Hillingdon

From the records: “Archaeologists found Bronze Age remains (before 700 BC) and medieval remains during the construction of The Chimes shopping centre; two miles (3.2 km) away at Denham, Upper Paleolithic remains have been found.”

From the records: “Anglo-Saxons began to settle and farm in the area of Uxbridge in the 5th century, clearing dense woodland.”

From the records: “In the Domesday book (1086), it is spelt Hesa.”

From the records: “Before leaving England to fight in the Holy Lands, Ernulf de Hesdin gave ownership of Ruislip to the Benedictine Bec Abbey in 1087.”

From the records: “St Anselm's is so-named because William Rufus (1056 – 1100) sent Archbishop (later Saint) Anselm of Canterbury (c.1033 – 1109) to stay in the manor house of St Mary's Church, as it was the nearest of the Archbishop's manors to Windsor, where William Rufus resided.”

From the records: “The town appears in records from 1107 as "Woxbrigge", and became part of the Elthorne Hundred with other settlements in the area.”

From the records: “To the north of Ruislip High Street, the 22 acres (8.9 ha) Manor Farm site incorporates the remains of settlements dating back to the 9th century, as well as buildings including the Great Barn, dated by English Heritage as having been built around 1280.”

From the records: “Under the ownership of the Bec Abbey, timber from the woods around Ruislip – Park Wood, Mad Bess Wood and Copse Wood – was used in the construction of the Tower of London in 1339, Windsor Castle in 1344, the Palace of Westminster in 1346 and the manor of the Black Prince in Kennington.”

From the records: “About 1410: The first known mention of a semi-rural lane called Heathrow (spelled La Hetherewe).”

From the records: “From 1537 the lessee of the manor was William Paget who held high office of state in the court of Henry VIII.”

From the records: “Carey became 2nd Baron Hunsdon in 1596 and entertained Elizabeth at the West Drayton Manor House in October 1602.”

From the records: “Charles I met with representatives of Parliament at the Crown Inn in Uxbridge in 1645, but negotiations for the end of hostilities were unsuccessful due in part to the king's stubborn attitude.”

From the records: “In 1714 William's son, Henry Paget the 7th Lord Paget,(1663–1743), was created 1st Earl of Uxbridge by George I.”

From the records: “John Wesley (1703–1791) and Charles Wesley (1707–1788), founders of the evangelical Methodist movement, preached in Hayes on at least ten occasions between 1748 and 1753.”

From the records: “Harman's Brewery was established in Uxbridge by George Harman in 1763, and moved into a new headquarters in Uxbridge High Street in 1875.”

From the records: “The covered market was built in 1788, replacing a building constructed in 1561.”

From the records: “The Grand Junction Canal opened in 1794, linking Uxbridge with Birmingham and the River Thames at Brentford.”

From the records: “By 1800 Uxbridge had become one of the most important market towns in Middlesex, helped by its status as the first stopping point for stagecoaches travelling from London to Oxford.”

From the records: “The development of Uxbridge declined after the opening of the Great Western Railway in 1838, which passed through West Drayton.”

From the records: “After the Potato Famine of the 1840s (known in Ireland as the Great Famine or Great Hunger), Irish immigrants who were of the Roman Catholic religion and principally from counties Cork and Waterford arrived in West Drayton and took up residence in poor housing by The Green which became known locally as the Irish hovels.”

From the records: “The nursery had stood in Kingston Lane since 1868, and was the largest producer of cut flowers in the country.”

From the records: “Hubert entertained Napoleon III at Drayton Hall in 1872.”

From the records: “The first train on the new railway line ran on 30 June 1904, and the new station at Ruislip opened on 4 July.”

From the records: “In 1913, German bodybuilder and music hall performer Eugen Sandow – famous in his time as "Sandow the Great", a contender for the title of world's strongest man – opened a cocoa factory in Hayes.”

From the records: “In 1917, King George V and Queen Mary visited the (pre-EMI) Gramophone Company in Hayes; they were accompanied by Lord Cromer, and were received by pioneer of music-recording and cinema Alfred Clark, then managing director of the company.”

From the records: “It was here, in the Central Research Laboratories (generally known as "CRL"), that Isaac Shoenberg developed (1934) the all-electronic 405-line television system (called the Marconi-EMI system, used by the BBC from 1936 until closedown of the Crystal Palace 405-line transmissions in 1985).”

From the records: “On 31 August 1935 Uxbridge Lido, an outdoor swimming pool built in the "Moderne" or Art Deco style, was officially opened.”

From the records: “1929: Fairey Aviation started by buying 148 acres (60 ha) of farmland in four adjoining plots near southeast of the hamlet of Heathrow from four local landowners, for about £1,500, at the typical 1929 market rate of £10 per acre. (The first plot bought was 71 acres (29 ha) from the Reverend R.”

From the records: “The station was built within the grounds of Hillingdon House, a 19th-century mansion bought by the British government in 1915, and became the home of RAF Fighter Command's No. 11 Group Operations Room during the Battle of Britain.”

From the records: “V1 flying bombs fell on the town between June 1944 and March 1945.”

From the records: “16 April 1946: The first aircraft of a foreign airline, a Panair operated Lockheed 049 Constellation, landed after a flight from Rio de Janeiro.”

From the records: “1955: Queen Elizabeth II opened the first permanent passenger terminal, the Europa Building (later known as Terminal 2) as well as the Queens Building.”

From the records: “The borough was created in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963, covering the combined area of the former Municipal Borough of Uxbridge, Hayes and Harlington Urban District, Ruislip-Northwood Urban District and Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District.”

From the records: “In 1958 the 199-acre (81 ha) Lowe & Shawyer plant nursery to the west of RAF Uxbridge entered voluntary liquidation.”

From the records: “The town centre's "gold disc" installation marks the fiftieth anniversary on 1 June 2017 of the Beatles' Sgt.”

From the records: “7 February 1996: Concorde G-BOAD arrived at Heathrow after crossing the Atlantic from New York in a new record time: 2 hours, 52 minutes, and 59 seconds.”

From the records: “18 March 2008: Following delays in the A380's production, the first A380 in scheduled passenger service, Singapore Airlines Flight 380 with registration number 9V-SKA, touched down from Singapore carrying 470 passengers, marking the first ever European commercial flight by the A380.”