ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY.
Little is
known of the value of the manors. In 1324 Southall
manor was conveyed to John de Stonore with a rent
of 14s. in Harrow, (fn. 53) and in 1433 the manor was said
to consist of a house, a mill, 360 a., and 100s. rents
in Hayes, Southall, Northcott, and Harrow. (fn. 54) The
same figures are given in 1510, (fn. 55) but in 1547, on the
death of Robert Cheeseman, the manors of Southall
and Norwood together contained 13 houses, 20 cottages, and 2,200 a. (fn. 56) It is possible that the Dorman's
Well estate formed the demesne of Southall manor
in the later 16th century; (fn. 57) 80 a. were expressly
included in the sale to Agatha Child in 1754, (fn. 58) and
208 a. and a house in the settlement on Francis
Child in 1757. (fn. 59)
Before the 16th century the economic identity of
Norwood was indistinguishable from that of Hayes, (fn. 60)
although there is a mention of Southall East Field in
1387. (fn. 61) In 1553 land in both Northcott and Southall
hamlets and in their open fields was held customarily
of Hayes manor, (fn. 62) and later in the century orders of
the court were made expressly for Norwood. The
cottagers were stinted at two cows or a cow and
a horse on the common fields, (fn. 63) and cattle were not
to be allowed on to the fields before July. Wheat was
grown in Northcott, (fn. 64) and at least some sheep were
kept. (fn. 65) In 1598 there were four open fields around
Southall, North and South fields both being over
200 a., and East and Middle fields being over 100 a.
Northcott West and Middle fields were both over
100 a., but the survey breaks off in the middle of the
description of Norwood fields. (fn. 66) In the early 17th
century peas and beans were grown in the precinct, (fn. 67)
and sheep were stinted at the rate of 3 for every 2 a.
of fallow. (fn. 68) A survey of c. 1657 shows that 899 a. lay
in the open fields, of which all but 218 a. were in
Southall open fields. (fn. 69) In the late 18th century the
rotation of crops in the open fields was fallow, wheat,
and barley or oats and clover, and in the inclosures it
was wheat, barley and clover, and turnips. (fn. 70) Four
years later the recommended rotation was wheat,
beans, and peas; the wheat crop was said to be
especially good as it was grown only once in 3 years. (fn. 71)
At the end of the 18th century the precinct of Norwood was predominantly arable. The proportions
then were: arable 1,354 a., meadow 981 a., waste
25 a. (fn. 72)
By c. 1657 there were 875 a. of inclosures in the
precinct, (fn. 73) and inclosure continued to take place.
Norwood was inclosed with Hayes under an Act of
1809 by an award of 1814, when 8 open fields
amounting to well under 1,000 a. were inclosed.
Nearly all the southern half of the precinct was in
the hands of the Earl of Jersey, who owned over 966
a. Thomas Parker owned 158 a., John Brett owned
147 a. centred on Waxlow Farm, but the descendant
of the lords of the manor, Robert Awsiter, owned
only 58 a. (fn. 74) In 1821 there were 4 farms in the
Southall Green area, cultivating between them 679 a.,
most of which was arable. There were no farms
in the Norwood area. (fn. 75) Wheat for Uxbridge market
was the main crop grown in the 1830s. (fn. 76) By 1842 the
area around Norwood was said to be almost entirely
pasture, with 180 cattle and 650 sheep; 545 a. produced hay; and of the remainder of the precinct 669
a. were arable, a third of which produced wheat.
