Report

ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE ANCIENT AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS AND CONSTRUCTIONS OF ENGLAND

Report to the King's Most Excellent Majesty

May it please your majesty.

We, the undersigned Commissioners, appointed to make an Inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions connected with or illustrative of the contemporary culture, civilization and conditions of life of the people in England, excluding Monmouthshire, from the earliest times to the year 1714, and to specify those which seem most worthy of preservation, humbly submit to Your Majesty the following Report on the Monuments of the County of Middlesex, being the eighteenth Report on the work of the Commission since its appointment.

2. We venture respectfully to offer our most sincere condolence on the great loss which Your Majesty and the nation has suffered, through the lamented death of his late Majesty of Revered Memory. We further desire humbly to submit our deep feelings of loyalty and devotion to Your Majesty on Your Accession, and we gratefully acknowledge our re-appointment to continue the important and enduring task which Your Majesty's predecessors entrusted to us.

3. We desire to place on record the great loss which the Commission has suffered through the death of Dr. M. R. James, Provost of Eton, who became a Commissioner in 1921. The Inventories of the Commission all passed through his hands, before publication, and owe much to his careful correction and supervision.

With this report terminates the service of our colleague Lord Rochdale, Your Majesty's Lieutenant for the county of Middlesex, who has assisted us during the survey of the County, and whose services have been of great value to our investigations.

4. We have pleasure in reporting the completion of our inquiries into the County of Middlesex, an area containing 550 monuments in 60 parishes, with an average of nine monuments per parish.

5. Following our usual practice, we have prepared an illustrated volume containing a full Inventory of the monuments in the County, which, under the advice of the Lords Commissioners of Your Majesty's Treasury, will be issued as a non-Parliamentary publication.

6. No alteration has been found necessary in the order and method of describing the monuments scheduled from that pursued in the description of the monuments of Herefordshire and Westmorland. The detailed Inventory is introduced by the usual Sectional Preface.

7. As in previous volumes, the descriptions of monuments have been referred for revision to the incumbents of each parish, and to the principal owners of domestic buildings, and we are satisfied that no important monument dating from the earliest times to the year 1714 has been omitted.

8. Our special thanks are due to the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of London, to the incumbents of the various parishes, and to the owners of houses for valuable assistance in our investigation.

We are furthermore indebted to the Lord Chamberlain, to Your Majesty's Office of Works and to Miss E. M. Keate, M.B.E., for co-operation and assistance in the survey of the Palace of Hampton Court, to the Office of Works for the loan of their plans and of two photographs of the Palace, to Mr. Hugh Braun, F.S.A., and Mr. H. G. W. Stone for assistance in our survey of Grim's Dyke, to Sir Charles Nicholson for assistance in regard to Finchley church and to Major M. G. Brett James, F.S.A., for assistance in the survey of Hendon.

9. We humbly recommend to Your Majesty's notice the following monuments in Middlesex as "especially worthy of preservation":—

Earthworks and Roman

Grim's Dyke, a travelling earthwork mainly in the parishes of Pinner and Harrow Weald and now generally ascribed to the Dark Ages.

13. Enfield.

(18) Earthwork of circular form, called Camp on O.S.

30. Hillingdon, East.

(9) Earthwork near church and partly enclosing Cony Green.

38. Mimms, South.

(2) Motte and bailey castle.

43. Ruislip.

(4) Motte and other earthworks at Manor Farm.

Ecclesiastical

3. Bedfont, East.

(1) Parish Church, dating from the 12th century with interesting paintings of c. 1300.

8. Cranford.

(1) Parish Church, dating from the 15th century, with remarkable monuments.

13. Enfield.

(1) Parish Church, dating from the 13th century, with interesting brasses and monuments.

22. Harefield.

(1) Parish Church, dating from the 13th century, with an extensive series of brasses and monuments.

(2) Moor Hall Chapel, a 13th-century chapel of the Knights of St. John.

24. Harmondsworth.

(1) Parish Church, dating from the 12th century, with good 12th-century detail and a hammer-beam roof.

