IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Uxbridge Road, HAMPTON, TW12 1SP

This former pub in Uxbridge Road was no doubt named to recognize the large numbers of nurserymen and growers who worked this area in Victorian and early 20th C. times when it was an important provider of fresh products to London markets. I wonder if Isleworth Ales were fine. We shall never know. Last brewed in 1924. A short Brewery history on http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=13366&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2=

Now apparently flats, the building still displays 'Isleworth Fine Ales' on its pediment.

Modern 1960s style town houses

View NNW from near the junction with Hanworth Road. The name itself is interesting - this was the main road to Uxbridge in days when west Middlesex was still largely rural - and Uxbridge the next place of any consequence as you headed north-west. These days much of the intervening terrain is residential suburbs, and a stretch of the old road that crossed the Heathrow site (at its eastern end) has disappeared.

A multitude of wooden posts have been placed lest any vehicle ventures onto the verge via the crossing driveways.

Looking downstream from the footbridge at the junction of the Uxbridge Road and Windmill Road. This stretch of the Longford River flows parallel to Windmill Road (which can be seen through the railings on the left). The Longford was one of a number of artificial water-courses - so-called 'rivers' - constructed in the London and Middlesex areas in the 17th century for purposes of water supply rather than navigation. See also: Image

This is a very significant picture for the Geograph Project. The cannon was erected in 1926 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Major General William Roy, who conceived the idea of using triangulation to produce a map of the whole country, thus laying the foundations for the Ordnance Survey. The monument was placed at the south-eastern end of the very first base-line for the Ordnance Survey, which was at the time part of Hounslow Heath. The other end is marked by a similar monument on the north side of Heathrow Airport (which has been rendered rather pointless by it having been moved to allow development there). The area was chosen because at the time it was flat and unobstructed, allowing a long, straight baseline to be measured. This was done using accurately measured rods which were used almost like a huge pair of rulers to measure the length of the line. Modern surveys have shown that this was just a couple of inches out - a remarkable achievement. The cannon is today on the corner of a fairly ordinary pre-war housing estate, but the significance is also recalled in the street names - Cannon Close and Roy Grove.