Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for UXBRIDGE

UXBRIDGE, a town, a township, two chapelries, a sub-district, and a district, in Middlesex. The town stands on the river Colne and the Grand Junction canal, at the terminus of a. branch of the Great Western railway, 15 miles WNW of London; was anciently called Waxbreuge, Woxebrugge, and Oxeburge, signifying the "great bridge;" is supposed to have been founded in the time of Alfred; was the scene of negotiations between Charles I. and the parliament in 1645; was occupied by Cromwell in 1647; gives the title of Earl to the Marquis of Anglesey; is a seat of petty-sessions and county courts, and a polling place; occupies a declivity, shelving to the Colne; presents a highly improved, clean, and handsome appearance; includes a new and beautiful suburb, called Chilternview; is governed by a local board of health; carries on much-inland commerce in timber, coals, dry goods, and slate; conducts business also in an iron foundry, oil-mills, agricultural implement establishments, and four breweries; and has a head post-office,‡ a r. station with telegraph, two banking-offices, several inns, public-rooms, newsrooms, a corn exchange of 1861, a five-arched bridge, militia barracks, a police station, two churches, four dissenting chapels, three national schools, a school of industry for girls, a large British school, alms houses, a workhouse, charities £837, markets on Thursdays and Saturdays, a wool fair on 1 Aug., and four other annual fairs. Pop. in 1861, 3,815. Houses, 747.

The township excludes part of the town. Real property, £14,369; of which £42 are in the canal, and £96 in gasworks. Pop., 3,236 Houses, 628.-The two chapelries are St. Margaret and St. John, the former conterminate with the township, the latter outside the township, on Uxbridge moor; and both are in Hillingdon parish, and were constituted in 1842. Pop. of the latter, 1,299. Houses, 288. The livings are p. curacies in the diocese of London. Value of St. M., £230;* of St. J., £150.* Patrons of St. M., the Trustees of the late G. Townsend, Esq., and the Bishop of London; of St. J., the Bishop of London.—The sub-district contains U. township and Harefield and Ickenham parishes. Pop., 5,154. Houses, 1,022.—The district includes also Hillingdon and Hayes sub-districts, and comprises 25,906 acres. Poor rates in 1863, £14,510. Pop. in 1851, 19,475; in 1861, 23,155. Houses, 4,024. Marriages in 1863, 144; births, 769,-of which 49 were illegitimate; deaths, 669, -of which 198 were at ages under 5 years, and 1 8 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,342; births, 6,788; deaths, 4,667. The places of worship, in 1851, were 13 of the Church of England, with 5,246 sittings; 5 of Independents, with 1,487 s.; 5 of Baptists, with 810 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 350 s.; 5 of Wesleyans, with 580 s.; 1 undefined, with 280 s.; 1 of the Catholic and Apostolic church, with 100 s.; and 1 of Latter Day Saints, with 50 s. The schools were 22 public day-schools, with 1,929 scholars; 47 private day-schools, with 935 s.; 27 Sunday schools, with 2,250 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 11 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a township, two chapelries, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Uxbridge CP/Ch/Hmlt       Uxbridge RegD/PLU       Middlesex AncC
Place names: OXEBURGE     |     UXBRIDGE     |     WAXBREUGE     |     WOXEBRUGGE
Place: Uxbridge

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