Market Gardeners Fact-Sheet: Brentford Market

Jam Yesterday Jam Tomorrow is a community led project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to uncover and restore the history of market gardening in Middlesex through research, oral histories and the building of a model market garden to showcase traditional methods of growing and lost varieties. To find out more visit: www.jamyesterdayjamtomorrow.com. Market Gardeners Fact-sheet: Brentford Market 1 Historical Context During the 19th century London experienced a huge population growth with a corresponding demand for food. Twickenham, where the 1818 Enclosure Act had couraged fruit growing, developed in importance as a fruit, vegetable and flower producer, particularly after the railway came to Teddington in 1848, which made it easier to supply the London markets. Market gardening in Twickenham and Hounslow reached its peak in the 1870s when the area became known as the garden of England. By the end of the 19th century, the demand for housing had led to much of the land being sold for development, market gardening had virtually disappeared, and its focus had moved to Hampton. Hampton had been an agricultural area at the beginning of the 19th century; with the building of Hampton Waterworks (1852) and Hampton Railway (1864), the population increased, and farming gave way to market gardening and nurseries, which could supply the London markets by rail. The selling of the estates of Tangley Park Farm (1863) and the Earl of Carlisle’s Manor House (1897), created more land for market gardens, some of which became very successful, lasting up to and beyond World War II. By 1970 the nurseries had become unprofitable, the land was sold and became part of the Nurserylands Housing development. 2 Brentford Market The town of Brentford was already known as a trading centre by the 13th Century. The nuns of St Helen’s in Bishopsgate, were granted the Manor of Boston by Edward I in 1280 and given a charter for a market in 1306. Brentford was strategically placed on the banks of the Thames and on the road from the southwest into central London. Traders would bring their goods to Brentford market rather than to the capital’s markets, which had much stricter regulations. Produce could be stored locally then taken to London by road or river. In addition to produce brought up from the West Country, the Market was full of a wide variety of locally grown fruit and vegetables. The original Market site in the High St – where the Magistrate’s Court is today – catered for all manner of goods, according to Thomas Faulkner in his book, ‘The History and Antiquities of Brentford Ealing and Chiswick’. Writing in 1845 he tells of the Tuesday market where meat, poultry, butter, cheese, eggs, fruit, vegetables, green house plants, hardware and brushes, earthenware and glass, fish, geese and pigs, books and paints were sold and so, it was said, ‘looked more like a fair than a market’. At some point in the 1880’s an informal market for the sale of fruit and vegetables grew up around the water fountain at the foot of Kew Bridge (opposite the Express Tavern). The story is that a grower on the way to London stopped for refreshment – hopefully for his horse as well as himself – at the Express Tavern and was surrounded by people wanting to buy his cabbages off the back of his cart. Having sold his produce and saved a journey into London, he approached the Express Tavern landlord and arranged to sell from the pub forecourt on his next trip. Other traders saw the economic sense in this, and by 1890 some 60 carts were employed in a chaotic and illegal trade around the fountain. Traffic coming over Kew Bridge from the south and east from Brentford Town became tangled in huge jams as it tried to negotiate buyers, sellers, horses and carts – all in the middle of a very important junction! Brentford Local Board, the responsible body of the time, received many complaints about the inconveniences created by the “Kew Bridge Market” and decided to buy a 2 acre site about half a mile to the east of the bridge in order to establish a purpose built market. The local traders were involved in the planning processes, so there was no shortage of takers for the stalls – all pitches being taken by the opening in 1893. One trader, also a Board member, was Robert Addey whose family still worked the market in 1948. (A company called Addey and Son Ltd trades out of Western International Market today) By the end of 19th.Century it estimated that some 3,000 acres around Brentford and South Ealing were under cultivation with apples, pears, cherries, plums, walnuts, raspberries, gooseberries, currants, strawberries, shrubs and herbs being grown. The expanding market gardens around Isleworth and Twickenham were also sending produce to Brentford Market. (William Poupart of Marsh Farm in Twickenham was one such grower. His son TJ Poupart traded from the market until 1960’s). The 2 acre site soon outgrew the needs of the growers and plans were drawn up for expansion. When the new facilities opened in 1906 the market spanned 11 acres with three covered avenues, space for wagons in the centre and ordinary stands at the sides. There were five auction spaces, a large refreshment area and l4 shops fronting the High Road. A report on markets, published in 1929, recorded that “there were 62 lock up stalls rented at 6d per square yard per week, 110 pitching stands where goods were pitched off wagons to be sold on the stand and 20 wooden shops on the outskirts of the enclosure.” Most of the transport, by this time, was motorised but there was still stabling for 200 horses. At that time there were 260 growers regularly bringing produce from Middlesex, east Surrey, east Buckinghamshire, east Berkshire and beyond. See advertisement for R A Phillips Ltd “Fruit, pea and potato salesmen” – their produce came from farms around Potton, in Bedfordshire. 2 Trade continued to flourish after WW2 and Brentford Market’s importance was second only to Covent Garden in supplying the needs of an ever growing population in and around London. The area around the market, always important for its transport links, was at the junction of the North and South Circular Roads, alongside the A4 and – by 1960’s - almost underneath the elevated section of the M4. Traffic congestion – just as in 1890 – played a crucial part in the future of Brentford Market. In 1927 22,200 retailers’ 2 wheeled vehicles (mostly handbarrows) entered the market and 135,600 4 wheeled vehicles. By 1967 this had changed to 449 2 wheeled and 252,115 4 wheeled. The site also needed to cope with refrigerated containers up to 45 feet long which were 8 feet high and 8 feet wide and were unable to manoeuvre in the restricted spaces built for horses and carts. A decision was taken to move the market to a new site at North Hyde, to the west of Southall, and in 1974 the new Western International Market opened, ending nearly 700 years of market trading in Brentford. Where the market stood is now the site of Capital Interchange Way and the Fountain Leisure Centre to the west of Chiswick Roundabout. The Leisure Centre was named to commemorate the drinking fountain that stood for many years at the foot of Kew Bridge. It was moved to Western International Market in 1974 and after a rebuild of the market in 2008 it has been repaired and refurbished and marks the present entrance to the market. 3 3 Find out more www.westerninternational.co.uk www.bhsproject.co.uk. (see History of Brentford Market by Janet McNamara) www.brentfordhistory.com www.hounslow.info www.pottonhistorysociety.com 4 .

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