57-540: The Great West Aerodrome , also known as Harmondsworth Aerodrome or Heathrow Aerodrome, was a grass airfield, operational between 1930 and 1944. It was on the southeast edge of the hamlet of Heathrow , in the parish of Harmondsworth . The Fairey Aviation Company owned and operated it, for assembly and flight testing of Fairey-manufactured aircraft. The area was to later be the site of London Heathrow Airport . Since 1915, Fairey Aviation had been assembling and flight testing its aircraft from Northolt Aerodrome , but in 1928
114-759: A bed for the night in Heathrow village. In 1942, Richard Fairey was knighted as Sir Richard Fairey, and held the position of Director General of the British Air Mission, based primarily in Washington, DC. In 1943, the Air Ministry, headed by the Secretary of State for Air ( Sir Archibald Sinclair ), secretly developed plans to requisition the airfield under wartime legislation – the Defence of
171-551: A fork in the southwest end of the lane. Abutting The Magpies, east along the Bath Road, Sipson Green also lay in Harmondsworth, covered in the article on the hamlet-turned-village of Sipson . A small orchard founded before the 19th century Kings Arbour, Harmondsworth, separated The Magpies from Heathrow. The Magpies had a mission church of the parish and has kept one of its pre-1765 public houses, The Three Magpies . For
228-466: A high. It imposed censorship of journalism and of letters coming home from the front line. The press was subject to controls on reporting troop movements, numbers or any other operational information that would potentially be exploited by the Central Powers . People who breached the regulations with intent to assist the enemy or not would have been sentenced to death. 10 people were executed under
285-419: A lane, on one side smallholdings and farms of fields and orchards which ran for a little over a one mile (1.6 km), on the other, until the 1819 Inclosure for farmland, common land : a mixture of pasture, hunting and foraging land on less fertile heath. Akin to Sipson Green it was a scattered agricultural locality of Harmondsworth. The two lightly populated places dotted the brickearth -over-gravel soils in
342-534: A mix of terraces and houses on and off of the Bath Road , the west of which was a set of 18 densely packed houses, Belch's Row and the east of which was Sipson Green, further orchard-backed homes along the Bath Road in the same parish. Heathrow itself had no terraces, instead small cottages and a few larger houses in large grounds. Two offshoot lanes broke away, Cain's Lane southeast to New Bedfont and High Tree Lane south to West Bedfont (long part of Stanwell ); at
399-520: A roughly circular cropmark about 250 feet (80 m) in diameter, near Hatton Cross. The site is now partly under an aircraft hangar. Construction of Heathrow Terminal 5 began in September 2002, on the site of the Perry Oaks sewage works, with earthworks for the construction of the buildings' foundation. The long delay caused by planning discussions allowed a thorough archaeological dig at
456-589: A second permanent hangar and a temporary canvas Bessonneau hangar had been built. From 1935 to 1939, the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) held its annual garden party fly-ins at the airfield, at the invitation of Richard Fairey , chairman and managing director of Fairey Aviation Company Ltd, and a past president of the RAeS. The events were aviation society gatherings combined with promotion and display of aircraft and their manufacturers, before
513-478: A similar marsh then pond to the north, all where today's Compass Centre stands. Caesar's Camp, also called Schapsbury Hill and Shasbury Hill, was a square, Early Iron Age , British (not Roman) fort site of c. 500 BC, south of Bath Road, about halfway between Heathrow Road and Hatton Road, and a bit north of due east of Heathrow Hall. It was about 300 feet (90 m) square (c. 1820 measurement) or 380 feet (120 m) square (1911 measurement). It survived because it
570-401: A timeline of Heathrow events, see Heathrow timeline . By the 1910s the amenities of Heathrow had grown little since the, at latest, 15th-century laying out of the lane. It spanned, north–south, from Kings Arbour orchard to Perry Oaks farm (which sat at the junction of the lane and another). An agricultural cluster of buildings and great house Heathrow Hall were slightly toward the north of
627-437: Is 14 miles (23 km) which was about 6 hours at laden horse-and- wagon speed; goods had to set off before 10 pm the day before to reach the market when it opened at 4 am, until motor trucks came. Lighter produce such as strawberries where freshness brought highest prices could reach Covent Garden Market in an hour and a half in a light vehicle behind a light fast horse. An 11.93-acre (4.83 ha) field south of
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#1732790437740684-669: Is a Concorde in flight. Defence of the Realm Act The Defence of the Realm Act 1914 ( 4 & 5 Geo. 5 . c. 29) ( DORA ) was passed in the United Kingdom on 8 August 1914, four days after the country entered the First World War . It was added to as the war progressed. It gave the government wide-ranging powers during the war, such as the power to requisition buildings or land needed for
