Hayes, Hillingdon
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Coordinates: 51°30′46″N 0°25′16″W / 51.5127°N 0.4211°W
Hayes is a town in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It is a suburban development situated 13 miles (21 km) west of Charing Cross. Hayes was developed in the late 19th and 20th centuries as an industrial locality to which residential districts were later added to house factory workers. Its development is typical of the Second Industrial Revolution - the creation of new light engineering industries on the edge of existing cities.
The town was formerly in the historic county of Middlesex. There is another Hayes within Greater London, that was formerly in the county of Kent.
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[edit] Etymology
The name comes from Anglo-Saxon Hǣs or Hǣse = "(land overgrown with) brushwood"
[edit] History
Until the end of the 19th century, Hayes (West London), was primarily an agricultural and brickmaking area. However, because of its location on the Grand Junction Canal (later called the Grand Union) and the Great Western Railway it had a number of advantages as an industrial location in the late 19th century. It was because of this proximity that the Hayes Development Company offered sites on the north side of the railway, adjacent to the canal.
[edit] Technology
Hayes has always been heavily involved with Industry, both local and International, and is (or has been) the home of EMI, Nestlé, H. J. Heinz Company, and past companies include Fairey Aviation (later merged with Westland), and HMV.
An early occupier was the Gramophone Company, later His Master's Voice and latterly EMI. Only the EMI archives and some early reinforced concrete factory buildings, notably one (1912) by Evan Owen Williams, later knighted, remain.
It was here in the Central Research Laboratories (generally known as "CRL") that Isaac Shoenberg developed (1934) the all-electronic 405-line television system (called the EMI-Marconi system, used by the BBC from 1936 until closedown of the Crystal Palace 405 line transmissions in 1985).
Alan Blumlein carried out his research into binaural sound and stereo gramophone recording here. "Trains at Hayes Station" (1935) and "Walking & Talking" are two notable films Blumlein shot to demonstrate stereo sound on film. These films are held at the Hayes EMI archive.
In 1939, working alongside the electrical firms A.C. Cossor and Pye, a 60 MHz radar was developed, and from 1941 to 1943 the H2S radar system.
During the 1990s, CRL spawned another technology: Sensaura 3D positional audio. In an echo of Blumlein's early stereo recordings, the Sensaura engineers made some of their first 3D audio recordings at Hayes Station.
[edit] Aircraft manufacture
In World War I the EMI factories produced aircraft. Richard Fairey was seconded there for a short time, before setting up his own company, Fairey Aviation, which relocated across the railway. Needing an airfield to test his aircraft he secured a site at the south east of what is now Heathrow Airport, which was acquired by the Ministry of Aviation towards the end of World War II, which renamed it, Heathrow, which was to become Britain's most important airport. Until its takeover by Morrisons the head office of Safeway plc was located in Hayes, on the old Fairey Aviation site. In early 2006 Morrisons have sold this site to an unknown developer.
The Nestlé company located its major chocolate and instant coffee works on the canal, adjacent to the railway east of the station, and it was for many years, the UK headquarters of the company.
Opposite Nestlé on the other side of the canal, the Aeolian company and its associates manufactured player pianos and rolls from just before the World War I until the depression. That, and the increasing sophistication of the gramophone record market lead to its collapse, and its facilities were then exploited by Walls, a meat processor and ice cream manufacturer.
[edit] Development as a suburb
Since development, industry has been pre-eminent in Hayes, and the provision of adequate housing did not begin until after World War I with the creation of modest dwellings of the garden suburb type.
George Orwell, who adopted this pseudonym while living here, worked as a schoolmaster at The Hawthorns High School for Boys, situated in Church Road. The school has since closed and is now known as The Fountain House Hotel. He hated his time in Hayes, camouflaging it lightly as West Bletchley in Coming Up for Air, as Southbridge in A Clergyman's Daughter and saying of it:
"Hayes ... is one of the most godforsaken places I have ever struck. The population seems to be entirely made up of clerks who frequent tin-roofed chapels on Sundays and for the rest bolt themselves within doors."
Since Orwell's time other famous names have spent time in Hayes. Former England footballer Glenn Hoddle was born here in 1957, one time England captain Ray Wilkins grew up here, as did punk band The Ruts, former BBC director-general Greg Dyke was born in Hayes and attended Hayes Grammar School, and Brian Connolly, late singer of Seventies glam rock outfit Sweet, at one time lived in Hayes. More recently the actor Anne Marie Duff grew up in Hayes.
Hayes's most famous resident pre-dates them all. The man known as "the father of English music", William Byrd lived in Harlington in the 1540s and a primary school in the area bears his name.
[edit] Transport and locale
[edit] Tube
Although not in Hayes, Hayes' nearby tube stations include Norholt Central Line , Uxbridge the Uxbridge to Rayners Lane branch of the Piccadilly and Metropolitan lines and Ealing Broadway
[edit] Buses
Hayes has the following bus routes travelling through it: U3, U4, U5, U7, 427, 607, H98, 90, 195, E6, 140, 696, 697, 207 and 698. There are also several night bus routes. Recently Route H50 was replaced by Route 350, and Route 195 has been extended to Brentford County Court with the possibility of Route U7 being extended.
[edit] Trains
Hayes and Harlington station offers frequent local services to London Paddington in about 15-20 minutes, and services to Oxford, Reading, Slough, and Heathrow Airport. First Great Western trains are available from Hayes & Harlington Station and the proposed Crossrail service will pass through Hayes & Harlington
[edit] Road
The area is close to junctions 3 and 4 of the M4 Motorway. The A312 is the main north-south route. The A4020 "Uxbridge Road" is the main West-East route passing directly through Hayes.
[edit] Water
The Grand Union Canal runs through Hayes passing near the station and shopping area. Travellers by boat may moor at Hayes and take advantage of its local amenities, which are few, given the importance of the town, such as shops, banks etc.
[edit] Notable people
- Actress Anne Marie Duff grew up in Hayes
- Birthplace of England national football team player Glenn Hoddle.
- 80's pop star Buster Bloodvessel of Bad Manners lives on a canal boat in Hayes.
- Actress Jane Seymour.
- Greg Dyke grew up in Hayes
- Footballer Ray Wilkins grew up in Hayes
- Malcolm Owen and Paul Fox from punk band The Ruts grew up in Hayes
- Sixties pop group Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers were based in Hayes
- Major-General James Grant, C.B.
[edit] Nearest places
[edit] See also
- Hayes, Bromley
- Disablement Association of Hillingdon, which is based in Hayes
[edit] External links
| Section 10: | London Outer Orbital Path | Section 11: |
|---|---|---|
| Hatton Cross | Hayes | Uxbridge |
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