Hatton, London
Hatton is a small settlement in the London boroughs of Hillingdon and Hounslow, on the southern perimeter of London Heathrow Airport and on the A30 road. It was a country village before built-up London spread that far west.
Etymology
Hatton's name comes from Anglo-Saxon Hǣþtūn = "heath farmstead"; until 1819 its cultivated area was surrounded by heath.
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.[1]
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.[2] Adjoining the Green Man is a field where horses, geese, cows and other livestock live: Hounslow Urban Farm[3] (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 and 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 the 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.
East of Hatton is a large lake, which used to be a sand and gravel quarry. It is over 500 metres long, but divided by a new road, The Causeway.
Lost features
North of the Great South West Road
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 used to run straight right across what is now the airport 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. Built around 1840.
- 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.[4] Built around 1840.
- 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.[4] He sold the house due to a loss that he made running a plant nursery business.[5] Built around 1840.
- The Common: a farm, west side
- The Dog and Partridge: pub, west side
- The Cyclist's Rest: east side, a snack shop; it used to be 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.
South of the Great South West Road
- Temple Hatton, a country house in grounds east of Hatton Farm in the bend of Fagg's Road. Sir Frederick Pollock, 3rd Baronet owned it. In 1899 it was sold to a Roman Catholic order and became an orphanage called St.Anthony's Home. In 1958 it was sold due to the effect of aircraft noise. Its site is now occupied by airport-related premises (St. Anthony's Way and St. Teresa's Road: Google Earth view).[6]
- Steam Farm, so named because it was the first in the area to have a steam-powered plough. The sites of it and Hatton House and other buildings in the island between Fagg's Road and Dick Turpin Way and Great South West Road are now occupied by a Gate Gourmet works.
- Hatton Farm: had several buildings and a Mission Hall, between Great South West Road and Fagg's Road and the northwest edge of what used to be Temple Hatton. The current Google Earth view (as at April 2012) shows waste ground, the Mission Hall, and one derelict farm building with gaps in its roof.
Economy
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.[7] The Plesman House, outside of Terminal 4 of Heathrow Airport, has the UK commercial team, sales team, and support team.[8]
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.[9]
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.
References
- ^ Office of Public Sector Information - Heathrow Airport (County and London Borough Boundaries) Order 1993
- ^ Beer in the Evening - The Green Man
- ^ Hounslow London Borough Council - Hounslow Urban Farm
- ^ a b page 52, Sherwood, Philip. (2009) Heathrow: 2000 Years of History. Stroud: The History Press ISBN 978-0-7509-5086-2
- ^ "Frank Kingdon-Ward timeline of events in his life". French4tots.co.uk. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
- ^ Old 1:2500 scale Ordnance Survey maps, reproduced at about 15 inches = 1 mile, publ. Alan Godfrey Maps:-
- Heathrow, 1934, Middlesex sheet 19.08, ISBN 978-1-84784-112-4
- Hatton, 1935, Middlesex sheet 20.05, ISBN 978-1-84784-279-4
- ^ "AIR FRANCE and KLM celebrate official inauguration of new office in London." Air France. 6 July 2006. Retrieved on 13 February 2010.
- ^ "Career Opportunities." Air France UK and Ireland. Retrieved on 13 February 2010.
- ^ Transport for London - Buses from Hatton Cross
