Ealing
Ealing () is a district in West London, England. It is west of Charing Cross. In the London Borough of Ealing, it is one of the borough's seven major towns (alongside Acton, Greenford, Hanwell, Northolt, Perivale and Southall). Ealing, resembling the W5, W13 and NW10 post codes is the administrative centre of the borough. It is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing is in the historic county of Middlesex. Until the urban expansion of London in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, Ealing was a rural village within Ealing parish. Improvement in  communications with London, culminating with the opening of the railway station in 1838, shifted the local economy to market garden supply and eventually to suburban development. By 1902 Ealing had become known as the "Queen of the Suburbs" due to its greenery, and because it was halfway between city and country. As part of the growth of London in the 20th century, Ealing significantly expanded and increased in population. It became a municipal borough in May 1901 and has formed part of Greater London since December 1965. It is now a significant commercial and retail centre with a developed night -time economy. Ealing has the characteristics of both leafy suburban and inner-city development. The Pitshanger neighbourhood and some others retain the lower density, greenery and architecture of suburban villages. Ealing's town centre is often referred to as "Ealing Broadway", the name of both a railway interchange and a shopping centre. Most of Ealing, including the commercial district, South Ealing, Ealing Common, Montpelier, Pitshanger and most of Hanger Hill fall under the W5 postcode. Areas to the north-west of the town centre such as Argyle Road and West Ealing fall under W13 instead. A small section north-east  of the town centre, near Hanger Hill, falls under the NW10 postcode area. The population of Ealing (including Northfields) was 85,014 in the 2011 census. History. Toponymy. The Saxon name for Ealing was recorded as 'Gillingas', meaning 'place of the people associated with Gilla', from the personal name Gilla and the Old English suffix '-ingas', meaning 'people of'. Over the centuries, the name has changed, and has been known as 'Illing', 1130; 'Gilling', 1243; and 'Ylling', 1254, until 'Ealing' became the standard spelling in the 19th century. Early history. Archaeology evinces parts of Ealing have been lived in by neanderthal  humans – the Lower Palaeolithic Age. The typical stone tool type of neanderthals, the Mousterian, is not found in south-east England, but Levallois type may be consistent with the hand axes found. These primitive hunters span a period of at least 300,000 years in Britain. Of the Iron Age, Milne lists six Carthaginian and pre-Roman bronze coins from Middlesex: Ashford and Ealing (Carthage coins); Edmonton (Seleucid (2), Rhegium, Bithynia coins). These are not so significant as for similar and more plentiful finds from Dorset, and Milne suggests that some represent parts of imported bronze scrap. The Church of St.  Mary's, the parish church's priest for centuries fell to be appointed by the Bishop of London, earliest known to be so in , when he gave the great tithes to Canon Henry for keeping St. Paul's cathedral school. The church required frequent repair in the 1650s and was so ruinous in about 1675 that services were held elsewhere for several years. Worshippers moved to a wooden tabernacle in 1726 and the steeple fell in 1729, destroying the church, before its rebuilding. In the 12th century Ealing was amid a fields- and villages-punctuated forest covering most of the  county from the southwest to the north of the City of London. The earliest surviving English census is that for Ealing in January 1599. This list was a tally of all 85 households in Ealing village giving the names of the inhabitants, together with their ages, relationships and occupations. It survives in manuscript form at The National Archives ("piece E 163/24/35"), and was transcribed and printed by K J Allison for Ealing Historical Society in 1961. Settlements were scattered throughout the parish. Many of them were along what is now called St. Mary's Road, near to the church in  the centre of the parish. There were also houses at Little Ealing, Ealing Dean, Haven Green, Drayton Green and Castlebar Hill. The parish of Ealing was far from wholly divided among manors, such as those of Ealing, Gunnersbury and Pitshanger. These when used for crops were mostly wheat, but also barley and rye, with considerable pasture