The Twickenham Museum
Exhibitions : Villages on the River

Twickenham
... Twickenham became a very fashionable place to live.

Extract from Saxon Charter of 704AD, mentioning 'tuican hom'
The earliest written evidence of a settlement (a grant of land in a Saxon charter) dates from 704AD, but there is other evidence of much earlier occupation, mainly in the form of flint and bone tools and implements and pottery shards. Neolithic (about 3000-4000BC) finds have been made in the riverbed between Eel Pie Island and Twickenham. In 1966 the first evidence of man in Twickenham was found during an archaeological exploration in the car park. Pottery and flints were discovered and dated to 3000BC. Other evidence indicates that the museum lies within the perimeter of an enclosed Neolithic site. A Roman Villa was discovered in the 1990s on the site of St John's Hospital, and traces of a Roman farm have been found near the Chertsey Road. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, William I had given the Manor comprising Twickenham, Whitton, Isleworth and Hounslow to Walter de St Valéry. Twickenham is not mentioned separately in the Domesday survey of 1086.
Pope's Villa 1735

Twickenham became a very fashionable place to live, particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries, and country retreats lined the riverside. Market gardening was also very important during this period.

Twickenham Station

Following the coming of the railways in 1848 the population quadrupled, reaching 21,000 by 1901. A Local Board was formed in 1868 and this became an Urban District Council in 1895.

York Street was then built in 1899 to by-pass the very narrow Church Street. Church Street has been at the heart of the parish from earliest times, both as an access to St Mary's Church and as a route to Richmond. There has been a church on the site for most, if not all, of the previous millennium.

In 1926 Twickenham became a borough with a charter. In 1937 the borough was enlarged to bring in the neighbouring UDCs of Hampton, Hampton Wick and Teddington.

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