Heston and Isleworth: Churches

CHURCHES.

The original relationship between the churches of Isleworth, Heston, Twickenham, and Hampton is not known. A priest at Isleworth, of which Heston and Twickenham were then part, was mentioned in Domesday Book, but there is no reference to one at Hampton. (fn. 1) Walter of St. Valery (fl. 1086), who owned both Isleworth and Hampton, was said in the 12th century, however, to have given the four churches to the Abbey of St. Valéry (Somme). A document of c. 1300 relating to St. Valéry's English lands refers to Hampton, Heston, and Twickenham as chapels of Isleworth, but this may have been because Isleworth remained the administrative centre of the abbey's rectorial estate, rather than because the other churches were in fact founded from it. Two 12th-century charters, one probably copying the other, call all the four churches by that title, and another calls them all chapels. (fn. 2) By the 13th century they seem to have been ecclesiastically distinct, (fn. 3) and the parishes of Isleworth and Heston then probably remained virtually unchanged in area until the parish of Holy Trinity Hounslow was created out of them in 1835. After this other new churches were steadily built and the parishes of the two parent churches were correspondingly diminished. (fn. 4)

The date when St. Valéry ordained vicarages in the churches it owned in Middlesex is unknown, but Hampton is known to have had a vicar by 1254, Twickenham by 1286, Isleworth by 1290, and Heston by 1310. (fn. 5) The advowsons of Isleworth and Heston belonged to St. Valéry until 1391, though vicars were presented by the Crown while the abbey's English lands were sequestered in the 14th century. (fn. 6) They then descended with the rectorial estates to the Crown. (fn. 7) In 1558 Mary granted both advowsons to the Bishop of London, but this grant does not seem to have taken effect. (fn. 8) In the case of Heston the Crown presented in 1560, but the bishop, who acquired the rectorial estate in 1562, held the advowson as well by 1570. (fn. 9) By 1562 the advowson of Isleworth belonged to St. George's Chapel, Windsor, which had held the rectory since 1547. (fn. 10) The bishop and St. George's are still the respective patrons. (fn. 11)

The church of Isleworth was dedicated to ALL SAINTS by 1485. (fn. 12) A vicarage is first mentioned in 1290, when it was worth £2, an eighth of the value of the rectory. (fn. 13) In 1474 Syon Abbey compounded for all vicarial tithes and dues from its demesne lands. The vicar was to receive £2 a year and daily meat and drink at the upper table in the abbey hall, while his servant was to be fed at the grooms' table. The abbey was also to give him a robe each year. (fn. 14) By 1535 the composition was apparently worth £7 8s. (fn. 15) It seems to have been commuted for a money payment of £10 at the Dissolution: in any case, it formed a large proportion of the vicar's income of £18. (fn. 16) By 1650 the vicarage was worth about £30 or £40, and augmentations from the rectory lands were granted to it during the Interregnum. (fn. 17) The expansion of market-gardening in the 17th and 18th centuries caused disputes about tithes. (fn. 18) In 1724 it was decided that garden produce grown in fields should pay tithes to the rectory, not to the vicar, but a customary modus was paid to the vicar from marketgardens in 1840, when the tithes were commuted. (fn. 19) From the 18th century the rectory paid £20 a year as a composition for vicarial tithes. (fn. 20) The vicarial tithes were commuted for £800 10s., although the average gross income of the vicar had been only £775 (£681 net) in 1835. (fn. 21) When St. John's Church was founded £100 were deducted from the income of the parent church for it, (fn. 22) and other deductions may have been made for other churches afterwards, for in 1884 the vicar received about £550 net and in 1955-6 the net endowment was £338 and the whole net income was £404. (fn. 23) There is no record of any vicarial glebe before 1818, when the vicar held 6 acres in the south of the parish in addition to the vicarage house. (fn. 24) By 1840 he held only the house and a rood of land in Whitton Road. (fn. 25) The former vicarage house can probably be identified with the house next to the Dairyhouse for which the vicar paid rent to Isleworth manor in 1540. (fn. 26) Glover marks it on its later site in 1635. (fn. 27) It was rebuilt in 1865 and sold about 1945 when the present vicarage at No. 61 Church St. was purchased instead. (fn. 28)

