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BRENTFORD |
were carried out in Brentford Wheat and rye are crops known
to have been grown. Three large farms were those belonging
to the estates of Gunnersbury and Boston, and London Stile
Farm. The land belonging to the latter farm stretched from
Green Dragon Lane to Gunnersbury Ave with the farm house
some where near the site of the present Fountain Leisure
Centre. In 1893 the Fruit and Vegetable Market was built
on London Stile Farm land. The Gunnersbury farmhouse was
situated where the changing rooms in Gunnersbury Park are
today. Boston Farm was situated in Boston Rd (now Boston
Manor Rd), which was just a leafy rural lane until the farm
was demolished in 1928 and new houses built.
From the late 16th century orchards and market gardens
replaced arable land and grassland and by 1829 there were
3000 acres of market gardens and nurseries in the parishes
around Brentford. Thirteen market gardeners are listed in
1826. A well-known nursery was that of Hugh Ronalds & Sons
of New Brentford who rented land in Isleworth and north of
the Butts up Bostons Manor Rd. By 1755 Hugh Ronalds the elder
(1726-1788) had brought the freehold of the old Tudor House
two doors from St Lawrence's church and his main nursery was
two acres of land between the church, the Ham and the River
Brent. His son, Hugh Ronalds the young (1759-1833) were noted
for fruit trees. In 1829 he was growing300 different varieties
of apple and in 1831 produced his treatise on the subject
Pyrus Malus Brentfordiensis, Robert Addy of Ealing Rd Brentford
was described by the Gardeners Chronicle in1898 as 'the most
successful grower of mushrooms for market supply'. He
specialised in the cultivation of 'cluster mushrooms'.
VEGETABLE MARKET
in the late 19th and 20th century it started from small
beginnings when in 1888, a grower on his way to Convent
Garden from Cranford, stopped for a drink in the Express
Tavern in Kew Bridge Rd. He was approached by a passer-by
asking to purchase a bundle of his turnips. On his next
journey there was a cluster of people wanting to purchase
his wares. So he decided to save himself the trek to London
and set up his stall (with the landlord's permission) on
the forecourt of the Express. This attracted other market
gardeners and a market was established on the north side
of Kew Bridge. The stallholders gathered around the fountain,
which had been installed there in 1877 by the Metropolitan
Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association.
By 1890 there were sometimes as many as 60 wagons assembled
at Kew Bridge and local residents complained that 'this
informal and illegal trading' was causing horrendous
traffic congestion and asked the Brentford Local board'
to put it down'. Instead, the Local Board decided to
find a suitable piece of land and run the market itself
realising that revenue from the market tolls and rents
would both considerably swell its coffers and ease the
rates burden on Brentford's inhabitants. An overwhelming
majority though met with some opposition and in 1892 a
poll took in the town but the scheme, the townspeople
declared for a market.
The board purchased two and a half acres of land for £8,000
from Leopold de Rothschild (owner of the Gunnersbury Park
estate) to use as an open market. This irregularly shaped
area faced the main road to Kew Bridge between the railway
line and London Stile Farm. The Lord Mayor of London opened
the market in May 1893 with much fanfare. The streets were
gaily decorated with flags and a procession of carriages
containing local dignitaries travelled from Market Place
in New Brentford to the Prince's Hall in the garden of
the Star and Garter inn. The Fire brigade 'with engine'
was in attendance and the Regimental band of the Duke of
Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment) entertained the crowd
which came to witness the proceedings. After the opening
ceremony a banquet was held in the Prince's Hall.
The market expanded at such a rate that in 1897 the Borough
Architect and Surveyor, Nowell Parr was asked to design a
covered market building and in 1902, the council purchased
adjoining land from the Gunnersbury Park Estate. The new
covered market was opened in 1906 the Middlesex Independent
describing it as the latest and most palatial market in
Britain. Parr's imposing building could accommodate far
more stands for sellers and also contained a large refreshment
area and 14 shops fronting onto the main road among the new
buildings were banana-ripening rooms. This was anew departure
for the market and opened up a trade in tropical fruits. Most
of the imported fruit was transhipped from the London docks
and unloaded from barges at Kew Bridge. This increased the
potential of the market and more land was acquired in 1906
and 1921. In its heyday the Brentford fruit and vegetable
market covered all the land on the north side of the main
road now occupied by the Fountain Leisure Centre and the
office blocks and warehouses of Capital Interchange way.
Some of the land was eventually used for the road
improvement at the Chiswick roundabout and part was sold
for the erection of a garage and a telephone exchange
(Wheatstone House) In its latter days the market site
covered 11 areas. Business began at 5.30am in the summer,
6am in the winter, six days a week. At 4pm, at the end of
trading, nuns would come to see if there were any unwanted
fruit and vegetables for the orphanages, and zookeepers
came to collect rotten fruit for their wild animals.
By the 1960s the mechanised trucks and refrigerated
containers, which had replaced the hand carts and horse
drawn vehicles the market was designed for were finding
it difficult to manoeuvre in the narrow aisles and uneven
cobbled surfaces. It was decided to look for a new site
on which to build a market with more up-to-date facilities
and opportunities for expansion. A site was acquired at
North Hyde on the border with Southall and the market
renamed the Western International Market, transferred
there in 1974. The move was not popular with stallholders:
the council should never have moved us. We were very happy
here said one. The fountain from Kew Bridge was also moved
to the new site. Some Brentford residents are petitioning
for its return. The premises of the Brentford market were
used as a skateboarding rink before being demolished in 1982.
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