page_title: Twickenham
section_title: Governance
hierarchical_section_title: Twickenham / Governance
caption_attribution_description: Sought after for weddings.
context_page_description: Twickenham is a suburban town in south west London, England. It lies on the River Thames and is 9.9 miles west-southwest of Charing Cross, 2 miles south-east of Hounslow, and 2.6 miles north-west of Kingston upon Thames. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965. The population of the town, including its localities St Margarets and Whitton, was 62,148 as of 2011.
  Twickenham has an extensive town centre and is famous for being the home of rugby union in England, with hundreds of thousands of spectators visiting Twickenham Stadium, the world's largest rugby stadium, each year. The historic riverside area is famous for its network of 18th-century buildings and pleasure grounds, many of which survive intact. This area has three grand period mansions with public access: York House, Marble Hill and Strawberry Hill House. Another has been lost, that belonging to 18th-century aphoristic poet Alexander Pope. Among these is the Neo-Gothic prototype home of Horace Walpole which has given its name to a whole district, Strawberry Hill, and is linked with the oldest Roman Catholic university in the country, St Mary's University.
context_section_description: From 1868 the area was administered jointly between the newly formed Middlesex County Council and the Twickenham Local Government District board, with the passing of the Local Government Act 1858.  Then in 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 reconstituted the area as Twickenham Urban District. In 1926 Twickenham was granted a charter of incorporation to become a municipal borough.  Eleven years later the urban district councils of Teddington, Hampton & Hampton Wick merged with Twickenham.
  In 1965 Middlesex County Council was abolished and replaced with the Greater London Council  and the boroughs of Twickenham, Richmond and Barnes were combined to form the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 1986 the Greater London Council was abolished and most powers devolved to local boroughs and others to the Government and joint boards. In 2000 the Greater London Authority was set up and two-tier administration returned, but with the top tier having a much more limited strategic role.
  The borough council offices and chamber are located at York House, Twickenham and in the adjacent civic centre.
  The Twickenham constituency in the UK Parliament includes the towns of Twickenham, St Margarets, Whitton, Teddington, Hampton, Fulwell, Hampton Hill and Hampton Wick. Since the 2017 UK General Election,  the Member of Parliament has been a Liberal Democrat, Sir Vince Cable.
caption: York House (rear view from sunken lawn)
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