In the Middle Ages the church had a lady chapel and lights to the Virgin, the Holy Cross, St. Nicholas, and All Saints. (fn. 29) One lamp was apparently maintained by the lessee of the rectory. (fn. 30) In 1547 the church had a house in Hounslow worth 40s. a year, of which 6s. 8d. was divided between the choir and the poor at the yearly obit. (fn. 31) The vicar had a clerk in 1339 and vicar's chaplains or curates are mentioned at later dates. (fn. 32) Isleworth had a good many vicars who served only for short periods and a number who were pluralists, some of whom combined the cure with other livings nearby. Edward More, for instance, head master of Winchester 1508-17, was vicar of Isleworth from 1515 to 1521 and of Heston from 1513 to 1529. Later the church was held once with Hanwell and once with Ruislip and for a large part of the 18th century with Surrey livings. Since St. George's held the patronage, it is not surprising that a number of vicars were canons of Windsor. (fn. 33) These included Richard Milward (vicar 1678-80), the editor of Seldon's table-talk, William Cave (vicar 1690-1713), an ecclesiastical historian, and William Drake (vicar 1777-1801), an antiquary and philologist. (fn. 34)

John Hale (vicar 1521-35) was executed in 1535 along with the Carthusians and others, with whom he had discussed the royal supremacy in hostile terms at Isleworth. Some lay people of the neighbourhood also seem to have been disaffected. (fn. 35) William Turner, the naturalist, who was chaplain to the Duke of Somerset and preached at Isleworth about 1551, was a fairly extreme Protestant, (fn. 36) but Thomas Wood, a former chaplain to Mary Tudor, held the living from 1562 to 1566 although he had been deprived of that of Harlington in 1560. (fn. 37) Nicholas Byfield (vicar 1615-22) was a prominent puritan and sabbatarian who preached twice every Sunday and held expository lectures on Wednesdays and Fridays. (fn. 38) About 1600 the parishioners began to appoint lecturers whom they paid themselves: (fn. 39) 'afternoon lecturers' were still elected in the 19th century, though by this time, one of the vicar's curates was often chosen. (fn. 40) At least one of the early lecturers, William Jemmat, was a puritan. (fn. 41) He was there when William Grant became vicar in 1639, and two years later the parishioners said that Grant had ejected Jemmat and replaced him with a man of scandalous life called Bifield. (fn. 42) They also accused Grant of loose living, belief in confession and celibacy of the clergy, sabbath-breaking, bowing to the altar, and other high-church practices. He defended himself against the more damaging charges, and declared that Jemmat had left of his own accord after Grant, finding the vicarage 'a very poor thing of itself', had decided to do all the work himself. Grant alleged that only six out of a thousand communicants had signed the petition, but it is clear that, however small the opposition to him, he had come into open conflict, sometimes during service, with some of its members. (fn. 43) In 1642 he was ordered to permit another lecturer, who had been chosen by the parish with his consent, the free use of the pulpit on Sunday afternoons and Wednesdays: this lecturer was a nonconformist after 1660. (fn. 44) The living was eventually sequestered in 1643 and given to Samuel Rolle, a very moderate puritan, who also became curate or lecturer of Hounslow. (fn. 45) He was ousted once more in 1661 (fn. 46) by Grant, and a new common prayer book, two books of articles, and a surplice were purchased for the church in 1662. (fn. 47) During the Interregnum the lessee of the rectory had moved the reading-desk behind a pillar and put a pew for himself in its place, and Grant had some trouble over putting it back. Churchwardens' presentments, in fact written by him, list 174 people who had not taken communion and nine who had not been to church, for four years before 1664. (fn. 48) In 1685 the benches on either side of the communion table were ordered to be removed: (fn. 49) the ritual arrangements in the new church which was built in 1707 are discussed below, in the description of the building.

