Church Street Causeway Gets A Face Lift |
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Historic Chiswick Mall draw dock looking dapper thanks to council grant
The refurbishment of Church Street Causeway has been completed thanks to a grant from Hounslow Council. The cobbled causeway is still in use today although historically produce for and from Chiswick industries was unloaded and loaded from barges at the site. A draw dock, a gently sloping bank in a tidal river where boats can be run up, was very busy in the 19th century bringing in hops and malt for the breweries, old ships' ropes for the Chiswick Press and coal and timber. The osiers cultivated on Chiswick Eyot were loaded to be transported to basket-making firms and market garden produce sent to the metropolis. Chiswickhistory.org.uk When John Isaac Thornycroft was building small fast launches and torpedo boats at Church Wharf at the end of Chiswick Mall, sailing barges were bringing coal and other commodities to unload at the draw dock nearby. Horse drawn carriages and wagons travelled the rutted country roads, through the fields and market gardens which separated old Chiswick village from the George the Fourth Inn and in 1882 horse drawn trams were started from Hammersmith to Kew Bridge. In those days there was no electricity for light or power. Dukes Meadows Trust March 28, 2011 |