for cows, draught animals, sheep and recorded poultry keeping. There were five free tenements on Ealing manor in 1423: Absdons in the north, Baldswells at Drayton, Abyndons and Denys at Ealing village, and Sergeaunts at Old Brentford. It is likely that there had once  been 32 copyhold tenements, including at least 19 virgates of 20 rateable acres and 9 half virgates. When created the copyhold land amounted to not more than , a total increased before 1423 by land at Castlebar Hill. Ealing had an orchard in 1540 and others in 1577–8 and 1584. Numbers increased, as were orchards often taken out of open fields, by 1616 in Crowchmans field, in 1680–1 in Popes field, and in 1738 in Little North field. Some lay as far north as the centre of the parish. River Long field and adjoining closes at West Ealing contained 1,008 fruit  trees in 1767, including 850 apple trees, 63 plum, and 63 cherry. Ealing demesne in 1318 had a windmill, which was rebuilt in 1363–4. This was destroyed in or before 1409 and may have been repaired by 1431, when it was again broken. Great Ealing School was founded in 1698 by the Church of St Mary's. This became the "finest private school in England" and had many famous pupils in the 19th century such as William S. Gilbert, composer and impresario, and Cardinal Newman – since 2019 recognised as a saint. As the zone became built-up, the school declined  and closed in April 1908. The earliest maps of just the parish of Ealing survive from the 18th century; John Speed and others having made maps of Middlesex, more than two centuries before. At Ealing a fair was held on the green in 1822, when William Cobbett chronicled he was diverted by crowds of Cockneys headed there. The fair, of unknown origin, was held from 24 to 26 June until suppressed in 1880. The manor included Old Brentford and its extensive Thames fisheries, and in 1423 tenants of Ealing manor rented three fisheries in the Thames. In 1257 the king  ordered the Bishop whoever it may be from time to time (sede vacante) to provide 8,000-10,000 lampreys and other fish for owning the manor, impliedly per year, which shows the extent of the local catch. Ealing as a suburb of London. With the exception of driving animals into London on foot, the transport of heavy goods tended be restricted to those times when the non-metalled roads were passable due to dry weather. However, with the passing of the Toll Road Act, this highway was gravelled and so the old Oxford Road became an increasingly busy and important thoroughfare  running from east to west through the centre of the parish. This road was later renamed as Uxbridge Road. The well-to-do of London began to see Ealing as a place to escape from the smoke and smells. In 1800 the architect John Soane bought Payton Place and renamed it Pitzhanger Manor, not to live but just for somewhere green and pleasant, where he could entertain his friends and guests. Soon after (1801) the Duke of Kent bought a house at Castlebar. Soon, more affluent Londoners followed but with the intention of taking up a permanent residence which was  conveniently close to London. The only British prime minister to be assassinated, Spencer Perceval, made his home at Elm House. Up until that point, Ealing was mostly made up of open countryside and fields where, as in previous centuries, the main occupation was farming. Old inns and public houses. As London grew in size, more food and materials went in and more finished goods came out. Since dray horses can only haul loads a few miles per day, frequent overnight stops were needed. To satisfy this demand a large number of inns were situated along the Uxbridge Road, where horses  could be changed and travellers refresh themselves, prompting its favour by highwaymen. Stops in Ealing included The Feathers, The Bell, The Green Man and The Old Hats. At one point in history there were two pubs called the Old Hat(s) either side of one of the many toll gates on the Uxbridge Road in West Ealing. Following the removal of the toll gate the more Westernmost pub was renamed The Halfway House. The expansion of Ealing. As London developed, the area became predominantly market gardens which required a greater proportion of workers as it was more labour-intensive. In the  1850s, with improved travel (the Great Western Railway and two branches of the Grand Union Canal), villages began to grow into towns and merged into unbroken residential areas. At this time Ealing began to be called the "Queen of the Suburbs". Mount Castle Tower, an Elizabethan structure which stood at the