Two of the pluralist vicars of the 18th century were said to do a good deal of the duty themselves and all kept curates. Throughout the century services were held two or three times on Sundays, there were communion services at least monthly, and the children were catechized in Lent. (fn. 50) Changes seem to have come fairly gradually in the 19th century and probably began under H. W. P. Richards (vicar 1855-88), who described how he changed from surplice to gown before preaching when he first came to the parish. (fn. 51) When a new chancel was built and the high pews (see plate facing p. 128) were removed in 1865 this was expressly said to be 'not for ornamentation but [for] greater accommodation . . . because the altar would no longer encroach upon the area of the church'. (fn. 52) The first new churches were opened soon after Richards's arrival, though they had been begun in his predecessor's time. (fn. 53) In 1878 he opened a mission house in Hartland Road: charity funds were used for this purpose and it served for parochial and charitable work. (fn. 54) In 1884 Richards supported an appeal for funds for another new church by explaining that his two curates shared his net income of £550. (fn. 55) In 1886 evening services were being held in the school at Brentford End in the winter, and in a cottage at the Railshead: (fn. 56) this last was superseded by All Soul's Church at St. Margarets. (fn. 57) About 1916 the leader of a former undenominational mission in South Street was ordained into the Church of England and the mission was attached to the parish church. It was rebuilt in 1922 and part of the building was used as a church hall in 1958. (fn. 58) In 1959 the parish had 231 persons on its electoral roll. (fn. 59) The main Sunday services were then sung eucharist at 9.15 and matins at 10.30.

Isleworth church was supposed in 1635 to be 'very ancient because of many coats of arms blazoned on the church windows, with certain grave stones graven with a Saxon character'. (fn. 60) In 1705 the church was said to be incommoded by four great pillars in the middle. (fn. 61) The chancel is said to have been rebuilt in 1398-9. (fn. 62) There was a gallery by 1670. (fn. 63) The only part of the present church which survives from before 1707 is the tower, which was built in the 15th century of ragstone with freestone dressings. It has three stages and an embattled parapet with pinnacles at the corners, and has been much restored. The cupola surmounting it is said to have been taken down in 1866. (fn. 64) Sir Orlando Gee (1619-1705) (fn. 65) of Syon Park left £500 to rebuild the church. After his death a parish meeting was held which appointed trustees for rebuilding and considered 'a report of Sir Christopher Wren made in the year 1703 and a scheme or design for a church to be built'. It was resolved to build according to this design but at cheaper rates if possible; it is therefore uncertain how much the new church owed to Wren. (fn. 66) It was opened in 1707. (fn. 67) The body of the church was of red brick, divided by square brick piers into a nave and aisles of six bays, with galleries running the whole length of each side, and two ranges of round-headed windows. Externally four pilasters with capitals and a continuous cornice divided it into three double bays: the cornice and capitals seem to have been removed when the roof was altered, probably in 1866-7 when a new Gothic chancel was built. (fn. 68) Before this the aisles seem to have had flat roofs: afterwards there was a single mansard roof over the whole nave and aisles. The original chancel consisted of an extension of a few feet from the centre aisle of the nave. This had a segmental pediment, and the parapets of the side aisles, with vases on the angles, were swept up to meet it. (fn. 69)

A west gallery was added in the nave soon after the church was built. (fn. 70) Until 1867 the pews were arranged in four main blocks, with a narrow line of seats dividing the centre aisle, in which also stood the three-decker pulpit, the stove, and the font (see plate facing p. 128). The stools were for the parish almspeople. (fn. 71) There were more pews against the east wall on either side of the low rails which surrounded the altar on three sides. (fn. 72) In 1746 there were complaints that the Countess of 'Montrallis' (fn. 73) had raised her pew nineteen inches so that many of the inhabitants could not see the communion table or the minister officiating there. (fn. 74) The arrangement of the church was not substantially altered until after 1864, when it was pointed out that in spite of the inadequate number of free seats, eight of the 77 large pews had only one inmate and 14 had only two. (fn. 75) By 1867 a new Gothic chancel and east vestries had been built, the west gallery had been removed, and the old pews and pulpit replaced. (fn. 76) In 1943 the church was damaged by arson so that only the tower, the nave and chancel walls, and the vestries remained standing. (fn. 77) A temporary church inside the nave was dedicated in 1950. (fn. 78) A gift of 1918 for cleaning the altar rails has not been used since 1943, but a bequest of 1931 for the repair of the church is still used to maintain the temporary building and the ruins. (fn. 79)

