page_title: Brentford
section_title: The Syon estate
hierarchical_section_title: Brentford / Landmarks / The Syon estate
caption_attribution_description: Front aspect of Boston Manor House, a Jacobean House in Hounslow
context_page_description: Brentford is a suburban town in west London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, 8 miles west of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of Greater London since 1965.
  Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings which mark the start of the M4 corridor; in transport it also has two railway stations and Boston Manor Underground station on its north-west border with Hanwell. Brentford has a convenience shopping and dining venue grid of streets at its centre. Brentford at the start of the 21st century attracted regeneration of its little-used warehouse premises and docks including the re-modelling of the waterfront to provide more economically active shops, townhouses and apartments, some of which comprises Brentford Dock. A 19th and 20th centuries mixed social and private housing locality: New Brentford is contiguous with the Osterley neighbourhood of Isleworth and Syon Park and the Great West Road which has most of the largest business premises.
context_section_description: Syon House, the Greater London residence of the Duke of Northumberland, is a large mansion and park in Syon ward, described above, that has long been shared with Isleworth.  Some of its seasonally marshy land is now a public nature reserve.  The estate has a hotel (Hilton London Syon Park), visitor centre and garden centre.
  Syon Abbey, demolished and replaced (with reworked gatehouses) by the newer mansion, had the largest abbey church in England in the Middle Ages.
  The location of Syon Abbey in the park was unknown until archeological investigations in the grounds in 2003 (for the television series Time Team) and 2004 revealed the foundations of the abbey church. It was larger than Westminster Abbey is now, but no above-ground structure remains. There were complex reasons for its destruction.
  The London Butterfly House in Syon Park was an insectarium like a large glasshouse containing a butterfly zoo. Visitors could see butterflies and moths flying about, feeding, and emerging from chrysalises. There was also a colony of large ants (kept with the butterflies), a small tropical bird aviary, and a small gallery of reptiles, amphibians, insects and spiders. The lease on the current site expired in October 2007 and the Butterfly House closed on 28 October.
   
  Boston Manor House, built in 1622, is a Jacobean manor house, noted for its fine plasterwork ceilings.
  Syon Park House (demolished in 1953, and not to be confused with Syon House itself) housed the 'Syon Park Academy' where the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was educated between the ages of 10 and 12 before moving on to Eton. A Royal Mail depot stands on the site now. This may also be the site of the dwelling where Pocahontas lived in Brentford End between 1616 and 1617.
caption: Front of Boston Manor House
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