A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3, Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1962.
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'Greenford: Nonconformity', in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3, Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington, (London, 1962) pp. 218-219. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol3/pp218-219 [accessed 24 April 2024]
NONCONFORMITY.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries no nonconformists were known in Greenford to the authorities of the Established Church, (fn. 1) but in 1817 a house in Greenford was licensed for Baptist worship. This seems to have been situated at the south end of Oldfield Lane on the west side, as it was in fact in the detached area of Northolt parish. (fn. 2) A different house was registered by the Baptists in 1818, (fn. 3) and they seem to have still had a place of worship in the village in 1822. (fn. 4) In 1843 there was said to be a dissenting chapel in the parish, but no denomination was specified. (fn. 5) In the mid-19th century a gospel hall opposite his works was opened and supported by W. H. Perkin, the chemist. After Perkin's departure in 1873, the hall was taken over first by the Village Mission, and then by the Gospel Hall, of The Grove, Ealing. In 1929 the local Gospel Assembly bought the present site at no. 439, Oldfield Lane, and built a temporary hall on it. The present permanent building was opened early in 1958. (fn. 6) Apart from these traces of activity, the history of nonconformity in Greenford seems to be linked with the rise of an industrial population in the 1930's.
There are two modern Baptist churches in Greenford. The church in Ruislip Road was built in 1932, (fn. 7) and the church was formed in 1933. (fn. 8) The building was destroyed in 1940, but was rebuilt in brick in 1955. (fn. 9) The Oldfield Free (Baptist) Church on the corner of Malden Avenue and Oldfield Lane in North Greenford was formed in 1936, (fn. 10) and its building dates from the same period.
The Congregational church in Medway Drive, Perivale Park, is said to have been formed in 1901. (fn. 11) It was not, however, registered until 1936. (fn. 12) The church was built in 1936-7. (fn. 13)
In 1932 Independent Methodists registered for worship The Cottage, Oldfield Lane. (fn. 14) The Wesleyan Methodists opened a church in the Ruislip Road in 1932. (fn. 15) This building was destroyed by bombs in 1940, and was replaced by a church hall in 1949. The church was afterwards rebuilt in brick on the same site, and reopened in 1957. (fn. 16)
The Salvation Army founded a hall in Greenford in 1935. The hall, on the north-east corner of Costons Lane and Greenford Road, was built in 1935-6, and a foundation-stone was laid by Mrs. A. W. Perkin, a relative of the dye-manufacturer's family. (fn. 17)