The sundial on the south wall of the nave was set up in 1761 to replace one that had been blown down. (fn. 80) Of the six brasses of the 15th and 16th centuries, five have been preserved by the vicar since the church was burnt down. The sixth, to Margaret Dely (d. 1561), a nun of Syon, was found after the fire to have disappeared. (fn. 81) The wall monuments ranged from 1625 to the 19th century. (fn. 82) Many of them survived the fire but in 1958 they were said to be in bad condition: most of them were under wooden covers. (fn. 83) The monuments to Sir Orlando Gee and Anne Dash (formerly Tolson) (fn. 84) in the tower survive undamaged.

The eight bells were all recast in 1903, and two more were added in 1931. (fn. 85) The plate was recast in 1867, except for a collecting plate for the charity school marked 1751. (fn. 86) The registers start in 1566 and are substantially complete though many were badly damaged when the church was burnt, and parts are virtually illegible. (fn. 87)

In 1847 or 1848 the adjoining Rectory House was bought and pulled down to enlarge the graveyard. (fn. 88)

The church of ST. LEONARD, Heston, had a vicar by 1310. (fn. 89) In 1535 the living was valued at £11, in 1547 at £16, and in 1650 at about £60. (fn. 90) In the 18th century the income seems to have risen from £80 to £270 and by 1835 it was about £654 gross. (fn. 91) In 1955-6 the endowment was £251 net and the income £414 net. (fn. 92) The vicar's income came from small tithes and glebe. All the parish appears to have been tithable except the demesne lands of Hounslow manor which belonged to Hounslow Friary in the Middle Ages. In 1731 the lord of Hounslow manor succeeded in reaffirming the freedom of the excepted lands from tithe. (fn. 93) In 1650 the glebe was estimated at 15 acres: (fn. 94) an acre of copyhold land had apparently been left to the living by will in 1636. (fn. 95) At the inclosure of 1818 most of the glebe was concentrated behind the vicarage, and the small tithes were commuted for 278 acres on the north of the Bath Road. (fn. 96) All the glebe except a small strip in Cranford Lane has since been sold, part of it apparently having been used to endow St. Paul's, Hounslow Heath. (fn. 97) There was a vicarage house on the present site in 1635. (fn. 98) It was rebuilt in the 19th century.

The lights in the medieval church included ones to Holy Cross, the Virgin, and St. Leonard. (fn. 99) In 1547 the income from 3 roods of land was used to find a rood light and to repair the church. (fn. 100) Many of the medieval vicars served for very short periods. (fn. 101) At least one of them owned land in Middlesex apart from his glebe, and used it to endow Hounslow Friary. (fn. 102) One early-16th-century vicar held Heston first with Isleworth (fn. 103) and then with Cranford, his successor combined it with Hampton, and it was held again with Cranford in 1575-91, with Littleton in 1594-1616, with London parishes at different times in the 17th century, and with Bedfont for some years in the 18th. (fn. 104) Thomas Bownell (vicar 1560-70) was followed by his son Mordecai, one of the pluralists mentioned above, who lost the living for a time as the result. (fn. 105) Like his successors, however, he kept a curate. (fn. 106) In 1642 the pluralist vicar was forced to resign. (fn. 107) His successor, who was said to perform the duties ably and painstakingly in 1650, died in 1661, still holding the living. (fn. 108) About 1728 the vicar was at odds with most of the parish, (fn. 109) and about 1736- 43 the curate, left in charge by a vicar who lived in Italy, neglected the registers if nothing else. (fn. 110) The holding of services varied during the century: about 1723 there were two Sunday services, six-weekly communion services, and catechizings during the winter, 'if they come'. It was perhaps a little later that the vicar was said to have given up catechizing but promised to resume it. (fn. 111) Later the total dropped to one service on Sundays, and four communion services a year (there were some 40 communicants about 1770) but the second Sunday service was resumed towards the end of the century. (fn. 112) No records except for the registers survive for the 19th century, and little is known about the later history of the parish. It is probable that in the life of the church as of the village Heston remained comparatively unchanged during the 19th century. Apart from St. Mary, Spring Grove, which was founded by outside initiative, the only new church built in the parish was St. Paul's, Hounslow Heath. (fn. 113) The parish room by the church was opened in 1880 and weekday services were held there for some years. (fn. 114) All Saints' Mission church, Broad Walk, was opened in 1953. (fn. 115) The main Sunday service at the parish church in 1959 was matins at 11 o'clock. There were then 847 persons on the electoral roll. (fn. 116)