top of Hanger Hill, was used as a tea-stop in the 19th century. It was demolished to make way for Fox's Reservoir in 1881. This reservoir, with a capacity of , was erected north of Hill Crest Road, Hanger Hill, in 1888 and a neighbouring reservoir for was  constructed c. 1889. This supply of good water helped to make Ealing more attractive than ever. Mount Castle Tower was also known as Hanger Hill Tower, and as such it was a vital viewing point for the Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790), which linked the Royal Greenwich Observatory with the Paris Observatory via a chain of trigonometric readings. This survey was led in England by General William Roy. Hanger Hill Tower was its northernmost observation point, and from it sightings were made to places such as St Ann's Hill in Chertsey, Banstead, Upper Norwood, and the Greenwich Observatory itself. Ealing  as a modern Victorian suburb. The most important changes to Ealing occurred in the 19th century. The building of the Great Western Railway in the 1830s, part of which passed through the centre of Ealing, led to the opening of a railway station on the Broadway in 1879, originally called Haven Green. In the next few decades, much of Ealing was rebuilt, predominantly semi-detached housing designed for the rising middle-class. Gas mains were laid and an electricity generating station was built. Better transport links, including horse buses as well as trains, enabled people to more easily travel to  work in London. All this, whilst living in what was still considered to be the countryside. Although much of the countryside was rapidly disappearing during this period of rapid expansion, parts of it were preserved as public parks, such as Lammas Park and Ealing Common. Pitzhanger Manor and the extensive grounds on which it stands, was sold to the council in 1901 by Sir Spencer Walpole, which had been bought by his father the Rt. Hon. Spencer Horatio Walpole and thus became Walpole Park. During the Victorian period, Ealing became a town. This meant that good, well-metalled roads had  to be built, and schools and public buildings erected. To protect public health, the newly created Board of Health for Ealing commissioned London's first modern drainage and sewage systems here. Just as importantly, drinking fountains providing wholesome and safe water were erected by public prescription. Ealing Broadway became a major shopping centre. The man responsible for much of all this was Charles Jones, Borough Surveyor from 1863 to 1913. He directed the planting of the horse chestnut trees on Ealing Common and designed Ealing Town Hall, both the present one and the older structure which is now a bank  (on the Mall). He even oversaw the purchase of the Walpole estate grounds and its conversion into a leisure garden for the general public to enjoy and promenade around on Sundays. Queen of the Suburbs. In 1901, Ealing Urban District was incorporated as a municipal borough, Walpole Park was opened and the first electric trams ran along the Uxbridge Road. As part of its permit to operate, the electric tram company was required to incorporate the latest in modern street lighting into its overhead catenary supply, along the Ealing section of the Uxbridge Road. A municipally-built generating station near  Clayponds Avenue supplied power to more street lighting that ran northwards, up and along Mount Park Road and the surrounding streets. It was of this area centred around Mount Park Road that Nikolaus Pevsner remarks as "”epitomising Ealing's reputation as 'Queen of the Suburbs'..”" In a very short time, Ealing had become a modern and fashionable country town, free of the grime, soot and smells of industrialised London, and yet only minutes away from it by modern transport. The Borough Surveyor, Charles Jones, first re-used the term in the preface of his book "Ealing from Village to Corporate  Town" of 1902, already used for Surbiton and Richmond, stressing his view that it was already recognised as of having such an identity. The fairly ornate, many-roomed houses set in "sylvan beauty and floriculture" (civic trees and gardens) stood out to Jones. Mount Park Road and side roads keep much of the original character. Some neighbourhoods have resisted conversions into bed-sits, unlike many of the other original London suburbs. In the 1900s and 1910s, the Brentham Garden Suburb was built. During the interwar period several garden estates, said to be one of the best examples of classic suburbia  in mock Tudor style, were built near Hanger Lane. Hanger