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Hounslow in 1839

Hounslow is in the two parishes of Isleworth and Heston, in Isleworth hundred, but chiefly in Heston. The area of the two parishes is 6,840 acres; the population, in 1831, was 8,997. The town, which is 10 miles from Hyde-park Corner, is at the point where the Bath and Bristol road branches off from that to Exeter and Salisbury, and consists of a long street on the Exeter road, irregularly paved, and lighted with gas. Hounslow had an ancient priory of the order of the Holy Trinity, which at its suppression, A.D. 1530, had a revenue of £80, 15 shillings gross, or £74, 8 shillings clear. The conventual chapel, long used as a chapel-of-ease, was taken down a few years since, and has been replaced by a new church, capable of seating above 1,000 persons.

The market, formerly held on Thursday, has been discontinued for some years. The chief business of the town has of late years arisen from its situation on a great thoroughfare, but this business is nearly destroyed since the opening of the Great Western Railway. There are some powder-mills and a flax-dressing-mill near the town. Adjoining to the town, on the west, was formerly an extensive heath, notorious for highway robberies. On this heath the army of James II encamped before the Revolution. There are large cavalry barracks and an exercise-ground on what was formerly the heath. The remainder is now enclosed. The living of Hounslow is a perpetual curacy, of the clear yearly value of £125. There were in Heston parish, in 1833, two infant schools, with about 321 children ; three day-schools, with about 108 children ; one boarding-school with 19 boys ; and one Sunday-school, with 70 children.