudal island” within the rural community of the Shire of Middlesex, which was then an important stewardship of the king, and we do not know how the war came — but the only known incidences of royal concern are those connected to the ceremonial crowning of Danish Harold. It is not necessary to theorize about Twickenham’s distinctive antecedents, for they were the same for agricultural manorial England, the center of gravity of the then-prejudiced-minded inhabitants as of later inhabitants throughout and around England, with the same structure and socio-economic functioning.

2.1. Manor of Twickenham

The next four subsections will examine different phases in the development of Twickenham: the manor, palaces and houses; the local landholding; the effect of the coming of the railway; and more detailed studies of a number of periods.

As a manorial estate, Twickenham may have continued from an earlier Saxon origin, or it could be as recent as Domesday, but the location of the boundary with Isleworth does suggest an origin at least sufficiently early for one part or other of this line to have been of some significance. The manorial estate was formed into a “knight’s fee” as a source of revenue, and was used initially to meet the turn service customary for knights to make, and continued to be held up to the 17th century.

The function of a manor was not primarily as an estate; although some, like Twickenham, were well stocked with houses. It was more a judicial and administrative or legal unit for the making and enforcement of laws. These rights were often rented out or “farmed” to a bailiff or attorney, as was the bond requirement and other miscellaneous rights. The manor was also designed so that official records could be kept all in one place, and meet the rights and obligations of the tenants of the manor in a businesslike way. Twickenham seems to have been owned largely by the relatively rich and powerful, and so the rights and dues were not always the original ones. However, the manor was influential in shaping local life. The early Twickenham manor attracted the highest stratum of society. Some were greater expected to be excused, but none actually escaped their turn. The influence of the manor attracted church offices; they not only bought their manor lands to place themselves in the community but also gave local certain well-born individuals lived or at other times as a country tryst for huntsmen and sportsmen.

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3. Twickenham in the Tudor and Stuart Periods

In the Tudor and Stuart period, great political and social changes took place in England. The ownership of this part of Middlesex had already changed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the time of Henry VIII, and following the death of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and Queen Elizabeth’s favorite, it was in the market with a sale in fee. The park and house at Twickenham were bought by a wealthy draper of London in 1596. He was one of the Northern Moorfields crowd of adventurers who had already started to invest in this area. A plan had been initiated to divide his property, which was the west part of the estate and in the parish of Teddington. By the early seventeenth century, this part of Middlesex was generally inhabited by people of means who were prominent in trade, business, and public affairs. The area was home to some of London’s mercers, but mostly to its drapers, dyers, vintners, goldsmiths, tailors, and haberdashers. A list of new knights, barons, earls, viscounts, and marquises became symbols of the traditions and freedom of England. The parliamentarians defeated the royalists on January 4, 1642, at Brentford. There was no attempt to seize Twickenham, the second home of the influential Dutch ambassador, from a position at Staines. The period of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate established London as the most significant city in England and Wales, and the port became, for a few decades, the mart of Europe. During the Dutch wars, Twickenham became garrisoned by parliamentary troops, but on the whole, Twickenham’s history was detached from the events at court. It continued to be a place with a royal background, and its appeal stretched across a range of figureheads. George IV was not the only monarch who intervened in the disposition of its estates.

3.1. Royal Connections

The connections and the patronage of the monarchy played a significant part in the making of the place that today is Twickenham. It was the first Duke of Buckingham who chose this part of the Thames Valley as a country home. During the tenure of his palace here, King Charles I visited the area four times. Royal residence or royal visitation is a feature of Twickenham during the Tudor and Stuart periods, and it seems to have played an important role in the local community and society.

Henry VIII’s interest in Twickenham influenced the community through the Protestant attitudes he held and promoted. The religious radicalism central to the early Reformation was damaging to Dunkeld and Stewart Scotland, and if Henry VIII had laid aside Anne of Cleves in favor of her sister, Twickenham would have been part of a Protestant fifth column awaiting German armies. The land here has been valuable to royalty primarily because of what could be made of it. For much of the popular story of Twickenham society of the earlier periods, royalism is either intangible or consists of families who were “loyal to our king over the water.” By 1577, Thorne had long been wed to the royal house, being the mother of Thomas Knollys, husband of the Marian exile, a Kentish gentleman who had served the young Queen half his life and died in the Tower moats.

