Brentford

Brentford, the county town of Middlesex, 10 miles W. of Paddington station, at the influx of the Brent to the Thames, which is crossed here by a bridge leading to Kew. Consisting chiefly of one long irregular street, it has figured in literature, not always creditably. Falstaff disguises himself as a 'fat woman of Brentford.' Cowper and others allude to its 'two kings on one throne.' Thomson calls it 'a town of mud;' Gay has spoken of its 'dirty streets;' and its modern condition is not irreprouachable. It has gin-distilleries, a brewery, sawmills, a soap-work, the Grand Junction Water-works, the terminus of the Grand Junction Canal, and railway docks. There are many market-gardens in the vicinity. Here Edmund Ironside defeated the Danes in 1016, after expelling them from London; in 1558 six martyrs were burned at the stake; and in 1642 the Royalists under Rupert defeated the Parliamentarians under Colonel Hollis. Pop. (1881) 11,808; (1891) 13,736.