Other crops grown over a comparatively small
acreage were beans, turnips, potatoes, oats, barley,
mangel-wurzels, clover, tares, peas, and rye; these
accounted for the remainder of the arable land. At
this time there was one farm of over 250 a. which
permanently employed 14 men, but there was a
'strong prejudice' against the use of modern farming
implements due to a 'conscientious though mistaken
solicitude' for the labourers' welfare. (fn. 77) In the 1860s
there were 737 a. of arable to 1,085 a. of pasture out
of a total parish acreage of over 2,460. (fn. 78) Throughout
the 19th century there were market gardens in
Norwood, and occasionally one in Southall. There
were three market gardens at Top Lock in 1912,
and one nurseryman was there in 1922. (fn. 79) Fruit was
also grown to supply local jam factories. (fn. 80)
It is probable that the mill on the manor of Hayes
in 1086, which was then valued at 4s., lay in Norwood, (fn. 81) but there is no further reference to a mill
there until 1578 when a water-mill was leased out by
Robert Chamberlain, the lord of the manor. (fn. 82) In
1596 the executors of Anne, Lady Dacre, reserved
to themselves a water-mill and garden in Norwood
and a windmill and one acre, both copyhold of
Norwood manor. (fn. 83) There was still a mill in Norwood
in 1611, (fn. 84) and in 1673 an overshot mill was said to be
situated at Northcott. A Mr. Hamton owned or
leased the mills in 1676, (fn. 85) and between 1680 and
1720 various millers were in possession. In 1716 the
overshot mill came into the possession of Sir George
Cooke, the future lord of the manor of Hayes; (fn. 86) this
and the windmill, both corn mills, were offered for
sale with the other Cooke property in 1770, (fn. 87) and in
1800 the overshot mill still comprised part of the
manorial estate. (fn. 88) At that date it stood, together
with a house and other property, at Dorman's Well. (fn. 89)
The overshot mill, comprising a mill, house, millpond, and land, was owned by the Earl of Jersey in
1821, (fn. 90) and in the 1860s stood, as before, on Windmill Lane at Dorman's Well. Both mills were then
flour mills. (fn. 91) A miller at Norwood is mentioned in
1866, (fn. 92) but by the end of the century the overshot
mill had been converted into Mill Farm. (fn. 93) In 1912
the old water-mill on Windmill Lane was called Old
Greenford mill, and although most of the machinery
had disappeared, the wheelhouse and some of the
old mill-stones still survived. The front premises
then contained a baker's shop. (fn. 94) The site in 1961 was
covered by the West Middlesex Golf Course.
There was a mill on the manor of Southall by
1433. (fn. 95) It was still there in 1496, (fn. 96) and may have
been the windmill reserved to Lady Dacre's executors in the lease of 1596, (fn. 97) since in a conveyance of
Southall manor in 1597 no mill is mentioned. (fn. 98) The
corn windmill was included in the attempted sale in
1770, (fn. 99) and a windmill and Windmill Farm formed
part of the Osterley estate in 1806. (fn. 1) Presumably the
windmill was the one which Turner painted in
1806; it stood by the Grand Junction Canal (fn. 2) and
was still there in 1821. (fn. 3) In the 1860s, however,
a windmill seems to have stood in Windmill Lane at
Dorman's Well, slightly to the north and on the
opposite side of the road from the overshot mill. It
had disappeared by the end of the century although
its site is marked by an Ordnance Survey triangulation station. (fn. 4) Rocque's map of 1754 shows a mill
standing on a small stream running through Osterley Park, on the southern boundary of Norwood
parish, between Windmill Lane and the stream's
confluence with the Brent. (fn. 5) There is no other record
of a mill here, and as the overshot mill is not marked,
he may possibly have confused its position. In the
1860s the Norwood Flour Mill stood on the north
bank of the Grand Junction Canal immediately west
of the bridge on Norwood Road. (fn. 6) It survived as
a steam flour mill until about 1900, (fn. 7) and in 1906 was
taken over by George Haigh as a plaster-moulding
picture-frame factory. Haigh and Sons Ltd. still
occupied the mill in 1961. (fn. 8)
In 1698 William III granted a Wednesday cattle
market and two fairs a year to a local landowner,
Francis Merrick of Southall. The fairs were for the
exchange of horses, cattle, and grain. (fn. 9) The market
was first rated in 1705, (fn. 10) and appears to have remained in the Merrick family until the early 19th
century. In 1805 William Welch bought a lease of
the market and built a market-place for showing the
cattle. (fn. 11) The market-place occupied 3 a. at Southall
in 1806 (fn. 12) and in 1816 was said to be inferior only to
Smithfield for the sale of fat cattle. (fn. 13) By 1843 the
market had increased the value of the neighbouring
land which was used for grazing. The coming of the
Great Western Railway, however, caused much local
discontent, as it forced down the market prices by
introducing West Country sheep and cattle. (fn. 14) The
market further declined during the 1850s, and in
1860 a Bill, later abandoned, to establish a new cattle
market at Southall was introduced in Parliament. (fn. 15)
By 1869 the market had been transformed into
a general, in place of a stock, market and was still
losing ground to the London markets. (fn. 16) Cattle were
still sold there in 1876, (fn. 17) but in 1910 Southall market
was again said to be declining. (fn. 18) Leases of the market
and market-house survive for the later 19th century. (fn. 19) In 1880 the premises covered just over 3 a.
and were let together with another 69 a. (fn. 20) In 1929
a weekly livestock, poultry, corn, straw, and potato
auction was held at Southall. This handled about
12,000 head a year, mainly of pigs. At that date it
was the only livestock and poultry market in the
county, and was held in both covered and uncovered
premises by the owners, Steel Bros. of Southall.
There was also a daily market for general retail
produce, which was owned by S. Green of New
Southall market. (fn. 21) In 1961 the Wednesday market
was still held for horses, cattle, pigs, carts, and
harness, and a general produce, shopping, and stall
market was held every Saturday.