Twickenham legends of possession and innkeeper inform the story of local Braxton. Braxton was a marine artisan from the Royal dockyards, and Twickenham families were brought together by decree in 1577. Mr. and Mrs. Braxton did not live in Twickenham for long, and they do not seem to have any children, but for the rest of Mary Watson’s lifetime, East Twickenham and Kneller Hall were inhabited by a Braxton widow. Royal visits, be they traveling courts or families visiting at others’ houses, constituted a cultural exchange between “court” and “gentry.” The “court” came to see and to judge; they also left a conspicuous external mark on Twickenham, in buildings and parks. King Henry VII’s queen, Elizabeth of York, hunted here on horseback and fished the river with nets. Twickenham’s strong fabric of local oral history is underpinned by this large and detailed historic record. The purpose of any local study is to tell the community members something about themselves and to confirm or change their self-perception. The royal connection is believed to be significant at its time.

4. Twickenham in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Twickenham in this period was transformed from an old-fashioned riverside community to a thriving suburb. It was becoming largely middle-class but with a diminishing artisan population. Over the hundred years, it became a fashionable and then very popular resort. Quite early in the 18th century, visitors began to leave testimonies to Twickenham’s picturesque setting. Artists began to preserve the local scenery and settled in Twickenham or its immediate neighborhood. By the middle of the 18th century, several people made their livelihood by drawing or painting pictures of Twickenham prospects. The gardeners shot the Eel Pie rapids in boats for visitors with a taste for adventure. After a boat ride from Kew to “this rural village,” a churchwarden wrote that the visitor would find themselves in a “better than common alehouse” that would furnish them with “a dinner in very good order” and a garden where they could “dispel with an agreeable walk the awkward dizziness oftentimes occasioned by these little voyages.” One 18th-century visitor declared that “to walk to Twickenham once a week is all the physic I want.”

The constant in nearly all descriptions of the village from the beginning of the 18th century is the turnpike and the traffic sustained or created by it. Nearly all visitors to Twickenham passed over its road or down its river. In the 18th century, Twickenham was a fashionable riverside resort for persons of quality and social status. It was accessible by road and river, and in the 18th century, it became a hub for press and society, many of whom found valuable patrons among the wealthy West End visitors in the crowded inns and their congested public buildings, some of which still survive. Celebrated its romantic and unpretentious amenities and its many walks. By the 19th century, its ancient mansions were already substantially subdivided for the family members of those urban gentlemen and gentlewomen who patronized the area. The shops and cottage manufacturers were already booming in Twickenham village before the railways arrived. By the middle of the 19th century, the Church of England statistics indicated that the majority of the population was of the middling ranks or trades, retail and transport workers, and those who worked in offices. A local employee wrote of a district population “somewhat superior” to nearby Brentford and Isleworth. He considered the population a mixture of old Quakers and people living retired lives. Half the population of the area was described in 1908 as “tame and steady-going local people. They hanker not after broader high streets or a cheaper one, and sometimes they get nostalgic for the place they left.”

4.1. Development as a Riverside Resort

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with an eye on the fine view and the considerable charm of the Thames, Twickenham began to develop as a riverside resort. The Georgian and Victorian periods saw the Thames become more intensely used for leisure, and Twickenham was in the thick of it. During the summer months, huge quantities of visitors came to Twickenham and its surrounding villages from London and middle-class homes nearby; many of them in open carriages, and others in pleasure boats, to inhale the cool breeze from the waters of the Thames. People were seeking ‘a little rustic tranquility’ in their lives, and the then charming village with its flowery and box-edged gardens was just the place to find it. Beyond Richmond, which had some historical interest, Twickenham had more of a countryside feel about it, allowing the possibility of a short escape, free from the hard and noisy city life.

In turn, other Victorians came out from what is now suburban London to find cottage industries, and because of their area’s long-cherished reputation as a day out, Twickenham expanded at the turn of the twentieth century to cater for them as well as the locals. The bevy of inns and public houses quickly developed to cater to the demands of the new tourist trade, though they also became meeting places for the local community. In the late nineteenth century, for instance, inns and taverns were the hub of local activity, and the Duke family’s entertainment venues took full advantage of their location in the town to attract residents and tourists alike. The hotels developed with a vision keen for the new-style tourist to furnish their new horizons, while theatres were opened for leisure. In total, therefore, events in pleasure places at Twickenham took a variety of forms, providing an active part in the direction of the lives of a friendly crowd.

