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It's not so long since farmland covered all the area around our Estate...
A rural scene
This story begins at the turn of the century.
Try to visualise our locality at this time: There was no A40 Western Avenue. The North Circular Road (Hanger Lane) was a pleasant country lane.
The Central Line and Piccadilly Lines had not been built, and nor had West Acton, North Ealing or Park Royal Stations. There were no homes at all on the land today occupied by the Estate, other than Hanger Hill House on the crest of Hanger Hill.
Fertile wheat fields and other farm lands stretched to Horn Lane in the east. Masons Green Lane, an ancient right of way, linked Acton Ponds with West Twyford, passing through Masons Green (roughly where West Acton Station and Monks Drive are now).
1902: Looking east to the bridge between Hanger Lane and Hanger Vale Lane
(from Norman Pointing's history of the Estate)
A footpath, Hanger Vale Lane, linked Masons Green Lane with Hanger Lane, where Hanger Lane Farm stood with its buildings on the present Queens Parade and National garage sites. Queens Drive was just a cart track.
It was possible to stand on land now occupied by the Hanger Hill Garden Estate and look across fields all the way to High Street, Ealing. A rural scene indeed!
Hanger Hill House
Hanger Hill House, built in 1790, was the home of the Wood family who owned most of the land on both sides of Hanger Lane from 1775. When Edward Wood left the area in 1874, the house was leased by Sir Edward Montague Nelson, Chairman of Ealing Local Board who later became, in 1901, Charter Mayor of Ealing -- Ealing's first Mayor.
From 1901 to 1930, Hanger Hill House was used as the headquarters of Hanger Hill Golf Club, whose fairways extended over what was to become the Hanger Hill (Haymills) Estate. The names Link Road and Golf Road are permanent reminders of the golf club. On 23 June 1903 North Ealing and Park Royal Stations, now on the Piccadilly Line, were opened as part of the Metropolitan District Railway. This was the first section of that line to be operated by electric trains, and it opened on that particular day to carry the people to the Royal Agricultural Society's show at Park Royal. The Line was opened to South Harrow five days later. The original "Victorian" station house is still used as North Ealing Station, but Park Royal Station was to be re-sited to the south in the early 1930s following the construction of the A40 Western Avenue a few years earlier.
Next: Acton Aerodrome