Long-time London resident and avid museum and theatre-goer. I started this blog in 2014, and got serious about it in 2020 when I realised how much I missed arts and culture during lockdowns. I go to a lot more events than anyone would think is sensible, and love sharing my thoughts in the forms of reviews, the occasional thought piece, and travel recommendations when I leave my London HQ.
An illustrated walk through historic Chiswick, exploring the changes over the years. From Hogarth’s House to Chiswick House via a riverfront walk. We follow John Wittich’s 1976 book Discovering London Villages.
A Walk Through A Lost London Village
It’s been a while since we did one of these. There was a time (ahem lockdown) when self-guided walks were the main way I could engage with heritage and culture in London, all other options being closed. But since lockdowns ended it’s hard to find a clear day to get out and explore the city on foot. But I had just such an opportunity a while back now, and so picked up a book and headed out.
The book I chose was one of several by John Wittich. He wrote a number of small books in the 1970s packed with interesting walks around London. Today’s book is Discovering London Villages, published in 1976. We’ve used it before for walks around Paddington and Battersea. I like this book as a way to think about the growth of the city, the way that today’s neighbourhoods were once their own places outside London.
This is particularly true of Chiswick, which is further from the City of London than the other two walks we’ve done so far. For most of its life Chiswick was a nice village by the Thames, a rural retreat for wealthy Londoners or a pleasant place to live in its own right. Today parts of Chiswick retain this nice riverside atmosphere, while others are dominated by London infrastructure. Our walk takes in both so is a good opportunity to contemplate change and continuity.
Getting To Chiswick
Chiswick has its own train station, as well as Chiswick Park on the underground. For some reason, when we visited the suggested directions took us via Turnham Green station on the District line. This is actually closer to the first stop on our map so was fine, but may have contributed to my sense of Chiswick not having a town centre of its own. It’s possible I just missed it! Will have to go back at some stage and check. Anyway, Turnham Green is quite nice with its low-rise high street and some nice cafes and second hand bookshops.This statue of William Hogarth and his little pug indicates we are on the right track. Hogarth is one of Chiswick’s most famous historic residents (more recent ones include Phil Collins and Hugh Grant) and I wrote in detail recently about Hogarth’s House. To go back to the start, though, Chiswick is known as far back as 10th Century Anglo Saxon charters, when it was Ceswican, or ‘cheese farm’. It’s quite middle class around here these days so nice cheeses are probably a point of continuity.Now we head under this fairly unattractive pedestrian underpass, and follow the helpful sign towards Hogarth’s House. The demarcation between Turnham Green and Chiswick seems to be the big motorway leading to Heathrow, which we pass under here.Approaching Chiswick from this direction does mean, however, that the motorway constitutes your first impression. It’s very unappealing. The odd historic building like this blue one at the top with a space for carriages to pass (maybe a coaching inn? Or workshop?) looks stranded. And it takes a bit of planning to get to where you want to be, using underpasses or crossing carefully.
Hogarth’s House To The George And Devonshire
We did a little bit of wandering while waiting for Hogarth’s House, our first stop, to open. There was a big new housing development which has very clearly gone in for a pseudo-historical look, which I found quite interesting.I had assumed that St Mary’s Convent and Nursing Home was an older institution that had been encroached on by busy roads, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. In fact the order of the Anglican Sisters of Saint Margaret only dates to 1855, and this convent to 1910. They describe themselves as “a haven of peace at the junction of two of the busiest commuter roads in West London”. Come to think of it the style is quite Arts and Crafts so I shouldn’t have been that surprised at a date of 1910.And here we are at Hogarth’s House. I already wrote a full post on it, which you can find here. It’s free to visit (there was a charge in Wittich’s day according to our book), and interesting. The artist William Hogarth whose statue we saw earlier lived here from 1749 until his death in 1764. No longer a peaceful rural retreat, this site really highlights the changes in London over the centuries.Now back under the motorway and Hogarth’s Roundabout (a more unsuitable tribute I can barely imagine). We pop out near the George and Devonshire, dating to 1650 so one Hogarth himself would recognise. It’s a Fuller’s pub of course, as the Fuller’s Brewery is just next door. You can do a brewery tour, but we didn’t on this occasion.