741-562: The Air Ministry gave it notice to cease using Northolt. Fairey Aviation needed an airfield for flight testing of aircraft designed and manufactured at its factory in North Hyde Road, Hayes . Its chief test pilot, Norman Macmillan , recalled a forced landing and take-off at Heathrow in 1925. He had noted the flatness of the land, and therefore recommended the area as suitable for an aerodrome . Macmillan flew aerial surveys of
798-585: The Bath Road , that had been excavated in 1723 by order of William Stukeley. He believed it to have been a Roman settlement, and named it "Caesar's Camp". In 1784 General William Roy chose the orchard of King's Arbour to be one end of first base line of the Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790) trigonometrical survey for the first triangles of a triangulation grid reaching across the English Channel . He chose Hounslow Heath for his lines it
855-738: The Licensing Act 1988 .) In 1920 DORA was extended to deal with the violence in Ireland (see Irish War of Independence ) with the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act 1920 . That Act (under Section 3(6)) allowed military authorities to jail any Irish person without charge or trial and was repealed in 1953. Like most wartime acts, the Defence of the Realm Act was designed to help prevent potential invasion and to keep homeland morale at
912-503: The war effort , and to make regulations creating criminal offences. DORA ushered in a variety of authoritarian social control mechanisms, such as censorship : "No person shall by word of mouth or in writing spread reports likely to cause disaffection or alarm among any of His Majesty's forces or among the civilian population" Anti-war activists, including John MacLean , Willie Gallacher , John William Muir , and Bertrand Russell , were sent to prison. The film, The Dop Doctor ,
969-428: The 230 acres (93 ha) acquired in 1929, 1930, 1939 and 1942. The company intended to relocate its production facilities from Hayes to the aerodrome. The wartime legislation provided no obligation to pay compensation; Fairey Aviation was offered compensation at the 1939 farming land market rate of £10 per acre, and rejected it. Sir Richard wrote to his co-chairman of Fairey Aviation: It is manifestly so much easier for
1026-406: The Bath Road, about 600 yards (550 m) east of the lane, were between after 1912 and 1935 allotment gardens (shown on a map dated 1935) and in the 1940 Luftwaffe air survey. In the 1930s Heathrow Hall and Perry Oaks were mixed farms with wheat, cattle, sheep and pigs, and the other farms were largely market gardening and fruit growing. Photographs from early in the 20th century show to
1083-466: The Civil Aviation authorities to look over the airports near London, that the foresight of private companies has made available, and then using government backing forcibly to acquire them, than to go to the infinite trouble that we had in making an aerial survey to find the site, buying the land from different owners, and then building up a fine airfield from what was market-gardening land. And why
1140-473: The Heathrow area. Many artefacts have been found in the gravel around what is now the airport, and the Colne Valley regional park . Waste pits filled with struck flint , arrowheads and fragments of pottery were also found in the area, indicating a settlement, though none other remains of such a settlement. Heathrow was one of the last settlements formed in the parish of Harmondsworth . Its name
1197-631: The Realm Act (1939). The plans were stated to be designed to suit the considerable needs of long-range bombers, such as USAAF Boeing B-29s , but they were actually based on recommendations from professor Patrick Abercrombie for a new international airport for London. The project was headed by Harold Balfour (then Under-Secretary of State for Air, later Lord Balfour of Inchrye), who kept the true nature of it hidden from parliament. The decision and plans were finally revealed in January 1944. In 1943, Fairey Aviation had bought 10 more acres of land to add to
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#17327904377401254-435: The airport from being developed. Heathrow School was founded in 1875, as Heathrow Elementary School, on land given by George Stevens Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford by the north side of Bath Road. The school opened two years later and was enlarged in 1891. In time the school was renamed 'Sipson and Heathrow School', because more than half its pupils came from Sipson. After the construction of Heathrow Airport started in 1944,
1311-475: The amount of fruit growing in the area decreased due to competition from imports and demand for more market-gardening land, and by 1939 less than 10% of the orchard area was left. Produce was taken to Covent Garden market , or by smaller growers to Brentford market, which was nearer but less profitable. From the Three Magpies, the lane's northern end – much reduced and curtailed today – to Covent Garden
