Hatch End
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Hatch End memories
Read and share memories of Hatch End and Middlesex inspired by Frith photos
Childhood Memories of Hatch End
My earliest memory of Hatch End is when I started at Grimsdyke School at the age of four and a half in 1948. My brother Michael used to walk me to school from Hillview Road.
I went to 2nd Hatch End Brownies which was held in the Vestry behind St Anslems Church.
After leaving Grimsdyke School, I went to Rosary Priory at Bushey Heath. I used to catch the train from Hatch End Railway Station to Bushey Heath Railway Station, then by bus to the school.
My parents, Frank and Doris Whitworth, first had the sweet shop, Whitworths, in the High Street (the shop was previously called Creswicks). Later on my parents established a card and gift shop ...read more here
Contributed by Diane Farroway
Home
My memories of Hatch End are all of a very happy childhood with my Mum and Dad who worked at Euston, and used to come whistling home from the railway station every night. We lived on Oxhey Lane, a service road and I can just recall the milkman with his horse and cart, Mum laying crazy paving in the front garden, pigeons from the house at the back flying round and ruining Mum's washing.
I remember the library at the end of Broadway, my favourite place, the cake shop that always seemed to have a fancy with my name on it, the fishmongers with the open front and all his wares on display on a marble slab.
I recall Sainsbury's opening ...read more here
Contributed by Janice Whitlock
My bus to school from Hatch End to Pinner Grammar School
My bus to school, Pinner Grammar, went from this stop in Uxbridge Road in the centre of the picture. It was a red London Transport double-decker route 209 that took us all the way to Cannon Lane between Pinner and Rayners Lane. If we missed it then the 98b would take us towards Eastcote which was most of the way and we would jump off at East or West Towers and run the last mile to school taking a short cut through the junior school as fast as we could and ignoring the shouted complaints of the junior school staff!
On days when we got to the bus stop early we would idle away a few minutes gazing in the ...read more here
Contributed by John Howard Norfolk
Old Redding - both famous and notorious !
Old Redding is a hilly rural lane connecting Hatch End with Harrow Weald. It is notorious for its connection with The Grimsdyke Hotel where Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame met his death in a drowning tragedy.
It is also famous for its reputation among local young people who congregate in the car park for different purposes by day and night. On a clear day you can look south all the way as far as Heathrow Airport and see a succession of aircraft taking off and landing. As a young boy I would enjoy picnics there and watch the planes in the distance.
However, as I grew older I learned from my teenage friends that the car ...read more here
Contributed by John Howard Norfolk
W H Smith in Hatch End!
This view shows a branch of Smiths on the corner of Uxbridge Road and Grimsdyke Road on the left of the picture. It was a haven for schoolchildren buying ink for fountain pens and stamp album leaves! I loved to buy bottles of exotic coloured ink for writing my homework. I also bought the Watford Observer to read the football reports on the games at Vicarage Road.
On the opposite side of the main road was Soman Sports toy shop - another haven when shopping for train set accessories! Next to it was GIles record shop.
Hatch End's first supermarket was called Payantake and this was on the right of the picture almost at the end of the terrace of ...read more here
Contributed by John Howard Norfolk
Fabulous Hatch End
I also remember this scene of Hatch End. I lived in the Pub which just about appears in this picture on the top far right, its the white buillding that is just sticking out slightly. Next door to the pub was the Conoco garage where someone called Tony Waite worked. I used to watch him from the side window of the pub. Just past the pub there was a baby/knitting shop and then came the newsagents called Dells which my parents later bought in the late 1970's. Dells used to be on the site of Sainsburys which was a large shop with marbled counters. Past Sainsburys was a small gift shop called Smails and then came the TV repair shop. This ...read more here
Contributed by Elaine Stephens (nee Ockwell)
Hatch End Memories!!
I just stumbled across this site, and I had to post some of my memories here! I remember so much of Hatch End, (I'm going to run out of characters in this box - may have to add anther one). I remember Budgens and also Akropolis and I'm sure there was a hairdressers up that end too. There was also a tailors along there. I definitely remember the butchers as there was a young man in there I took a shine to, and every time my mum would go in there to get her meat, I would giggle and act all silly. I think it was my first ever crush!
