page_title: Isleworth
section_title: Notable houses
hierarchical_section_title: Isleworth / Landmarks / Notable houses
caption_attribution_description: English: Gumley House, Isleworth, 1800.
context_page_description: Isleworth is a town sited within the London Borough of Hounslow in West London, England. It lies immediately east of the town of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane. Isleworth's original area of settlement, alongside the Thames, is known as 'Old Isleworth'. The north-west corner of the town, bordering on Osterley to the north and Lampton to the west, is known as 'Spring Grove'.
  Isleworth's former Thames frontage of approximately one mile, excluding that of the Syon Park estate, was reduced to little over half a mile in 1994 when a borough boundary realignment was effected in order to unite the district of St Margaret's wholly within London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. As a result, most of Isleworth's riverside is that part overlooking the 8.6-acre islet of Isleworth Ait: the short-length River Crane flows into the Thames south of the Isleworth Ait, and its artificial distributary the Duke of Northumberland's River west of the Isleworth Ait, one of two Colne distributaries constructed for aesthetic reasons in the 1600–1750 period.
context_section_description: A period of intense mansion-building occurred in the 18th and 19th centuries. There was a triple attraction to the area in those times. Its rural, waterside beauty had become well recognised over two hundred years or so, and a few palaces, monasteries and mansions already existed. Then the royal court began to appear at Kew, so the adjacent districts on both sides of the Thames became very fashionable places for the rich and famous to build their grand homes. Some of the cachet dropped away when the court eventually left Kew; most high-quality here survived well The Blitz and social turmoil to enable many to reach grade II* (the mid category) of architectural listed building.
  Syon House Duke of Somerset Duke of Northumberland. (standing, listed Grade 1) Although this grand house has had a close connection with Isleworth for 450 years, it has very grand architecture as the only non-royal ducal main home ('seat') in Middlesex. It is chronicled in an exhaustive history.
  Silver Hall No. 1 (South of North Street, with four acres) [1.6 hectares]  Sir John Smith Bt, Privy to William & Mary  Lady Harcourt, widow of Sir W Harcourt, Chancellor (Demolished 1801)
  Silver Hall No. 2 (North of North Street) Joseph Dixon. (Demolished 1950)
  Kendal House. (Twickenham Road, near Mill Plat) Duchess of Kendal (mistress to George I).
  Somerset House
  Gunnersbury House. (At the junction of Bridge Road and London Road) (Demolished c. 1972).
  Isleworth House Sir William Cooper, chaplain to George III. Renamed Nazareth House in 1892 when it was established as the present residential nursing home and convent. (standing)
  Countess of Charleville's Villa Harriet Charlotte Beaujolais (Campbell), Countess of Charleville.
  Wyke House
  Little Syon (formerly Cromwell House) Sir Richard Wynn Bt. (Demolished 1818).
  Gumley House John Gumley (Commissary-General to the Army)  The Earl of Bath (Gumley's son-in-law)  General Lord Lake.
  Shrewsbury House George Talbot, 14th Earl of Shrewsbury
  Shrewsbury House lay to the east of Upper Square, in the area known as Lion Wharf, once Beck's Wharf, also Shrewsbury Wharf. The 14th Earl inherited the lease in 1719 and later by Act of Parliament gained full rights to the property (in exchange for certain fee-farm rents) from an almshouse charity established by a former landlord, Sir Thomas Ingram, from whom the 1st Duke of Shrewsbury had originally leased the site. Around 1778 the 14th Earl started the process by which the house converted to a school for boys of Roman Catholic parents.
  Gordon House, by the River Thames at Railshead Rd. (standing, listed Grade II*). General Humphrey Bland  Lord James Hay Lord John Kennedy-Erskine. Lord and Lady Frederick Gordon  Earl of Kilmorey Judge T C Haliburton MP. In Lord Hay's time this was named 'Seaton House', after his ancestral home in Aberdeenshire. It was next bought by King William IV at 8,000 guineas for his (illegitimate) daughter Lady Augusta, who married Lord John Kennedy-Erskine of Dun, the son of the First Marquis of Ailsa who lived next door in St Margaret's House. Gordon House is being renovated.
  Spring Grove House Sir Joseph Banks Andrew Pears. (standing, Grade II)
  In 1862 Francis Pears decided to expand his soap making business and bought land alongside the London Road for a factory. Another, larger, factory was opened along the opposite side of the road in the 1880s and soap was made on the site until 1962. His son Andrew bought the Spring Grove House estate in 1886 and greatly extended the house in 1894. Pictures are shown under 'Notable residents'.
  Keppel House First Lord of the Admiralty Augustus Keppel.
  Lacy House A 17th-century house rebuilt in 1750 for James Lacy, of Drury Lane Theatre.
  Lacy's son inherited the property but his extravagance compelled him to sell the house, to the Hon. Sir Edward Walpole K.B. He bequeathed it to his daughter, widow of Bishop of Exeter, and after that it was acquired by the Earl of Warwick. After him came the famous playwright Richard Sheridan, who by then had already produced his two masterpieces School for Scandal and The Rivals. L
caption: Gumley House in 1800
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