Frays River Cowley
Barchester Close
The road name refers to Trollope’s fictional cathedral city.
Grand Union Canal
Iver Lane Bridge
Cowley Lock
Lock Distance Marker. Metal plate with the letters 'GJC Co' for Grand Junction Canal. The post indicates the distance in miles to Braunston
Fray – the river is in a brick aqueduct under the canal. This was done so local millers could maintain their water supplies, a paddle was provided allowing water from the canal to be emptied into the Colne
Church Road
St.Lawrence. This parish church must be one of the smallest in the country. There was a church here by the 12th which may have been founded by Westminster Abbey to serve their estates in the area, although the advowson belonged to the manor. There is evidence of Norman work and the church is built of flint rubble with Reigate stone. There are late medieval timber arches in place of chancel arch, and some late medieval pews. The porch and the bell turret were rebuilt, and galleries added in 1780, paid for by Thomas Dagnall, whose family was a local benefactor. The timber bellcote, with its lead spire, is supported on enormous posts. The lower, gallery which is used as the organ loft, has 17th panelling incorporated into the front; the upper gallery is 18th still has its original bench seating. A gallery installed in the late 18th was supported on thin, cast or wrought iron, columns and removed in 1897. In 1849 the church, was said to be in 'a grievous state from pews and galleries of all sizes, shapes, and colours’. There is a 20th brass lectern in the form of a female angel. Monuments include a brass to Walter Pope, 1505 and his two wives and there are several 17th and 18th ledger slabs. Two benefaction boards record gifts to the church, as well as its remodelling by Bernard and Thomas Dagnall, c.1766-80
Churchyard. The lych-gate commemorates the 1914-18 war and was erected in 1919. There is a railed tomb to the Dagnall benefactors and on the church wall is a plaque recording the burial nearby of the Revd Dr William Dodd 'Author and at one time Chaplain to King George III' who was hanged at Tyburn in 1777 for forgery
Cleveland Road
The road parallels on the east the edge of what is now Brunel University – although some halls and other buildings have crossed and are on the west side. Between the road and the campus is the line of the railway to Uxbridge Vine Street.
Railway cutting and track. South of Ratcliffe Close is a section of the old Vine Street branch rail line among the undergrowth in what is also a nature reserve. The original track was been removed, but a shallow cutting remains much. There is a length of track, laid on longitudinal sleepers in a representation of the old broad gauge. There is also displayed a wooden pile used to prevent the Great Eastern from slipping into the Thames during construction; a pressure vessel used for wood preservation at Hayes.
University Car Park. Displayed here is a is a preserved section of a GWR bridge girder, which came from Chepstow
Uxbridge Football Club. In 1948, three quarters of a century after they were founded the Club bought a site here. It was named after a large house that had stood there - "Honeycroft". In 1976 ground problems again emerged and the club had to find a new home and moved elsewhere in 1978.
Cowley Road
Vine Cottage. Group of buildings from late 16th to 1700 with modern additions behind. There is a porch in the angle between the ranges and a brick chimney rises through it. Inside is restored but there is original timber some with carpenters' marks and a vaulted brick cellar of 1700
Cowley House. Built in 1738, altered in the 18th and again in 1896 by Reginald Blomfield. It was burnt out in 1929 and converted to flats, with more added in 1980.
Dell Field Crescent
On the site of a house called Dellfield
Heritage Close
On the site of a house called The Cedars
High Street
Cowley Hall Recreation Ground. The local authority bought Cowley Hall grounds in 1920 following a fire and land purchased by Edward Fassnidge was added in 1929. Remnants of the past include a length of 18th garden wall on one side of the bowling green and a group of beech trees plus an imposing Cedar of Lebanon. There are also London planes, horse chestnuts, and the notable planting of three horse chestnuts in a single hole. There are sports facilities used by Cowley Hall Housing Estate and a Football Clubhouse.
Grand Union Pub. This was built in the 1930s to replace a previous building called the Royal Oak. It was an Ind Coope house and kept the name of Royal Oak but has since changed to the Horse and Barge, the Grand Union, the St. James and then back to Grand Union,
Mataji Temple, Hindu Temple.
Buzz Bar club
Parish Rooms – Service Men’s Social Club. The buildings of the Hindu Temple and the Buzz Bar are adjacent to each other and look like community halls. Both are marked on maps variously as ‘Parish Rooms’ and/or “Service Men’s Social Club’. Earlier another building on the other side of the High Street is marked as ‘Parish Hall’
St Laurence Parish Rooms. On Iver Lane comer and previously the site of a school
St Laurence Primary School. A church school was established in Cowley in about 1836, using a charity legacy. In 1891 the school moved to the High Street, and this building was enlarged in 1933-34. In 1955 a new school was built in Worcester Road in 1955 but infants remained in the High Street for some time.
Poplar Cottage 16th century
The Beeches. 18th house. This also has a high 18th wall around it.
The Three Steps Pub. This was also once called The Young Brunel and previously The Coachman’s Inn. A timber property with gardens and car park behind, it was originally built around 1968 as the Fox on the site of the old Cedars House. The predecessor Fox pub was on a site a few yards to the north
Crown Inn. 16th Timber framed building with skin of yellow brick in front. The rear is rendered and whitewashed and inside is exposed timber.
The Old House 17th house
Cowley Place. This was an 18th house on the east side of the road demolished in the 20th
Hogarth Close
1-4 this was previously 91 & 1B Cowley Road. The old stable and coach house for Cowley Grove. 18th range at right angles to the road in painted brick. Modern shop and garage fronts to the ground floor.
Huxley Close
This covers the site of Cowley Station. The station opened in 1904 on the Great Western Railway line between West Drayton and Vine Street, Uxbridge. This followed demands from local people for the service. It was a solidly built two-platform building with wide platforms plus a waiting room and a gents. It closed in 1962. The site of the main building on the up platform is now covered by houses and two rows of wooden fencing appear to indicate where the down side once stood.
Iver Lane
Malt Shovel Inn. Canalside pub. Now sadly a Harvester Inn
73 -75. 19th building, one storey in front but with a basement storey behind. Sash windows at each side of a projecting brick centre bay which has 2 doors and a small window.
Tollhouse and lock keepers cottage. Now in use as a cafe. 19th brick building.
Bridge Works. This is an industrial estate north of the road which has in the past had a variety of works: Barmac Engineering works; Cape Asbestos Fibres and Cape Board Industries; Neptune paper works; coconut fibre mills, Gatesmead boat builders, Lazerfly.
West London Industrial Park. Depot on the site of Cape Board’s Uxbridge works.
Iver Lane Bridge. Early 19th red brick bridge
Queens Road
CRT Car workshops
Station Road
This was named after Cowley Station which stood at the eastern end and which closed in 1962
Sources
Artofthestate. Web site.
British Listed Buildings. Web site
CAMRA. What Pub. Web site
Canalplan. Web site
Cowley Station. Wikipedia. Web site
Disused Station. Web site
London Gardens. Web site
National Archives. Web site,.
Parks and Gardens. Web site
Pevsner and Cherry. North West London
Stevenson. Middlesex
St. Laurence Church. Web site
Uxbridge Football Club. Web site
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