The Ancient parish of Harmondsworth lay on the western boundary of Middlesex, adjoining Colnbrook Bucks. and between West Drayton to the north and Stanwell and Bedfont on the south. Previously the parish had included Harmondsworth village, three other villages, Heathrow, Longford, and Sipson, and a farm with a few scattered cottages called Perry Oaks. In the Middle Ages there was also a hamlet called Southcote. To the west the parish and county boundary was formed by the Bigley Ditch and the Wyrardisbury River, both branches of the River Colne, and most of the southern boundary was marked by the Duke of Northumberland's River.
HARMONDSWORTH parish is almost entirely flat and lies just over 75 ft. above sea level. The soil along the rivers and in the west is alluvium; Taplow Gravel covers the area south of the Bath Road, and continues northward in a very narrow strip alongside the alluvium; the remainder is brickearth. The parish is extensively watered on the western side by the Colne and its branches. The Colne itself and four tributary streams, two of which are artificial, runs from north to south across the parish west of Longford. In the north-west runs the Bigley Ditch, which leaves the Colne at West Drayton. West of Harmondsworth village the ditch joins the Wyrardisbury River, formerly also known as Hawthorn's River, and the Pyle or Poyle Mill Stream, which also left the Colne at West Drayton. The Domesday Survey mentions 44 people on the monastic estate in Harmondsworth, and two villeins on a further hide, which belonged to Colham manor. Nothing is known of the inns of the parish before the mid 18th century. The village of Harmondsworth, which was probably in existence before 1086, lies in the north-west of the parish, about ½ mile north of the Bath Road, and less than ¼ mile inside the northern parish boundary.
In the 8th century A.D., probably in 780, land amounting to 20 mansiones in the place called Hermonds in the Middle Saxon province, was granted by Offa, King of Mercia, to his servant Ældred. An early settlement north-east of Heathrow discovered of huts produced evidence of a domestic occupation approximately dating to the early Iron Age from c. 500 B.C. onwards of a Roman camp. Early settlement in the area appears to have been dominated by the Bath Road which bisects the parish from east to west. Of the five settlements only one grew up on the road.
The position of SOUTHCOTE hamlet, which was in existence by 1265. In the 13th and 14th centuries a Southcote family lived in the parish but their earliest holding seems to have been in Sipson where mentioned in 1214, has the same latitude as Harmondsworth. The family does not appear to have acquired land in Southcote itself until 1310. The earliest indication of the situation of Southcote is in a rental of 1337 where the holding at Perry of John, son of Robert de Perry, is listed under the hamlet of Southcote.
LONGFORD, the only medieval settlement to grow up along the Bath Road, was in existence by 1337. By 1337 the manor of Harmondsworth had 16 tenants in Ruislip. In 1530 there was an increase, probably temporary, of 42 labourers who were working on the new river cut from Longford, and in 1547 there were 245 communicants in the parish. In 1748 there were nine inns of which the 'Magpies', the 'King's Head', and the 'White Horse' became the best known. The 'Magpies', later called the 'Old Magpies', stood at the corner of Heathrow Road and the Bath Road. The house, built in the 16th century and later much altered, was demolished in the 1950s. In Harmondsworth village the Five Bells, 17th-century but refaced with brick, looks eastward down the main street from the green. At Longford the 'White Horse', dating from the 17th century, is much restored. The 'King's Head' at Longford originally stood just east of the Duke's River on the north side of the Bath Road.
In 1349 Southcote was described as 'juxta Colnbrook', and in the early 15th century a meadow was described as lying near High Bridge between Colney stream and Southcotes. There were houses on four roads in Harmondsworth, Moor Lane, Sherlane, Ash Lane, and Sipson Way, and also on the square called the Place. In the 15th century Southcote became known as 'Southcoterow', and, in 1450, 'Southcoterow' included the Perry lands and land called Padburys. In 1583 both Perry and Padburys lay in Heathrow. Heathrow itself, the last definite area of settlement in the parish, began to appear in the early 15th century at about the same time as Southcote became known as 'Southcoterow'. A man said in 1403 to be of 'Southcoterow' was described in 1416 as of Heathrow. It seems most likely that Southcote itself lay nearer to Perry Oaks, a later settlement about 1¼ mile south of Harmondsworth, than to Heathrow. Perry itself was called a hamlet in 1354, and as it is not so mentioned again until the 16th century the reference may be to Southcote. In the 14th century the name Southcote was also associated with a manor which lay partly in Harmondsworth and partly in Ruislip parish
The Colne, the Longford River, and the Duke's River are all bridged by the Bath Road. The Colne is crossed by Moor or High Bridge, which existed in the 15th century. The Bath Road crosses the Duke of Northumberland's River by Longford Bridge at the east end of Longford village. In 1586 land on either side of the river was charged with the upkeep of Mad Bridge, which carried the Bath Road across the river. During the 18th and early 19th centuries this bridge was maintained by the Colnbrook turnpike trustees, who presumably erected in 1834. Slightly to the east of the Wyrardisbury River runs the Colne itself, having divided into two streams on the north boundary of the parish.