1368-651: The curve of a lane occasionally named Heathrow Road or Lane, which faced land until 1819 part of a great set of common lands belonging to neighbouring parishes — Hounslow Heath . The first orthography as "Heathrow" dates to 1453. Certain Ordnance Survey maps before the Second World War, closer to Sipson Green and the adjoining Harlington Corner (localities of the Bath Road), show an earthwork, 300 metres due south of where New Road, Harlington meets
1425-539: The development of aircraft industry shows in Britain, from 1947: see Heathrow (hamlet)#20th century from 1935 to 1939 . Richard Fairey, who started in business with model aircraft, let model aircraft clubs use his airfield at weekends. The Great West Aerodrome was not an active RAF airfield, but sometimes in World War II RAF fighters or bombers needing to land, landed there, and their crew sometimes found
1482-502: The early 20th century; mostly a web of rural roads and lanes. An illustration being that until about 1930, only one building stood on the north side of Bath Road between Belches Row at The Magpies on the two kilometres to the demolished Kings Head west of the preserved Longford Pump, Longford . Three factories: Technicolor and Penguin Books and Black & Decker were founded in those fields before 1939. No buildings equally stood on
1539-578: The east of Harmondsworth which historically butted on to Hounslow Heath . Yards from the lane, while the heath existed, General William Roy mapped one end of the first baseline for measuring the distance between the Paris and Greenwich observatories, the first precise distance survey in Britain, in 1784. By the late 19th century Heathrow had developed three main agricultural settlement clusters with orchards and fields worked by teams of labourers – Heathrow Hall, Perrotts Farm and on some measures Perry Oaks at
1596-412: The ecclesiastical parish of Harmondsworth, whose parish priest is as at 2024 Ven. Amatu Onundu Christian-Iwuagwu in a church with elements surviving from initial 1067 construction. It will be re-sited or see elements curated in a museum if a third runway for Heathrow Airport receives final planning permission and all appeals are dismissed. A sizeable Neolithic settlement is believed to have been in
1653-407: The government was finally settled in 1964 for £1,600,000. Fairey's 1930 hangar, in legal limbo for 20 years, and used as Heathrow Airport's fire station and as backdrop for an advertising billboard for BOAC , was then finally demolished. 51°28′39″N 000°27′41″W / 51.47750°N 0.46139°W / 51.47750; -0.46139 Heathrow (hamlet) Heathrow or Heath Row
1710-448: The haste to proceed? I cannot escape the thought that the hurry is not uninspired by the fact that a post-war government might not be armed with the power or even be willing to take action that is now being rushed through at the expense of the war effort. After eviction notices in May 1944, demolition of Heathrow domestic and farm buildings, and closing roads entering the site, the new airfield
1767-403: The lane. All the homes and farms clung to this 90° turning lane, a turn staggered by two bends. Detailed 1910s maps show its unusual continuing agricultural focus so close to London; about half of the buildings and homes were at the two farms. The northern was Heathrow Hall, 500 metres south of the area of Harmondsworth that was from the 16th century until the mid 20th century known as The Magpies,
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1824-593: The large west Middlesex market gardening industry. Many residents grew which they would travel with into London to sell, on the return journey collecting manure for farming. As motor vehicles made urban horse manure (from stables and cleaned off roads) much less, local farm workers started instead using sewage sludge (up to 50 long tons per acre (130 t/ha) annually) from the Perry Oaks sewage works , opened in 1936, as fertiliser. The farms and buildings across most of south-east Harmondsworth greatly changed in
1881-428: The last, the 99th, was held on 28 September 1937; the 100th match (in 1938) was postponed to 1939 due to severe drought, and in 1939 it was cancelled because World War II had started. The Royal Commission on Historic Monuments listed 28 historically significant buildings in the parish of Harmondsworth, a third of which were in Heathrow. Notable buildings included Heathrow Hall, a late 18th-century farmhouse, which
1938-710: The maiden flight of the Fairey Night Bomber (K1695) was the first major experimental activity at the Great West Aerodrome. On 15 March 1931, the aircraft overran the boundary at Cain's Lane during an emergency landing, requiring re-design of engine installations, major repairs and project delay. Other notable types flown from there included Fairey Fox , Fairey Gordon , Fairey Firefly IIM (biplane), Fairey Fantome , Fairey Swordfish , Fairey Albacore , Airspeed Horsa , Fairey Barracuda , Fairey Battle and Fairey Firefly (monoplane). By March 1938,
1995-418: The main source of income for residents in the hamlet, as the brickearth just as the underlying gravel in soils in the area made for reliable farming for fruit trees and bushes, vegetables, and flowers as it held manure well and markets were in easy reach of these perishable cash crops. Clay soil in other parts of England favoured potatoes and chalk favoured grains. Most residents and seasonal labourers joined in