In 1865 Heston church consisted of an aisled nave, chancel, north and south chapels, west tower, west and south porches, and a north porch then used as a vestry. There was apparently a Norman arch in the chancel and other parts of the building dated from the 13th century, but most of it seems to have been of the late 15th century. (fn. 117) In 1865 the building was in bad repair and was considered too small, while the lowness of the chancel arch was said to impede the voice during communion services. (fn. 118) The chancel arch was also partly blocked by a three-decker pulpit, while high pews stretched through the arch into the chancel. (fn. 119) In spite of protests from outside the parish the church was therefore rebuilt, apart from the tower, to the designs of Thomas Bellamy. (fn. 120) It is built of ragstone, mainly in the Decorated style and on the same general plan as the old church except for an additional north aisle. Efforts were evidently made to perpetuate some of the original features, including the separate gabled roofs of the chancel and chapels at the east end. The arcade dividing the two north aisles appears to incorporate some original late-13th-century stonework. The late-15thcentury west porch, which is built of timber on a stone base, was also apparently reconstructed from the original materials. The tower is square and fourstoried with an embattled parapet. The west door and the stoup beside it, like the tower, are of the 15th century. The lych-gate is an earlier 19th-century reconstruction from materials of the 15th or early 16th century. (fn. 121) The font-cover is 16th-century, though much restored, and there are three brasses of the 16th and 17th centuries. The earliest of these is on the chancel floor and is to the wife (d. 1581) of Mordecai Bownell, a vicar. It is damaged but still has the figures of a woman and child in bed, above which is Christ in glory, with an angel at the side. There are a number of monuments of which the earliest is a floor-slab to Thomas Bownell (vicar 1560-70). Among the others is one to Robert Child (d. 1782), signed by Robert Adam and P. M. van Gelder. (fn. 122)

The bells were all recast in the 19th century. (fn. 123) Two pieces of plate date from the late 17th century and others from the eighteenth. (fn. 124) The first register begins in 1559 (marriages) and 1560 (baptisms and burials). Thereafter there are several gaps of a few years each. (fn. 125) Entries in the late 16th century and the 17th show that there was then a private chapel at Osterley Park. (fn. 126)

The church of HOLY TRINITY, Hounslow, was originally the chapel of the Trinitarian friary at Hounslow. It survived the Dissolution and in 1547 was being maintained by the parishioners of Isleworth and Heston, no doubt chiefly by such of them as lived in Hounslow. (fn. 127) The chapel, however, formed part of the manor-house or former friary building and was the private property of its owners. (fn. 128) One of these owners, Anthony Roan (fl. 1571), was said to have given the chapel and £2 a year to the inhabitants on condition they maintained a minister there: (fn. 129) the chapel in fact remained the property of his successors, and the £2 became the endowment of the living: (fn. 130) by 1723 it had increased to £20 and was supplemented by local contributions. In 1766 it was worth £30, with pew rents in addition. (fn. 131) Because the chapel stood on the north side of the road in Heston parish, it was sometimes referred to as a chapel of ease of that church. (fn. 132) The curates seem always to have been appointed by the owner of Hounslow manor. Two were licensed in the 16th and 17th centuries, (fn. 133) but they never seem to have received licences in the 18th, and Joseph Benson (d. 1861) recorded that he became curate in 1814 without licence, because the bishop doubted from whom he could accept a nomination. (fn. 134) It may have been its status as a donative that led Glover to describe the chapel in 1635 as a peculiar. (fn. 135)

