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CHISWICK
AS A FISHING VILLAGE
The
name Chiswick probably means "the cheese
farm" being a compound of the Old English
words cese or ciese (cheese) and wic (a manor
farm). The riverside meadows from Hammersmith
to Twickenham contained many farms up to the
nineteenth century. The name "Chesewic"
is mentioned in an inquisition of the Manor
of Sutton made in 1181 in the reign of King
Henry II which is preserved in the library
of the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral
who were at that time the Lords of the Manor
of Sutton and who are still the patrons of
Chiswick Parish Church.
People
have fished on the River Thames and from its
banks from pre-historic times. In 1235 it was
agreed by the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's
and the Prior of Merton, who had the grant
of the Thames fisheries from the King, that
the men of Sutton and Chiswick were permitted
to place 40 weirs for catching barbell and
lamprons at a rent of 23 shillings per annum
to the Prior.
THE
CHURCH AND THE FISHERFOLK
By
1235, a church had already stood on the site
of the present Parish Church for at least several
hundred years and a village had grown up around
the church. As well as being a fishing village,
Chiswick also became a river port where boats
ferried people, goods and animals across and
up and down the river. It is therefore particularly
appropriate that the Parish Church should be
dedicated to St Nicholas, the patron saint
of fishermen and sailors.
It
was quite dangerous at times to venture into
the river in the small boats; lives were frequently
lost and the fisherfolk and ferrymen constantly
prayed to God and St Nicholas for deliverance
from peril. The Church was very much the centre
of community life though doubtlessly it had
its rivals in the alehouses and breweries along
Church Street and farther afield.
THE
RICH HARVEST FROM THE RIVER
In
1640 the fish in the tidal river at Chiswick
included turbot, brill, mullet, sea-trout,
salmon, shad, soles, smelts, dace, whitebait,
flounders, plaice and eels - more different
types of fish living locally than we can often
find supplied from all over the world in a
fishmonger or supermarket today! The Bishops
of London had a salmon fishery running from
Fulham to Chiswick Eyot and it was just off
the Eyot that the last salmon was taken from
the water in 1825.
The
dace were reported to be good eating, if scaled,
laid in salt and water, and fried the next
day. The Billingsgate merchants bought the
roach to sell to the Jewish community, especially
during the Feast of the Tabernacles. However,
fishing was then, as now, a hard way to earn
a living and the fishing village around the
Parish Church was a poor community, in great
contrast to the prosperous area we know today.
The area was frequently flooded as Chiswick
Mall is sometimes today and in those days there
were no strong river walls or the great Thames
Barrier to protect the fisherfolk of Chiswick
from the tides rushing in from the North Sea.
The
family of Mrs Chesterman, "a stout and
genial personality", who lived in Fisherman's
Row by the Parish Church around 1870, did a
good fishing trade. She herself recalled that
in her childhood her family and friends gathered
the currants and raspberries of Chiswick and
brought them by boat to the "Hole in the
Wall" by Hungerford Bridge for the old
Covent Garden Market. They had no problem finding
petrol or diesel for their boats in those days
as sail and oars propelled them. This was thirsty
work, which provided good customers for the
nearby Lamb and Griffin Breweries. Mr Henry
Smith of Fuller, Smith and Turner's Griffin
Brewery was Churchwarden of Chiswick Parish
Church for many years and he paid for most
of the cost of rebuilding of the Church in
1882-84.
DIRTY
OLD THAMES
During
the 19th century the river became polluted
and the fishing was severely affected, as were
the livelihoods of the fisherfolk. However
even in the later part of the 19th century
boatmen would catch flounders which were sold
at a shilling (5p) a dozen to the brickyardmen
of Shepherd's Bush and Acton who would sell
them on Sundays from baskets and barrows.
By
this time Sir John Thorneycroft had opened
his world-famous engineering and boat building
business to the West of the Church which led
to the building of 25 torpedo boats for the
Royal Navy in 1885,exports orders all over
the world, most notably to Japan where they
played a critical role in the sinking of the
Russian Fleet in the Russo-Japanese War. Chiswick's
torpedo boats may well have hastened the Russian
Revolution and other great events of the 20th
century!
The
River is now much cleaner than it was and fish
may once more be caught from its waters, but
Chiswick as a fishing village is dead and gone.
Chiswick Parish Church however is still very
much with us and so is the same great and merciful
God the fisherfolk worshipped ; the same God
yesterday, today and forever.
David
Giles
Prepared
for Chiswick Parish Church Open Days - September
2000 AD; adapted from and based on information
in Warwick Draper's "Chiswick" first
published by Philip Allan & Co in 1932
Reprinted 1990 by Anne Bingley in association
with the London Borough of Hounslow
Website: www.chiswickparishchurch.org
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