Longford is a suburban village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England. It is immediately north-west of London Heathrow Airport, which is in the same borough. It is the westernmost settlement in Greater London, very close to the borders of both Berkshire and Surrey.

It was formerly part of Harmondsworth by tithes, land tax, vestry and still by Church of England parish. As it has never had a church it can also be considered a hamlet. Until 1965 it was in the historic county of Middlesex.

Longford is 16 miles (25.5 km) west of Charing Cross and within the M25 motorway which marks its western boundary with Colnbrook, Berkshire.

The village is currently earmarked for demolition as a result of the expansion of nearby Heathrow Airport.

Etymology

The name Longford derives from the two words "long" and "ford", after the wide ford across the Colne which is where the old Bath Road crosses it, a middle ditch, and the Wraysbury River, carrying on west from the village street. Its old country residents pronounced its name as "Long Ford" with both syllables stressed.

History

thumb|[[Thatched roof cottage in Longford]]

The settlement developed by this multi-channel ford of the River Colne and its distributaries, which presented numerous obstacles for travellers to and from the west of the edge of Middlesex, on the old Bath Road west out of London. Longford may be founded on a small Saxon settlement dating from the 5th to 7th century AD. Historic buildings survive from the medieval and immediate post-medieval periods. Limited evidence survives of Roman occupation, though archaeological excavations have revealed two brooches of Roman date.

By 1839 Longford and Harmondsworth and Sipson had a shop serving the whole parish.

Transport

Immediately to the north is a purpose-built bypass with a western junction connected A4, to the M4 that is, which is parallel and has two junction with this road also directly north of Heathrow airport, with the newer Junction 14 for Terminal 5 a very limited access junction, for the airport roads only.

Access to the M25 motorway is considerably shortest to the south, at Junction 14 (Stanwell Moor).

The Bath Road (A4) is an arterial road and traffic along it became so dense so early that in 1928 a bypass to Longford and Colnbrook was opened.

The village is directly served by two bus routes: the 81, operated by London Buses, which runs from Hounslow to Slough; and the 423, operated by London United, which runs from Hounslow to the bus station at Heathrow's Terminal 5.

Landmarks

thumb|Longford Meeting House

Longford retains an old-fashioned community centre character, in particular a former and an existing public house which are listed buildings only at Grade II mostly on age rather than simply architecture. An old building, Yeomans, which has been subdivided into three flats is listed. Other listed buildings include Longford Meeting House, Queen River Cottage and adjoining Willow Tree Cottage, and King's Bridge which is the name of the 1834-built main bridge by the very last building at the west end of the (old) Bath Road street, which crosses the nearby siphoned off Longford River, which Charles I had constructed — this feeds Bushy Park and Hampton Court Gardens.

One of the listed cottages is thatched.

Longford Village Conservation Area

Much of the land surrounding the village of Longford is within the Metropolitan Green Belt. Many of its buildings are included in the Longford Village Conservation Area, which was designated in 1988 with a minor boundary change in 1999. It includes seven listed buildings, one listed wall and a number of unlisted properties which are considered to make an important contribution to the character and appearance of the Conservation Area.

Effect of Heathrow's proposed third runway

thumb|Map of the 2025 Heathrow Airport expansion scheme

On 1 July 2015, the Airports Commission recommended that the Government approve Heathrow Airport having a third runway in the form of the Northwest Runway scheme put forward by Heathrow Airport Ltd. The plan on page 99 of the Airports Commission report confirms that the proposal requires the demolition of every building at Longford. The stages involved in bringing forward the proposed development are set out on the Heathrow Expansion website.

In 2025, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has announced that the government had chosen to proceed with the Heathrow Airport expansion proposal. It was confirmed that construction of a third runway would involve diverting the M25 motorway through a tunnel and demolition of Longford in its entirety.

Religion

Of residents of the output area Hillingdon 31A (Cranford, Longford and West Harmondsworth) 938 people (or 51.2%) declared themselves to be Christian in 2011. Also in this area 11.9% of people were Muslim, 11% Sikh, 1.9% Buddhist, 13.3% of no recognised religion, 5.9% gave no religious status and 1% were of other religions.

The ecclesiastical parish of the Church of England remains in Harmondsworth at St Mary's.

  • www.stmarysharmondsworth.com

The Catholic Church have a church in central West Drayton to the north, as well as three chaplains who serve St George's Chapel in Heathrow's inner ring west or the Sunday Mass at Terminals 4 and 5.

Gurdwaras exist on Martindale and Hanworth Road, Hounslow, the latter being Sri Guru Singh Sabha. The nearest Islamic centre is the Al-Falah Muslim Centre, Tavistock Road, Yiewsley to the north.

See also

  • Heathrow (hamlet), a settlement demolished in the 1940s for the construction of London Airport

References

Philip Sherwood, History and Guide to Harlington and Harmondsworth (Harlington: PT Sherwood, 2002)

  • This is Longford (Longford Residents Association)