I remember the gift shop and also Martins on the ...read more here
Contributed by sharon scott
St. Anselms Church in Hatch End
At the time of this picture in 1960 the church could only be reached by travelling along an attractive, tree-lined, unsurfaced crescent called Westfield Park. Beyond the church on the left of the picture is the vestry where Sunday School and confirmation classes were held. I was confirmed at St Anselms around 1959 and would attend services here regularly along with many of my friends in the St Anselms Youth Club. The ministers around this time included Reverend Moxon and in the late 1960s the curate was Reverend Eric Gaunt. Mr Gaunt officiated at my marriage to Elizabeth in 1971. I remember him well. The church itself is a Victorian brick and flint building with exquisite wooden furnishings within. A bell ...read more here
Contributed by John Howard Norfolk
1960s shopping in Uxbridge Road, Hatch End
On the left of this view is the pub sign for the "Railway Hotel" - a popular drinking venue for older members of St Anselm's Youth Club and the Hatch End Young Conservatives! Next door is a garage forecourt sign - this was the Cornwall Garage where I bought a lovely blue Triumph Spitfire two-seater in 1970. I returned there in the 1980s when they had a Fiat franchise and bought a couple of new cars from them.
On the opposite side was a branch of Barclays Bank, managed by Mr Alf Woolley, and further down towards the corner of Grimsdyke Road a branch of the National Provincial Bank where I had a savings account.
On the extreme ...read more here
Contributed by John Howard Norfolk
Hatch End shops in the 1960''s
I lived in Hatch End from 1956 until I went up to Manchester in 1966, so I got to know my local shops both as a helpful schoolboy running errands for my mum to MacPhails the greengrocer and later as a teenager buying my records in Giles and my half pints of Benskins in "The Railway".
This view on the left side shows Payantake Supermarket, Signal Service radio shop, Woolworths and Spurlings Vauxhall Garage. On the right Budgens grocers at the corner of Grimsdyke Road, MacPhails, Boots (the manager Mr Thomas had two lovely daughters!), Whitworths sweet shop, the telephone exchange, an alleyway leading to the 1st Hatch End Scout Hut, Halls Chemist and Geoffrey Irvine Estate Agent. ...read more here
Contributed by John Howard Norfolk
St Anselms Church
This is an unusual view of St Anselm's as I don't recall ever standing on the churchyard flowerbeds! My own routine was arriving in the last few seconds before the vicar and choir processed into church for 9.30 Parish Communion service! This meant that the view I got was a hasty glance at the church porch steps as I rushed inside - along with the many other latecomers from the church youth club!
The church has a huge plot within Westfield Park, a crescent close to Hatch End railway station. The church bell would toll during the solemn moments of consecration of the bread and wine and be heard by nearby residents and railway passengers on the station ...read more here
Contributed by John Howard Norfolk
Memories of the Church
My best friends father used to be Vicar here back in 1960's (Rev J Gaunt). Sabrina and I would hang around Hatch End at various places getting up to all sorts of mischief. I had my confirmation at this Church under the guidance of Rev Gaunt but carried out by the Bishop of Singapore who was visiting at the time. When Rev Gaunt moved on the fabulous Rev CLive Pearce took up residence. Clive carried out my wedding service in this church on 31/12/1977, and also the wedding of my sister Lorna just two weeks after me. Subsequently my two children and my two nephews were christened also here. Clive was affectionately known to all my family as "Father Up". He ...read more here
Contributed by Elaine Stephens (nee Ockwell)
My favourite car was a Triumph Spitfire from The Cornwall Garage
I bought my favourite car in Hatch End from the Cornwall Garage in 1970. It is on the right of this view beyond the row of shops and the crossroads of Uxbridge Road and Cornwall Road. It was a 1966 Triumph Spitfire, pale blue with two black "racing stripes" up the long bonnet over the hard top and down the boot! It cost me all of £465 in April 1970. I rather think that the car is no more as I drove it for four years until selling it in my new home town of Sevenoaks to a local fireman who thought he may have mechanical and welding skills to strengthen the rusty body! Although these cars did not have ...read more here
Contributed by John Howard Norfolk
Extracts From Hatch End & Middlesex books
The Earl of Cornwall built stew (fish)
ponds on the western boundary of his
estate, and fish was an important part of
the medieval diet. Fish weirs were used to
trap fish in rivers, and were an important
and often hotly disputed resource up to
the 18th century. They were supposed to
be licensed, but illegal weirs flourished and
were a hazard to river traffic. There was at
least one weir in the river by Isleworth with
stakes at its upper end, and this gave its
name to the modern Railshead Road where
the Crane joins the Thames.
