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The Butts, BRENTFORD, TW8 8BL

Georgian houses on the Butts estate in Brentford.

A most unexpected corner of west London - or, if you prefer, of old west Middlesex. From Half Acre, the Butts leads south-west, and goes nowhere in particular - linking to a couple of quiet residential streets and a passageway through to the Market Place. Behind the wall seen on the left is St Mary's Convent; beyond that a little terrace of cottages that could be the oldest buildings to survive here - they look as if they could date from before 1700. The other side of the street is mostly Victorian http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4030145 At its western end, the Butts opens out into a square (of sorts) where the houses are mostly Georgian, built on ground that slopes away toward the River Brent and the canal.

The garden wall belongs to a Georgian house toward the west end of The Butts. Where else in London could you find lavender growing in the street?

At the front-garden gate of a Victorian house in the Butts. Structures somewhat like this were not uncommon in Georgian days, but I don't remember ever having seen a Victorian example. The gate-posts themselves appear to be of similar date, though cast iron. I know that a lot of iron railings were sacrificed during World War 2 in the name of the war effort, so I wonder whether this is a rare surviving example of something which was once more common.

Two very typical 18th century features are visible in this shot. One is the gambrel roof, rising steeply above the eaves, the other is the blank window over the doorway. I believe that both features were - at least in part - a response to taxation. A tax on glazing meant that window spaces were bricked up rather than glazed - a feature seen in grand buildings as well as modest ones (like this). I suspect that the fashion for gambrel roofs may have been encouraged by the tax levied on bricks. The doubled-pitched roof - rising steeply from the eaves, then switching to a gentler slope higher up - may well have been a means of enclosing substantial attic space without using bricks. Slates and tiles were not taxable. However, that hypothesis is my own - I have not seen it put forward by the authorities on the subject. And it doesn't account for all the observable facts, as timber-framed, weather-boarded houses may also be found with gambrel roofs: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2211367

The name of the pub may have changed, but the frosted glass survives as a reminder of the pub's original name. The exterior of the building - at street level - also retains glazed tile cladding, probably of Victorian date. A photo of the building as it was perhaps 30 years ago is to be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/finlandia_175/4740464253/ The name White Horse appears to have been associated with the site since the early 17th century: http://www.brentfordhistory.com/2013/12/20/the-weir/

This is the sluice weir controlling the main flow of water through Brentford Basin and the Gauging Locks.