5. Twickenham in the Modern Era

In common with many British suburbs, Twickenham struggled long and hard to imagine itself as distinctive in its own right. The burgeoning identity of the town fed off its transient and ill-defined status as a residential suburb of central London. The nature of that ‘imagined community’ embraced art and literature, personal memory, tastes, and habits. It had only the most tenuous attachment to the actual locality in which these people lived, to the handful of institutions and practices that sustained them.

Twickenham has changed beyond recognition as one of London’s first commuter railway suburbs. The town’s development since the 1830s, like much of England, might be characterized as influenced by urban sprawl. Twickenham has an unlucky combination of confines: the Thames to the north and the difficulty of the land to the east held up urban expansion for some years. When expansion started, the river acted as a draw, for both the aesthetics of the setting and for work from boating practices. The map of this expansion generally mirrors a spreading form of mid-to-late 19th-century residential development. What marks Twickenham out from much of London is the rather sudden change at the southern edge of the town where 1970s ribbon development was superimposed across the grain of the older urban forms. The interwar suburbs have an Arts and Crafts tinge. Many of our detailed sights and views, such as the church, river, and ‘the Green,’ have strong historic resonance — the important ones happened in the last half of the 19th century. This, in many ways, has made them important cultural settings. Twickenham’s mix has long been of work and leisure, trade and governance, living in town and living in the country, urban and bucolic. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, that mix has changed. The ‘millionaire’s enclave’ is now said to be one of the last hackney carriage stops from the city. Rugby has replaced boating as the sport practiced on the riverside. In place of the gaming house, we have not only health clubs in the High Street but also in the town’s public park. Osbourne Villas and other such enclaves for clerks and shop assistants are now, at least partly, for the wharf and marina workers to live in. We have in the town Irish pubs, busy laundry services, and Nepalese hotels. The new technologies of the information age have brought, paradoxically, new ways of working from home.

Photo by Edgar Pimenta on Unsplash

5.1. Twickenham as a Rugby Hub

Twickenham is also now associated with rugby, due to the presence of the RFU headquarters at Twickenham Stadium, where the England national team plays and where many national cup finals are also held. The stadium has a seating capacity of 83,389 and is the second-largest stadium in the UK and fifth-largest in Europe. The playing field stands above a busy A road in the shadow of St. Mary’s Church with no obvious means of getting to its main entrance from the station. Throughout the school’s existence, Twickenham was establishing itself as one of the hubs of rugby. In 1885, Mr. and Mrs. Percy Barlow came to Whitton as newlyweds; Mr. Percy Barlow introduced rugby to the boys at Byam House School, and by 1886, a group of lads were meeting under the parish church at St. James’ to play Pig and the National Game. By 1888, two clubs had been created at the Star and Garter public house: Richmond Athletic and Twickenham A.C., or Twickenham Excelsior as they became known. In December 1899, following a draw in a county match against Cornwall, a group of men met in the same public house to try and form a team. Two weeks later, the first-ever game of association football played in Twickenham was between an RA team and a team of soldiers stationed at Fulwell Mill. The match finished 3–3. Twickenham, an urban area at the heart of Middlesex, has long played the role of the middle-class retreat from the city and has welcomed its new arrivals over the centuries. There are also a number of people who were not born in the area but saw it as their spiritual home. For all of the clubs, amateur and professional, whether or not they are still around, all have one thing in common: a home at the heart of this community with an ever-growing following. When in 2015 Richmond FC hoisted the Premiership Trophy, they had capped off a fresh chapter in a proud history of rugby twinned with passion. An honor was bestowed upon them the day they took that final stride and were given the keys to RFU HQ. Twickenham finally has its rugby shirt. Twickenham has always been rugby. In the history of Twickenham, I explore the lives of the many who have added color to the community and look forward to a future continuing to host rugby and other successful sports.

Business in Twickenham

• House Rendering Twickenham
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