Boston House To Church Street
This stop noted in our book took a little finding, and we weren’t quite sure if we were allowed to take a closer look or not (but had a quick peek anyway). This is Boston House and Square. The square forms the forecourt to the house, which dates to the late 17th Century. Wittich describes it as “opposite a modern industrial factory and alongside a very busy road, and yet holding its own against all these difficulties.”Around the corner and thankfully off the main road are Page’s House Cottages. This lane was clearly marked as private so I just looked respectfully from the end while snapping this picture. Looks rather a nice spot.Church Street is where we really start to feel that Chiswick might be a historic London village. There’s this medieval building for a start, formerly the Burlington Arms. Here is also where we first notice a difference between Wittich’s experience in the 1970s and ours today. Opposite the medieval building we should have been able to see an old ship’s figurehead, an anchor and a ship’s wheel. No sign of them today. A little disappointing but equally I would have been quite surprised at those all surviving an additional 50 years in situ.I will make up for my disappointment by spying this nice historic building which Wittich doesn’t mention. Lamb’s Brewery was formerly part of Sich & Co. and thus a rival to Fuller’s, but ceased operations in 1920. Today it houses studios.A quick walk down to the river reveals a very muddy foreshore at low tide.Back up towards Church Street, but before we visit the Church of St Nicholas itself we are going to take a short detour along the Chiswick Mall.
Around The Church Of St Nicholas, Chiswick
Other than wandering along the Mall and seeing some very expensive houses, this little island is the point of interest we have come to take a look at. This is the Chiswick Eyot, an eyot being a small island. Wittich suggested children would be merrily wading out there at low tide but I saw no sign of them. Better health and safety standards perhaps. Or more helicoptering parents?And now back along Chiswick Mall towards the church.And here it is, Chiswick’s parish church, dedicated to Saint Nicholas. The tower is the only part of the 15th Century church which remains. The rest is a Victorian Gothic rebuild by architect John Loughborough Pearson. Two daughters of Oliver Cromwell are said to have been buried under the previous church, secretly due to fear of reprisals. One of them married the Earl of Falconberg who had a country house near here.Nothing particularly remarkable about the church itself, but this gravestone in the porch is curious. And apparently reveals a miracle: that a worn cross is visible in photographs. I do not presume to make your mind up for you on that front.We had three tombs to see as part of our walk, and here is the first of them. This is the tomb of William Hogarth, who died in 1764. A descendant later restored his tomb, which is looking fairly worn but overall in good condition. There’s a nice epitaph on the far side.The second notable grave is this one, of Italian patriot and poet Ugo Foscolo. Or more properly this is a cenotaph, as it’s now empty. Foscolo was a thorn in the side of oligarchies and Napoleonic regimes alike. After one too many fiery satires he came to live in England in 1816, and died here in 1827. Garibaldi later came to see his tomb. In 1871 his body was disinterred and reburied in Santa Croce, Florence.The third tomb I could not find for the life of me. It’s Whistler‘s. I had Wittich’s directions and could see images online, but spent a long time searching before giving up… So you will have to look at it here, from the post of someone who had more luck with it!
Towards Chiswick House
Another stroll along the river now. A lot of the river access at Chiswick seems to be privately owned, which makes it rather boring. I think we just didn’t go in the right direction for pubs, to be fair, and ended up in these private estates instead.A little look at some houseboats.A wander along some walking paths adjacent to a water meadow.Since there was a real lack of riverside pubs in this direction we made do by going to the local cricket club and watching some kids play cricket.And then we reached our final stop. Or almost did. This obelisk is on the grounds of Chiswick House. There are various points of interest in Wittich’s book, including a glasshouse, an Inigo Jones gateway, and more. However, they were setting up for a beer festival when we visited so there were a lot of areas we couldn’t get to. Instead, we made do with a wander around the grounds before heading back to Turnham Green.You can just about see Chiswick House across the lake here. The Earl of Burlington (1695-1753) is responsible for the pleasant Palladian building we see today. He took much inspiration from his Grand Tour and trips to Italy. The entire estate came up for sale in 1928 and, in a now familiar story, almost became a housing estate. However it survived, and with the removal of later alterations is actually now fairly true to its 18th Century aspect.We will have to come back another time when we can roam more freely.This isn’t a particularly representative photo, but let’s just pause for a second before we leave to talk about the grounds of Chiswick House. William Kent was responsible for the original design. This was one of the first gardens to move away from a formal style and towards a more ‘English’ one. There are some very old trees and garden decorations which I look forward to seeing another time.Back we go from Palladian tranquility, past the busy Hogarth roundabout and home via Turnham Green. Chiswick as a village still rather eludes me, but I have seen some interesting sights and once again enjoyed taking one of John Wittich’s 1970s books as my guide to exploring present-day London. I hope you have enjoyed coming along for the ride!
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