As in Hayes the first industry to make its appearance in Norwood was brick-making. As early as
1697 a London tiler and bricklayer, Robert Browne,
had bought 3 a. in Bulls Bridge Field, Hayes, and in
South Field, Norwood. (fn. 22) That the brick-making
industry grew in the 19th century was due to the
opening of the Grand Junction Canal in 1796 and
of the Paddington Canal five years later. (fn. 23) The
industry was slightly later in developing in Norwood
than in Hayes and in 1821 there was only one small
brick-field near Wolf Bridge. (fn. 24) In 1826 John Nash,
the architect and builder, was licensed by Lord
Jersey to dig brickearth in East Field, (fn. 25) and apparently he also made his bricks in Norwood. These
are said to have been too rough and uneven for anything but thick walls. Nash supplied a great number
of bricks for Buckingham Palace and may have sent
some from Norwood. (fn. 26) In 1859 a Holborn builder
developed a 14-acre brick-field in Norwood, paying
Lord Jersey a royalty of 1s. 6d. on every thousand
bricks over 2,666,666 a year. He also erected
labourers' cottages on the site and built a dock on
the canal. (fn. 27) In the 1860s the St. John's parochial
school at Southall Green drew most of its pupils
from the brick-makers. The school numbers fluctuated, (fn. 28) which may indicate a rapid turn-over of
labour, and the speedy working-out of the brickfields. The Southall Brick Co. was in existence
by 1874 and three other brick-making firms were
centred on the Green in Southall. (fn. 29) At the end of the
19th century a 28-acre brick-field was opened in
North Road, Southall, by Thomas Watson and
between 1899 and 1901 this produced well over 2
million bricks a year. (fn. 30) A site for a brick-field in
Havelock Road was advertised for sale in 1903, (fn. 31) and
a brick-field behind Tudor Road was causing such
smells in 1906 that there were complaints at a council meeting. (fn. 32) A new brick-field in North Road was
let as late as 1910 at 2s. a thousand bricks, (fn. 33) and the
East Acton Brick Co. held property at least until
1926. (fn. 34) In the late 19th century some gravel was
also extracted. (fn. 35)
Norwood and Southall undoubtedly developed
into a primarily industrial area because of their rail
and canal communications. Both canals were open
by 1802 and by 1816 there was already a large wharf
with an extensive trade at Bull's Bridge, (fn. 36) where the
Paddington and Grand Junction canals divide. The
canal company owned 54 a. in 1821, together with
warehouses and wharfs, and at least one factory,
producing vitriol, was situated on the canal bank. (fn. 37)
Industry did not immediately follow the opening of
Southall railway station. (fn. 38) By the 1860s, however, as
well as two brick-works and the vitriol factory, there
was an oil-works by the canal. (fn. 39) The first gas-works
was built near the canal by a private company in
1865. This was dismantled in 1869 by the Brentford
Gas Co., which built on the site of the present
gas-works immediately north of the railway. Most of
the old installations were replaced in 1929-30. (fn. 40) In
1877 the pottery firm of R. W. Martin moved to
a derelict soap factory on the canal bank at Southall.
The four Martin brothers built a kiln and produced
their salt-glaze pottery there until the First World
War. The last brother died in 1923 and a later attempt to revive the business met with no success.
The kiln was destroyed by fire in 1942. (fn. 41) In 1961
the Southall Library had a fine collection of Martin
ware.
In the late 19th century the oil-works was turned
over to chemicals and extended. (fn. 42) In 1893 a vast
margarine factory on Margarine Road, afterwards
Bridge Road, was opened by a Dane, Otto Mönsted.
This factory was served by new railway sidings and
a branch to the canal. (fn. 43) It later came under the
Unilever group, and in 1961 the buildings were used
by Thomas Wall's, a member of the Unilever combine, for storage. (fn. 44) In 1894 a factory to employ 300
people was about to be built (fn. 45) and a firm making
picture-frame mouldings was opened in Norwood
Mill in 1906. (fn. 46) By 1914 there were also factories producing jam, chemicals, wallpaper, paints, and telephones, as well as an engineering works. All these
were situated on Rubastic Road, Scott's Road, and
Johnson Street. (fn. 47) Kearley & Tonge opened their
jam and marmalade factory on Brent Road in 1913,
and later extended their business to include a great
number of other foods. In 1961 the labour force
numbered about 700, although it had occasionally
reached 1,000. (fn. 48)
Other large firms which came to Southall after the
First World War included the Crown Cork Co. Ltd.,
making bottle closures, which was established in
Southall in 1922. In 1961 the firm had a labour force
of about 600. (fn. 49) The heavy vehicle construction firm
of A.E.C. Ltd. opened its main Southall factory,
employing approximately 2,000 people, in 1927.
