Gunnersbury

Gunnersbury
Gunnersbury
 Gunnersbury shown within Greater London
OS grid referenceTQ195785
London borough Hounslow
Ceremonial county Greater London
RegionLondon
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town LONDON
Postcode district W4
Dialling code 020
Police Metropolitan
Fire London
Ambulance London
EU Parliament London
UK ParliamentBrentford & Isleworth
London Assembly South West
List of places
UK
England
London

Coordinates: 51°29′34″N 0°16′40″W / 51.4927°N 0.2777°W / 51.4927; -0.2777

Gunnersbury is a place in the London Borough of Hounslow, with its northern edge in the London Borough of Ealing, west London. It has an area of less than half a square kilometre and is within the west area of the Chiswick W4 postal district of London.

Toponymy

The name "Gunnersbury" means "Manor house of a woman called Gunnhildr", and is from an old Scandinavian personal name + Middle English -bury, manor or manor house.[1]

Development

Gunnersbury consists mainly of pre-war housing of a variety of types, including flats, terrace, semi detached, and detached houses, some of which are ex-local authority built.

The defining symbol of Gunnersbury is the 18-storey high BSI (British Standards Institution) building on Chiswick High Road. Below this building Gunnersbury station serves the Richmond branch of the District line and the London Overground to Stratford.

Chiswick Business Park

In August 1921, London General Omnibus Company established a bus overhaul facility off Chiswick High Road.[2] It incorporated a Training School with a bus Skid-Pan.[3] In 1989, London Transport closed the works.[4][5] In 2001 the site was redeveloped as the Chiswick Business Park with 12 medium density office buildings.[6][7] It houses companies including SBS Broadcasting Networks, CBS News, Technicolor, Discovery Channel Europe, Intelsat, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Foxtons, and a Virgin Active health club.

Immediately to the east is Gunnersbury Triangle nature reserve. An area of woodland, it supports many species of birds, plants, and animals. It has free admission and its entrance is on the south of Bollo Lane, a few yards from Chiswick Park Tube Station.

Gunnersbury lends its name to a nearby secondary school, formerly a Grammar School, in Brentford. Gunnersbury Catholic School is a boys only Catholic comprehensive. It lies on Gunnersbury Avenue and backs on to Gunnersbury Park.

In 1886, Gunnersbury was given its own parish church, dedicated to Saint James. The church stood on Chiswick High Road, near Chiswick Roundabout. The church was decommissioned just over a century later, in 1987, and demolished soon afterwards. The parish was united with that of St Paul's, Brentford.[8]

Nearest areas

Transport

Nearest tube stations

Nearest railway station

Gallery

References

  1. Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names, A.D.Mills. 2003. ISBN 978-0-19-852758-9. ISBN 0-19-852758-6.
  2. Inspecting General Overhaul Works Commercial Motor 1 September 1925
  3. Chiswick London Bus Rally 1983 YouTube clip
  4. BEL grows in London Commercial Motor 20 July 1989
  5. Taylor, James (2009). The London Bus. Botley: Shire Publications. p. 26. ISBN 978 074780 728 5.
  6. Chiswick Business Park Invest Hounslow
  7. Route 27 Comes to Chiswick Business Park Chiswick Herald
  8. "Saint James, Gunnersbury: Chiswick High Road, Hounslow". aim25.ac.uk. Retrieved 28 September 2015.

External links

Media related to Gunnersbury at Wikimedia Commons

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