Hill Garden Village adjoining is likewise a conservation area. In the 1930s Ealing Village's mid-rise, green-setting apartment blocks were built, today Grade II (initial, mainstream) category-listed and having gated grounds. With the amalgamation of the surrounding municipal boroughs in 1965, Ealing Town Hall became the administrative centre for the new London Borough of Ealing. Today, this also includes its offices at Perceval House just next to it. Later in 1984, the Ealing Broadway Centre was completed which includes a shopping centre and a town square. Geography . Ealing is in the heart of west London. A relatively narrow section of the A406 North Circular Road bisects the east of it. The nascent M4 motorway also runs almost adjacent to the south. It is less than 2 miles from the Tideway (London's upper estuary of the Thames) at the local apex of Kew Bridge that links to the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Ealing has parks and open spaces, such as Ealing Common, Walpole, Lammas, Cleveland, Hanger Hill, Montpelier, and Pitshanger Parks. The last of these is flowed through by the Brent. Demography. The largest ethnic  group in the 2011 census for the Ealing Broadway ward was White British, at 45%. The second largest was Other White, at 21%. The most spoken foreign language was Polish, followed by French and Japanese. The nearby Hanger Hill ward has the city's largest Japanese community. Transport. Ealing is served by Ealing Broadway station on the Great Western Main Line and the London Underground in London fare zone 3. It is also served by five other tube stations at North Ealing, South Ealing, Hanger Lane, Northfields, Park Royal and Ealing Common. The Piccadilly line operates at Park Royal, North  Ealing, Ealing Common, South Ealing and Northfields; the Central line at Ealing Broadway and Hanger Lane; and the District line at Ealing Broadway and Ealing Common. The stations at Ealing Broadway and West Ealing are served by National Rail operators Great Western Railway and TfL Rail. Early in the 21st century Transport for London (TFL) planned to reintroduce an electric tram line along the Uxbridge Road (the West London Tram scheme), but this was abandoned in August 2007 in the face of fierce local opposition. The station will become part of the Elizabeth line in 2022. A total of 18  buses (including night buses) serve Ealing Broadway. Economy and culture. Ealing has a developed night-time economy backed by numerous pubs and restaurants on The Mall, The Broadway and New Broadway (forming part of the greater Uxbridge Road). Ealing Studios. Ealing is best known for its film studios, which are the oldest in the world and are known especially for the Ealing comedies, including "Kind Hearts and Coronets", "Passport to Pimlico", "The Ladykillers" and "The Lavender Hill Mob". The studios were taken over by the BBC in 1955, with one consequence being that Ealing locations appeared in television programmes including  Doctor Who (notably within an iconic 1970 sequence in which deadly shop mannequins menaced local residents) to "Monty Python's Flying Circus". Most recently, these studios have again been used for making films, including "Notting Hill" and "The Importance of Being Earnest". "St Trinian's", a remake of the classic film, was produced by Ealing Studios; some locations in Ealing can be seen in this film. Most recently, Ealing Studios was the set for the famous Downton Abbey historical television series, of which the below stairs and servant's hall were filmed there. On 16 March 2015, the workplace received  a visit from the Duchess of Cambridge to observe current productions, as well as meet the cast and crew of the series stated. Ealing now lacks any cinema houses; the Ealing Empire cinema has now been closed since 2008. However, renovation began on the New Broadway street cinema in late 2012. Work is underway as of Spring 2021 for 'Filmworks', an Art Deco apartment-and-cinema block featuring a Picturehouse cinema. Local group Pitshanger Pictures shows classic movies in St Barnabas Millennium Hall on Pitshanger Lane. Ealing has a theatre on Mattock Lane, The Questors Theatre. Religion. Regarded as Ealing 's premier architectural work, St Peter's Church, Ealing is on Mount Park Road north of The Broadway. The ancient parish church of Ealing is St Mary's, in St Mary's Road. Standing near Charlbury Grove, Ealing Abbey was founded by a community of Roman Catholic Benedictine monks in 1897. Twinned with the convent of St. Augustine's Priory, the giant abbey is an example of a traditional, working monastery. There are over fifteen churches in the suburb of Ealing, including Our Lady Mother of the Church, a Polish Roman Catholic church in the Mall, near Ealing Broadway. There  are two well-established synagogues, the Ealing United Synagogue (Orthodox), which celebrated its 90th anniversary in November 2009, and the Ealing Liberal Synagogue, which was founded in 1943. In surrounding suburbs, there are two mosques in Acton, one in West Ealing, and two in Southall. There is a large Muslim and Sikh community in Southall. Music. