Middlesex
Church Place, Ickenham
Ickenham, until the arrival of the railway in the early 1900s, was a remote rural village, 16 miles west of London, dominated by the church and its glebe land, the three country estates at Swakeleys House, Ickenham Hall and Buntings and farm land. For centuries the principle employment in the area was domestic and agricultural. At the time the population was little more than 300 people. The only access to the capital was by muddy village roads through Pinner and Harrow or Hillingdon village and Ealing.
The opening of a railway station, Ickenham Halt, in 1905 and the extension of its platform in 1922 allowing it to cope with more than three carriages at a time changed it all. The railway brought with it a developer's boom. The large estates and farm land were transformed into housing estates. The formation of the Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the Royal Air Force, resulted in the construction on farm land at Ruislip, Ickenham and Northolt, of Northolt Airport.
The ornate village pump and pond; the church of St Giles, dating back to the 14th century, altered in Victorian times; its road names; and the Coach and Horses Inn, remain links with Ickenham’s past. But to-day, Ickenham is a thriving bustling London suburb, with a wide range of shops and other facilities, served by the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines, making it a Mecca for commuters and a paradise for local pensioners, who may use this service free! – and still be close to the beautiful English countryside and access to the A 40, M40 and M25 motorways.