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East Acton Lane, LONDON, W3 7ER

Barbara Speake first opened a dancing school here, in St Dunstan's Hall in East Acton Lane, in 1945, so she currently has had a presence on the site for 65 years! For full information about the school please refer to its website here http://www.barbaraspeake.com/index.html . In 2007 Barbara Speake was awarded the MBE for services to drama in London. A look at old Victorian Ordnance Survey maps shows that the site of the hall was once the terminus of a very short lived branch line railway line that curved away south-eastwards from the Great Western Railway main line from somewhere near where the A40 Western Avenue crosses it now. From maps that are currently available on line the railway was not there in 1874, but by 1896 it was, but was already described as "abandoned". Not a trace of the railway seems to exist today.

A large public house at the junction of Friar's Place Lane (ahead to the left) and East Acton Lane.

In the background is the spire of St Dunstan's church Image

The island of grass between the main East Acton Lane to the left and the access road to the right is a remnant of the time when East Acton was a separate village with a village green running through its entire length. This village green seems to have been developed in the 1850s and 1860s, as the 1850 Ordnance Survey map does not show it but the 1871 edition does. It extended from here at its western end right along to the surviving terrace of old houses south of Savoy Circus in what was then called Orchard Place.

The modern church on the right is the London Network Church. The main part of East Acton Lane is to the left, on the other side of the green.

In the Parish of St Dunstan with St Thomas in East Acton.

Given the local connection with goldsmiths it is not surprising that the local church should be dedicated to their patron saint, St Dunstan. This is the tower of the church which was built between 1878 and 1879. The church is built in the Decorated style of red brick with white Doulting stone dressings. The tower is at the south-west corner of the church and its broach spire rises to about 140 feet about ground level. It houses a single bell which, after hanging silent for many years, was repaired and returned to operation in the 1990s. This is the view from Vyner Road.