There seems to have been a fairly steady succession of curates from the Dissolution. (fn. 136) One, who had been described as reader as early as 1577, gave a bond to study Latin in 1592 when he was only a deacon. He became vicar of Feltham the following year, possibly retaining his position at Hounslow. (fn. 137) In 1615-16 the curate was also vicar of Heston. (fn. 138) In 1650 the chapel was said to be vacant for want of maintenance, and in 1657 the vicar of Isleworth had leave to preach and lecture weekly in Hounslow chapel. (fn. 139) In 1664 the curate was probably also perpetual curate of New Brentford. (fn. 140) The 18thcentury curates included Wetenhall Wilkes, who published a poem called Hounslow Heath in 1747, (fn. 141) and John Huckell (1729-71), a poet of rather greater reputation. (fn. 142) In the early part of the century communion services were held monthly and at the three great festivals, and about 1723 there were two services on Sundays and apparently one on each weekday. Parents, however, would not prepare and send their children to catechism. The charity school maintained in the town early in the 18th century seems to have been closely connected with the chapel. (fn. 143) In the 18th century the curates kept rather rough registers which show that the chapel was used quite extensively for the baptism of Hounslow children, and that a fair number of marriages were also celebrated there. Very few burials are recorded and nearly all of these were of members of the Bulstrode family, who owned the manor. (fn. 144) At the death of Richard Bulstrode's widow in 1816 (fn. 145) the chapel was in very bad repair and the curate, Joseph Benson, decided to try and build a new church and put it under the bishop's full jurisdiction. (fn. 146) When the manor estate was broken up soon after, the chapel was accordingly bought by the vicar of Heston, conveyed to trustees, and pulled down. (fn. 147)

The old chapel stood on the same site as the modern church. Surviving pictures show what appear to be a nave and a lower, separately roofed north aisle, (fn. 148) both probably of about the 14th century: Lysons attributed parts of the building to the 13th century. A tower with a pyramidal roof, barely if at all higher than the nave, adjoined it on the southwest, and the chapel was entered by a door in the south wall of the tower opening straight on the road. A wall with diaper patterning ran along the roadside and inserted in this a little beyond the east end of the chapel was a stone bearing a shield of arms surrounded by the inscription 'Monsyr Andrews Wanedsor': this was removed to the outside of the south wall of the new church. (fn. 149) William, Lord Windsor, held the manor and chapel from 1558 and when his son sold it in 1571 the purchaser covenanted to maintain the tombs in the church of the grantor's grandfather, Andrew, Lord Windsor, and of Andrew's son, George. (fn. 150) A 16th-century tomb is preserved in the new church with kneeling figures of a man and woman set in a moulded frame under a broken pediment. This has no inscription but in 1631 there was a tomb with an inscription com memorating George Windsor and his wife. (fn. 151) In 1635 the chapel was said to have been built by the Windsors (this seems to be a misunderstanding of their connexion with it) but to have been burnt down and partly rebuilt, apparently with money raised by a brief. (fn. 152) A stone over the door, now in the vestry of the new church, was inscribed 'Domus Dei Ornata 1710': to judge from the external appearance of the chapel in prints neither the rebuilding of the early 17th century nor the work of 1710 was very extensive. Other monuments preserved from the old chapel include that of Whitelock Bulstrode (d. 1724). The plate includes five pieces from the 18th century. The earliest are a flagon, cup, and paten cover of 1705, all given by Whitelock Bulstrode. (fn. 153)

The Duke of Northumberland, the Bishop of London, and the vicars of Isleworth and Heston were among those who contributed largely to the building of the new church, which was opened in 1829. A donation was also received from the Church Building Commissioners. The church was of brick, and consisted only of an aisled nave and either no chancel or a very short one. It was designed by Henry Mawley in 'the late style of Gothic architecture'. (fn. 154) The ragstone chancel, in a more correct Perpendicular style, was added in 1856. (fn. 155) A deliberately started fire destroyed the nave roof and badly damaged the rest of the building in 1943, just five days after a similar fire at Isleworth. (fn. 156) A temporary nave within the church walls was opened in the same year. (fn. 157)