In the Middle Ages the settlement at
Twickenham was a cluster of houses in
streets around St Mary’s Church and in
narrow alleys nearby leading down to the
river. Church Street was the principal way
through Twickenham for travellers until the
end of the 19th century when the present
York Street was built. The name of Burgate
was used for the area near the church in
1486. Although the nave of the present
St Mary’s dates from 1713, when it was
rebuilt after it collapsed, the ragstone church
tower is medieval and may have formed part
of an earlier fortification on the site.
An extract from from"Twickenham - A History & Celebration".
The local population in the Middle Ages
made a living from agriculture, fishing,
boat-building, and ferrying traffic up and
down the river. There was even a local
vineyard, which produced ‘two tuns and
one pipe’ in 1297. This seems to have been
planted with cherry-trees later. There is little
detailed evidence on the number of people
living at Twickenham during the Middle
Ages but the manor of Isleworth, including
Twickenham, seems to have expanded slowly
during this period. In the 14th century
there are accounts of crops of oats, wheat,
and barley being grown locally, and local
livestock included cows and sheep. The rolls
also list a ploughman, a shepherd, a cowman,
and a dairymaid in this period. By 1547 the
people of Isleworth were said to number
400, and the figure relating to Twickenham
apart from the rest of Isleworth Manor is
estimated at 210.
The River Thames has been an important
means of transport since before the Romans
arrived in England. As there was no bridge
across the Thames from Twickenham on
the Middlesex bank over to the Surrey bank
until the 18th century, residents who wanted
to cross to the opposite bank of the river did
so by ferry. The first evidence of a ferry at
Twickenham occurs in 1443.
An extract from from"Twickenham - A History & Celebration".
The Earl of Cornwall built stew (fish)
ponds on the western boundary of his
estate, and fish was an important part of
the medieval diet. Fish weirs were used to
trap fish in rivers, and were an important
and often hotly disputed resource up to
the 18th century. They were supposed to
be licensed, but illegal weirs flourished and
were a hazard to river traffic. There was at
least one weir in the river by Isleworth with
stakes at its upper end, and this gave its
name to the modern Railshead Road where
the Crane joins the Thames.
In the Middle Ages the settlement at
Twickenham was a cluster of houses in
streets around St Mary’s Church and in
narrow alleys nearby leading down to the
river. Church Street was the principal way
through Twickenham for travellers until the
end of the 19th century when the present
York Street was built. The name of Burgate
was used for the area near the church in
1486. Although the nave of the present
St Mary’s dates from 1713, when it was
rebuilt after it collapsed, the ragstone church
tower is medieval and may have formed part
of an earlier fortification on the site.
An extract from from"Twickenham - A History & Celebration".
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, which was invented during the first half of the 14th century, is a mixture of potassium
nitrate (saltpetre), charcoal, and sulphur in a ratio of 75:15:10. It was used in guns, time-fuses, and
fireworks. Until the reign of Henry VIII, the lack of saltpetre in England meant most gunpowder
was imported. However, as British naval power expanded beyond Europe during the reign of
Elizabeth I it became possible to manufacture gunpowder at home, and by the middle of the 16th
century gunpowder mills had been established at Hounslow Heath on the River Crane. One of the
constituents of gunpowder is charcoal. This was produced from willow and alder, which was readily
available from the river banks. The river also provided water-power for the mills and transport for
barges. The open land, relatively distant from settlements, was an added advantage as gunpowder
manufacture is highly dangerous.
An extract from from"Twickenham - A History & Celebration".
Mills continued to flourish along the
banks of the River Crane on the outskirts
of the town, using water-power to
create products like oil and gunpowder.
Gunpowder manufacture was big business
in the 17th century and James I (1602-25)
granted a Royal Charter to the gunpowder
manufacturers on the Heath. Crane Park
Powder Mills were established between 1766
and 1768. The first mill started life as a corn
mill. The gunpowder mill east of Hanworth
Bridge was notorious for explosions that
broke windows for miles around. In 1772
three mills blew up, shattering glass and
buildings in the neighbourhood. Horace
Walpole wrote complaining to his friend and
relative Seymour Conway, then Lieutenant
General of the Ordnance, that all the
decorative painted glass had been blown out
of his windows at Strawberry Hill.
An extract from from"Twickenham - A History & Celebration".