England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Hillingdon St John the Baptist

The Parish

The parish of Hillingdon lies in the extreme west of Middlesex forming a lengthy stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Buckinghamshire. Hillingdon is located roughly 13 miles west of London and sits on the A4020 road which links Uxbridge with Southall. Hillingdon is a place much grown from its origins, an extensive medieval rural parish with Hillingdon only one of the main centres of population, the town of Uxbridge was initially within the parish but by the 16th century was a substantial portion of the parish population, to the south Colham Green was a small village. The parish has one singular anomaly in that within its bounds sits the enclave parish of Cowley totally enclosed within Hillingdon parish. Much suburban growth came in both the 19th century, spurred by the railways, whilst both social housing and development in the 20th century has turned almost the entire parish to an urban state, largely through the expansion of the use of cars, it is now contiguous with the remainder of Greater London stretching through the capital and way to its east. A final arrival came with the development, to the west of the church, of Brunel University, a coup for such a suburban town. At the time of this transcript Hillingdon would have been a market town, a function duplicated by that of Uxbridge, whilst the wider parish would have been farmed for both traditional crops and to supply the capital with vegetables and the like. The initial modern development was the arrival of the Grand Union Canal taking advantage of the Colne valley to leave the capital headed for the Midlands. Railways largely avoided Hillingdon with the London Underground choosing to terminate a line at Uxbridge. The A4024 has been developed into a fast urban dual-carriageway which somewhat diminishes the dignity of St John's church which stands alongside it. The River Colne drains much of the parish headed south to soon meet the Thames, turn east and head through the capital to the North Sea. Hillingdon is sited at around 50 metres above the sea, it stands on a low rise the highest ground for some distance in this gentle terrain. Hillingdon parish was extensive, covering over 4,700 acres, its population, net of that of Uxbridge which will have its own page within this project, grew substantially within the transcript period rising from around 3,000 to around 6,000 parishioners by its end. Strangely at Domesday Hillingdon was outshone by little Colham, both were held by Earl Roger of Shrewsbury but Hillingdon offered merely a pair of ploughs backed by meadows & woodland whilst Colham could muster 6 ploughs, more meadows & woodland and possessed 2 mills and a half share in a third making it the more profitable holding.

The Church

St John's church stands on the southern side of the A4024, Uxbridge Road, at its junction with Royal Lane, the speedy urban dual-carriageway much beset by traffic does little for the ambience of this church. Externally the church appears to be solidly of a single build in the era of the Perpendicular, more a tribute to preservation of the fashion than reality as two distinct ages are reflected in that exterior. Internally the earliest period of fabric was found to be from the much earlier 13th century Early English Gothic period but is manifest solely in the chancel arch, the chancel, itself having been replaced by Victorian restoration. Both the nave and its aisles re genuine 14th century Perpendicular and shows a typical Middlesex feature in the use of dormer-styled windows, a practice very restricted geographically. Appearing to be from the same era is the western tower, it was, however, completely rebuilt in 1629 but remains faithful to the style of its predecessor keeping the continuity intact. The major Victorian restoration of 1847-8 saw the replacement of the medieval chancel and the addition of transepts. The late 20th century saw the addition of the northeastern vestry to complete the church. A small car park sits off Royal Lane allowing a safe visit, for photographers, however, the site is one of trickiest around being set within a veritable forest of trees that prevent any decent views except of the western tower and, from the distance, a general impression of the church.