A separate parish was assigned to Holy Trinity in 1835, including Hounslow town itself and a good deal of the heath land to the west. (fn. 158) This area was later diminished as other churches were built. (fn. 159) The Bishop of London became the patron of the living and endowed it in 1836 with £60 a year, to which Queen Anne's Bounty added £600 capital. (fn. 160) Further endowments for a parsonage house and a curate were received between 1863 and 1877. (fn. 161) In 1955-6 the endowment was worth £237 net, and the income of the living was £661 net. (fn. 162) In 1959 the main Sunday services were parish communion at 10 and matins at 11. There were then 316 names on the electoral roll. (fn. 163)

The church of ST. MARY, Spring Grove, is in Osterley Road. It was opened in 1856 and was designed by John Taylor the younger in the Decorated style, using a stone facing over brick in what was then a new way, invented by himself. Large as the church is, with nave, chancel, and vestries, it was expressly designed to take galleries when these should be needed: the two tiers of windows are for this purpose, but the galleries were never built. (fn. 164) To the south-west stands a combined porch and tower surmounted by a tall broach spire. The church was built at the cost of H. D. Davies, the builder of the Spring Grove estate, who remained its patron for many years. In 1855 it was said that when the church was opened it would be 'placed at the disposal of an able and evangelical minister'. (fn. 165) A parish, extending into Isleworth ancient parish, was assigned to it in 1856. (fn. 166) The living was valued at £459 in 1875 and at £859 net, of which £51 came from endowment, in 1955-6. (fn. 167) About 1897 the advowson was transferred to the Church Patronage Society, and the church has remained evangelical in tone. (fn. 168) In 1959 a new vicar had started a parish communion service at 9.30 on Sundays; matins continued to be held at 11 as well. There were 506 persons on the electoral roll at about this time. (fn. 169) St. Luke's Mission Church in Kingsley Road was opened as a Sunday school before 1895. (fn. 170) In 1958, under a lay missioner, it provided especially for young people, with services at 11 and 6.30 each Sunday, and communion services on Sunday evening once a month.

The church of ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, St. John's Road, Isleworth, was opened in 1856, after about ten years of effort, on a site given by the Duke of Northumberland along with £2,000 towards the building. It was designed in the style of the 15th century (fn. 171) by J. Deason and is built of ragstone with an aisled nave, chancel, north porch, vestries, and a battlemented north-west tower. The adjoining vicarage and almshouses were built by John Farnell, (fn. 172) and W. T. Farnell, by will proved 1870, left £2,000 to augment the benefice. (fn. 173) The original endowment had consisted of £100 a year from the living of the vicar of Isleworth, who was, and remains, the patron. (fn. 174) In 1955-6 the endowment provided £164 of a net income of £652. (fn. 175) In 1959 the electoral roll contained 293 names. (fn. 176) The principal Sunday service was then 11 o'clock matins, replaced once a month by choral communion.

The church of ST. PAUL, Hounslow Heath, in the Bath Road, was built in 1873-4 by W. G. Habershon and Pite, in the Decorated style. (fn. 177) It is of ragstone and comprises nave, aisles, short transepts, chancel, and a south-west tower and spire. There are a number of memorials to members of the Royal Fusiliers and other regiments once stationed at Hounslow. The sites of the church and the vicarage were given, with £1,600, by W. H. Taylor of Hounslow. (fn. 178) A parish, formerly part of Heston, was formed in 1871, (fn. 179) and an incumbent, who seems to have been already working here for two years, was appointed. (fn. 180) The living was in the gift of the Bishop of London and was valued at £300 in 1874, a third of this coming from the mother parish and twothirds from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who owned a considerable property (Rectory farm) in the new parish. (fn. 181) In 1955-6 the endowment was valued at £279 net, out of the benefice's income of £604 net. (fn. 182) Eleven o'clock matins was the principal Sunday service in 1959, when there were 210 names on the church electoral roll. (fn. 183)