2052-413: The possibility of contamination with toxic metals. It has been inferred that the route of the under-pressure sludge sewer, which needed access points to prevent blockages, could have stopped the building of the airport. He states if it had gone across the Heathrow fields area, e.g. straight from Harlington Corner to Perry Oaks, the amount of work and time in wartime needed to divert it would have stopped
2109-588: The previous acts. It was amended three times in 1915, by the Defence of the Realm (Amendment) Acts 1915 ( 5 & 6 Geo. 5 . cc. 34, 37 and 42). The Defence of the Realm Consolidation Act 1914 ( 5 & 6 Geo. 5 . c. 8) contained the following: (1) His Majesty in Council has power during the continuance of the present war to issue regulations for securing the public safety and the defence of
2166-476: The realm, and as to the powers and duties for that purpose of the Admiralty and Army Council and of the members of His Majesty's forces and other persons acting in his behalf; and may by such regulations authorise the trial by courts-martial, or in the case of minor offences by courts of summary jurisdiction , and punishment of persons committing offences against the regulations and in particular against any of
2223-493: The regulations. Section 1(1) of the Defence of the Realm Act 1914 read as follows: (1) His Majesty in Council has power during the continuance of the present war to issue regulations as to the powers and duties of the Admiralty and Army Council , and of the members of His Majesty's forces, and other persons acting in His behalf, for securing the public safety and the defence of the realm; and may, by such regulations, authorise
2280-506: The school was affected by aircraft noise from the north runway. Pupils from the few Perry Oaks cottages for more than a year travelled by taxi to avoid construction works, until its sludge-to-fertiliser farm led to the end of almost all its homes. In 1962 the school lost its playing field when an airport access road was built and four years later it moved to Harmondsworth Lane in Sipson, and became Heathrow School again. The school's current logo
2337-493: The site, then used for market gardening . In 1929, Fairey Aviation started by buying four plots of adjoining farmland in the hamlet of Heathrow from four local landowners: see History of Heathrow Airport#1930s . The total was 148 acres (60 ha), at about £1,500, at the typical 1929 farmland market rate of £10 per acre. The site was bounded to the north-east by Cain's Lane, to the south by the Duke of Northumberland's River , and to
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2394-445: The site, which found more than 80,000 artefacts. A brickearth and gravel quarry and brick works was opened in the 1930s. At a survey in 1934 the quarry was 15.9 acres (6.4 ha), of which 5.3 acres (2.1 ha) was lake. Later it expanded to the northeast and finally the lake was about one-quarter mile (0.40 km) long. The Heathrow Brick Company went into liquidation in 1943 and was wound up in 1944. A sewage sludge works
2451-459: The south side of this major thoroughfare. Other than a few homes and gardens, six farms held land which became the airport in the 1930s, as documented in principal feature maps. Heathrow was away from main roads and further away from railways; that kept it secluded and quiet although near London. As Middlesex changed to market gardening and fruit growing to supply expanding London, parts of Heathrow held on to old-type mixed farming , and thus
2508-540: The southeast, at Cain's Farm facing modest Heathrow House, milk cattle (about 22 in the photograph) and the yearly horse-drawn ploughing competition on Cain's Lane. Later examples show such competitions in the far north-east near Tithe Barn Lane on Heathrow Hall land. In the 1910s a small gravel pit of just under an acre was on the east side of Tithe Barn Lane at the far west of what could be loosely, based mainly on Heathrow Hall's ownership be considered part of Heathrow and
2565-468: The start of Cain's Lane was in the 1910s an Anglican Mission room in the heart of the orchards and fields of Perrotts Farm, the other main cluster of buildings of Heathrow. The Diocese of London was keen to give all people a convenient place of worship. By the end of the 19th century The Magpies had a mission church, on the north side of the Bath Road. Sipson Green is covered in the text on the hamlet-turned-village of Sipson . Both remain intrinsic parts of
2622-436: The trial by courts martial and punishment of persons contravening any of the provisions of such regulations designed— The original Act was amended and extended six times over the course of the war, first on 28 August 1914 by the Defence of the Realm (No. 2) Act 1914 ( 4 & 5 Geo. 5 . c. 63), then on 27 November 1914 by the Defence of the Realm Consolidation Act 1914 ( 5 & 6 Geo. 5 . c. 8), which repealed and replaced