25. Harrow.

(1) Parish Church, dating from the 12th century, with interesting brasses, font and pulpit.

27. Hayes.

(1) Parish Church, dating from the 13th century, with good roof, monuments, painting and font.

38, Mimms, South.

(1) Parish Church, dating from the 13th century, with interesting monuments, glass and chest.

43. Ruislip.

(1) Parish Church, dating from the 14th century, with interesting paintings and chests.

47. Stanmore, Great.

(1) Old Parish Church, dating from 1632, with good monuments, now in the modern church.

49. Stanwell.

(1) Parish Church, dating from the 13th century, with arcaded chancel and good monument.

Secular

4. Brentford, New.

(2) Boston House, a large house of 1622–3, with noteworthy ceilings and staircase.

13. Enfield.

(8) Forty Hall, an important house of 1629–32 attributed to Inigo Jones, with interesting internal fittings.

(14) Glasgow Stud Farm. An early 17th-century house, with a good staircase.

18. Hampton.

(2) Hampton Court. A large Tudor and later palace, with remarkable hall, plaster-work, panelling and paintings.

(3) Royal Mews. The Tudor stables of the palace, with a large Elizabethan barn.

22. Harefield.

(5) Almshouses, founded by the Countess of Derby early in the 17th century.

24. Harmondsworth.

(2) Barn, a timber-framed barn of late mediæval date.

29. Heston.

(3) Osterley Park, Elizabethan stables built on a quadrangular plan by Sir Thomas Gresham.

32. Hornsey.

(3) Cromwell House, built c. 1630, with a remarkable staircase.

33. Ickenham.

(2) Swakeleys, a little altered house of 1629–38, with plasterwork and later screen and paintings.

34. Isleworth.

(2) Syon House, a large Tudor house, much altered in the 18th century and incorporating an undercroft of the nunnery of Henry V.

38. Mimms, South.

(6) Knightsland Farm, a 16th-century house, with recently discovered wall-paintings.

40. Norwood.

(2) Southall Manor House, a large timber-framed house of c. 1587, with good panelling and overmantel.

49. Stanwell.

(2) School House, built in 1624 and little altered.

52. Tottenham.

(4) Bruce Castle, a large mid 16th-century house with later additions and a remarkable round tower.

(5) The Priory, a house of c. 1620, with original plasterwork and overmantels.

53. Twickenham.

(2) York House, a large house mainly of late 17th-century date with contemporary fittings and an earlier staircase.

10. We offer our grateful thanks to Mr. Mill Stephenson, F.S.A., for the revision of the description of Brasses, to Mr. R.E. Mortimer Wheeler, M.C., D.Lit., V.P.S.A. for the revision of descriptions of Roman Remains and Earthworks, to Mr. O. G. S. Crawford, F.S.A., for revision of descriptions of Earthworks, and to Mr. H. B. Walters, O.B.E., F.S.A., for the revision of the description of Bells.

11. We desire to express our acknowledgment of the good work accomplished by our Executive Staff in the persons of Mr. J. W. Bloe, O.B.E., F.S.A., Mr. E.A.R. Rahbula, O.B.E., M.C., F.S.A., Mr. G. E. Chambers, F.S.A., Mr. A. T. Phillips, M.C., F.S.A., Mr. J. Charlton, Miss V. M. Dallas, and Mr. F. T. A. Power, M.C. We desire also to put on record our regret at the death of Mr. P. K. Kipps, F.S.A., one of our investigators, and our appreciation of his services to the Commission.

12. The next Inventory of the Commission will deal with the monuments of the City of Oxford.

13. We are again happy to renew very cordial thanks to our Secretary for quite admirable services.

Signed:—

CRAWFORD & BALCARRES (Chairman).

J. G. N. CLIFT

ARTHUR EVANS

D. H. MONTGOMERIE

CHARLES PEERS

HARTINGTON

E. V. LUCAS

E. E. DORLING

A. HAMILTON THOMPSON

GEORGE HILL

ROSE GRAHAM

ROCHDALE

A. W. CLAPHAM (Secretary).

November, 1936.