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones famously first met Brian Jones in 1962 at the Ealing Jazz Club, opposite Ealing Broadway station. Other artists who performed at the club include Rod Stewart and Manfred Mann. The Jazz Club is now a  nightclub called the "Red Room". Dusty Springfield lived in Kent Gardens, West Ealing as a teenager and attended St. Anne's Convent school in Little Ealing Lane. Brand New Heavies core members (drummer Jan Kincaid, guitarist Simon Bartholomew and bassist Andrew Levy) all hail from Ealing, where they formed the group in 1985. An August 2013 article in the "Huffington Post" claimed that Ealing could claim to be the home of rock music because of the catalyst effect of the Ealing Club on British musicians. Britney Spears filmed part of her music video Criminal at The Corner Shop, 24 The  Avenue. Two members of the punk band Zatopeks grew up in Ealing, and the group frequently makes nostalgic or ironic references to the borough in its lyrics. Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience was born there in 1947. White Lies are also from Ealing. Sport. Ealing is home to Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club and London Broncos Rugby league Club. Due to the nearby football teams, Brentford Football Club and Queens Park Rangers, Ealing lacked its own football team. However, since late 2008 Ealing Town Football Club has been registered with the Football Association and competes. Gaelic Games have a  prominent role in the Irish community in Ealing with successful clubs such as St. Joseph's GAA and Tir Chonaill GAA in neighbouring Perivale and Greenford. Youth football clubs such Old Actonians FC, Pitshanger FC and Hanwell Town FC play in local leagues. Ealing has a local running club: Ealing, Southall & Middlesex AC, founded in 1920. It counted double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes among its several club records to her name. members. Ealing is home to a cricket club, Ealing Cricket Club, whose home ground is the Ealing Cricket Club Ground and which has been the leading club in London  for a number of years. ESC D3 Triathlon Club is also based in Ealing. D3 Triathletes compete in triathlons both locally and internationally across all distances and formats including Olympic Distance and Ironman. Though an independent club it is supported by the Ealing Swimming Club based at Gurnell Leisure Centre. Festivals. Ealing is the host to several annual festivals. The first festival to be regularly staged was the Jazz Festival which is held in Walpole Park. An annual Beer Festival was then started and organised by the Campaign for Real Ale and originally held in the Ealing Town Hall. Due  to its popularity, it had outgrown the space available at the Town Hall after a few years, so it too then transferred to the park, where they now have room to offer over 200 real ales. Each cask is supplied with individual cooling jackets to maintain the beer at exactly the right temperature. This event is run by keen volunteers. The success of these events encouraged the local council to license a broader range of festivals. Language. Ealing has been described by the "Guardian" as "the nation's hotspot for Polish speaking." After English, the most common languages are (in  2017) Polish (8%), Punjabi (8%), Somali (7%), Arabic (6%), Urdu (5%), and Tamil (4%). The biggest increase over the 5 years to April 2017 was Polish and tapering off – 4,363 Polish-speaking children in 2017 was 41 more than in 2016. Media. Westside 89.6FM is a community station mainly for the borough from studios based in neighbouring Hanwell. Blast Radio is the student station for the University of West London based at Ealing Studios who broadcast across the area on (RSL) in May. A digital local newspaper exists for the borough. Politics. Ho Chi Minh reportedly worked as either a  chef or dish washer (reports vary) at the Drayton Court Hotel in West Ealing. The North Korean Embassy at 73 Gunnersbury Avenue.