West Drayton

“WEST DRAYTON, a parish in the hundred of Elthorne, in the county of Middlesex, 3 miles S. of Uxbridge, its post town, and 6 N.W. of Hounslow.

It is a railway station on the Great Western line. The village is situated near the river Colne and Grand Junction canal. It is called Draitune in Domesday Survey, and was in the possession of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's. It was bestowed by Henry VIII. upon the Pagets, to whom an old seat here belonged, and finally became the property of the De Burghs. The mills and brick-making give employment to many of the inhabitants, and there are ovens for making coke for the supply of the engines. The living is a vicarage annexed to that of Harmondsworth, in the diocese of London. The church is a neat structure in the Norman style of architecture, with embattled tower, and clock. It is dedicated to St. Martin, and contains a curiously carved octangular font, two brasses, and monuments to the Pagets and De Burghs. The parochial charities amount to £18 per annum. There is a National school for both sexes. West Drayton House is the principal residence.

”

from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868