Gunnersbury

Gunnersbury
Gunnersbury
Location within Greater London
OS grid referenceTQ195785
London borough
Ceremonial countyGreater London
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townLONDON
Postcode districtW3, W4, W5
Post townBRENTFORD
Postcode districtTW8
Dialling code020
PoliceMetropolitan
FireLondon
AmbulanceLondon
UK Parliament
London Assembly

Gunnersbury is an area of West London, England.

Toponymy

The name "Gunnersbury" means "Manor house of a woman called Gunnhildr", and is from an old Scandinavian personal name + Middle English -bury, manor or manor house.[1]

Development

Gunnersbury consists mainly of pre-war housing of a variety of types, including flats, terrace, semi detached, and detached houses, some of which are ex-local authority built.

The defining symbol of Gunnersbury is the 18-storey high BSI (British Standards Institution) building on Chiswick High Road. Between 1966 and 1992 the block housed a divisional headquarters of IBM UK. Below this building Gunnersbury station serves the Richmond branch of the District line and the London Overground to Stratford.

Chiswick Business Park

In August 1921, London General Omnibus Company established a bus overhaul facility off Chiswick High Road.[2] It incorporated a Training School with a bus Skid-Pan.[3] In 1989, London Transport closed the works.[4][5] In 2001 the site was redeveloped as the Chiswick Business Park with 12 medium density office buildings.[6][7] It houses companies including SBS Broadcasting Networks, CBS News, Technicolor, Discovery Channel Europe, Intelsat, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Foxtons, and a Virgin Active health club.

Immediately to the east is Gunnersbury Triangle nature reserve. An area of woodland, it supports many species of birds, plants, and animals. It has free admission and its entrance is on the south of Bollo Lane, a few yards from Chiswick Park Tube Station.

Gunnersbury lends its name to a nearby secondary school, formerly a Grammar School, in Brentford. Gunnersbury Catholic School is a boys-only Catholic comprehensive. It lies on Gunnersbury Avenue and backs on to Gunnersbury Park.

In 1886, Gunnersbury was given its own parish church, dedicated to Saint James. The church stood on Chiswick High Road, near Chiswick Roundabout. The church was decommissioned just over a century later, in 1987, and demolished soon afterwards. The parish was united with that of St Paul's, Brentford.[8]

Nearest areas

Transport

Nearest tube stations

Nearest railway station

References
  1. Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names, A.D.Mills. 2003. ISBN 978-0-19-852758-9. ISBN 0-19-852758-6.
  2. Inspecting General Overhaul Works Commercial Motor 1 September 1925
  3. Chiswick London Bus Rally 1983 YouTube clip
  4. BEL grows in London Commercial Motor 20 July 1989
  5. Taylor, James (2009). The London Bus. Botley: Shire Publications. p. 26. ISBN 978 074780 728 5.
  6. Chiswick Business Park Invest Hounslow
  7. Route 27 Comes to Chiswick Business Park Chiswick Herald
  8. "Saint James, Gunnersbury: Chiswick High Road, Hounslow". aim25.ac.uk. Retrieved 28 September 2015.

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