Harmondsworth was mainly grouped south and west of the church and along the south side of Moor Lane. Hatch Lane led south to the Bath Road, and continued south to Perry Oaks as Long Lane; Holloway Lane led north to West Drayton; while Harmondsworth Lane, running east to Sipson, and continuing to Harlington as Sipson Lane, was only a track across the open fields. The main settlement at Sipson lay south of Harmondsworth Lane, and was grouped on both sides of Sipson Road; a few houses were situated at Sipson Green where the road joined the Bath Road. From the Bath Road at King's Arbour to its southernmost point dwellings, collectively known as Heathrow, lined the side of Heathrow Road. At the south end two tracks left the road and ran over the heath, one southward to Bedfont and the other east to Hatton. Perry Oaks consisted of one house. From it the later Oaks Road led south to Stanwell and another road south-west to Stanwell Moor. Heathrow Road itself turned north to the Bath Road again as Tithe Barn Lane. In 1530 there was an increase, probably temporary, of 42 labourers who were working on the new river cut from Longford, and in 1547 there were 245 communicants in the parish.
A bridge called Longford Bridge was probably first erected in the 14th century, but, as the two rivers that flow through Longford are both artificial, it is possible that Longford Bridge itself stood in the place of either Mad or High Bridge. In the late 14th and early 15th centuries the maintenance of the bridge was the responsibility of the lord of the manor. The main stream follows the western branch, formerly called the Middle River or the Drayton and Staines Mill Stream, while the eastern branch runs southward into the Duke of Northumberland's River. This eastern branch, in the early 19th century called the Old River, formerly rejoined the main stream at its confluence with the Longford River, but by 1826 seems to have been diverted to run straight into the Duke's River. The Duke of Northumberland's River and the Longford River are both artificial, and run east and west respectively of Longford village. The Duke's River (formerly the Isleworth Mill River) was constructed to increase the water driving Isleworth mill in or about 1543.
The Longford River, constructed by Charles I to improve the water supply at Hampton Court, having been called variously the New River, the King's River, the Queen's River, the Cardinal's River, the Hampton Court Cut, and the Hampton Court Canal. The river was stopped up in 1648 or 1649 without authority and petitions were lodged in 1653 against its re-opening because of flood damage to crops and livestock.
Apart from the church and the barn, the two most notable buildings in Harmondsworth village are in Summerhouse Lane. The Grange is a twostory brick house, with a hipped, tiled roof, and windows mostly two-light and transomed. It was built in 1675 and in the south wall there is a painted sundial dated 1695. Harmondsworth Hall, opposite the Grange, was reconstructed in the 18th century but incorporates a 17th-century chimney. At the west end of the village street, where the road widens to form a small green, the Sun House, a timberframed range probably dating from the 16th century, was remodelled in the 18th century.
In 1754 the greater part of the parish was open. Around all the settlements were inclosed lands, but there appears to have been none elsewhere. The uncultivated area west of the rivers was known as Harmondsworth moors, although south of the Bath Road the area between the Colne and the Longford rivers was meadowland, and between the Longford and the Duke's rivers arable. Arable covered the rest of the parish to the eastern boundary north of the Bath Road and to Heathrow Road in the south. Harmondsworth Field lay north of the Bath Road and south of Harmondsworth Lane, while Sipson Field covered the area north of Harmondsworth and Sipson lanes. Heathrow Field lay south of the main road and behind Heathrow. Hounslow Heath covered the area south and west of Heathrow. In 1754, therefore, both ends of the parish consisted of uncultivated moor or heath, while the central portion, ringed with settlements and a belt of inclosed land, formed the cultivated area.