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From Town Meadow to Pump Alley, numbers 61 - 69 High Street, Old Brentford

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Notes prepared for numbers 61, 62, 63, 65 and Rising Sun PH (68-9); also a list of photos, ephemera and maps

Number 61

The 1909/10 Valuation describes no. 61 as ‘Old brick built and tiled building with stucco front, fair average repair’. It had a frontage of 26’ to the High Street and consisted of two rooms on 2nd and 1st floors and a shop and room on the ground floor, with a yard and WC. It was owned by Henry Bott, WW Walker and Ernest Hill, trustees for Thomas Cunningham and had an annual rent of £50.

Number 61 is not listed 1913 onwards but a 1964 photo shows a building at this location. In the 1839/41 tithe return Thomas & L Rowe owned this and other nearby properties, including the Police Station at number 60.

Number 62

By 1881 William Foord junior (see Number 63) was living here. He moved away in 1890 on marrying Harriet Louisa Morrell, settling at her home in South Ealing Road. In 1891 George Lewington, florist, was living at no. 62.

The 1909/10 Valuation (dated 7 Jan 1915) described no. 62 as a ‘house, cottage and premises’ with a right of way at the back to Town Meadow. The house was terraced and included a shop; it had attics, a first floor with two rooms, a ground floor and basement. It had a small garden overlooked at the back by a cottage in Town Meadow. ‘This is very old property and the pointing is in very bad condition. At rear is a small cottage with two rooms downstairs and a loft upstairs’. The High Street frontage was 14’. There is a reference to a Mrs Taylor of High Street Brentford (sister of William Foord junior).

Number 63

In 1865 a Mr Foord ‘painted and embellished St George’s Chapel at his own expense’ (P). William Foord senior died in 1879 and his will mentions his copyhold premises at numbers 62, 63 & 64 High Street, also ‘two copyhold cottages lying at the back of the same’. He left the running of the business to his sons William & Frederick.

His daughter, Ellen Foord, married George Taylor, a baker who lived and worked at no. 237, in 1874.

By 1901 James Clements, tug owner lived here. He was later to become Charter Mayor for Brentford.

The 1909/10 Valuation describes no. 63 as a terrace house and shop with 3 attics, two rooms and a slip room on the 1st floor, a shop, large parlour and large kitchen on the ground floor. There was a cellar under the shop and at the rear were stables for horses, a coachhouse and WC. The garden ran behind no. 64. There was also a store room with a loft over behind no. 64 and two exits to Town Meadow. ‘This property is very dilapidated’. Mrs Sarah Taylor of High Street Brentford owned numbers 62, 63 & 64 and no. 63 had a High Street frontage of 16’ 3”.

In 1913, 1920 and 1928 Richard Butfoy is recorded at this address in trade directories, as a wardrobe dealer (1913/20) and leather seller (1928). Thomas King is recorded at no. 63 in 1933; no reference to this address in a 1940 trade directory.

The properties numbered 62 – 64 had been demolished by 1964.

Number 65

Rising Sun PH (68-9)

In the 1841 census William Westbrook appears as a beerhouse keeper at no. 68, aged 65 (he could have been as old as 69, as ages were rounded down in this census). From the 1851 census through to 1901 the Gilbert family is listed at no. 68 and 69 as beer retailers, mineral water manufacturers, ginger beer manufacturers.

The 1909/10 Valuation for no. 68/9 notes ‘premises now demolished and new building erected’.

Christopher Edwin Stuart succeeded the Gilberts by 1913. In 1920 Albert E Freeman was the landlord, in 1928 Mrs Ann E Freeman, then L E Bisshop in 1933, George Diggins in 1940. ‘Fat Boys’ Thai Restaurant in 2003 (L).

Photos/Ephemera/Maps

Roads Off