Things you didn't know about... Chiswick

Chiswick has a cheesy secret
The name Chiswick—Ceswican in Saxon—means cheese farm. The link with cheese endured for many years: up until the 18th century the riverside farmland that makes up the area now known as Duke's Meadows hosted an annual cheese fair.

Beer we go in Chiswick
Beer has been brewed on the site of the Fullers brewery by the Hogarth roundabout for 350 years, since the time of Oliver Cromwell. In 1829 John Fuller took over and in 1845 Henry Smith and John Turner joined the enterprise. Today, Fuller Smith and Turner's two best-known beers are Chiswick Bitter and London Pride.

Chiswick gave the world torpedo boats
Never mind Clydeside and Tyneside—the world's first torpedo boats were built by Chiswick shipbuilders Thornycrofts. Between 1874 and 1891 they built 222 of them, for both the British and foreign navies. They were good at keeping their options open—they also built the world's first torpedo boat destroyers.

An explosive secret was hushed up in Chiswick
In 1944 the Germans unleashed their deadliest invention, the V2 rocket. Incapable of being detected by radar, the first landed without warning on Staveley Road, Chiswick, killing three people and demolishing some 11 houses. Fearful of the widespread panic that would ensue, the government ordered a news blackout.

Chiswick ensured that ultimately a king would lose his head
In the English Civil War of 1642, Royalist troops won a decisive battle at Brentford on 12 November and advanced to Turnham Green, Chiswick, planning to march on London and retake the capital. Throughout the night the Parliamentarians poured reinforcements into Chiswick—some 24,000 of them—and the following day rebuffed the Royalist forces who retreated to Kingston. The next time Charles I saw London would be at his beheading.

Skulduggery afoot in Chiswick
In 1929, when the river was dredged at Strand-on-the-Green, Chiswick, more than 100 skulls were discovered with no sign of the rest of their bodies. It is thought that they date back to 600 BC—one theory is that they were thrown in to appease the gods.

Chiswick gave us spit and polish
One of Britain's best-known brands, Cherry Blossom boot polish, was launched by the Chiswick Soap Company in 1906.

Horses have reason to be grateful to Chiswick
London's first electric trams that were to supersede horse-drawn transport were launched from the Power House generating station at the westernmost point of the Chiswick High Road.