INDUSTRIES 



INTRODUCTION 



BEFORE entering into a detailed 

 relation of the industries of Mid- 

 dlesex it will be well to look 

 at the characteristic features of 

 the county. A glance at the 

 map reveals its somewhat compact shape, with 

 rivers on three boundaries, and an irregular 

 range of hills on the north. 



As regards its history, Middlesex has been 

 for centuries an appanage of London ; and its 

 natural resources have been more or less at 

 the service of the inhabitants of the metro- 

 polis. A closer topographical inspection 

 shows further that all the highways radiate 

 from London, and that there are no impor- 

 tant cross-roads whatever. There are five 

 so-called market-towns, but none of them 

 are of high rank, unless Uxbridge should 

 claim to be so. Except that Brentford and 

 Staines are upon the same road, and that 

 Brentford connects with Uxbridge by a 

 branch of that main road, there is no special 

 connexion between any two of them as mem- 

 bers of the same community. Of cross-roads 

 those worth naming are : traces of an old 

 highway from Kingston (Surrey) through 

 Uxbridge to the north-west ; traces of a very 

 ancient way from Brentford to Harrow and 

 beyond ; and perhaps a road joining Enfield 

 with Barnet (Hertfordshire). Every other 

 track tends directly to the metropolis. 



Even little more than a century ago the 

 condition of the turnpike roads near London 

 was very unsatisfactory, in spite of the large 

 sums of money available for cleansing and 

 repair. The road from Hadley through 

 South Mimms was insufferably bad, and 

 disgraceful to the trustees. The Edgware 

 road was no better, the mud being 4 in. deep 

 after every heavy rain in summer, and 9 in. 

 all the winter. The menders never thought 

 of scraping it, but laid fresh gravel on the 

 sloppy surface ; the first cart cut it into 

 ruts, and so it remained all the year round. 

 The Uxbridge road was even worse; and 

 during the winter 1797-8 there was only 

 one passable track, and that less than 6 ft. 



wide and usually 8 in. deep in fluid mud. The 

 rest of the road on either side was covered 

 with adhesive mire from i ft. to i ft. deep. 

 And it must be remembered that the road 

 from Tyburn to Uxbridge was supposed to 

 have more broad-wheeled wagons pass over 

 it than any other in the county ; they natu- 

 rally monopolized the fairly traversable 8 in. 

 of mud, and forced light vehicles and horse- 

 men into the bordering quagmire. During 

 that winter, remarks an indignant sufferer, 1 

 ' The only labourers to be seen on the road 

 were those of a neighbouring gentleman, 

 and they were employed in carting the foot- 

 path into his inclosures.' The road from 

 Hyde Park Corner through Brentford and 

 Hounslow was equally filthy in winter, 

 though the king often travelled along it 

 several times a week. It is rather curious 

 that the parish highways were sometimes 

 much better : ' hard and clean in every sort 

 of weather, so much so, that gentlemen may 

 ride along them, even directly after rain, and 

 scarcely receive a splash.' At the present day 

 the main roads out of London, and many of 

 the by-roads also, are well looked after, and 

 furnish little occasion for reasonable complaint. 

 The main roads, it may be said, have for 

 the most part existed on their present sites for 

 long ages past. Where they have been 

 altered, the cause of displacement has been 

 sometimes local necessity or caprice, and 

 sometimes national interest. One example 

 (of those few which have been investigated) 

 will be an interesting illustration of the point. 

 The great road to the north of London, 

 passing to the eastward of old St. Pancras 

 Church, along what is now the HornseyRoad, 

 went over Muswell Hill and by Colney Hatch 

 to Whetstone. This proved so deep and 

 miry in winter 'that it was refused of way- 

 faring men and carriers, in regard whereof it 

 was agreed betweene the Bishop of London 

 and the Countrie that a newe waie shoulde bee 

 layde forth through the said Bishops parks, 



121 



1 Middleton, fiete ofdgrit. ofMitU. 395 et seq. 



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