The church of ST. STEPHEN, Hounslow Heath, on the corner of Parkside Road and St. Stephen's Road, was built in 1875-6. It was designed by E. Christian in the Early English style and comprises nave, aisles, transepts, apsidal chancel, and west baptistery, all built of red brick with white brick dressings and with pointed and rose windows. The massive square tower of red brick was added to the south-west of the building in 1935. (fn. 184) An iron mission church had been opened in Whitton Road by the London Diocesan Home Mission in 1872. This seems to have continued to be used for occasional services some time after the permanent church was opened and to have been replaced before 1906 by the brick parish rooms which were there in 1958. (fn. 185) A parish was assigned to St. Stephen's in 1877 out of St. John's, Isleworth, and Holy Trinity, Hounslow. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners endowed the living with £200 a year in 1877 and another £100 in 1882, and also gave £1,500 for a parsonage. (fn. 186) In 1955-6 the net endowment was £107 and the benefice was worth £598. The patronage belongs to the Bishop of London. (fn. 187) There were 229 names on the electoral roll in 1959. (fn. 188) The principal Sunday service was then 11 o'clock matins except on the first Sunday in the month, when it was replaced by sung eucharist at 9.45.

The church of ALL SOULS in Northcote Road, St. Margaret's, was built in 1896-7. (fn. 189) Services had been held in a cottage at the Railshead before an iron church was opened in Northcote Road in 1886. It continued to be served from All Saints until 1889 when, the living of the mother church being vacant, it was taken over by the London Diocesan Home Mission. (fn. 190) The permanent church was designed by G. Monson. It is a Gothic building of red and blue brick, with grouped lancet windows, and has an aisled nave and apsidal chancel. The vestry was added in 1925. A parish, formerly part of All Saints, Isleworth, was assigned to it in 1898. (fn. 191) The patronage was vested in the Bishop of London and the living was valued at £255 net in 1899 and at £706 net, of which the endowment provided £270, in 1955-6. (fn. 192) In 1959 the principal Sunday service was sung eucharist at 11 o'clock, preceded by said matins. There were then 315 persons on the electoral roll. (fn. 193)

The church of ST. FRANCIS in the Great West Road was built, together with its vicarage house and hall, in 1933-5. It is not orientated and the altar is at the north end. Designed by E. C. Shearman, it is built of brick with stone dressings and consists of a wide nave with a tall clerestory, very narrow aisles, transepts, and an apsidal chancel flanked by chapels. An incumbent was appointed and a parish assigned to the church in 1935. The parish was taken out of All Saints, Isleworth, and the living, of which the Bishop of London is patron, was endowed with £256 net in 1955-6: the whole net value was £640. (fn. 194) The principal Sunday service in 1959 was sung mass at 10.30. There were then 126 persons on the electoral roll. (fn. 195)

The church of ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, Worton Road, was designed by H. S. GoodhartRendel and built in 1952-4. (fn. 196) It is low-built of brick, colour-washed grey internally. At the west end of the wide nave is a shallow chancel with a chapel to the south. The altar has a reredos of painted tiles depicting the Virgin and Child surrounded by scenes from the Bible. At the crossing, which is formed by wide interlacing arches, the side aisles have cross-gabled roofs giving the effect of transepts. An adjoining hall had been used for services since the London Diocesan Home Mission first provided a priest-in-charge about 1931. In 1951 parts of the parishes of St. John, Isleworth, and St. Stephen, Hounslow, were assigned to the church, and a benefice was created which in 1955-6 had an endowment of £448 (net income £621). (fn. 197) In 1959 there were 213 persons on the electoral roll. (fn. 198) The principal Sunday service was then parish eucharist at 9 a.m.

The church of the GOOD SHEPHERD on the corner of Beavers Lane and the Great South West Road was built in 1956-7 out of the compensation for war-damage paid to St. John's Church, Wapping. (fn. 199) It was designed by Michael Farey to serve partly as a church-hall (see plate facing p. 128): the hall is formed across the west end of the building and the consecrated part of the church can be completely cut off by a sliding screen. When the whole building is in use as a church the screen covers the front of the stage at the south end of the hall. The priest's house forms an extension of the hall beyond the stage, while at the north end there are service rooms under a gallery. Externally there is a small bell-turret on the south of the chancel, containing one bell and surmounted by a cross. In 1958 the church was still a chapel of ease of St. Paul's, Hounslow Heath, and was included in its electoral roll, though it had its own priest-in-charge. Holy communion at 9 a.m. was then the principal Sunday service.

A chapel was opened in Hounslow Barracks during the 19th century.