File:Churchfields Recreation Ground - geograph.org.uk - 1068237.jpg

Churchfield Recreational Ground conservation area consists of three important open spaces. These are the Churchfields Recreation Ground to the south-east of St Mary’s Church, Brent Lodge Park to the south-west of the church and Brent Meadow to the south of the Wharncliffe Viaduct.

Within this area are included the buildings at the western end of Church Road, and those to the south within Brent Lodge Park. The most recent extension to the conservation area includes the properties on the west side of Half Acre Road.

The conservation area was designated in 1969, and was extended in 1974 and 1997.

Hanwell is mentioned in the Domesday Book as an independent manor. The name probably means cock-frequented stream from the Old English hana, a cock, and wielle, a stream. The medieval village grew around the church which existed on the site of St Mary’s by the twelfth century.

By the beginning of the nineteenth century there were still only a few houses near the church and along Church Road, but by 1838 the Great Western Railway at Hanwell and Brunel’s Wharncliffe Viaduct had been built, bringing eventually an increase in population.

In 1842 St Mary’s, a new and larger parish church, was opened. Estates such as Hanwell Park and Hanwell Grove were developed. Brent Lodge (originally known as Brent End or Brent End Farm) arose from the division of the Hanwell Park Estate in 1782.

The house was conveyed to GH Glasse, the rector of Hanwell, in 1795 and formed part of the estate he built up for himself near the church.

In 1888, the property was acquired by Sir Montagu Sharpe, the local historian, who lived there until he sold it to the council who demolished it in 1936.

John Conolly, pioneering medical officer at the Hanwell Asylum (1839-44) is commemorated by a fountain in Conolly Dell, part of the grounds of his house.

Churchfields was bought as public open space in 1898 and Brent Lodge Park forms part of Brent River Park, a major new park created by the Borough of Ealing which, with an area of 850 acres, is the nearest natural open space to central London west of Kensington Gardens.

Despite the intensive urban development of Hanwell over the last hundred years, the area around St Mary’s still retains its village character, albeit somewhat diminished.

The character of the conservation area relates very much to the nature of the three principal open spaces. On the north boundary are ponds which are the remnants of the natural course of the River Brent.

Churchfields is a large public open space in which the views are contained by trees and surrounding development. The land slopes gently to the south towards the Wharncliffe Viaduct, and the space is traversed by an impressive avenue of mature chestnut trees.

A line of equally large trees marks the northern boundary with Church Road.

Brent Lodge Park has much more extensive views to the west across the sloping valley of the River Brent. Brent Meadow is a flat area of land, part of the River Brent flood plain, visually dominated by the bulk of the Wharncliffe Viaduct which carries the railway across the river valley. A number of Glebe and boundary stones are to be found in the area.

The pleasantly curved Church Road still has a very rural character, with brick walls, wide grass verges, mature trees and the extensive view south over Churchfields. The site of the former Rectory, next to the church, was developed into two blocks of flats in the 1930s.

To the south of the church is Rectory Cottage (c1794) and further along Church Road is White Cottage. The gem of the area is The Hermitage ‘a peach of an early c19 Gothic thatched cottage with two pointed windows, a quatrefoil, and an ogee arched door, all on a minute scale. Inside, an octagonal hall and reception room’ (Pevsner, London 3: North West).

To the south of the church are the buildings of Brent Lodge Park which include the former stable block of Brent Lodge (c1830), in yellow stock brick with gauged arches and a central pediment. An old brick wall follows the path south from the stables, leading to an early nineteenth century wrought iron decorative gateway, presumably once part of the entrance drive to Brent Lodge.

A footpath alongside the River Brent passes beneath the Wharncliffe Viaduct, connecting Churchfields with Brent Meadow. Immediately to the east is Conolly Dell, sandwiched between the railway embankment and Conolly Road, a pretty local park landscaped around a stream which discharges into the Brent.

The best close up views of the Wharncliffe Viaduct are obtained from Brent Meadow.

Listed buildings Wharncliffe Viaduct (1836-37) Isambard Kingdom Brunel (grade I) Church of St Mary (c1841) G G Scott and Moffat (grade II*) Glasse Monument, St Mary’s Churchyard (grade II) The Hermitage, Church Road (grade II) 135 Church Road (Rectory Cottage) (grade II) Stable Block at Brent Lodge Park (grade II)