Hatton, London

"Hatton Cross" redirects here. For the London Underground station, see Hatton Cross tube station.

Hatton
Hatton  Hatton shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ095755
London borough	Hounslow
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	FELTHAM
Postcode district	TW14
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Feltham and Heston
London Assembly	South West
List of places: UK • England • London

Hatton is a small settlement in the London Borough of Hounslow, on the southern perimeter of London Heathrow Airport and on the A30 road.

Etymology

Hatton's name comes from Anglo-Saxon Hǣþtūn = "heath farmstead".

Neighbours

It is bordered by Feltham to the south, Bedfont to the west and Heathrow Airport to the north. The A30 road forms the borough boundary with Hillingdon; a border established in 1994, before then land north of the road had been in Hounslow.

Features and facilities

Hatton's main architectural features are a collection of industrial buildings providing ancillary services to Heathrow Airport. The area is noisy due to aircraft overhead on the southern approach to Heathrow. The local meeting place is a quiet little pub, "The Green Man", owned by the Punch Taverns. Adjoining the Green Man is a field where horses, geese, cows and other livestock live: Hounslow Urban Farm (next to Hatton Cemetery), the largest inner city farm in London.^{[citation needed]}

Hatton has a small cafe, but no shops or post office, but there is a convenience store and newsagents within Hatton Cross station. There is a 24 hour Tesco supermarket / petrol station adjoining the urban farm to the south. Hatton no longer has a church, since the chapel building in Steam Farm Lane was converted for office use in 2000. Most of the local housing is mainly semi-detached or maisonettes built between 1930s and the 1950s. Several older properties remain in Green Man Lane, including the old Manor house (now the headquarters of a car leasing company) and two other 18th century dwellings. The 17th century blacksmith's yard and buildings have been converted into a family home. The now disappeared Steam Farm was so named because it was the first in the area to have a steam-powered plough.

Lost features

When London Heathrow Airport was built, it obliterated all of Hatton that was north of the A30 road (Great South-West Road); that lost part of Hatton straggled northward along Hatton Road, which formerly ran straight right across the airport area from Hatton to Harlington Corner (A4 road and A437 road crossing). Notable buildings along Hatton Road included, in order from north to south:

• The Limes: a large house, east side.
• The Cedars: a large house, east side, its site is now in line with the north runway. An old photograph shows a big pond in front of it and cedars round it; it faced north. Charles Dickens was a friend of the family of Mary Ann Cooper (née Mitton), and sometimes visited them; they lived in The Cedars. She was the inspiration for his character Little Dorrit.
• Hatton Road Farm: west of Hatton Road, roughly in an equilateral triangle with The Cedars and Hatton Gore.
• Hatton Gore: a large house, east side, its site is now on the north edge of the truck depot which is west of the Enfield Road Roundabout. It faced somewhat east of southwards (parallel to the road) at one side of a big garden. It was built from York stone got when an old building of the Bank of England was demolished. The famous plant collecter Frank Kingdon-Ward moved to Hatton Gore in 1923. He built there a big rockery looking like a bend in a river ravine in the Himalayas. He sold the house due to a loss that he made running a plant nursery business.
• The Common: a farm, west side
• The Dog and Partridge: pub, west side
• The Cyclist's Rest: east side, a snack shop; formerly it was a pub called The Magpies
  • Various smaller houses and cottages were between these houses.

These buildings were demolished in or before 1949. Hatton Road survives as a north end stump (Hatton Road North), visible surface tarmac and wide cropmark on grass east of the end of the north runway, unnamed alignments among service area buildings, the south part of the airport internal road Eastchurch Road, and a south end stump.

• Google Earth view of Hatton Road remnant inside north edge of Heathrow Airport: just west of its north end is a cropmark where a structure may have been once.

Economy

Heathrow and around, at approximately 1935

Air France-KLM's head office for United Kingdom and Ireland operations, which includes facilities for Air France and KLM, is located in Plesman House in Hatton Cross. The facility's inauguration was on 6 July 2006. Air France moved the office from Hammersmith to Hatton. The Plesman House, outside of Terminal 4 of London Heathrow Airport, has the UK commercial team, sales team, and support team.

Transport

The nearest tube station is Hatton Cross tube station. The area is served by a number of London Buses routes, connecting Hatton to the airport, Hounslow, Northolt, Southall, Richmond and Staines.

Free parking is possible in Hatton Lane, but the roads around Hatton are either red routes (stopping not allowed), double yellow lines, or residents' parking (Monday - Friday 8:30 - 5:30). A few credit card paid parking spaces are available near the Green Man public house. The Green Man has its own parking spaces, but long term parking is not encouraged.

Stagecoaches would once have traversed the area en route from London to the south west, a heritage remembered now by this being the location of one of the depots of Ashford Luxury Coaches, whose "Windsorian" branded coaches are used to transport members of the British Royal Family.