Subsequently the company steadily enlarged its site,
which lies off Windmill Lane and between the two
railway lines, until in 1961 it employed about 5,000
people and was the largest single employer of labour
in Southall. Its products include omnibuses for
London Transport and other concerns, coaches,
trucks, and lorries of all varieties. (fn. 50) The 1930s saw
the establishment of two more large firms, that of
Taylor Woodrow, the building contractors, in 1930
and of Quaker Oats in 1936. Taylor Woodrow first
came to the area with the building of an estate of
over 1,000 houses at Grange Park, Hayes, and set up
its headquarters in Adrienne Avenue, Southall, on
the banks of the Paddington Canal. New buildings
were opened on the same site in 1954, 1958, and
1960, and a staff of 1,300 was employed there in
1961. (fn. 51) Quaker Oats, producing cereals, pig, and
poultry foods, opened its works in 1936 in a building
formerly belonging to the Maypole Dairy Co. Expansion after 1945 included a 20,000-ton grain silo,
the grain being brought from the docks mainly by
canal. (fn. 52) Other large firms in the borough include
the building and engineering contractors, George
Wimpey & Co. Ltd., who have a repair and maintenance depot on Lancaster Road, Southall, where over
400 people are employed, (fn. 53) and G. C. Cross & Co.
Ltd., a sand, gravel, and building haulage firm which
started in 1919 in a yard behind the 'White Hart' in
Southall High Street. The firm prospered from work
on the Wembley Exhibition of 1924 and moved to
larger premises, first in Sussex Road and then to
Uxbridge Road. In 1961 it employed over 100
people. (fn. 54) Ease of communication by water and rail,
rather than by road, attracted many of these firms,
most of which are situated along the railway or the
canal.
In 1951 industrial premises covered over 228 a. in
Southall and 56 per cent. of the employed population was occupied in vehicle and food production, or
in the provision of gas, water, and electricity. (fn. 55) By
1961 firms owning premises in Southall covered
a wide range of products, including paints and
lacquers, steel radiators, engineering and electrical
equipment (including radios and televisions), photocopying machinery, films for the Independent Television Authority, braille apparatus, packaging
materials, and chemical engineering products of pure
and commercial acids. There were also timber importers, joiners, sawmills, and building firms. (fn. 56)
Three newspapers were started in the late 19th
century: the Southall News, which was published
between 1885 and 1888; (fn. 57) the Southall Guardian,
published between 1894 and 1895 and then incorporated in the Middlesex and Surrey Express; and
the Southall-Norwood Gazette, published between
1894 and 1923, when it was continued as the West
Middlesex Gazette. Another Southall News and the
Southall Post were both published for the first time
in 1954. (fn. 58) The Southall Local History Society,
which publishes a newsletter, was founded in 1958. (fn. 59)
There was a friendly society with 48 members in
1803, (fn. 60) and in 1830 the Union Society had its
registered meeting place at the 'Red Lion', Southall. (fn. 61)
A friendly society met at the 'Wolf' at Norwood
Green in 1846, (fn. 62) and in the 1870s and 1880s at least
two masonic lodges were registered in Southall, the
Gooch lodge meeting at the Prince Alfred Hotel and
the Jersey lodge at the Coffee Tavern. (fn. 63) The working
men's club in Featherstone Road was open by 1912
and a social club, the Conservative Association, and
the Tariff Reform League were all established by
1922. (fn. 64) The Southall-Norwood Ratepayers' Association, which was non-political but 'definitely antiSocialist', existed in 1932 (fn. 65) and by 1939 had been
joined by the Labour Club and Institute on the
Broadway. (fn. 66) The oldest sports club in the parish is
probably the Southall Football Club, which was
founded in 1871 and joined the Athenian League in
1919-20. (fn. 67) The first football ground was in North
Road but since 1906 the club has used its present
ground in Western Road. (fn. 68) A Norwood cricket
eleven played on the Green in 1876, (fn. 69) and the
Southall Cricket Club was founded in 1887. After
various moves from its original ground in Red Lion
Fields, opposite the 'Red Lion', the club finally
moved to Durdans Park in 1956. (fn. 70) There is a reference to the Workmen's Cricket Club, which also
played on Norwood Green, in 1894. (fn. 71) A lawn tennis
club was established by 1898, (fn. 72) and the West Middlesex Golf Club in 1890. (fn. 73) The Southall Electric
Theatre opened in 1910; it was later known as the
Gem cinema and, after being rebuilt in 1929, as the
Century. (fn. 74) The Dominion cinema was opened in
1935 (fn. 75) and the Odeon in 1936. (fn. 76) The greyhound
racing stadium in Havelock Road was opened by
1939. (fn. 77)
Annotation 602