Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
The parish of Hillingdon lay in the north west of Middlesex, bordered by the river Colne, Harefield, Ickenham, Hayes, Harlington, West Drayton and Harmondsworth. Hillingdon, Uxbridge, and Cowley are very closely related; for example Uxbridge and, later, the manor of Hillingdon were included in Colham manor; while Uxbridge hamlet extended into Hillingdon parish and parts of Cowley village lay in Hillingdon. In 1841 Hillingdon parish, including the township of Uxbridge, contained 4,944 acres and Cowley parish 306 acres.
The Victoria County History of Middlesex notes that "by the time of the first parliamentary inclosure in 1795 approximately three-fifths of Hillingdon parish had already been inclosed. Inclosure of small parcels of waste probably proceeded steadily from the late medieval period onwards: some open-field land had been inclosed before 1636, and the process accelerated during the 17th and 18th centuries. Under the 1795 Act Cowley Field, comprising 331 acres in Hillingdon and Cowley parishes, was inclosed. A second Act, passed in 1812 and executed in 1825, inclosed a further 1,400 acres and completed the inclosure of open-field and waste land, save for 15 acres of Uxbridge Common which were reserved as an open space."
From: 'Hillingdon, including Uxbridge: Introduction', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 55-69 (available online).