Boston Manor House
| Boston Manor | |
|---|---|
 Front view of the Boston Manor House |
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 Boston Manor
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| Boston Manor shown within Greater London | |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BRENTFORD |
| Postcode district | TW8 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| EU Parliament | London |
| London Assembly | |
Boston Manor was one of the ancient manors of Middlesex. It has now been assimilated into the London Borough of Hounslow west London, England. Its Jacobean manor house of 1622 still stands in what is now Boston Manor Park.
The earliest reference to Boston (or Bordwadestone as it was then spelled) was around the 1170s. It may mean Bord's tun or farm by the stone. It was situated towards the northern end of the Manor Boston. The lord of the Manor is recorded as Ralph de Brito. There is no record as to where he built his manor house. He founded a chapel at the southern end of the Manor called St. Lawrence on a site that is now derelict. The ecclesiastical boundary under this chapel was — or became over time — conterminous with that of the manor boundary. Today, this boundary would have been approximately to the east side of Boston Manor tube station's railway sidings and would have roughly followed the Piccadilly line west as far as the river Brent. Turning south, it followed the Brent down to the Thames. After a very short distance east, it turned north following Half Acre Road, then up along Boston Manor Road and thus back to the Tube station again.
The northern extent of the manor was marked by a boundary stone. Later a tree to the west of it came to be the local Gospel Oak. Here the old pagan custom of blessing the field and crops took place whilst beating the bounds. Thus, the boundary of chapelry of St. Lawrence not only coexisted with that of the manor but was also a subdivision of the Parish of Hanwell.
Then in about 1280 King Edward I granted this area of the township to the prioress of St Helen's Bishopsgate. It is at this point that one can consider that it becomes a district in its own right. For under the feudal system, lands could be divided up according to use, ownership, possession (right to take profit), and occupancy. The prioress received what amounted to both "constructive possession" and ‘ownership.’ Although the King did this to make raising tax easier, it had the benefit of preventing alienation of any parts of the property by subinfeudation, thus keeping it more or less intact over the coming centuries.
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Wikipedia