Forum Topic

Happenings on Ealing Common

I am putting together an illustrated talk on Ealing Common and would like to include some of the historic (or just interesting) events that have taken place or been celebrated/ commemorated there. Does anyone have any memories - possibly even photographs - of personal, local or national events? Just dates would do at a pinch, as I could look them up in the local newspaper archives. I am thinking of things such as the time the Aldermaston marchers camped there, or when it was used as allotments during the war. Personal memories would be good too - perhaps photos of football matches or family picnics there - things that show how the Common has been used by the people of Ealing.

Christine Gratus ● 4076d18 Comments

There was - John Rann alias "Sixteen String Jack"

Fred Hunt ● 4063d

Many, many thanks, Fred. Full of great stuff about the Common. So grateful to you.

Christine Gratus ● 4063d

Fred, was there a Dick Turpin equivalent, who operated in the Ealing Common area?  If so, what was his name please? Thanks.

Gerry Tan ● 4063d

It is - http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/

Fred Hunt ● 4063d

Fred, this is great! Could you give me a source? Are Old Bailey records available on line, do you know? Thank you so much.

Christine Gratus ● 4063d

From the Old Bailey - 1751 - John Ireland highway robbery at Ealing Common, pursued thro' Acton to Kensington Gravel Pits, 1752 - Alexander Bourk, Violent Theft > highway robbery at Ealing Common

Fred Hunt ● 4063d

Thanks for the memories, everyone! I'm researching the talk for the Ealing Common Society's AGM next year (nothing like advance preparation). Any more memories, photos etc.  very welcome.

Christine Gratus ● 4066d

Ha ha Penny. Yes, we lived at the Common very near The Grange pub for 5 years. The common had some weird and cranky folk but for the most part they were harmless.

Gerry Tan ● 4071d

Still is Gerry :)

Penny Crocker ● 4071d

Ealing Common is an interesting tract of land.  I wonder if before the car was invented, was it an unlit dangerous area frequented by highway robbers and sundry villains?

Gerry Tan ● 4071d

You may wish to contact the Ealing Common Society as they have lots of data and information if that helps. I can provide contact details via PM If you are interested.

Joanna Dabrowska ● 4071d

I've heard that early cattle drovers from the west used to stop at Ealing Common to give their cattle a rest and feed, before heading into London to sell their beef and mutton at markets. Also, that entertainers like circuses and others set up on the Common - Ealing Common was a busy place in those early days I understand. Good luck Christine with your talk - when and where will you deliver it?

Gerry Tan ● 4074d

They must have moved out pretty quickly as 'Demis' was there in 1976 when my wife moved in.Trieve was the first name of the chap who worked at the BBC.Vine Place across the road had some really small cottages , basically one up, one down and most of the occupants in 1976 had been there for years and years.Interestingly I looked on Zoopla the other week and No.8 is currently valued at £797,000 with No. 9 currently being rented out at £2300 per month. No. 1 Vine Place was sold in July this year for £600,000!!!

Nigel Brooks ● 4075d

We sold and left No.8 on Nov 19th 1970, having bought the house in 1962'ish and didn't know your Demis Roussos look-a-like - we sold to a young'ish married couple. Your future wife must have stayed in No.9 after we left. The terraced cottages across the narrow road were even smaller than than ours in St Mark's Road and the place was called Vine Place. We never knew a Mr. Trieve - the man at No.10 worked at the BBC Scenery Dept.  Happy days and it's a small world Nigel.

Gerry Tan ● 4075d

My wife lived at No.9!!You must have sold before 1976 to a large guy who looked like Demis Roussos and who played his jaw's harp all hours of the day and night!Trieve was at No.10 and was the chap with the vintage Indian motorbikes.A very small world indeed Gerry.

Nigel Brooks ● 4076d

We bought and lived in St Mark's Road at No.8! Was your good wife the beautiful girl who lived at the small greengrocer's shop at the end of the road perchance Nigel? I once borrowed an umbrella from her Mum, yonks ago! Its a small world!

Gerry Tan ● 4076d

Which of the 'mews' were you in Gerry? My wife lived in St. Mark's road soon after she moved to London and was there until we married in 1980.

Nigel Brooks ● 4076d

We bought our first modest house in the early 1960s - an artisan's two up/two down(with no bathroom or garden) in one of the two tiny mews near The Grange pub on Ealing Common.  The previous owners told us the people there used to do washing of clothes and laundry for the "Toffs" nearby in the old days and hang the washing on a part of the Common near the top of Warwick Road. Yes, there were allotments on the Common during WW2 and there were air raid shelters too somewhere - since been filled-in. There are a lot of archive books and cuttings in the Ealing library - or at there were.

Gerry Tan ● 4076d