The Town of Brentford

Brentford, a town in Hounslow in West London, is an ancient settlement predating the establishment of London. The town's Celtic name was first recorded in 705 AD and the many archaeological finds in the area indicate that Brentford was important to the pre-Romanic tribes as a meeting place. It is also claimed by historians that Brentford was the logical place for Julius Caesar to cross the Thames in 54 BC when he invaded Britain. With such a long and varied history, Brentford has many places, items and stories of great antiquity; however one of the more interesting is that Pocahontas, the Virginia Indian "Princess", once lived here with her husband John Rolfe.

The town has numerous landmarks and places of interest. Brentford was the site of the original Syon Monastery and the Duke of Northumberland has his home 'seat' in Syon House, which was built after the monastery was razed. The house is open to the public throughout the year and Syon Park, the grounds in which the house is located, includes various shops and cafès and is popular with cyclists and pedestrians. The local pub, The Weir, was home to J.M. Turner, the renowned English artist, for a year during has childhood and it is claimed that it was during this time that he discovered a passion for painting. There is a Carnegie library and several museums in the town, including Gunnersbury Park, Kew Bridge Steam museum and a large musical museum. There are also beautiful Grade II-listed Victorian public baths, which are an excellent example of this architectural style.

The area is known for having a large number of pubs and it has always had a fair number of inns and hotels in large part due to Brentford's status as market town and coaching stop. Brentford is still very conveniently situated as a base for exploring, or within commuting distance of, central London and the Greater London Area. There are excellent public transport links in the form of a good network of road, rail and bus routes. The town has a railway station but does not have its own tube station; and it is close to Gunnersbury, Boston manor, South Ealing and Northfields underground tube stations as well as Kew Bridge, Syon Lane and obviously Brentford rail station. The town has a thriving business community and although some industry remains much of this economy has been replaced by offices and sales, with numerous large multi-national companies headquartered or having satellite offices in the area, including the European headquarters of Audi, GSK and Kraft Foods.

Brentford have had their own professional football team since 1889 and the first league football club is headquartered at Griffin Park, which has been their home ground since 1904. There is an on-going rivalry between Brentford F.C. and nearby Fulham. There has been talk for some time of moving the club to another site and developing housing on the current Griffin Park site. There is also development either in progress or in planning on High Street, Ferry Lane, Brentford Lock and Capital West sites.

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