2679-503: The use of grid references. In 1929, Fairey Aviation bought 71 acres (29 ha) of land just southeast of Heathrow hamlet, to establish an airfield for flight testing; later purchases gradually enlarged the aerodrome to about 240 acres (97 ha). It came to be called the Great West Aerodrome , which in 1944 was greatly enlarged to become London Airport, which was later renamed as Heathrow Airport. Agriculture became
2736-662: The west by High Tree Lane . The airfield boundaries were south of the Bath Road , north-west of the Great South West Road , and about two miles west of the west end of the Great West Road . The airfield was about three miles by road from the Hayes factory, and it was declared operational in June 1930. That year, an additional plot of 29 acres (12 ha) was bought, and a hangar was built. On 25 November 1930,
2793-470: Was a wayside hamlet along a minor country lane called Heathrow Road in the ancient parish of Harmondsworth , Middlesex , England, on the outskirts of what is now Greater London . Its buildings and all associated holdings were demolished, along with almost all of the often grouped locality of The Magpies in 1944 for the construction of the new London Airport , which would later assume the name of Heathrow after 1967. The name Heathrow described its layout:
2850-612: Was built in the Perry Oaks part of Heathrow in 1934, and a 2-foot (610 mm) gauge railway installed three years later. Improvements were made in the 1950s and 1960s, and the works were eventually demolished in 2002 to make way for Terminal 5. The settled sludge of the large Mogden Sewage Treatment Works (West Middlesex Sewage Treatment Works) in Isleworth / Twickenham was pumped west to Perry Oaks for further settling and conversion for use in agriculture in pelleted or powder form as biosolids . Sales were eventually stopped because of
2907-448: Was chosen for Middlesex area horse-drawn ploughing competitions , which needed land which was under stubble after harvest. The ford where High Tree Lane crossed the Duke of Northumberland's River was a scenic spot used sometimes for picnics and courting couples. There was a footpath along beside the river from the ford to Longford . The Middlesex Agricultural and Growers' Association held annual ploughing matches in Heathrow, until
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#17327904377402964-680: Was near-flat, near barracks and about 15 miles from the Royal Observatory . The east/south end was the Poor House in Hampton . The ends were originally marked by vertical wooden pipes (which could support flagstaffs), but in the resurvey of 1791 they were found to be rotting and were replaced by upright cannon heads which are still to be seen. The marker and landmarks on the Bath Road enables visitors and historians to picture features on old maps when visiting today's airport, without
3021-446: Was on common land until the enclosure of the commons of Harmondsworth parish, after which the fort's ramparts were fairly quickly ploughed out. It was excavated hurriedly in 1944: see timeline below. Inside its rampart 15 circular hut sites were found, and a large rectangular building which was probably a temple. The east end of the north runway obliterated it. Fern Hill was another ramparted prehistoric site, represented in 1944 by
3078-633: Was on Heathrow Road, and Perry Oaks farm, which was Elizabethan . In the 19th century much brickearth-type land in west Middlesex, including in Heathrow, was used for orchards of fruit trees, often several sorts mixed in one orchard. Much soft fruit was grown, often in the orchards under the fruit trees. Sometimes vegetables, or flowers for cutting , were grown under the fruit trees. An author in 1907 reported "thousands and thousands" of plum, cherry, apple, pear, and damson trees, and innumerable currant and gooseberry bushes, round Harmondsworth and Sipson and Harlington and Heathrow. After World War I
3135-787: Was prohibited under the Act by the South African government with the justification that its portrayal of Boers during the Siege of Mafeking would antagonise Afrikaners . The activities no longer permitted included flying kites, starting bonfires, buying binoculars, feeding wild animals bread, discussing naval and military matters and buying alcohol on public transport. Alcoholic drinks were watered down and pub opening times were restricted to 12 noon–3pm and 6:30pm–9:30pm. (The requirement for an afternoon gap in permitted hours lasted in England until
3192-401: Was rendered in various orthographies which reflect approximately the same pronunciation as today La Hetherewe (about year 1410, first known mention), Hithero , Hetherow , Hetherowfeyld , Hitherowe , and Heath Row/Heathrow , Middle English spellings of "heath row" (simply a row (impliedly of houses) on or by a heath ). Old maps show Heathrow as a row of houses along the northwest sides of
3249-484: Was still under construction at the end of World War II. By then, the plans had already changed from tenuous wartime military use to overt development into an international airport. On 1 January 1946, ownership of the site was transferred from the (military) Air Ministry to the Ministry of Civil Aviation . On 31 May 1946, the newly named London Airport was officially opened for commercial operations. The legal dispute with
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